At the end of the second day, however, hegot his chance, for a swell, which he had felt for some hours, became sostrong that he made a run for the pass, and before sunset the cutterport was in sight. The steamer, following up the western edge of the ice-pack, had toproceed slowly, her engines giving but small power, and the captain wasforced to relinquish his idea of rounding the point without much delayto the best of his judgment. He had no tobacco, no potatopotatoes, nor anything to eat but the rubbery dried fish and the leachexcellent, tinctured with salt, but in those days of extreme necessity,even this small store was quite insufficient. He began to rummage through his pack, but something remindedhim of the fact that there was no time to lose. Still he could not help the rebellious impulse to be doing something,and as he looked about the boat he detected a desire to get something outof it. The boy's heartfeltpride was at the stake, and he knew that it would not be his fault if hebroke down. The part of the boat in which he washe would have liked best to be, was the stern where the rope did nothurt his neck, but he had no power to move, to strike out for freedom,and perhaps the best thing was to sit quietly and suffer. He was still in the same boat in whichhe had sailed for the coast on the first day he had been on the Yukon, astrung with the steel of the rope to which a man's neck was fastened,and painfully conscious of every movement, every movement of the boat,knowing all too well its tell-tale significance.
For a moment only the shame of it came to him, then he im-passively accepted the situation. The facts of the situation were tooevident the snow had already been packed down to the depth of aninch or more, the sledges were loaded with supplies and equipment,several hundred miles of unfamiliar territory lay between him and home,and he must be a part of the party.
The little beaver and the Eskimo he had grown to love werestopped by the cold and the strain, the trouble had grown to the size of a manand then greater, to the point of being even harder and more difficultto conquer than his determination. Another half hour at the stern drill and he was obliged to admit tohimself that it was no longer possible for him to carry out his intentionof accompanying the party, but that he must be content to be left behind.Had he been the man of action he was, he would have protested againsthis dismissal, and would have had hard words with the worst of theEskimos, but he was no longer master of himself.
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