DSPACE7
Phil Lind Klondike Gold Rush collection
[unknown]
Magazine with a 13 chapter story titled: "Young Klondike and the mad miner or lost in the great swamp". Cover is in colour and illustrates the main characters. Inside front cover is stamped "Robert J. Mohr".
30 pages : advertisements
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ol E8. a "4 dz 3 STORIES ora Gornb SreKeR. J Issued Weekly—By Subscription $2.50 per year. ‘ Entered as Second Class Matter at the New York Post Office, by Frark Tousey. No. 26. NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 15, 1899 Price 5 Cents. " Loo KunoxE Lost iN ThE Great SwamP. By Author orYouneK.onoikE‘ «_ 2 o rue ManMineR, <3 k out for hT‘m, boy s! He‘s mad !" yelled the Unknown. Her had no more than spoken when the wild looking man, who had shed the bearskin, leaped off the rock. _‘ It‘s gold ! 1@!" he shouted, waving the bag. & ue i ue ooo . 003 3 y mss ET C m ctth A _ ROBERT J, MOHR _ B9 Jackson Avenus Bo. eLens FaALLs, n. Y. Armcinfotnitsee6 n aties, uen aldrtics on ind moouk mm Rome Te rme spmmimemronnans um arammepemen preerrrannme i mm menenen Bieiinnmeerrce in aamare mre e on en 1E ied arp omm young KLONDJKE. s of a QGold Smeeker. £ 2 GtoOric Issued Weekly—By Subscription $2.50 per yeari. Entered as Second Class Matter at the New York, N. Y., Post Office, March 15, 1898. Eintered according to Act of Cong ‘ress in the year 1899, in the office of the Librarian of C(mgress W ashington, D. C./, by Frank Tousey, 29 West 26th Street, New Y ork. No. 26. Price 5 Cents. Young Klondike and the nEw YORK, February 15, 1899. lad Miner; OR — LOST IN THE GREAT SWAMP. BY AUTHOR OF YOUNCG KLONDIKE. CHAPTER I. ACROSS THE BARMAN FIELDS. Fortyx MILE CREEK, that well known name which we so often see mentioned in connection with the Klondike, is applied not only to a creek, but to a town. This is, or should be, sufficiently well known to need no mention, but for those who have not studied the geography of the gold regions, we will state that the town of Forty Mile, as it is always shortened up, lies on the banks of the Yukon, somewhat lower down than Dawson City, and is the center of, considerable activity of its own. Back of Forty Mile the country is, perhaps, less known than that which lies in the neighborhood of Dawson. There are mountains here upon whose sum— mits the snow hardly ever melts, and there are also great stretches of tundra, the Alaskan swamp, where the moss, also called tundra, often grows higher than a man‘s head. One afternoon in the fall, just as the fearful winter of the Klondike was closing in, a party of four pedes— trians were toiling up a mountain trail toward the Acatchut Pass, one of the most noted danger spots in all the Klondike country, although it has been very little talked about as yet. Beyond this pass lies the Barman Flelds, and it was there our party was bound. The famous Young Klondike was in the lead—Ned Golden was his proper name—and his friend and part— ner, Dick Luckey, walked beside him. The Unknown, that odd little detective, who follows Young Klondike in all his wanderings, came behind in company with Miss Edith Welton, a young lady from San Francisco, whose life Ned Golden had saved on his first journey up from Seattle, Miss Edith having * been a passenger on a wrecked steamer from which Ned bravely rescued her. These four constituted the noted firm of Golden & Luckey, whose fame extended all over the Klondike country. f - Golden & Luckey‘s signature was good for millions, and yet only a short time ago Ned and Dick were sim— ply poor clerks in New York City. As for the Unknown he was a mere adventurer, of coursé, and a very mysterious one at that, but just who he was or where he properly belonged no one knew. As for Ned and Dick they did not even know his name, as for some strange reason he always refused to tell it. The Unknown claimed to be a detective and ‘prob— ably was. He claimed also to be in search of some mysterious criminal whom he called "his man,"" al— though who this man was or what crime he had com— mitted, even Young Klondike could not have told. But enough of these introductions. Our friends are toiling up the pass and the sun is descending. Their immediate destination is a certain hut called Jake‘s Relay House, which stands at the edge of the Barman Kields. It is quite essential to reach it before sundown, for there are many ins and outs to the Acatchut Pass, and to get lost here means certain death. «What do you think about it, Ned ?" asked Dick; ‘"‘"are we on the right road or the wrong one? This is getting to be a pretty serious matter. It will be a bad job if we are caught here in the dark." «Well, I‘m not worrying, Dick,"‘ replied Ned. "I don‘t see any use in doing that." ©No, nor I either, but at the same time it is go— ing to be dark in a few moments and I am anxious on Edith‘s account." o emeenoncournre ie avame m memmenmgsceo _ YOUNG KLQNDIKE AND TL “Hello, there!. Who s worrying about me ? p» ealled —Edith from behind. _ I take pot luck with the rest." «Three cheers for the Red, White and Blue!" crled the Unknown, suddenly pulling off the battered plug _ _ hat which he always persisted in wearing winter and _summer, tossing it up' in the air and catching it on _ his head as it came down again. ‘"We can‘t get left! No, we can‘t! Isee the Relay House now !"‘ ‘«©What‘s struck you, Zed ?" demanded Edith. "I see nothing at all." : Now Zed was the short for Zedekiah, which last the _ detective claimed was his Christian name. As it was the only name he would own to the boys _often used it when addressing him, but when they spoke of him they invariably did so as the Unknown. )* What‘s struck me, Edith?" cried the detective. _‘ __<‘Why, I‘ve been struck by a flag,; the Stars and _____ Stripes, Old Glory, or any other old thing you have a — _ mind to call it, and if we keep on as we are going, we _ shall be at the Relay House inside of twenty minutes. Ye gods and little fishes! Ishall be glad when we get there. All I hope is that we may find the dogs." _«They‘ll be there all right,"" said Ned. " Pierre is to be trusted. He agreed to have eight dogs and a good sled to meet us and he will not fail ; but where‘s your flag? I see nothing at all and I‘ve been look— ing every way I could think ‘of, too." «"Every way but the right one," laughed the de— tective. "By the Jumping Jeremiah, I‘ve been watch— ing you! Look up there!" The Unknown pointed almost directly overhead, and there, sure enough, soaring from the top of the ledges on the left was Old Glory, a most welcome sight for our weary travelers. The pass wound around between the ledges, and soon they saw a small log hut ahead of them with the . lag waving from the peak of the roof. /. _ ‘‘The Relay House!‘ cried Dick. / «* At last we spot it !‘‘ echoed the Unknown. "*I — began to think that Jake‘s was only a myth and that we were to go on climbing up among the clouds for— _ever. Now for the Barman FKields ! I‘m prepared to find them balmy and to see the green grass growing \all around." < 0 ©Which is what you won‘t,""‘ laughed Ned. " Any— one who expects to see anything but snow on the — Barman Fields at this time of the year, or any other, is going to get most beautifully left." _ Now, what Young Klondike said was true enough, W in. part. \ _ The Barman Fields were anything but grassy. The name was applied to a long. stresch of land — which, being away up here in the mountains, is cov— _ ered with snow about ten months in the year. A. lit— _ tle more and it would be a glacier; but it was not _ that. _ Young Klondike misstated when he said that there was always snow on the Barman Kields. There . was enough here now, however, and as the boys look— _ ed ahead they could see the long level stretch extend— | — ing in between the cliffs as far as the eye could reach, 5 — Een on mm nicmemein s itc se es ie o B amemesommmmesinn i schsiinrncrno o comes: R<. doanmepantnegeme s ing 4 on n ym ied oi ts esd ut eaitag in : on smmb it o t gemame: o nc i n & -;;4 «‘That‘s not allowed, you know. . 1 _one con i no snow. Beyond diggin gs8s," YounO' Klonc?" Fields, and thea friends were bou! _ Young Klondilk, them, and he was 'z‘.i;; ter set in. «©Push on, push on !*‘ crled Ned. * We are almost there! A few more bold strokes and we shall be at Jake‘s Relay House, where we are to meet Pierre, the guide. It will be all plain sailing after that." Ned had scarcely spoken, when a man came out of _ the hut and stood looking down the pass in the light _ of the setting sun. j "*Jake "‘ cried the Unknown. cyes and he don‘t see us." "Give him the call, Zed ! claimed Dick. Now, the Unknown had a voice like a fog horn, and when he bellowed : ‘Jake, Jake!‘‘ the man must' have been deaf, indeed, not to hear him. And the cry was heard. Immediately the man by the log hut pulled off his hat and began waving it. Then he ran into the hut and came out with ahother _ man, and both hurried down the pass to meet Young — Klondike and his friends. . " It‘s Pierre and Jake!" cried Ned. right now." _ And so they were for the time being, for a warm fire and a good supper lay ahead of them. Jake was a queer old fellow who kept this log hut as a sort of tavern for the accommodation of miners and prospectors traveling to and from the old Rus— sian diggings, by the way of the Barman HKields. In the winter his Relay House was a perfect god— send and had saved the lives of many. _ j Never before had Young Klondike visited it, but he had often heard of the place, and when in anticipa— tion of this journey he arranged to have Pierre, the guide, meet them there with the dog sled, he knew that his interests would be well looked out for by Jake, and yet the proprietor of the Relay House «charged nothing for his accommodation. . If a traveler had money and chose to make Jake a . present, well and good. If he had not he was wel— come to whatever there was going, just the same, and a right royal welcome Young Klondlke s party re— ceived now. . There was a big log fire roaring up the chimney in the open fireplace, a long table stood ready set, and there was an appetizing odor of roasting bear meat proceeding from the httle lean—to kltchen behmd the hut. . When supper was served it proved to be all that ¢ ; way lay first across the Barman oss the Great Swamp, for our ‘r the old Russian diggings. d long desired to investigate etermined to do it before win— . ‘The sun is in his Give him the call !"‘ ex— * We are ‘ell _ Barman Kields before it comes. 5‘,one could w1sh for ; J ake Was an 1ndefatlgab1e hunter and a splendid cook —___"©"When do you start, ‘Mr. Golden "" asked J ake, wR after he had served the party all around. _ "©Well, that depends upon Pierre,‘‘ replied Ned. —_ We are pretty well tired out. I suppose you could _accommodate us for the night if we decide to stay ?" .. ©Certainly L can,"" replied Jake. * There is plenty _ of room in the Relay House, such as it is. There‘s the _ loft for the lady and bunks here by the fire with plenty of blankets and bearskins, but I should not postpone . _my start until morning if I were you."" "Hello! Why not?" asked Ned. "What do you RSknow?": j "He‘s afraid of a snowstorm,"" said Pierre, the _guide, ‘"and upon my word it does look very much that way." «"It‘s coming sure,""‘ said Jake, "and if you will take my advice, gentlemen, you want to get off the Down in the Great Swamp it will probably be rain and that will rather help you on your way than otherwise, but to be _ _caught in a snowstorm on the fields or heré in the — Relay House might delay you for a week, or even worse if you should be unfortunate enough to lose your way.‘ «Then you think, Mr. Jake, that we ought to go ahead to—night ?" asked Edith. "I do, most decidedly,"‘ replied the old man. —"Jake and me have been talking it over, boss," — said Pierre, " and we think you ought to push on if if we have any kind of luck by half past | _you can; four we ought to be at the end of Barman FKields. There we would be safe, for once down the mountain, we need hardly expect snow, and I reckon we can all of us stand a rain storm if worse comes to worse." — «That‘s settled, then,""‘ said Ned. "" Whatever you say goes, Pierre. How are the dogs?" * In good condition. As fine a lot as I ever drove." "*I can vouch for that,"" said Edith. "I went out and had a look at them while you were loading our packs on to the sled. They are splendid fellows, and ought to carry us over the Barman Kields in great «shape." . . « Dick—Zed—what do ~you say ?" *©Shall we go ?" ©Decidedly,""‘ replied the detective. * By all means,""‘ added Dick. ©Then we will start at once ; the sooner the better. _Pierre, harness up, Dick will help you. Jake, here‘s something for our supper."‘ «No, boss, no! I don‘t take pay,"" said Jake. * It‘s not pay. I know your ways, old man. This _ house is a great convenience and must be supported. Here, this is not for you, but for the benefit of travel— ers who may come after us and cannot —pay. Keep _ the Relay House up, and you will always prosper."‘ _ Thus saying Young Klondike placed five twenty— Ned asked. ”c; _dollar gold pieces in old Jake‘s unwilling hand, and in . _ spite of his protest forced him to accept it. In a few moments the sled was: rea$dy and Ed1th " tucked away under the warm bearskins. & Ned, Dick and the Unknown placed themselves as _ 4 ‘best they could, and away they went filying across the " Barman Fields. It was time they started 1f they expected to avmd : the coming storm. ‘ The night was starless; dense gray clouds were scudding across the sky. A strong wind, damp and chilly blew down upon them from the northeast. "It is going to be a terrible night," groaned the: detective. "By the Jumping Jeremiah, I feel it in my bones." Were the bones of the Unknown good prophets or were they liable to make mlstakes like the men who run our weather bureau ? S The next chapter will tell about that, for just as Jake predicted the storm came, and it caught Young Klondike‘s party as they went flying across that des— olate mountain table known as the Barman Fields. CHAPTER II. DOWN THE DEVIL‘S SLIDE. ©PIERRE, this is a bad busmess.” © Bad enough, boss, but still the dogs are well used to all sorts of weather, and remember, it is not so easy to get lost on the Barman Kields. We can‘t go more than a mile right or left without striking the cliffs, and then all we have to do is to follow on to the end of the valley where we go down on to the tundra." ‘‘True,"‘‘ replied Ned. "That makes it safer in theory, but if we get mixed up what is to hinder us . from going round and round in a circle; you know that is the great danger in a storm like this." To the winds with danger !‘‘ cried the Unknown. We are going along all right, and it‘s not a blizzard yet, by any means."" "Whatever we throw out is likely to go to the winds to—night,"" said Edith. "Did you ever see it blow harder than it does ?" s "«Why, certainly, I have,"‘‘ replied the detective. "When I was chasing my man in Russia in ‘?73 I saw the wind blow so that it stripped the clothes right off a boy, and left him nothing but a paper collar."‘ Bosh!‘‘ exclaimed Ned. " That‘s one of your fish stories." ~ ¢f "HFish! Right you are! I was fishing at the time in the Volga, and just as the gust came I had a big carp on the hook. It blew the carp right out of the 22 water and up into a tree, and I had a deuce of a job _ getting him down again, for he flopped about so that he wound the line around a branch and I spoiled a — new pair of unmentionables shinning up the tree after him—that‘s a fact ; you can beheve it or not, just as you please." “I heve just that same 1mp1101t faith in 1t that 1 im ctnt meine on n temncarn t 3 f’"‘That’s a good idea," said they‘ll know which way to take us." YO UNG KLONDIKE A annenr 0 ha,ve in all the rest of your yarns,"" laughed Ned, ___ (but speaking of blizzards, if this isn‘t one it is next door to it. It‘s blowing harder than ever and I‘m not at all sure that we are not already lost." Pierre made no reply to this. In fact he had been } ,lookivng out anxiously for some moments, trying in _ vain to penetrate the mass of whirling flakes and lo— cate the cliffs on their right, toward which he had been directing the dogs for some moments now. But this it seemed impossible to do. The cliff #9 _should have been there, but they were not. : ___ As the moments passed the fury of the storm in— creased. <A l Soon a regular blizzard was upon them—one of the kind we read about, but so seldom see. If the wind had blown hard Toefore, its force was doubled now. The snow whirled about them in the most blinding fashion. In a few moments more Young Klondike realized that the worst had happened. They were lost in the blizzard, and the chance of find— ’ _ing their way until the storm ceased looked pretty slim. «« Pierre, what‘s to be done ?"‘ he asked, after a lit— tle. "Where are those cliffs ?" _ c ««I‘m sure I don‘t know, boss,""‘ replied the guide, gloomily. "I‘ve crossed the Barman Fields a good many times, but I never saw it as bad as this." «We are going arpund in a circle. That‘s what !" cried the Unknown. "<I‘m afraid we are." «Then, by the Jumping Jeremiah, let‘s stop it ! Let‘s take a tumble to ourselves and go straight : ashead !"‘ _©Easier said than done, gents. It seems to me that I am driving straight ahead as it is." «(Give the dogs their head. Let them lead the way.""‘. . : uh & Edith. "I‘m sure «‘Something must be done," said Pierre. "I own up, gentlemen, I‘m stumped." f ‘<And the danger?" asked Young Klondike, as calmly as if there had been none at all. "Is great. We may have run between the cliffs —through Big Buck canyon. We should be pretty near there now.". © Allowing that‘s so, what then ?" — Pierre shuddered. "Then we come to the Devil‘s Slide,"" he said. "That‘s where the rocks slope sud— denly down onto the Great Swamp, a distance of some two thousand feet." : "©By the Jumping Jeremiah, there‘s a coast for _you!" cried the Unknown; "a two thousand foot run! Phew! Why, tobogganing in Montreal wouldn‘t be in it! How long is this canyon, brother ? How soon may we expect to begin coasting if we are ‘ An it now ?"" _ "Why, the canyon is perhaps a quarter of a mile in _ length," replied,Pierre, ""but don‘t suggest it, boss.. __ We can hardly be in the canyon now or we should see C ¥ MAAA EN [ "M sAAAE anbesksls2 lillbts _ Down! the rocks, I‘m sure, although I must confess it is some . forty feet wide, and one might run a long time with— ‘out seeing the cliffs in a storm like this.". Spy Now it would have been quite as well if the guide had mentioned this danger sooner. k Then Young Klondike could have been on the look— out for it, but as it was the news of its existence had no more than come to him before the danger spot was _ close at hand. ¢ ‘«Rocks on the right !"‘ shouted the Unknown sud— denly. § t c3 <¢Merciful Heavens! It‘s the Devil‘s Slide! We are right upon it !"‘ yelled Pierre, and he dropped the _ the reins and sprang off the sled without losing a sec— ond. ; f j It was impossible for Young Klondike‘s pa,rtyi "Lo | imitate his example. They were so wound up in the bearskins that they could not move. The frowning cliffs made themselves more apparent through the gloom. Young Klondike tried to seize the reins, but they were trailing on the snow. ‘Keep your seats!" he cried. "It is the only thing that will save us !‘‘ and whipping out his knife _ he cut the traces. $ - Not an instant too soon. ; A second later and the sled passed directly over three of the dogs, slow to get out of its path, and went whirling down the side of the mountain. They were on the Devil‘s Slide. Down two thou— —|‘ sand feet they must go and nothing could stop them. _ But the snow ? Would it hold all the way ? — : If so there was some chance for.them, but if it | should suddenly give out and the sled was to con— . tinue its journey down over the ragged rocks of the _ slide there was but little hope. ‘«Brace up, friends !" cried Young Klondike. _ <«Dick, you hold on to Edith! We are going to make this run all right, and you‘ll see !" Was it so? f : - The speed attained by the sled was frightful, and it _ seemed to be increasing. 3 Down they flew, faster, faster, always gaining. The snow beating in their faces now grew soft and wet. Rain was ahead of them ; there could be no doubt of it. f Young Klondike realized his danger, but he coulda _ not speak.— j f . It was the same with the others.— They were _ breathless, even the Unknown was silent now as they _ flew on. Down! Down! Down ! «It‘s coming,"" thought Young Klondike, for now it was rain and not snow which began beating in their faces. ; potre . And the sled was still descending with lightning I speed. ' ' Down! Down! Down the Devil‘s Slide, perhaps to death. . _YOUNG KLONDIKE aXD THE: MAn MINER. mmde, but as far as sendmg hlm any help was con— CHAPTER III. wHO ISs THIS MAN? s f No one could blame Young Klondike or any of his party for expecting death in that awful moment, for _ nmow the sled was bounding along over the bare rocks, _ _and so dense was the gloom that they could not see a yard ahead of them. But it was not to be. Death was not to come ! _ Just as Ned was giving up in despair, the sled. — bounded off the rocks, and with a drop of perhaps —_— twenty feet ended its mad rush in the water, but bet— _ter a cold bath in the rain than the awful fate which — _ Young Klondike believed awaited them at the end of — the Devil‘s Slide. _ f " T‘ll take We ©Look to Edith, Dick !"‘‘ shouted Ned. care of the goods." "I‘m all right. Nobody ‘\n_eed mind me!" cried Edith. "Zed has given me a helping hand." It was always the same with the Unknown. He was up and dressed, as the. saying goes, upon all occasions, and he had seized Edith in his arms, and was swimming with her toward the bank before _ Young Klondike had time to speak. It was so dark that they could not see each other. ~The blinding rain dashing in their faces added to the difficulty, but once assured of Edith‘s safety, Ned and _Dick went bravely to work to get the sled out of the slew. “Here Give us a push Dick!""‘ shouted Ned, who had crawled out upon the bank and had hold of the front of the sled. ©"Up she goes! That‘s the talk. Once more! That‘s it! That‘s it! Confound the thing! It‘s as heavy as lead, but we are gaining. —Try again! Now, then, both together and out she comes !‘ With a might eﬁort the sled was dragged and pushed up upon the bank just as Edith and the Un— known came hurrying up ready to lend a helping hand The danger was now over. Drenched to the skin, the entire party now were to be sure, but then they had been that before and so they cared little for the additional wetting. In fact, this sort of thing did not worry them a bit, for there was no sort of exposure or rough hand— ling that Young Klondike and his friends were not used to. ; They pulled the sled further up on the bank, and finding that the waterproof wrappings had protect— ed all their goods perfectly, began to congratulate themselves upon their narrow escape. . ©But where are we, anyhow?" cried the Un— known. "It‘s so blessed dark that I can‘t see any— & thing." ~£+ Foo bad about poor Pierre," said Edith. . "I‘m Sat a,frald he will perish up there on the mountaln. And : indeed the . prospect was very bad for the Left on the Barman Hields in the bhzza,rd he' might as well have been in the moon. As soon as the goods had been made secure Young ' Klondike began looking about to see what could be. done next. Of course it was very uncomfortable to thlnk of !.! I staying there under the rocks in the rain, but on the _ other hand without Pierre to guide them, Young — f Klondike‘s party had not the faintest idea which way to go, so for a few moments they just stood there looking at each other, shivering with the chill of their wet . garments and feeling about as uncomfortable as. it was possible for human beings to be. i9z "By the Jumping Jeremiah, this won‘t do!"‘ ex— claimed the Unknown, at last. "We—shall all get pneumonia if we stay here. It reminds me of the time when I was lost in the great Dismal Swamp down in Virginia in the fall of 1842."" «‘Rats!‘‘ cried Dick. 1842 ?" . «Rubbish !‘ exclaimed Ned. ‘"Idon‘t beheve you were ever lost in the Dismal Swamp." «Now, come, it‘s hard to have one‘s word doubted in this fashion,"‘ said the detective. "I was going to say that after wandering about there for fourteen _ days and fifteen nights—no, I‘m wrong, it was fifteen days and fourteen nights, but it don‘t matter—I saw a light ahead and went for it and—by the Jumpmg Jeremiah, I see a light ahead now !"‘ Now, all this talk on the part of the Unknown was f just to give him time to look more intently at the light which he had discovered a few moments before and he wanted to locate it before he spoke. _ ©There you are, boys !‘‘ he cried. "It‘s a hut, and it stands right on the edge of the tundra, about three—quarters of a mile from here." ©There is a light there, sure enough,""‘ said Ned, "How old were you in peoideed oi ies famen nihiryy o renmenhamsanemawesian eraies aoommeengmueme PEDHeipetrecasnarmnme nangne inprredeneenererce en looking in the direction which the Unknown Fpointed'.. ; "Strange I did not see it before, and I was looking that way, too." — « «* Nothing strange anout it,‘"‘ replied the detective. f «"It‘s a mere spark, flashes up, and then goes down again. See, it‘s gone now." "Right you are! I can‘t see it, now." "*©No; nor I. It‘s a fire on a hearth, though." "Hold on! How do you know that?‘"‘ demanded Dick. "How do you know it‘s a hut at all ?" _ "Now, then! Now, then! Do you want me to __ . give away the secrets of my profession ? However, I‘ll do it for you. Follow the ground along with your. 3 eye, and you will see that the light is raised: aoouf{‘ w PA four feet anove it. There it comes again—now you. . ; N can see." *«<You‘re right about thab " said Edith. "I d’o,‘:" i. see." hearth from the way it goes up and down.‘ €£ Very good. That tells me that the light is shln- ing through a window. I know that it‘s a ﬁre on the _ <«Well, for Heaven‘s sake, if it‘s a fire in a hut let‘s APH — go for it !"‘ exclaimed Edlbh " Why do we stay ta;lk-.” $W | lng‘here s n epecver SeSOnK mcomemage en rrommrmgur—sesns iNewarmpnemcome reror erernuxrineces wenge ie Pase aamieeaiete rak wa ue nees un omm . %. veiniitin iterteriz smm onniiet hn hecm menome— um is es reermmmemamntt. . —.—. 1 . _ Mc tener Ts *macans. iobemiemnatenes + uie‘ P «s i. . the rocks behind the hut. on piinaendonants ids dheoe sc "eeerciees _ YOUNG KLONDIKE AND— THB MAD MINER. ‘[6¢ H, i _"But our goods," said Dick. —them behind us ?" j We must," said Ned. «We all need dry clothes and shelter. The goods must take their chances, but _ I don‘t believe anything will happen to them. Come us along 1 & E: 3 \ CR They all started toward the hut, for such it proved to be. . j _—It stood right under the rocks facing the tundra, a two—story affair, built of logs in a very substantial fashion. The light flashing behind the window Ssug— _gested a cozy fireside, which was most welcome to . _our travelers, drenched as they were and shivering _ _ with cold. €. f ‘‘Are we to leave Ned pushed on in advance, and seeing that the door | stood partly open, stepped in without knocking. f Instantly his companions heard him give a wild shout, and saw him make a rush into the hut. «Hello! What‘s the matter now ?" cried Dick, running forward. Ned sprang out through the door before he could reach it. ‘©"Look, look!"‘ he shouted, pointing up to _ They already saw the strange figure. It was a man _wrapped in a bearskin, with the head and claws ex— posed. : Wt __ _ Apparently he had jumped out of the back window ~of the hut. Now he was scrambling up the rocks, shouting wildly. ; His words were gibberish. could make out. In a moment he gained a rocky shelf about a hun— dred feet above them. Here he paused for an in— stant, shook his fist at Young Klondike‘s party, and running in among the broken ledges, disappeared. ... *‘ Good gracious !"‘ cried Edith ; "*what sort of a ) DBhing is that ?*" f V A madman!"‘ . gasped Ned. sure as fate !" 7 "Think so?" said Dick, afraid of us, and——‘" ‘Why, he was in the act of committing suicide !*‘ cried Ned. "He was just going to hang himself. _ By thunder, he would have done it in another mo— __ment if I hadn‘t come in as I did." _ ‘©Mad! Of course he‘s mad!‘‘ exclaimed the de— tective; ""but what in thunder do we care as long as _ he‘s gone. Come on, children! We‘re going for the wA ta ty ‘@[ that fire. There‘s no one else there, I Ned ?" A What he said .no one "A madman as "He acted as if he was ~~ ©No," said Ned ; "there‘snooncelse thatIsaw. I declare it has put me allin a tremble. I never was so _ startled in my life as when I came in there and saw _ that fellow hanging. Look! There‘s the rope! ~He _ had it around his neck, but just as soon as he saw me _ he threw it off and sprang out the window, which was wide open, as you see it now." _ The rope was fastened to a big hook, which was screwed into a beam overhead. f the floor the Unknown declared he could not see. madman or no madman."" ‘ Pull down that window, Dick, Edith must change her clothes at once." _And indeed they were all in need of a change of clothes with as little delay as possible, and ith this) idea in mind they had brought along ‘their grips fro the sled. » . f Ned could not see a trace of anyone up there, Edith retired to it joining the boys later on. _ t Mea,nWhiLe Ned, Dick and the Unknown stripped by the fire and rubbing themselves down with dry towels soon in better shape. ' : Their coats and vests were hun'g‘ before the open- fire to dry, as were Edith‘s clothes when she threw them down from the loft. : madman don‘t seem to come back, Young Klondike, . we may as well take possession here. Anything to _ where he lives." ; The Unknown was rummaging all around the room, but there were no provisions of any kind in the hut, although there were dishes and pots and _pans and everything that a miner would need. There were also mining tools and a bag containing | about twenty ounces of gold dust. This would seem to indicate that the madman had been trying his hand at gold digging. ue t But it was all guess work, for the night passed and the stranger did not return. 4 Edith was the only one who slept. She retired to_ the loft after awhile, but Young Klondike and the others sat around the fire until morning. the clouds had cleared away and the stars came out _ glory of the Alaskan night. - «No use waiting for daylight," said Young Klon— dike, throwing open the door and looking out of the hut. We may as well go down and drag up the sled now. We want breakfast. As soon as it‘s day— light we‘ll start for the pass where we would have come down from the Barman Fields. We must go back and have a look for poor Pierre if he still lives, or for his body if he perished in the storm." | ««That means another night in the hut,"" said the Unknown. " Well, if it must be it must, although I don‘t like the delay. our madman ?". It was easy enough to. ,onder,”fb_ut , the Unkno One end wi» twwisted into a noose, but just how the t curiosity was not to be 1 i and putting on dry underclothes and trousers, were . <«This is all right,"" said the detective. tXS yonr VAE eat in the cupboard? No, not a taste! Your mad— _ man must have been a starving madman if this 18. About six o‘clock it stopped raining, and by seven"‘/". in all their glory, and what can be greater than the _ man was going to manage to pull himself up clear of _ . ﬂs the talk,"" said Ned, closing the door. _ v j I‘ll explore the loft. _ snig zes ~ tw oR iPauck eeprans "~ ho tag _ Wonder what has become of ‘«Shut the door! Shut the door!"" he cried, after they had talked the matter over a few moments. _ «We‘ve got to make ourselves comfortable here, _ _ The loft was a roomy, comfortable place, and as . M “ﬁ% % ols 33 .?Ai\_ > YOUNG KLONDIKE AND THE MAD MINER o. . The sled was found undlsturbed where they left 16,. ‘ 'a,nd they drew it up to the hut. | — _A good fire was built on the hearth, and breakfast started It was all ready by the time Edlth came down. As yet nothing had been seen of the stranger. Young Klondike and his friends were still asking themselves the question : * Who is this man : rX —_ After the sun rose all started for the pass. It was ‘ av,bea,utlful day and quite warm, considering the time { yf year. _ The tundra spread out before them as far as the [ °. eye could reach._ Great flocks of duck and blackbirds K . were to be seen passmw over it here and there. _ _ "©Good shooting off there in the: slews, Edith," marked the detective, as they walked along. «We‘ll try it later on," said Edith. "1I shouldn‘t _mind a little ducking if we only: had a boat." edos course our boat is supposed to be waiting. for us at the pass,” said Ned.~ "Those were the orders. I sent a man to the old Russian camps two weeks ago with orders to have a good boat sent up for us and left there. I have no doubt it has been done." l "f Then I tell you what,"" said the detective. "Let me go back up the mountain alone. T‘ll take good _care of myself and positively promise not to run ~any risk. While I‘m gone you can go duck shoot: _ ing, and try to get some idea of the big swamp, _ _ but for Heaven‘s sake don‘t get lost in it and ex— pect me to find you. Idon‘t want any such job as that." _ Nobody made any objection to this plan. The Unknown was always pleased to get off by him— self and often when they were in camp for any length _ of time the detective would disappear and be. gone for —|— days together. Sometimes he would give an account of hlmself upon _ his return, but oftener he would not. It was just ac— ‘cording to how he happened to feel. . _ ——They now pushed on and after a walk of about two miles came to the pass. f There was no mistaking it. A narrow canyon here penetrated the mountain and they could see that it ‘rose abruptly a little further on. _ ~It was the famous pass to the Barman Fields be— yond a doubt. Higher up they could see snow in the pass. The _ _ top of the ridge was perfectly white. l l AH W'}leed up the canyon for a short distance to get _ _ an idea of how it ran. — Before they had gone a dozen yards they came upon the boat. It lay under an overhanging ledge and was a sub- —stantially built affair, flat—bottomed and well adopted f i. to— pushmg about among the slews in the great _ swamp. yuc t Just, the thmg 1"‘ cried Ned turmng it over and .?’ havmg a look. We can finish our journey all right ‘ in that., What shall _we call 1t uk f&na;mejdc.”. iaV 3 C I see it isn‘t “No no ! 1 sand Edlth “We havea,naphtha, launch named for me, and I‘m not going to have. my name tacked on to this fliat—bottomed tub." «It shan‘t be named at all, then,"‘ declared Ned. «GCome now, Zed, are you ready to go off up to— the' Barman Fields? Wish yos dldn t have to ; but I sup— : pose one of us ought to go."" k: The detective declared himself quite ready, and a . . few moments later he startea up w1th his rlﬂe and .. snowshoes. They did not look for his return much before nlght the hut. boat down to the slew and launched it. «We‘ll bring it back full of ducks, and when we leave the hut we‘ll leave that poor fellow provisions. enough for a week at least,"‘ Young Klondike de— clared, and he had no more than made the remark, _ than Dick spied the man away up On the mountam f side. § : There he stood on a progectmg ledge, his bea,rskm flung over his shoulders. | He was gazing down at them attentively. chk gave him the hail and he and Ned shouted themselves hoarse, but the man just stood there starmg and _ never moved. f "Who can he be?" exclalmed Edlth he is a most mysterious person."‘ C ~ It was the Same old business. Again they found * themselves asking each other the same question : Who is that man?" j Certainly _ CHAPTER IV. THE LITTLE STRIKE ON THE EDGE OF SW AMP. 1»? "TarrE®! He moves at last! "Look out ! He‘s going to shoot A «Pshaw, Dick! His rifle wouldn‘ts carry thls far." ©Think not ?" j _"1‘m sure of it. See, he puts it down again. He . knows very well it won‘t. Now he‘s going away." Here they were still watching the mysterious stranger, who now suddenly turned and went off out _ of sight among the rocks, waving his hand as he dis— #k appeared. + ‘ Gone again!"‘ exclaimed Ned. . Well, Jlet hi 3 go.. What can we do about it. Wonder if he‘ll steal _ our goods, thouOh ? That‘s a little more to the point." But. Young Klondlke had thought of thls before they left the hut, and had already decided to take his "’ boat a.nd spent three hours duck shootmg all 16. the fEdlth suggested D1ck yHalet henmomrunaermametenypencurreini—unewrs ,.“. — Netrents l en t hotasesenone e ts "~i~_f.¢‘: : w & m — . a 3 3 ‘ * 2 Anpticepnirniersntiesieatenantencip uies nerowarerennientesonniantnd w 3 \exe m li n pacmermenermerectmeter ‘and it was arranged that he should come directly to 1-.;'-;; T4 Commmsmnnd As soon as he was gone, Ned and Dick dragged the. esns mrovire ve 5&'&*:_._*4 4 en es Revies e nike: sevters THE GREAT — | Refalses" seama i Ns e Gote xare c eeeazrire Ves kezs aeod Meomntmenipestens oourece omrei e poiirins y chances, so they all went off down the slew in the rertan "a s SCs 2 es odinl , : < \ mm nineinfietislinen s s eomeme ait itE i aKiiiep omm P doce se C mnbdniniye in tiniiimerintsemaet —""% * ~A/—— > wencennartnmenifht imcusnitensenma onb rastmnaic‘y enreratioangrtars sAdd exideteriecs 2s ie o it K.. ... emaaen on mdns io ataimitnininupommatine ie e en roftasgs . h Tend ETE rmrs l Te it er 1094 cce in l pedens in senas dn roninansres sc etn e nrsmevene. — = um % x s x i Coreumnomie~" i enmeemmgurer c—esuen prnmesny _ _ to go about your business. amegeiin e .o Gveincen.. en n on enonegene ntiee a s Ayscral a ndact Lo‘ r ) 4 . YOUNG KLONDIKE AND THE MAD MINER, turned to the hut, pulling up to the front of the slope ~in their boat. - ‘« Wonder if our things are all right?"‘ exclaimed Dick. "Do you know it has been worrying me con— siderably."" — . ; j Get inside and see," replied Ned. "I‘ll make the boat fast here." 34 ' Edith followed Dick, and in a moment Ned heard her calling : 1 <««He‘s been here!‘‘ she cried. "The madman has been here! He‘s left a letter for you, N ed, and, oh, you ought to see the way he has put the things." Ned hurried back to the hut and found that every— thing they owned had been thoroughly overhauled. Every box had been broken open, and theircontents _ _ now lay scattered about the hut in the most fantastic — fashion. 4 Out of the canned goods a pyramid had been Built in the middle of the floor. Out of Young Klondike‘s wet clothes—now dry—a stuffed figure had been made, and another out of Dick‘s. } , The trousers were filled with dried tundra moss, so _ that they stood upright on the floor, and upon a stick which was run down into one of the legs, the coats and vests, also stuffed with moss, were hung, and a cap hung over the top of each pole. These two figures faced each other, and looked like a pair of tailor‘s dummies. — Then Edith‘s clothes were all tied up in knots, and rolled into an immense wad, and tied with at least twenty strings. — Everything else was served in the same fantastic _ fashion, and naturally the boys did not like it very well. f «"The man is surely mad !"‘ declared Edith. "Why, my dress is ruined and as for my hat I shall simply have to throw it away." _ / «< It looks like the work of a parcel of schoolboys,"" declared Young Klondike ; " but where is that letter, Dick ?" ‘ «"Here," said Dick, taking it off the table. * I found t sticking in the sleeve of your coat." «©I declare it‘s addressed to me!"‘ exclaimed Ned. «It seems I am known, then. Well, we‘ll soon see what it‘s all about." The letter was sealed in a yellow envelope and ad— dressed to Young Klondike in a full round hand. Ned tore it open, finding that it read as follows : f YoUuNna@ KLoNDIK®E :—Why don‘t you go to work ? Why do you waste your time shooting ducks when there‘s work to be done? Your business is to dig for gold. I am your king and have a right to order you I do so order you. Go to work and dig. I‘m tired of it. You‘ll find the hole near the white rock. Remember all the gold you _ _dig belongs to me. GEorcE REx." __‘"Well, well! If that isn‘t the work of a mad— ___— man I‘ll give up !"‘ cried Ned.. " In fact, everything _ here proves that the fellow is off his base." We can‘t doubt it," said Dick. «* Well, the letter tells us his name, anyhow, and that is something." « His first name, Dick ?" ‘*Yes, and his last."" No 1: : - «<«Doesn‘t it say George Rex ?" <«Look here, Dick!" said Edith. knew more than that. «*I thought you Rex means king." _ +««Pshaw ! So it does! I did know it, but T‘d for— gotten. Say, Ned, there don‘t seem to be anything ‘missing here as far as I can make out." 8 es «Let‘s go right down to the white rock and see what there is in this letter,"" exclaimed Ned. "I have an idea we may meet him there." _ ©But where is this white rock ? idea ?" j , «<Not the faintest. I fancy we ought to be able to find it if it exists outside of the madman‘s mind." But the white rock was easier found than they an— ticipated. When they went out of the hut and took a look along the base of the cliffs, they could see ahead of them a great projecting rock which looked as if it was covered with snow. | 7 Yolg e «There you are!" cried Edith. "*There‘s your white rock." "It‘s a white rock, fast enough,"" said Ned, ""but. I don‘t see how one can expect to strike gold here at the edge of the swamp." «©Let‘s go over and see what it looks like,"" said Dick. "It can‘t do any harm." So they all walked over to the place, and when they reached it, there, sure enough, was a shaft sunk some eighteen feet down, right at the foot of the rock. A pick, a shovel, and other tools lay scattered about. There was also a rocker and several baskets for carrying earth. : «* If one man dug that hole it took him a thundering long time," said Ned. "1I must go down and see what the shaft is like." «I don‘t see any trace of gold among the sand here,""‘ said Edith, poking about with a stick. ««Perhaps it‘s been already washed," suggested Dick. <More than likely it has," replied Ned ; "anyhow, we must have a look at the showing below. How in thunder is one to get down there? There doesn‘t seem to be any windlass nor any ladder. Dick, would you mind going back to the hut after a rope? I‘ll overhaul this sand a bit while you are gone." _—©Certainly not,"" replied Dick, and away he went, and was soon back again with a good stout rope, of which there were several among the goods. _ Ned made a noose and fastened it under his arms. ~Dick wound the end of the rope around a stunted_— cedar tree which grew near by, and Young Klondike was lowered into the shaft. s «"See anything ?" called Edith, looking down. _ © Why, no; not yet. There may be gold enough here, though. The sides of the shaft have kind of caved in and the dirt is frozen. I shall have to do a _ Have you any } j P d 4 24 vG & ; ic 7 is B & & Aly * w ces r — 7 . s e eiany us 19 bectesand t Fipy ( j & yast wl eearia t s ol 700 x3 t > Cek mh e ob Jo Yoat P Hegatece= e T 3 aloss ma ied M o n lt o. 3 oi dfa o tss io e in ~ /s ht ‘,,;’, % ,"" d ,{;’,,’ peip e s aanaren ..‘ Cnlaie Ceror eeerip t e . qoi this ues + 1?;.9._)_;\' e dA w‘ h M s paalh cA eR Ee e LK s NC i es se y i4 e 7 3 oad e xt inA PBgettt sn Veve d ho al h@: ¢ VMI‘W n edyt in h SigAce Meuee vile ; 4 s Eo e § t ol ie ralt e anale o in 1 o ienss . snn Aewae iinge o Pm p j Woreenmeircaninne nasinnnenieiiin en it indiermaey. nA 4 tz Aorpdbiet k rebrnrhins is a Thn. o lt en m YOUNG KLONDIKE AND THE MAD MINER ~little digging before I can tell what the show really § $ io «What do you want ? The pick?" called Dick. | —_ * Yes, and the shovel.. T‘ll go right at it. It isn‘t "'F ‘frozen very hard. It will be easy enough dlgglng, 1 "think.""";, Dick let down the plck and shovel and offered to come down himself and help. : “No no! I can get along all right,"‘ said Ned. __«<Don‘t propose to do any great amount of work here . _anyhow ; it‘s too late in the day for that. & So Ned seized the pick and went to work breaking up the fallen earth. Some would have considered this good hard work, but Young Klondike was too well used to dlggmg in frozen ground to have any such idea. He soon had the loose clods broken up and shoveled — to one side. This exposed the wall of the shaft on the east and _ Ned gave it but one look when he shouted out : A strike! A strike!" «Gold !‘ cried Dick and Edith in a breath. ‘«<¥ou bet! mad that man may be, but there‘s method in his madness. There‘s gold here all right," _ _ «*Nuggets or dust? Or is it flake gold ?" _ «©Why, I reckon it‘s all three. . I can see the nug— 8. —gets and the flake gold, but of course I can‘t see the dust."" b _ "Can‘t you get some of it out ?" <«<Perhaps. It‘s mighty hard though." "Shan‘t I come down.and help ?" «No ; I think we won‘t go much further. T‘ll take some of this out and we‘ll carry it up to the hut and . thaw it After dinner we‘ll do a little panning. Hello! Who is that shouting? The madman again ?‘" ; , _@Nol It‘s the Unknown! He‘s coming. By gracious, I‘m glad to see him back again, too! I was more than half afraid he‘d get lost up there in the snow."‘ 7 Thus saying Dick answered the Unknown‘s call, and in a few moments the detective had joined them at the mouth of the shaft. . ©What in thunder are you fel]ows doing down here ?"" he demanded. "Mining again! Will this ‘ " thing never stop?" | f "We are trying to work the madman‘s mme,” said Dick, "and Ned has just made a small strike." «©Good enough! ‘Who‘s been at work in the hut ? I see some one has been raising the very old mischief there ?" «We suppose it‘s the madman,"‘ said Edith, " but, of course, we can‘t actually tell. Did you findany trace of the poor fellow, Zed ty «* Not the faintest. I prowled around in the snow for more than two hours. The wind has leveled every— — thing off clean. All our tracks are obliterated, and Ats Just one smooth white field. There are plenty of _ holes in the cliffs where the poor fellow could have ' _found shelter and he may have started baok for the t,[ "I ‘enough of the gold—bearing earth out to make his — What about Pierre ?. “In that case you would have— found his tra,cks, wouldn‘t you : 23 ‘at «I suppose so. Didn‘t see any sign of them, _ though. Still he may have gone along over the cliffs."" _ Now all this was rather unsatisfactory, and it cast _ a gloom over the whole party to feel that the unfor— tunate guide was probably dead. ' But Ned did not stop working, and he soon had test. This Dick hoisted up in a bucket and then Ned: oame + out of the shaft, and they packed the frozen clods in the buckets up to the hut. It was rich. There was no doubt about 1t could see the gold sticking out all over it. — Nedy,: however, was determined to make a closer test than this. They had made a small strike at the edge of the Great Swamp, and there was no telling what use they might wish to make of it later on. . There was a big tub outside the hut and this was taken in by the fire, filled with water and the frozen y dirt dumped in. "©Now, then, let it stay and soak,""‘ said Ned. "I‘m as hungry as a wolf, and we must have. din= _ ner. Time enough to do our panning afterward. Who knows but the madman may favor us with a call." - CHAPTER V. THE MAD MINER SHOWS HIMSELF AGAIN. C WHaAT‘s the matter with you, Dick ? feel well ?" f "Tired," said Dick. "Going without sleep last . night did it, I suppose. I‘m dead tired, that‘s all."" Dick had been rather dumpy during dinner, and now lhe leaned his head on his hand and closed his . eyes. § Get into one of the bunks and take a snooze,"‘ said — Young Klondike. " You‘ll feel all right again after _ forty winks." * I suppose I should." " I‘m sure you will. — Try it." « But how about the panning? leave you to do that alone." ©Oh, Edith will help me out with the pannmg,” de- clared Ned, and Dick turned into the bunk and was _ fast asleep in a moment.— The Unknown offered his services at the pan, but Ned would not have them, so he sat down by the . table and watched Young Klondike and Edith as they ¥] did their work. The earth was now entirely thawed, a,nd had settled & down into the bottom of the tub. Ned scooped out a lot of it in the pan, and Edlth _held a pail to catch the water as he washed it out. «* There‘s gold here, plenty of 1t & decla,red Young Don‘t you _ us They, ‘ ” I don‘t want to awy [ uB 6. 4 Bot old j 4 s 10 * _ YOUNG KLONDIKE AND THE MAD MINBEE o Klondike. "*Some of these nuggets are really quite good size." - ««Think it would pay to work that shaft, dear boy ?" demanded the Unknown. e «©I shouldn‘t wonder. Still it would interfere with our plans to remain here. Besides, I don‘t feel much like putting in time on another man‘s claim." _ "That‘s what‘s the matter. ‘You are ordered to do it by the king, though, and the king must be obeyed." _@Ahem! Yes! The king must be obeyed !*‘ cried. a voice at the window. Of course, all eyes were turned in the direction of the sound. Even Dick was on the alert being awak— _ened at once by the strange voice. There stood the mad miner, still wearing his bear— skin, the head hanging down over his shoulders. f He was a man of about forty years, dressed in a dirty buckskin suit, which could be seen beneath the bearskin. His long hair hung down loosely over his shoulders, and his eyes gleamed strangely. He carried a knotted club in his hand. 18 _Drgp that pan !"‘ shouted the strange figure, be— ginning to climb in at the window. "Drop that pan ! I‘m the king of the Klondike! All the gold in Alaska is mine, and you are thieves trying to rob me !" ; «He‘s mad !‘ exclaimed the Unknown, seizing his riflie. "He‘s as mad as a March hare !" - Ned dropped the pan and threw himself in front of Edith. Dick sprang out of the bunk and seized his rifle, too. S3 But there seemed to be no necessity for the rifles, :,for the mad miner flung his club into one corner, and pressing his hands against his sides, burst out into a wild laugh. § : _©Come, come, neighbor! Brace up and give an ac— count of yourself !"‘ cried the detective., "Let‘s know who you are."" . «I told you,"" replied the man, checking his laugh for the moment. "I‘m the king of the Klondike‘ H#., q. ha ! . Ha. ha,. hal" § "I salute your majesty,"" replied Ned, in a very serious tone, at the same time making a profound bow. "I have followed out your orders, you see. You told me to work, and I am working. I have dug out a lot of dirt and now I am going to wash it. The gold is yours, however. I‘m not a thief, I assure you. Whatever comes out you shall have." f ‘«Rats! Rubbish! Who‘s talking to you?" cried the man, who evidently had not the faintest recollec— tion of the letter. "What do you all mean by taking possession of my house here? Are you going to pay me rent? I‘m a business man. The rent of this house is a million dollars a month. Iwant my money now." _And the mad miner began pounding on the table to f _enforce his demand, his eyes blazing wildly. Edith got away off into the corner, for he seemed particularly attracted by her pretty face. . * We must humor him,‘‘ whispered the Unknown, and he walked up to the man and held out his hand. _ ‘Why, how are you?" he exclaimed. *®®Never recognized you until now. — Of course we‘ll pay. A million dollars is nothing to us, only we haven‘t got it with us. T‘ll write you a check." «©Come, that‘s the way to do business,"" exclaim— ed the man, shaking hands. * Are you going to stay here long? I ask because I expect my friends, the Duke of Greenland and the Emperor of Siberia, to dine with me this day week. I shall want the use of the kitchen fire then, because I have to roast a mastodon that I‘ve caught, and am fattening up in the woods." ' < . «© Certainly,"" said the Unknown, with perfect: gravity. ‘" We‘ll get out that day. you the check now.?" : "I wish you would. I‘ve got to pay my laundry bill, and it will come handy. I suppose you know the Emperor of China is doing my washing this winter ? I believe I told you that before." <©Of course you did, but you didn‘t tell me your— name; I shall have to write it in the check, you | know." h «My name? Do you insist in having my name ?" «Well, isn‘t it necessary ?" j ©I don‘t know. Do you carry your name in your it ? ~Bay.?"" . The man thrust his face close to the Unknown‘s and seemed to be angry, but Ned and Dick could scarcely keep a straight face, for, in spite of the ab— surdity of these questions, they hit the Unknown hard. ~ : «©I lost my name about ten years ago,""‘ he replied, with the utmost gravity. ‘*I haven‘t seen it since." «‘And I left mine up on the rocks. T‘ll go and get it!‘‘ cried the madman. "By—by! See you later ! Whoop! Here she goes !" Hesprang upon the table, and jumping down on the other side flung open the window and leaped out all in an instant. A The last they saw of him he was running up the rocks laughing wildly. They were able to follow him with their eyes for a few moments and then he disap— > peared. « Well!""‘ exclaimed Edith, " that was a visitation ! The poor fellow is stark, staring mad !"‘ _ $ No mistake about it,""‘ said Young Klondike. © You handled him well, Zed, I must say. It seems terrible. I wish we could do something for him, but I suppose there is no use thinking of that." «‘I don‘t see what we can do for him,"‘ the detective replied ; "he won‘t stand still an instant,"and he can‘t keep his mind fixed upon one subject long enough to give an account of himself." 4 * " Or tell his name,"" laughed Dick. <‘BExactly."" ««Of course he is mad. Any xna,n who won‘t tell his _ 8 name can‘t be anything else."" _ ©Certainly not, dear boy. Youw are quite right. __ Shall I write — pocket ? Do you give it to every tramp who asks for — ls Pt '-:"T"?,"_', he was mad, and I don‘t think you will be the last !*‘ YOUNG KLONDIKE AND THE MAD MINER. — ' way . You are not the first one who has told the old Unknown _ loaded with gold." ; nothing to do with it. ©Suppose you prove your sanity by telling your name now,"‘ suggested Ned. ©" You don‘t want to be classed with that poor wretch, I‘m sure." «* T‘ll think of it, dear boy, but we must be moving. We can‘t fool away our time here.‘ «©Don‘t know about that. This pan 1s pretty well Work was now resumed on the panning. — The yield _ _ of dust, nuggets and flake gold was highly satisfac— A.tory. _ Not a doubt existed that a rich claim could be de—, veloped there at the edge of the tundra. ‘ But after due consideration it was decided to have Young Klondike had come into this desolate region for a definite purpose, and he did not wish to be turned away from it now. ©We‘ll start through the Great Swamp to—mor— w,"‘ he declared just before they turned in for the night, which passed quietly. Ned, Dick and, the Un— known took turns watching, but nothing occurred. Young Klondike was the last on guard, and once _away along toward morning he heard a wild cry up on the cliffs and thought the madman was coming, but he did not show himself, nor was the ery heard again. Between half past five and six o‘clock Ned, who was sitting by the fire at the time dozed off, some— — _ thing which he ought not to have done of course, and when he awoke he was greatly vexed to find that the Unknown had wakened up and gone out. ©Confound it! I shall never hear the last of that now,""‘ he thought. ©"Why couldn‘t I have kept awake just at that unfortunate time !*‘ He hurried out of the hut and shouted for the de— tective, but got no answer; breakfast was eaten with— out the detective, and when the sun rose he had not : _yet returned. " Bother!"‘ exclaimed Edith. "I wish Zed could have refrained from treating us to one of his mys— terious disappearances just about this time. I wanted to see an early start into the swamp; we‘ve got to pick our way, and it will be a bad business to get is _ caught in the dark on the tundra and no place to camp for the night." Now it should be mentioned that Pierre, the guide, assured them that they would be able to make the passage of the tundra between daylight and dark— _ ness.. Young Klondike expected to be clear of the Great _ BSwamp before sundown and to reach Klopstock, the . first mining camp on the old Russian diggings, _shortly after dark. _ But in order to do this it was necessary to start at once and, of course, they could not start without the {l}, — Unknown. : here," said Ned, *‘Well, there‘s no use in fooling away our time . , y ‘ * Of course we may as well go to "‘but what are you out of that shaft ?"> I suppose so,"" replied Dick, going to do with the gold you dig Keep it and use it to help this poor man. As soon _ as we reach Klopstock we will hire a party to return here and hunt him up and take him to Forty Mile . where he can be comfortably cared for. The gold will probably pay all expenses, and if it don‘t I‘ll add more to it."" : f ' *A good idea," said Edith. just as though we were working for ourselves."" So they all returned to the shaft, and put in an hour hoisting pay dirt, and a second hour washing it out. . The yield was large. Young Klondike had a bet— ter opinion of the mine ever than before. As he and Dick stood talking about it while Edith was sewing up some small bags to carry the gold in, they were suddenly startled by hearing the Un— known‘s shout up on the cliffs. ©Look out for him! He‘s coming !‘‘ the detective cried. Of course all eyes were turned in the d1rect10n of the cries, and up on top of the first ledge they saw . the madman running for all he was worth, closely pursued by the Unknown. He set up a wild yell as he caught sight of them, and with a quick movement of his arms, flung off the _ _ bearskin, running on without it, his long hair flying in the wind, while in his hand he clutched a small bag which seemed to contain gold. The detective seized the bearskin and held it up. Look out for him, boys. He‘s mad !‘‘ yelled the Unknown. He had no more than spoken, when the wild looking man who had shed the bearskin leaped off the rock. "It is gold ! Gold !"‘ he shouted, waving the bag. *I‘m the king of the Klondike! I‘m the richest man on earth !" : * We won‘t shoot unless we have to !""‘ cried Ned, flinging up his rifle to be prepared for the worst. — "©Stop him! Stop him!‘‘ shouted the detective. $ Don t hurt the poor wretch, but stop him if you can. Thls, however, was something easier said than done. The mad miner ran like a deer, steering away from the boys and making for the tundra. f Ned tried to intercept him, but it was no use. Unless he fired there was no such thing as stopping the man. An instant later and he gained the tundra, where he plunged in among the moss and disappeared. "*There!"‘ cried the Unknown, "that‘s my luck again. my man, and now just a,t the last moment he es— capes.‘ *I couldn‘t help it !"‘ answered Ned. "Don‘t blame me. chase him down here just at this particular time." The Unknown jumped down off the rock and came s up panting. 6€ Sure enough. I suppose you could not know ‘" he «We‘ll work aWa,y ' By the Jumping Jeremiah, I thought I had . How was I to know that you were going to _YOUNG KLONDIKE AND THE MaD ""iMii'NER. éa;id. (ee Ye'gods and little fishes ! I set my heart on solving this mystery, but I see it is not to be." _ You‘ve got his bearskin, anyway,"" said Edith. "I‘m sorry for that. The poor fellow will freeze to. death without it." “And don‘t blame me for that,""‘ said the detective. "How was I to know that he was going to throw it off ?"~" «What I blame you for Zed, is because you will go —off without letting us know,"" said Ned. "Here it is '.,a,lmost noon, and we are still fooling here, while we ought by rights to be five miles down the swamp." "I didn‘t intend to be gone so long,"" said the Unknown. "I got on his trail and followed it. Came "upon him under the rocks away up on the side of the mountain. As soon as he saw me he gave one yell and started off on the run. I chased him down here, and you know the rest. Yegodsand little fishes, I‘m all winded, and all for nothing, too !"‘ « Did he have the bag of gold in his hand When you —saw him first?"‘ Ned asked. } ©Y¥es, he did,"" replied the detective. —""He was look— ing into it. I think his madness must run that way. I suppose he thought of nothing but gold until he went looney. That‘s the way I account for it, at all events." ; — ‘© But where has he gone now : p» asked Edith. «He‘ll drown himself in the tundra. —More than like— ly he‘ll tumble into one of the slews." But even allowing that such was the case there _seemed no chance of doing anything. Some search was made for the madman, but it came_ to nothing, and a little later Young Klondike‘s party started off on their journey through the Great —Bwamp. It was late—too late entlrely to attempt it, but Ned was determined and would listen to nothing. «We shall be able to find our way, I‘m sure,""‘ he declared, "and I can‘t hear to any further delay. Those mountain peaks over there lie just back of the _ old Russian diggings Pierre told me. They will be u% our guides, and if we keep them constantly in view —I don‘t see how we are going to get lost." So the goods were loaded into the boat and the start down the slew began. f Tt was dreary work pulling along between those two _great walls of moss, but this was what they had to expect now for some hours to come, so they all made ; o+ *~the best of it, and Ned and Dick buckling down to busmess, sent the heavily loaded boat flying along the CHAPTER VI. LOST IN THE GREAT SWAMP. 2 THERE goes the sun, N ed We shall have ylup soon, mow." . . : Dick Luckey was standmg up in the boa,t looking off over the tundra.. it The sun, as red as blood was Just smkmg below the horizon. C se s ~ i It was moss, moss everywhere, as far as the eye _ could reach, until it penetrated into the dim distance, and there were the snow—capped mountains, further off than ever, seemingly, and yet Young Klondike‘s _ party had been rowing steadily all the afternoon. Ned made no reply. Edith watched his face anx— 1ously The Unknown was whistling a tune, and seemed to be trying hard to keep his spirits up. «What‘s the matter with you all?" cried Dick. «Usually I‘m the one to get the blues, but on this occasion I seem to be the only one. who hasn‘t. got‘»’i them. Ned, do you give up ? 2 ' no doubt about it. We arelost in the Great Swamp {4 4,-_ ««Pitch him overboard! By the Jumping Jere— ﬁ%; k miah, pitch him overboard !" cried the Unknown., f "We won‘t have a croaker among us, even 1f 1t is . Young Klondike himself." ‘«Time !"‘ exclaimed Ned. _ * It‘s—— "It‘s all my fault!‘" broke in the Unknown. “I wo know what you are going to say! Out with it! It‘s. ¢ all my fault. If L hadn‘t gone after the mad miner _ we would be in sight of Klopstock at the present mo— '- ment. — Isn‘t that it ?" : f t‘ Wrong.!"‘. cried. Ned.. ‘‘No. it isn‘t it at all. What I was about to remark was that it‘s time we came to some conclusion. Here we‘ve been rowing about aimlessly for the past hour. We are out of the main slew, and we have been through so man y cross slews that to expect to find our way back to it is hopeless, night is coming on, and as Dick very truly remarks we have all got the blues, and why not ? We are lost in the Great Swamp." "There! That will do!" cried the Unknown. . 66 Now, don‘t say any more; good will come out of this. I shouldn‘t wonder a bit if it led to our making a blg strike." f f ‘‘Gold here in the swamp, ch?" la,ughed Ned. «<You are more credulous than I thought you were. No, no; we need not expect that !" - “And why not ?" * It isn‘t possible." «‘Wasn‘t there a man about your size, who read me a mining lecture the other day ? Didn‘t you tell me that these swamps were the latest kind of for— mation, and that the gold —bearing sand underhes them all P" s ~«*Certainly T did, but are we to burrow down through the moss and mud to make a strike? Zed, don‘t you be a fool !" . oo ©There! That‘s a sockdolager !‘‘ cried the Un— known, good—humoredly. ©"After that I haven‘t a word to say except this: I‘m going to hope in splte $ of you, and you can‘t stop me, try how you will." l _ But in spite of the Unknown s efforts to keep the1r ; spirits up, and that, was Just all his conversation . 1 amounted to, the _' oo . Ietectlve,‘ " and ; It soon grew dark but the boys kept stead1ly<row- ; f over the tundra and once more all was still. ; ing 1 in spite of their great fatlgue. There was only one thmg to do and that was to journey again in the mormng —This plan Ned proposed to adopt later. He deter- mlned to keep on rowing as long as he could. tm s Ed1th, you go to sleep,""‘ he said. " Make your— self as comfortable as you can, and we will keep on gomg until midnight. If we don‘t strike anything then we‘ll g1ve up and let her drift t1ll mormng, and n try it again."" _"T‘d rather take my turn rowmg, "I‘m fresh compared to you." ‘*So am 1,""‘ put in the Unknown who had not spoken in some time. : C Of c course, you are," said Ned. You always were, ‘ replied Edith. > you know.‘ — <*Now,: then, now, thenl Still down on the poor . T ~Unknown?*~ | % "I‘m not down on anybody, but Why don‘t you suggest something." — _ Which is as much as to say that I got you 1nto .. bhis serape and ought to get you out t , " Am I right ?" ««Perhaps."" _®Good enough. Now Pi make a suggestion. Take the next slew to the left and go that way." U But that will take us away from the mountams We are heading for." * BExacily." _« You can‘t really mean for us to do that ?" ‘I.do mean it." ‘‘And why ?" _ Because it is my belief that those are the wrong 'mountams. We have become completely turned — around, and are working back the way we came." uts He‘s right !‘. cried Dick. ‘‘Zed is right. Those are the mountains we left behind us. We‘ve worked round in a cirecle without knowing it." % : « Motion accepted and suggestion to be followed !" : gct'lalmed Ned, cheerfully. "Into the next le[t-hand ‘There‘ll be luck from this moment !"‘ cried the f By the Jumping Jeremiah, what‘s that ? A change is coming now !"— —__ It was a strange cry heard in the distance over the — tundra. _ Whether it was the cry of some night bird or some other animad{, or whether it came from a hu— man throat, Young Klondike could not tel. “Really that is very remarkable! !" he exclaimed. " What can it mean ny , <"Don‘t ask me," replied the Unknown. "Here we‘ve been—going along on a dead level so to speak, for hours, and now, just as soon as you express your . lllmgness to take my . valuable adv1ce, the change «‘That‘s what, seen since we started in‘ on the slews.” "ee The madman 1» cr1ed l\led and chk m one breath .for the ery now repeated was distinctly human It was a wild, mad 1augh. Three times it rang out The boys threw new life into their rowing, and the boat shot ahead with redoubled speed. yol ols They had not gone far before they came to a cross slew on their left, and true to his resolve to follow the 8 Unknown‘s advice bllndly Young Klondike: ‘turned the boat into it. i Soon the detective gave a satlsﬁed chuckle, wh1ch showed that there was something else on his mind. «‘What now, Zed ?" demanded Young Klondlke. "*Spit it out." «* Why, here s a d1scovery !"" eried the detectlve, looking over the side of the boat, " don‘t you: see ?P" & No I‘ll be hanged if 1 do.""..._ 3. 475 can’t see anything, either,"" said Dick. “Zed I haven‘t the most remote idea what you mean." s "Why, there‘s a current here!"‘ cried the Unknown.\ § A distinct current ; the first we‘ve _ ©I declare there is," said Ned, after a little. "I should never have noticed it, though." tss «Oh, it‘s here, all right. Nothing very swift about, w2 it, but it‘s a current just the same." ‘ «‘And what does that imply, Zed ?" demanded Edith. “I don‘t just see what you are driving at C must say.‘ * Why, it‘s plain enough,"" said the detective. "It implies that there is a body of moving water some— & where near here, of which this slew is the outlet." < I wonder if it can be the Great Swamp lake ?" éex— _ claimed Ned. " Pierre told me about it. He said that there was a lake here in the swamp and islands on it, and that a gang of toughs and outlaws, who werey _ driven out of Dawson City last spring had ta@ $ refuge here, and were supporting themselves by hunt ing and fishing and robbing travelers between J ake‘s and the old Russian diggings." > tF )* Hello !"‘ cried the Unknown. tioned that before."" _ 5 « No, because I did not want to worry Edith. — It‘s time enough to tackle trouble when you meet it. E. meant to tell you at the first alarm." .«©By the Jumping Jeremiah, that‘s what we‘ve °‘ot' Had we_ 18 ahead of us then. It‘s the great lake sure. better turn back ?" ‘£:No, dec1dedly not. What do we care for those fellows? We are quite able,to defend ourselves. There are islands in the lake and on one of them we' A_?‘_r can camp for the night." They pulled on steadily, continuing to discuss the' situation. The current in the slew seemed to grow _ stronger. «Too—hoo! Too—hoo! I‘m the king of— the Klondike !" ran°' out upon the still nlght ain:s>. - _ . The mad miner "f crled Ed1th y $$ ©You never men— _ _ For a time they heard no more of the_ o strange cry, but at last it came again and thls t1me~ so close to them that all were startled. oi Sn ce YoUN'G‘ KLONDIKE AND THBE MAD ‘MIINER, s t By the Jumping Jeremiah, that‘s what !"‘‘ echoed the detect1ve, "‘and there he is !" _At the same instant a small boat suddenly shot } ‘_across the slew at a little distance ahead. The moon had now risen, and there was light enough to see the long—haired figure who plied the paddle. It was the mad miner, sure enough ! He waved his hand to them, shouting : «©This way, my faithful subjects! Your king com— mands it! This way and I‘ll make you all million— ‘aires !" Then the boat passed into the tundra and was lost to view. «Shall we follow him ?" cried Ned. « Decidedly,""‘ replied the detective. " But he may lead us into trouble." —.«‘It is possible. On the other hand he evidently knows the lay of the swamp, and may help us to work out of the trouble we are already in." f They pulled on briskly, coming in a moment to a cross slew, just as they had supposed would be the case. Looking along the narrow opening through the moss, they could see nothing of the mad miner, but they could still hear him calling out in that same strange fashion, although they could no longer dis— tinguish words. ; _«We‘ll follow right on,"" said the detective. ""See, the current is here, too, and this slew works round in a semicirele, and practically comes from the same direc— tion as the other. I haven‘t the least doubt that the lake is near." And so it proved. clear of the tundra. _ A broad sheet of water, studded with many islands, lay before them, but the mad miner was nowhere to Be seen: " Come! This is better at all events!"‘ cried the detective. ‘""*We‘ll make for that island where the trees are and go into camp for the night." Soon they were at the island, and Ned and Dick pulled the boat up on the shore. It was certainly a great relief from that everlasting In a few moments they shot _aimless rowing, but the situation was but little _changed in reality. Y oung Klondike and his friends were still lost in the Great Swamp. CHAPTER VIIL. THE GREAT STRIKE ON THE ISLAND. It‘s almost sunr1se. There‘s lots 155 "*UTP. Dick, up! of work to be done! Dick, who was slumbering under the brush shelter which had been hastily constructed the night before, sprang up, and began rubbing his eyes. _ <**Hello, Ned ! What made you let me sleep go#f" he exclanned " Y By. I declare it‘s almost dayhght 1. Don‘t you mcean to move out of this?" . > ««Not to—day, Dick. The programme has changed. ”»' i Have you given up the idea of go— What, what ? ing on to the old Russian didgings 8 \ «©For the present, yes. f «Humph! That can only mean one thmg You‘ve made a strike," ‘‘Y¥es and no., TI‘ve struck a good prospect, but I can‘t say I‘ve made a strike." "Just as I expected. It‘s always our . luck Where‘s Edith and the Unknown ?" e "©Over on the other island." y ©Cruising about the lake while I slept, eh‘P Well, that I call hardly a fair shake. You know well enough that I want to do my share of the work." But you were so tired, Dick, we dec1ded to let you sleep." Dick went down to the water‘s edge and washed his face and hands. All the time he was doing it his. eyes were roaming among the other islands. He was trying to locate EKdith and the Unknown, and at last he succeeded. *They are over there!" he exclaimed, pointing t« an island at no great distance away. ‘‘‘Yes," replied Ned. ~«What took them there? What do you know ?" _ "Why, it‘s the mad miner again,‘‘ replied Ned. «« Between two and three o‘clock this morning he sud~ denly made us one of his queer calls." «* Here ?" x ol § .. No; we heard him on that island. I was watch—_ ing at the time—it was shortly after you had turned in—and his cry awakened the Unknown. We couldn‘t _ make out exactly what he said at first, and then he _ came down to the shore and yelled out plain enough : ‘Dig here, and you‘ll all be millionaires.‘ * «* And then I‘ll warrant he disappeared." «That‘s what he did, Dick, and where he went to or how he ever got on the island in the first place, wa haven‘t the faintest idea." ‘‘And you went over there ?" t5¥es." "Why didn‘t you wait for daylight ?" ‘"‘Why, on account of the fire, to be sure." There was a big fire blazing away on the 1sland and Ned went on to explain how they had suddenly seen it blaze up shortly after the mad miner disap= peared. s "There can‘t be the least doubt but what he light» — ed it,""‘ he added. "He‘s a mysterious creature. There was the wood all piled up and blazing away like a house afire when we got there. We‘ve kept the fire going ever since, and it isn‘t going to take us long to get down to business, as you will see when we get over there. Come, let‘s go now. We‘ve moved all our stuff over to that island except your belongings and we‘ll take those now."" f There was a mysterious twinkle in Ned‘s eye as. Dick got into the boat, which made his partner feel sure that he was keeping something back. _ 5. ces BR .,r:‘j; MMELIOO xk st oo ‘LS‘JA- ermgart hart id Eon a m To ces Su Lt io: ded ax N C ME Ext se U mes mtmencl . “‘You ve got a surprlse\ for me, old man," marked as they rowed along over the lake. * Who was telling you ?" demanded Ned. m akes you say that?" *T can read it in your face." a. Well, then, you read my face rlght Dick. —Ihave got a surprise." "What « I knew it. — What is it ?" aa 66 G’Old 1>> _ j > . A fSA strike already? Ithought you said——" _"*Wait! Here we are, you shall see for yourself. Here comes Edith and the Unknown to see how you take it. Now, then, prepare to be surprised." The boat had reached the shore of the other island by this time, and Dick could see that the fire was burning down in the bottom of a gully, which seemed to extend entirely across the wooded islet. & é He knew what that meant well enough. i# Here was just as much digging saved as the gully — aad depth, and if gold was to be found at all it might 3 't.e expected to make a strike at a depth of a few feet. To understand this it is necessary to know a little e country. It does not occur in quartz veins as is the case in f .Qahforma and other places. Oh, no! In the Klon— ike the conditions are very different. Here the gold is found in black sand at a depth of bout twenty feet below the top soil. : Sometimes it is only fifteen, sixteen or seventeen feet down; at others it runs twenty—two, or even as _ much as twenty —five, but the average is about twenty, S as we have said. _ Now, it would seem an easy task to d1g a hole twenty feet deep and strike this gold sheet, and so it _ would be if the ground was not always frozen to a _ depth of from four to six feet. _ _Even the summer sun is not strong enough to bring »ggthe frost out of the ground in most parts of Alaska, 14 so the usual way is to build a frost fire and melt it out, _ but here in the gully which was already down some fourteen feet below the level, gold could be looked for — at the limit of the frost, or a trifle beyond it. In short, -"5} from three to five feet was all that it would be neces— fd) sary to dig in order to fully demonstrate the value of : this prospect. o ‘OIf‘s a good chance if there is any chance at all !"‘ eried Dick. * We ought to be able to settle this _thing up in one day." * By the Jumping J eremiah, it‘s settled now!" _roared the Unknown, catching this remark of Dick‘s "‘as they came ashore. "Didn‘t you tell him about ;lt Ned‘?" R s —_‘©‘There! Now you‘ve spoiled the surprise I had in waiting for Dick,"" said Young Klondike. "*No se to try to keep secrets. ‘There it is, Dick!" f Dick‘s eyes opened wide as Ned pointed to a clump of trees near by, for he saw that what he had taken -for a stone lying under one of the trees was simply _a nugget of tremendous size. f Th1s was Young Klond1ke § surpr1se. He explalned he re—_ 2 bout the way gold is usually dlscovered in the Klon— that they found it in the 0Pully, a short t1me after I_( j they landed. . "‘And that‘s what the mad miner did for us, Dick," said Edith.. "Positively I begin to suspe‘ot»,. that he may not be so very much mad after all." _ _ Why, it‘s great !"‘ said Dick, turning the nug et over. "And you mean to say that you found this: thing lying right there in the gully ?" _ — » «That‘s what we did,"" replied the detective, “and I‘ve been up and down that same gully about a hun— . dred and forty—four times since, but not a trace of a. | nugget can I find." «©Big nuggets don‘t grow on every bush," said Young Klondike. ing my mind, Dick ?" ‘‘"Not a bit of it."" «‘Don‘t you think it is better for us to stay here than to go on to Klopstock ?" * Till we‘ve proved the value of these diggings, de— cidedly. We may be able to go on.to the old Russian diggings some other trip, but if we have any luck here on the island I suppose you‘ll turn back ?" | «« Decidedly. _ In fact, I think we‘d better go back with the nuggets, even if we don‘t find anything else."" Dick was of the same opinion, and the last question he asked about the matter was how much Ned consid—_ ered the big nugget worth. Now, this was a question— very difficult to answer, for like most of these big nuggets, this one was mixed with quartz rock and hardened sand. The explanation of this is found in the fact that all ° gold originally occurs in quartz veins. Convulsions of nature in the past have broken the rocks in which these veins occur, and great floods have washed the loosened gold down into the valleys and on to the: low lands in the various forms in which it is found. Once in awhile a big piece of the old vein rock re—— mains unbroken, with the gold bristling out all overit. Such was Young Klondike‘s big nugget. Probably § it was eighty per cent. gold. On the other hand, b1g nuggets have been found in California almost pure. Ned thought that this nugget ought to run up to about fifteen thousand dollars value. In the same connection it may be me.ntioned' that a; * big nugget was found in the early days of California, which panned out thirty—three thousand dollars, We are not aware that any larger nugget than this was. ever found. _ But Young Klondike‘s nugget was big enough to — make him feel every ambition to push operations in the gully, and all that day and the next and the one following, our friends continued work on their new. prospect. _ i The frost ran a little deeper than they expected, and took a day and a half to thaw out. . —Then, when they began to dig, they found that a lot of clay had been washed down into the gully, which had to be removed. This took them down about six feet, and as the clay f was firmly bedded, it proved very hard digging. «© Do you blame me now for chang- 6 i awes «.,,,.._._-‘.__‘__..-‘,_..‘_ (Nfeime pemennmecmron prom ym y creemprrme ermmamr ie arenarmmrone ze mssy npemmignors, rormmanire emmepmenenermmenore on re meer rararonmmmpgpmeer ooo %e mmgpemmo,mes rmesmemer —— ensevensncys ork‘ss w ce onlA detinatlt w mt emg it o on cmamopae in hm c soms e : a f ts s s e # stes. crARA $ % F 2oaze e mm en Sm Sn o dn c Ach ie o hh mt e bncnatnnniing uns inﬁ in ooo on ie e on berfeaem o t ierenere ons on in nc eron s n iemarsm se en td ¢ s ie nes s i maporess maghi ocm delnd ue in Th renneimavneamiy fereins emtattinenmert en lih hi Fegpes Nee regeriecwnn ns since acquired enough to satisfy anyone. _YOUNG KLONDIKE AND THE wm (aungR. s _ After they got 'through the clay the black sand be— gan to appear, and toward night, on the third day, _ the first trace of color appeared in the pan. _ Young Klondike washed out four or five pansful, and the yield was about a hundred dollars. «©We‘ve certainly struck it,""‘ he declared, as they _sat down to supper that night in one of the brush shelters which had been built on the bluff overlooking the lake. "It‘s my opinion that to—morrow will be _ one of the most successful days we ever put in." "If something don‘t turn up to stop us off on the work,"" said the Unknown. "It‘s pretty apt to be our luck to have things run that way." But the Unknown‘s croaking went for nothing. Next day the weather still held fine and every— _ thing went as smoothly as possible. The results were startling. — By noon, Ned, who kept right on digging while Dick and the others did the hoisting and washing, ran into a nest of small nuggets which promised to | prove almost inexhaustible. f | The hoisting of the pay dirt previously dug was then stopped and all hands gave their attent1on to this new find. The result was that by the time the sun went down over the Great Swamp nearly ten thousand dollars in gold had been worked out of the shaft in the gully. It was no longer a prospect that hole on the island, it was a mine. Young Klondike had made a big strike once more. CHAPTER V III. STRANGE CRIES IN THE NIGHT. ALL this time nothing had been seen or heard of the mad miner, but Young Klondike was destined to have another remarkable experience with him before any more gold digging was done. - It happened about twelve o‘clock. Ned was on the _ watch, as no night was allowed to pass without strict guard being kept. So far nothing had been seen nor heard of the gang of toughs which was said to make its headquarters in the Great Swamp, and Young Klondike was almostiin— clined to doubt their existence; nevertheless on the ground that eternal vigilance is the price of safety he insisted upon the watch being kept up. It was a beautiful night, bright moonlight, but even the lunar radiance could not altogether dim the luster of the Arctic stars. As Ned paced up and down the bluff he thought he had never seen such a night, and he fell into a sort of waking dream, pondering upon all the wonderful ad— véentures that had befallen him since he came to the Klondike. As far as gold was concerned these boys had long It was the love of adventure which kept them st1ll in the coun- es In spite of its many hardslnps they had. grown vat try. used to their life and were not inclined to change. «I must really take a run down to New York next winter,"‘ thought Ned. want to see there, and besides I‘d like to see how the old place looks." ««There‘s lots of people I . l The thought had searcely crossed his m1nd when f f his attention was suddenly attracted to a light which. appeared on the other s1de of the lake right at the edge of the swamp. "What in thunder is that?" murmured Ned. «©Can it be that the madman is gomg to pay us a _ visit again."" FKor fully five minutes he watched the light. . It seemed to remain stationary. have supposed that somebody was over there fishing, but strain his _eyes as he would, Ned could see no sign of a boat. @ \ He was just about to call Dick, who was next on the watch, when the light began to move toward the _ island, and at the same moment as many as a dozen One might almost _ shots were heard ringing out over the tundra, and — mingled with the sounds came wild cries, strangely mournful and pleading. ' They were in many voices, too, and some seemed to be the cries of women. All this time the light was advancing rapidly. cries came from far beyond it, but Ned still could see no boat. . — Puzzled beyond measure, for the shots were still heard occasionally, and the cries kept right up, he ran to the shelter and aroused chk hastily explammg ' what was going on. Indeed, it was scarcely necessary to explain the situation, for the cries were very distinct. "There‘s something going on over there, sure!" exclaimed Dick. "It can‘t be the madman, Ned ! There‘s at least a dozen voices. What can it mean ?" "I‘m sure I‘ll never tell you!"‘ answered Ned. «* Let‘s get the boat and make for the light." I‘m agreeable. It won‘t take us long to come up with it, either; it seems to be coming this way pretty fast."" «‘That‘s what it does. It must be a boat, Dick, and yet I can‘t make it out." But this part of the mystery was solved in a mo— |_ W ment, for when they got down upon the shore where their own boat lay they could see the other craft distinctly. It was a small skiff low down upon the water with one man paddling. + A lantern burned in the bows, but it was so placed that the light struck down upon the water instead of outward away from the boat, and it was this fact‘ § that prevented it from being seen. «©That‘s the mad miner!"‘ cried Dick. of it. now. «I‘m sure They don‘t seem to be ﬁring over there just 29 No ; the firing has stopped Don’t seem to be any let up in the cries, though."" _ The ‘4’)‘.‘ mmermmraterstenge _ YOUNG KLONDIKE AND THE MAD MINER. e 2C _ _ drowning ! ,'enough, but the cramp has caught me. f take,"" he said. Oddly enough Just as Young Klondike made this _ remark the cries ceased, too. 4 Now, the boys had nothing to do but to give their. full attentlon to the man in the boat. His back was turned toward them, but as near as they could see he bore a strange resemblance to the mad miner. _ — .. **©Shall we give him the call?" cried Dick, _ don‘t seem to see us. w‘did.". 66 He It would be Just as well if he ©Yes ; suppose you do,""‘ replied Ned, and Dick f gave a loud "* hello.‘ ~The man in the boat made a violent start, looked ~around, and at the same instant lost his balance and over went the skiff, landing him in the water. i Help! Help!"‘ he shouted. "Cramps! I‘m Help me, whoever you are !" —It did not take Ned and Dick very long to go to the rescue, you may be sure. ' Pulling for all they were worth they were soon alongside the overturned boat, to Wthh the man was clinging. _‘It was the mad miner, but he now wore a curious fur cap, and when he spoke his voice had altogether a different sound. «Help me, pards !‘ he called. "I can swim well If you will take me into your boat I can easy right the skiff." © Sure we will!" cried Ned. ~"Come right in here! Take my hand ! Don‘t you know who I am ?" The man stared. «©You are Young Klondike if I don‘t greatly mis— "I saw you in Dawson City a year ago."" & © You‘ve seen me since then,"‘ said Ned, pulling him into the boat. ""Stop and think. Don‘t you re— member meeting me in that hut ?" The mad miner had now righted the skiff and made it fast to Young Klondike‘s boat. Lighting his lantern which had gone out when the boat overturned, he flashed it into the boys‘ faces and looked hard at them. ‘‘No," he said slowly. 53 "I don‘t remember ever f seeing you in my hut, but then you must make allow—. _ances for me, gentlemen. and I find it very hard to remember. My head is queer at times, Perhaps you may not believe it, but I‘ve no idea haw I came to be here,. I‘m lost in the Great Swamp." «"‘Why, for that matter so are we,‘"‘ replied Ned, kindly. He saw that even 1f the man had been mad when they last saw him, he certainly was not so now. «Perhaps this is a case where madness comes and goes,"‘ thought Young Klondike. " Poor fellow ! We‘ll treat him kindly. Certainly we owe a lot to him, and if he is sane now part of the gold we‘ve been digging belongs to him." j «©Don‘t bother your head about it,"‘ he said, aloud. «©Yes, I‘m Young Klondike, and this is my . partner, Dick Luckey. Perhaps you‘ll tell me your name ?" pressed. Ob I‘m George Pomeroy,"" replied. the'man' 34 P belong in Chicago, and I wish I was there now."‘ He spoke in a low voice, and seemed very much de— knew what reply to make, and they pulled in s1lence ‘toward the island. "If I let him alone perhaps he will tell me more,"" thought Ned, and so it proved, for just before they reached the shore the man suddenly burst out with : "Oh, there‘s no use talking, boys ; if you‘ve seen me before you probably know what‘s the matter with me. You know I‘m mad at times."‘. f «You certainly were a little excited last time I saw you, Mr. Pomeroy,"‘ replied Ned, quietly ; ‘""but you seem to be all right now." © Yes, for the moment, but it will come right back _ again."‘ «The mad fit ?" ©Yes. Boys, it is terrible. I am liable to find myself anywhere next time I come to my senses. I may be away up in the mountains or miles and miles away from here in some other part of the Great Swamp. I might wake up in the hut or away over in the old Russian diggings, I can never tell. FKor more than a year I have been trying to get back to Dawson City, but I can‘t do it. I never got any nearer than Jake‘s Relay House. I went to sleep there one night last summer intending to start down for Forty Mile in the morning and where do you suppose I was when I woke up?" "I‘m sure I‘ve no idea,‘‘ replied Ned, sympathet- ically. = — _ "Away up in the mountains back of Klopstock, hungry, sick, all used up. In a terrible state, in fact. Well, I wandered down to a mining camp back of Klop— stock, and started across the swamp with a party of Not a bit of it. . miners going out. —Was it any use ? One night I woke up lying in the tundra, and it was days and days before I got out of that snap. I found this boat then. Somehow or other I—seem to go right back to it every time one of my spells comes on, although I‘ve come out of them a dozen times since, . and without the faintest idea where the boat lay. Good Lord, it‘s terrible, boys! I wish you‘d kill me! I‘d be a great deal better off dead !" y ©Nonsense!‘‘ cried Ned. "Don‘t take such a gloomy view of the matter. one of these spells again. ing? Have you any gold ?" ©Yes, I‘ve done a lot of mining in my time, and some since these spells came on me,"‘ replied Pomeroy. I mined up by the hut you speak of and had some. luck, but I don‘t know where the gold is. I presume I buried it somewhere, but I‘m sure I don‘t know." _ It was a sad case. deeply moved. Wisely, Ned concluded not to go into any explana— tions about their previous meetings, and he made Dick understand his intentions by a few whispered words. _ f ,emen% Mn oc iond MAs BNCATI As he showed no particular disposition to . continue the conversation, Young Klondike searcely _ ros 2 h You may never have Have you done any min— Young Klondike and Dick were A "“M' * ;‘,"’ "n ; h f j 1’ & hy wﬁmﬁl. Woes ,e,en:%ze ts AAF; P e e e ap ty on e s s ce es i e mtc f r e . F . a > : — 5 j + lxcA hS *4 A. . + e — \.’ Narn mpnaarareren & T ¥nioriieenanndanmemscnes snn e clngyare «> o unc eaey cnnmen ons uce mnete cempigmmee zx oo enmsatanes uen eaeieee ie eeeeeee n Mntioere 29 7 " s 7 e a M Neatabr, Pn To Ti¥ pioey Bis, O es \ yfs® fal+ dou [ _ . swamp!" _ growing excited at once. & h C se «* Where were you when you came to your senses this time, Mr. Pomeroy ?" he asked. . es «©Over there on the other side of the lake. I was lying in the boat listening to shots, and there seemed to be a lot of people hollering. I sprang up in a hurry, and then seeing the light on the island there where I judge your camp is, I made for it. Didn‘t ‘hear anything more of the shots or the shouts, either, so I suppose they were all part of my mad dream." « But indeed they were not !"‘ exclaimed Ned. * We _ heard them, too, and I‘m most anxious to know what they mean. You must dry yourself by the fire, though. If it wasn‘t for that, I—hello‘!— There are _ the cries again !" . _Reveral shouts were now heard in the distance. _ They seemed to be cries of distress, but there was no _ distinguishing words. ta" & é _ Can you make out what they are saying?""‘ de— manded Dick. "Not at all," said Ned. "We‘ll wake up the Un— —known and turn Mr. Pomeroy over to him, and then get out there by the edge of the swamp and see if we can find out what all this means." _"*Don‘t! Please don‘t!‘" pleaded the mad miner, «I don‘t know who you mean by the Unknown, but I ‘don‘t want‘to meet _anybody. ~It always makes me worse to meet stran— | gers. — with you." I‘m getting along all right now, let me stay _©But you are all W'et.' f You must change your clothes." f «© Nonsense! I‘m wet and dry a dozen times a day, _ like enough. . I never think of such things." «Probably you are hungry——" | ©Young man, I haven‘t known what it was to take a regular meal in a year. I don‘t feel at all hungry now. When I do I shall look about for something to eat." He seemed to be growing more and more excited, o Ned wisely dropped the subject. ~ _ The strange cries still continued, and as Pomeroy egan urging them to go right ahead and investigate ‘Ij}lst as they would do if he was not with them, Ned turned the canoe in the direction of the sounds. _A short row brought them to the edge of the tun— ‘"‘dra. _There was a slew here leading back into the swamp, and as the cries seemed to come from that, Young Klondike pulled into it. f ' Soon they could hear the voices more distinctly. _ There seemed to be a man and a woman shouting _ alternately. They were evidently calling for help, _ _and after a few moments the boys could make out the words :— f o e «We are lost! We are lost! We are lost in the Dick answered again and again, but although Dick‘s _ voice was quite as*tpowerful as an one‘s, it seemed (el s impossible for him to make himself heard. _ They pulled on and on, but seemed to come no nearer _ to the cries. _©© You‘ll upset the boat !" There was something almost uncanny about it, _ For a long distance now the sounds had kept right abreast of them. They passed the entrance to seyeral- cross slews, but as there seemed to be no particular reason for turning into any of them they did not do. it. In fact, they were afraid of losing themselve's_j.‘ ‘©I‘ll tell you what‘s the matter, boys!" cried Pomeroy, at last, " we are going around in a gircle,~ and those people are inside of it. Poor wretches! _ Something must be done to help them. Probably it‘s _ a party on their way to the old Russian diggings. We must go back! We must strike across. There‘s no_ use in this sort of business. We—coming ! Coming ! | I‘ll help you! ) I‘ll save you! Never say die !" More and more excited the mad miner‘s speech had . become. j f seﬁ sA Now all at once he sprang up in the boat and began — waving his arms wildly. & | "Sit down! Sit down!" cried Dick, excited_ly, i¥ Evidently this was all that was needed to finish the business. Ate . C f £ Suddenly the mad miner gave a wild shout. ‘The king of the Klondike is coming !‘‘ he yelled, _ and with one leap he went clear of the boat and landed _ in the tundra. - e They saw him sink in among the moss, heard him for a moment splashing through the mud and then _ all was still. & * Even the strange cries had ceased. : ««Pomeroy ! Mr. Pomeroy, come back to the boat!" shouted Ned and Dick. yE But their cries were all in vain. f Not a sound broke the stillness of the night. _ _—_—____ CHAPTER IX. AN ENEMY VISITS THE ISLAND. « CoME, this is a bad job !"‘ cried Ned. **That poor 7, wretch has undoubtedly gone down into the mud." «What are we to do?" demanded Dick. "*This seems terrible! I can‘t make up my mind to pull away and leave him so."" f s « What can we do? I‘m sure we can pull the boat. into the tundra itself. You can see thereisn‘t stand» _ ing room for anybody in there, either. I tell you it . is a bad job." - They pushed about here and there, trying to force % the boat in among the tall moss, calling and shouting, but all in vain. * _Not the least sound was heard in answer. v8 The mystery of the tundra had grown more mys— _ terious than ever. f aos y Reluctantly, Young Klondike and Dick were forced _ to the only conclusion it seemed possible to draw.. They could no longer doubt that the madman was dead.‘ ; OR : j M (¢Poor wretch! That‘s the end of him," exclaimed _ 7 Mss a" As npprrnrnescepragirprtnndanccng YOUNG KLONDIKE AND THE \([AD o tean—rerias MINER. * Dick at last. «* Well, Ned, there‘s no use Hanging ‘ about here any longer. We may as well get back to the island, it seems to me.‘ «Nothing else to be done,” replled Ned ‘©It‘s a _ terrible thing this ; and as for those poor souls who —were shouting for help, I can‘t imagine anything else but to thlnk that they must have gone down into the mud, too." "*There‘s one thing we might do for Pomeroy,"" Dick. P "©What‘s that ?" — A Leave his boat behind. said It may be that he still l1ves , , 684 We’ll do it. We‘ll come up here again by day— light, too. T‘d stay longer now if I thought it would do any good." "But it won‘t ; not a bit. Besides, we ought to get back to Edith and the Unknown. I don‘t like the idea of leaving them alone there. Something or other will be sure to happen." They unfastened the skiff, and driving its bow in among the moss, started to return, and after a little reached the lake. The light of their fire could still be seen on the isl— and, and it served to guide the boys back. They were about half way across when they were suddenly startled by hearing several shots proceeding from the direction of the island. Lights flashed. They could hear a wild shouting and see a number of dark figures running about on the bluff. "Good Heavens! what‘s all that?‘"‘ cried Young Klondike. "Does it mean an attack on our camp ?" «That‘s what it does, and don‘t you forget it !"‘ r plied Dick.: ‘"Pull, Ned pull ! We never ought to have left them alone.‘ : They pulled for the island in great excitement, but after a minute the flashing lights vanished and the shots were heard no more. «We are in for more trouble, Dick," Iemarked —. Ned, gloomily. «* Upon my word it looks that way. Can you see anything now ?" & «* Nothing but the remains of our camp fire." «Hello! Isee the Unknown !" The little detective had just appeared on the edge _of the bluff. The camp fire was behind h1m and this threw his figure out pretty plainly. He seemed to be looking off on the lake. Dick gave him the call and after a moment succeed— ed in making himself heard. ? «"Hello! Hello! Are you coming in or are you go— ing to stay out there all night!"‘ yelled the Unknown, waving his arms in quite as excited a manner as the mad miner had done. «We‘re coming! We are coming!‘‘ shouted Ned. "What‘s the matter? Has anything gone wrong?" The detective threw up his hands and made a ges— _ture of despair. It was quite evident that everything had gone i ‘ he declared. wrong. They saw him pull off the old plug hat and strike it against the ground, and then jam it on his head again, stick his hands into his pockets and go pacing up and down the bluff. Soon they were close enough to question h1m, and the Unknown‘s first words told them the worst. ©Dear boy, how could you go off guard?" he shouted. slept." ‘©It‘s Edith!" gasped. Ned. never forgive myself now."" And this was just the‘ story the Unknown‘s words told. | ©There‘s been a gang here! They‘ve carried off Edith and every bit of our gold !‘‘ he yelled. ‘"Shall I shoot you, or will you shoot me? By the Jumping Jeremiah, one of us deserves to die for this !" "Hush! Hush! Don‘t get so excited, Zed !" cried Young Klondike. "Take it easy. We‘ll undo the mischief yet. Where have these people gone ?" "*Into the tundra on the other side of the island. Oh, it‘s of no use to try to follow them. I don‘t be— lieve you could ever trace them out in the world." Ned hardly knew what to say. In fact, he was al— most too much overcome to speak. _ As for Dick, he was much in the same condition, and he gave vent to his feelings by throwing extra energy into his oar. In a few moments they had landed on the island and heard the Unknown‘s startling story, telling in return what had happened to themselves. It appeared that the detective had been suddenly wakened out of a sound sleep by hearing Edith call for help. Springing up, he ran out of the shelter and ex— changed shots with a half dozen men who were on the bluff, in the very act of carrying off the gold. One ‘of the enemy‘s shots grazed his forehead, in— ©Oh, Dick.!— L shall flicting a slight scalp wound, and in the excitement of the moment, believing himself to be more seriously in— jured than he was, the detective stumbled and man— aged to tumble over the bluff, and the next he knew . he was lying half stunned on the shore. He picked himself up and ran around to the other side of the island to have a look after the boats. It was then too late to do anything. The boats were almost over to the} tundra, and following them with his eye the detective soon saw them disappear among the moss. " And that‘s all there is about it, boys,""‘ he wound up by saying. ©"When I went to look for the gold it had all vanished, even to the big nugget. trouble wou‘d have been saved." Ned had no words to express his sorrow. Fact was he had never once thought of waking the Unknown, but then he had not expected to be gone ' any length of time. "It‘s a bad job, but we must make the best of 1t it «Come on board, Zed. Of course, we start right out after Edith now." A terrible thing has happened while I .} "" Only thing I blame you for, though, is not waking me up before . you left the island. If you had only done that all this emmmanantt en ) has occurred to me? _friend Pomeroy may not be so mad as he seems ; that _ swear that man was mad When I saw him. _uqumplng Jeremiah, it must be done. —— *There‘s sense in that,"" declared Ned. — It was a melancholy trio that pulled over to the: tundra in that early morning hour. They spoke in low tones, and after the first explana— | tlons were over scarcely at all. When they reached the edge of the swamp, as near as possible to the place where the Unknown thought Edith had disappeared, Ned shipped his oar and threw it down across the seats in a discouraged way. "It‘s like looking for a needle in a haystack,"" he groaned. "It was bad enough seaching for the mad miner up there in the slews, but this is a great deal worse." | . _« Don‘t utter one despairing word, dear boy!"‘ ex— ciaimed the Unknown ; " if you do you will break my heart., Edith must be found." And so she shall be!"‘ cried Ned. spair—I won‘t—I mustn‘t ! «"I don‘t de— But the question is what x to do."‘ «*I assume that those fellows who made the attack must be the gang we heard of,"" said the Unknown. * Of course,""‘ replied Dick. " Do you know what I‘ve been ‘thinking that. our it was all a trick to lure us away from the camp and give these scoundrels the chance to get in their fine work." «©I don‘t believe it! I can‘t believe it !"‘ cried Ned. ‘«‘No, Dick is wrong," said. the detective. P‘ll : I don‘t know what he may be now.‘ «©What we want is to give our Whole mind to the rescue of Edith,""‘ declared Ned. "The recovery of the gold is of trifling importance compared with that:.". .. . But Young Klondike need scarcely have wasted his breath in so saying, for all were of one mind in _this regard. Only question was how to act. 35 ««‘It can be done," said the Unknown, "and by the ‘ Do you know think we have made a big mistake."‘ * it<In what?" "In coming here at all." ‘What in the world do you mean, Zed? Didn‘t you say to us that the toughs came this way ?" ‘‘Well, I did.‘" «‘Then what‘s the matter with this being the way for us to come?" Listen! Listen! Let me speak if you love me. We have made a mistake." "*Wherein, I say ?" f ~*No use! He won‘t let me speak Dick,"" cried _the Unknown, helplessly. : <«© Nonsense ! Say your say,""‘ replied Dick. "Ned, you shut up for a moment. What‘s the use of all this child‘s play ?" «What I was about to remark,"" said the Unknown, is that we never ought to have left the island with out going up on top of the hill and seeing if we could «— not discover a l1ght on the tundra."‘ "< If these instant. | location in your mind and we‘ve got‘em. . hardly give us a hlgh enough view for that t i Wt «« Don‘t you fret, I can fix it," declared the detect-‘-- El ive. " Now, let us go back again." J They turned the boat and pulled back to the island. The top of the bluff raised them only about twenty feet above the water, and that was not snfficient to___ give them the extended view of the tundra that the ;' occasion demanded, and they looked in vain for %" light. «©Can you see anything, Zed ?"" Ned inquired.. ««Not a thing,"" replied the detective. ‘*Wish I could but I can‘t. No; there‘s nothing to be i seen."‘ . & . ‘* A good time for you to explain your scheme, is 1t. fot? "¥Yes. Can you stand on my shoulders, Ned ?" «I might, but that would only give us a few feet more elevation."" «©One may do it. Could you hold Dick on your _ ; shoulders while you stood on mine ?" y ‘<T‘ll bet you he can‘t!"‘ cried D1ck « for I won t‘ have it. No, sir! Not much!" f £9°. thought as much. Ned, you‘re a good strong fellow ; you could hold us both." D «< I suppose I could,"" replied Ned, for he now grasp ‘ed the Unknown‘s idea. The detective was a perfect gymnast. They had seen him do all sorts of clever business in this line.. «©‘Dick can hold us both as well as I can,"‘ he de— d _clared. «I‘ll go on top. That will give us a good rise, and if there is any light on the tundra we ought to see it, sure." The plan was 1mmediately put into action. Dick spread his legs wide apart and planted himself firinly. f The Unknown clapped his hands upon his shoulders, put his right foot on the boy‘s hip, and was up in an .. That‘s an 1 O («Now, then, Ned, give me your . — «©Don‘t move, Dick. Stand firm. ask !‘‘ he cried. hand."" Now came the tug of war, but Young Klondike was . malg y mnan something of a gymnast, too, and after one or two;;_ se attempts he did manage to get upon the Unknown‘ si-h J shoulders. But there was no such thing as staying there. ‘"*Jump !‘ yelled Dick.. " Ican‘t hold you!" and . the —next moment all three were sprawlmg on the _ ground. Nobody was hurt, and they were up again in a jiffy. "See anything while you were up there, dear bo y P$% the detective asked. » «Fortunately I did," rephod Ned. on the tundra rlght over there. about a mile away.‘ & *(Good enough !"‘ said the detective. _ ce There’s alight l I should think itwas” 5Te «t Hold the _ _f‘" An enemy ~AND THE MAD MINER. came mto our camp, and by the Jumping Jeremlah We’ll put an enemy into theirs !*" t CHAPTER X. ¢ HOW THE MADMAN SAVED EDITH AND THE GOLD. _ «‘THERE goes a boat! Ye gods and little ﬁshes t yes! What can it mean ?" ___ Young Klondike and his friends were on their Way back to the tundra, when suddenly a small boat shot out from the shadows of the high moss and turned into the slew. S There was one man in the boat and he was pull— ing for all he was worth. 3 They only had a view of him for an instant before _ he vanished, and no one was able to get a good look i ‘at his face. * Who can he.be?"" exclaimed Ned. E "QOne of the gang, I suppose,"‘ replied the Un— known. "Undoubtedly he has been sent to spy out the land—in other words to watch our movements." «‘I suppose you‘ll both jump. on me if I suggest that _ he was about the build of the madman *" said Dick. hx Impossible! How could he get here?" replied _ Ned. | ‘ _ _ "©Nothing impossible about it. We left him the _ boat and he has had plenty of time to get around." "*Without our observing him, Dick? Wouldn‘t we _ have been sure to see him when he passed the s dsland ?" + <««That‘s nonsense,"" said the detective. * We were _ busy with other matters while we were on the island. _ Dick is right enough in assuming that it might be the _madman. Still I don‘t think it is. I‘m inclined to _ believe that it was one of the gang." f _ _ ©Shall we follow him?" asked Ned. _ great deal more to the point." — _ "I think we had better," repliecd the detective. — "That slew runs in the right direction, does it not ?" C _It does."" pxe‘Then by all means let us follow him—that is, if ‘r We can.‘" The last was well put, for when they turned into (al the slew the boat and its solitary oarsman were no— k where to be seen. NV . They kept along the slew, however, and after pull— _ ing about three—quarters of a mile, Ned caught a ‘«‘Lhat is a "”‘ffghmpse of a light ahead, shining faintly through the [ moss. << That‘s the _ _ above all, we must be very careful they don‘t hear us. nA Cee We must go slow now,"" said the detective, * and @ j ind : Guess we‘d better muffle the oars.” % ‘,‘ﬁ ..".5" in \ 4 . & iacs! 1c [« apd sR O 72 Ge g |and @9 b“ (enl B f _,‘g\,zore off several strips 4. "i"ides, Whlch served the We are all right now," he declared “Let us _move on." _A short pull brought them to a turn of the slew, and es % here another discovery was made. _ Right ahead of them was a small lake. —There were no islands to be seen, but projecting out into the lake was a short stretch of higher ground. Probably it was actually an island, but it backed up against the tundra, which gave it more the appearance of a pen— insular, and upon it was a clump of trees and several rude huts. In the window of one of them burned a light. ’ «The enemy‘s camp!‘"‘ whispered the detective. _ ‘‘We‘ve made a strike." What‘s to be done" asked Ned. want to make any mistake now." "©Ye gods and little fishes, no! least doubt that Edith is there." ‘‘"And the gold ?" «©Bother the gold ! such a time, Ned ?" «Hold your horses, old man. We don‘t I haven‘t : the How can you think of it at Edith first every time, but if the gold is going I want to get it. No > objection to that, I suppose ?" «©Not the least in the world. I didn‘t understand you. Now, then, boys, there are two things we want to do." "‘Name them,"‘ said Ned. scheme you may propose." "I‘m ready for any «FKirst we‘ve got to locate Edith; second we must — so cut off their chances of following us that in case we capture Edith and get her to the boat we are safe !" : ~"*I grasp your meaning. boats ?" «©Don‘t I know it ?" * Of course you do. — You think they have That‘s all right. and reconnoiter ; Dick remains with the boat, and you, Ned, must manage to get around on the other side of the island, and either destroy their boats or tow them over to the other side of the slew." «Phew !"‘ cried Ned. "I see what you are driving at. You want me to go in swimming. Well, L came prepared for it. I have my bathing suit under the seat." «« Now, see there !"‘ chuckled the detective. ""Who dares to say that great minds don‘t think alike ?" Y ou agree, Ned ?" ««Most decidedly it is the best way. I‘ll swim around the point and find out just how the land lies along the shore, while you sneak up to the hut and see what can be done." «"It makes me feel mighty small to have nothing to do with the matter but to sit here," said Dick, ©but I don‘t want to be a kicker, so I agree." _ "Good—by, boys!"‘ cried the Unknown. "I‘ll make no move without communicating with you, Ned. We want to act all together when we get ready for the final move.”f}vff‘* Go on.". ©What I say is let me go up to those huts alone \§ 9. Fpvenmigemyear zxm > ww ~oitrcitiin yee ~YOUNG KLONDIKE AND "I‘HE""MAD MINER, —the fire. Thus saying the Unknown stepped ashore and stole up the bank. j Ned hastily undressed and pulling on his bathing drawers, plunged boldly into the icy water. — _ It was fearfully cold, and for the first moment it seemed to the brave boy as though he never could endure it; but he was warm blooded and soon his chilled limbs grew accustomed to the change. "This is all right. Ican stand it,""‘ thought Ned and he banished all fears of cramp and swam boldly on.. . ; As soon as he was around the point, he saw that the Unknown had made no mistake. _There were five small boats drawn up on the shore, and near them under the bank was a log hut. Ned swam on until he was abreast of the boats, and then landing stole up to the hut and looked in through the window. There was a smoldering fire burning on the hearth, and by the feeble light furnished by the glowing coals — Ned saw two things, both of which were very inter— esting to him just then. —First and foremost there was the big nugget lying on the floor in a corner, and on the table were several small bags all bearing the initials G. & L., which meant Golden & Luckey, if Young Klondike knew anything. In short, they were their own bags, and here was the stolen gold. Quite as much to the point was the other interest— | ing discovery. A man lay asleep on the floor before He was wrapped in blankets, and his head was pillowed on a coat folded up small. "Good enough!‘‘ muttered Ned. "Here is the guard, and he has gone to sleep; that means that he knows the others are asleep up above. The Un— known‘s chance is just as good as mine."‘ Ned thought a moment, drawing rapid conclusions. "I must go right to work," he determined. _ _ Edith first ; that means to dispose of the boats first, all but one—that I shall hold for the gold." Dropping into the water again, Ned pulled off the boats, one after another, and towed them over to the opposite side of the slew, where he ran them into the _ _moss out of sight. There was now only one boat remaining, and this Ned determined to hold in reserve for the gold if he could get it, and he felt very sure that he could. As he reached the shore and was about to secramble out, he was suddenly startled by seeing a man rise up out of the boat. A. second jlook quieted his fears, however. It was only the Unknown.. The detective laid his finger on his lips, and stepping out of the boat, hurried along the shore to meet Ned. .<*Well,"" he breathed, ""you know how the land lies here, I suppose? You‘ve got only a drunken man to attend to. You must have worked right lively, dear boy, to get the boats off as soon as you did."" «* Edith! What about Edith?" whispered Ned. * Edith is locked in a hut, and another drunken man is asleep on the doorstep. I could have killed 4 —Popt hy t pe n Mc lert oh Laul: .: portn en > E s 2 j imils o pii m ribize ons nc ” 1 2i ‘«}&i"*- & ‘;‘ ‘ I P i ,,,,,, nwe,»z\ remimenoen io wut potosm:: m‘rnw m Eesnt him offhand 1f I had chosen but, of course, I am not in that line.‘ © Y ou saw Edith then ?""‘~ Through the window, yes. ~*What was she doing ?" «* Lying in a bunk." <«‘Fied up ?" : "©Y¥es, her hands were tied behind her as near as I _ could make out." ; £ f «© Did she see you ?" «No, she didn‘t, and I didn‘t dare to make my presence known. We‘ve got to go slow with this business, and I thought it would be safer to find out _ what you were about first." f «Well, what‘s the move now, Zed ? I‘m freezing _ to death. I don‘t want to stand idly here." I‘m sure I don‘t want you to, dear boy. (Get on the move as soon as you wish. I say the next thing to do is to put the gold into that boat."" "I was going to suggest it, but I was afraid you would jump on me and say Edith first."" ‘We‘ve got to take thse s1tuat10n as we find 1t And by the way, I‘m not jumping on anybody. Edith is safe enough where she is for a few moments. It won‘t take us long."‘ * But that man in the hut ?" "Is dead drunk and not likely to interfere with us." "How do you know ?" "Why, I was inside and had a look at him. I could smell his breath. He‘s as full as a goat." By gracious, Zed, it is wonderful how you manage to get around without anyone seeing you, and I was . watching the hut pretty close, too."" "Oh, that‘s my business, dear boy. I was watch— ing you. Didn‘t want to interfere with your busi— ness, so I didn‘t speak; but come, are you ready ? Because, if you are, we had better be on the move." "I‘m ready. If I don‘t get on the move L. shall freeze to death, that‘s sure."" f ©Phew ! it makes me cold to look at you. here goes."" They stole toward the hut, the door of which now stood open, for the Unknown had left it so. ~The loud snores of the man on the hearth proclaim— ed his condition, and Young Klondike saw at a glance that they had nothing to fear from him. "Is there no guard at all up there?"" he asked " Is everybody else asleep ?" *Everybody as far as I know,"" replied the detect— ive, ‘"and you may be very certain I took a good Took."" ©FKire away, then. The big nugget ﬁrst. take two of us to lift that." They carried it down to the shore, and after push— Well, 6 w 33 ing the boat off and making it fast.to a stunted tree, & the big nugget was lifted in. ; The bags then followed, after which the detective _ closed the door of the hut, and they were all ready for a start. . "Just as I told you it would be, dear boy,” he said ; . “that fellow never made a move.‘ j frs 2 mt e ly: s \l,-,:. t }i — him,"‘ replied Ned. _« Now, then, what do we do ? t _left Dick, and Ned lost no time in getting into his — Edith was confined. __step with a rifle laid across his knees. I want that thing," and he took the rifle gently away _ the door,"" said the detective, "*but on the other hand _would ever wake." "Just wait a bit. T‘lllet Edith know we are here." _pane. 'J?;"'*c’ould see Edith turn her head and look toward the __ window, and as it was dark outside, they felt that it wind,; anyhow," said the detective. _ N ow, then, in ; Don‘t shoot unless you have to. Thunder! he is . eyes, giving a frightful yell, and then springing to his | feet.. _ And so it was | The YOUNG KLONDIKE AND THE MAD MINER. ucomeenron ie l uon oi rane pat o onine o i on i nan uies ardnt TEpromqane encue mvunee o ul ue uze dbtnihine idnsc netemmenn es o o 1e ven irmpmandorbetineipi en t d onk l ind e esnt oi dnc feationts esn aren uy o n wanes Ad e '4‘_%_'-.“":.»; sn ho en se e e en o Srerver Toots C Cant 2oL (9h 3 5X se Me at .00+ NAE 1 ied es en d e 4 pMFreure enc ndle uin intaramd Pac sb oxt agn en 7 We Se en t oalt: s1 e ts Nn Soeraaly o. C te f t e isX —"©Didn‘t expect he Wouldafter I got a close look at Go for Edith or return to Dick ?"— «© Dick first. When we make the rush for Edith we will all go." - _ Bo they pulled the boat back to where they had clothes. «This is first—rate as far as it has gone," said Dick, *‘ but what about that man we saw going up the slew in his boat ?" R ‘ «<I‘ve seen nothing of him,?" the detective replied. «T‘ll bet it was the madman. He‘s hovering around here somewhere." — TLet him hover. From what you have told me I Uon‘t believe he will interfere with us very seriously. Now, boys, for our final move. We want to get Edith this time." ; f They all left the boats then and stole up upon the bluff. _Here everything was quiet as when the detective had left it, and they crept on toward the hut where _The guard was still sleeping peacefully on the door= «©I don‘t particularly care to pose as a thief and a robber,""‘ whispered the detective, " but I rather think from the sleeping man, who never stirred. «© Shall we tackle the window or do we go in by the door ?" whispered Dick. é «We shall have to step over this fellow if we use the window is nailed fast. I tried it when I was here before. It will make a deuce of a noise if we break in."> : £ * ‘The door is the only way,"" said Ned. ""Wemight lift that fellow off the step and I don‘t believe he "Too big a‘risk altogether,"" said the Unknown. He crept to the window and tapped lightly on the A guttering candle was burning inside, and they was very doubtful if she could see them. —@"It will let her know that there is something in the we go!i Keep a sharp watch on that fellow, Dick. awake now." Just then the man straightened up and opened his ««Stop that !"‘ cried the detective, jumping on him and seizing him by the throat. "In with you, boys !‘‘ he added. "*The mischie{ is probably done now !‘‘ . Unknown choked the man into silence and 9 o n im inss n t ag e inans Mirges 12 en t eP Ahak ays n t o ma eb aneioet oo ”’L-i{w‘ n ) Nelan t (op UPEAE e o het r,-.:;;‘:;-,_% k. "-‘ifxzr.‘l‘q-"”"--v&"%x‘g“ é’g_-,‘,{;‘.--"’- Ei aman & tumbled him over on the ground, but at the same in— stant the doors of two of the other huts were thrown open, and out rushed half a dozen men armed with rifles. ~ _ What‘s the matter down there ?" yelled one, and he threw up his rifle and sent a shot whizzing past the Unknown‘s head. Now, if this had found Ned and Dick standing idly by waiting to see the outcome of the Unknown‘s attack, the result might have been serious enough. But Young Klondike and his partner were not that sort, of course. At the first alarm they rushed into the hut. bFe «"I knew you‘d come!‘ cried Edith. «*Set me free, boys. Give me a rifle ; I‘ll do my part." Now, to do this took less than a minute. In less than two Edith was outside, and hers was the second shot which flew toward the attacking toughs, the Unknown having already got in one before they came. out. ) ««Retreat to the boat !"‘ he shouted. * Kire as you go !" «Halt there !"‘ yelled one of the toughs. « Halt, or we will shoot everyone of you! Throw up your hands !" j «Throw down yours !‘ bawled the Unknown. « By the Jumping Jeremiah, I‘ll read you a lesson ! T‘ll teach you to come sneaklng into our camp at— night !" He fired again and Edith got in one more shot,— Ned and Dick doing the same. T‘wo men fell back wounded, but this scarcely re— duced the number of the enemy, for six more came tumbling out of the huts, and there is no telling what the result might have been if a strange occurrence had not at that moment taken place. ' All at once a man with long hair streaming in the wind came rushing out of the swamp behind the huts. | He was armed with a rifle which he quickly emp— tied, at the same time yelling : «I‘m the king of the Klondike! Down with all rebels! Come on, my faithful subjects! Come on and wipe these scoundrels out !" Every shot told, although apparently none were fatal, for the toughs made a break for the bluffs _which overhung the shore. It was Young Klondike‘s mad miner, and he had turned the tide of battle. a «Take me with you!" he cried, running with Young Klondike‘s party. — "Take me away from this — place. Hooray! I‘m the king of the Klondike!. Take me with you and you are safe. I can fight a hundred men." : A moment later and they reached ‘the boats and pushed off with Edith and the gold. CHAPTER XI. WORKING ON THE ISLAND AGAIN. ALL was quiet on the island when Young Klon— dike‘s party reached it and it was the same in the . Kis . ul oX uy CXs WB owE y moncve :A ) $NT - x , As e c igN un ouel wast MBR Lo it Sevan bj a 1 0 : rmemainena Suvein Atafeenremeracerentc mm\ |s & . x s iesd ta YOUNG KLONDIKE AND THE MAD MINER. n N en e tcun 2 sb atsna + hi cvredess 2 Te ufenrennsige table that morning. V;»b‘oats_, for the mad_ camner after a. few iInconerent _words curled himsgelf up in the stern of the forward boat and sank into a sound sleep. They were not followed. This, of course, Ned had & practically rendered out of the question for the time being. The boats belongmg to the toughs weresecurely hid— s den in the tundra and it would take time to ﬁnd them . and bring them across the slew. SS Did they_ do you any harm, Edith? Are you in— jured in any way? Did they offer you any insult ?" were the first questions put to the girl, Ned, Dick and the Unknown ail speaking in one breath. ‘No, no‘l" I‘m all right," replied EBdith. Of" course I was awfully frightened, but I knew you would come for me, so I didn‘t do as much worrying as you \ may think."" «What was their idea in carrying you off ?" asked —Ned. *©Did they say anything about that ?" "It was to make you pay a big ransom for me. The leader was going down to the island as soon as it came daylight. From what I overheard him say I believe the plan was to ask a hundred thousand dol— lars for my safe return." : Which, of course, we would have paid sooner than have any harm come to you,""‘ said Ned, emphatic— ally. f "Certainly, we—would,""‘ added Dick, ""but thank goodness it didn‘t come to that. Who seemed to be . the leader, Edith, did you find out his name ?" «©He seemed to be a French Canadian. I heard them call him Jacques, and by the way, I‘ve got a surprise for you all." "QOut with it," said the Unknown. "If. you can surprise me with anything I‘d like to know it." "*Well, I think I tan. Our guide, Pierre, far from Allp,being dead——*‘ _ _"*Is with that gang, and no prisoner, either !" broke in the Unknown. ©‘Well, well, I thought as much." Then Ned told Edith about thelr adventures with the madman, and by the time he had finished they were back at the island, and the remainder of the night passed quietly enough. Morning dawned clear and cool, and found Young Klondike on the watch, the others having turned in to _ try and get a little sleep. And there was one who did not wake up even when the sun rose, and did not appear at the breakfast It was the mad miner. out. ~, * What are we gomg to do With hlm 2" asked 27 Young Klondike, x Young Klondike found it impossible to arouse this stringe being when they reached the island, and he had been carefully covered —with blankets in the boat and left to sleep his sleep ~But when daylight came he was just as sound. _ asleep as ever, and no amount of shaking or calling — seemed to produce the least effect. “Let’s carry him up to the tent and. make a spe | cial shelter for him,"" suggested Dick. 4 s "Certainly we owe him a certain debt of grati- tude," said Edith,. " We might never hav.e escape,dp but for him." y } «It‘s my opinion,""‘ said the detective, " that this“ strange sleep is part of his condition. It may do hi-m‘ good. Perhaps this fit is going to prove a short one. It Wouldn’t surprise me at all if he woke up quite. sane." But the mad miner was not waking up Just th whatever he might do later on. f The boys built a shelter of hemlock bouo”hs, and the unfortunate man was carried up and laid inside. Although he was pretty well shaken up during the. operation he never moved a muscle and they left h1m sleeping as sound as ever. : , .« That fellow is a puzzle for fair,"‘ remarked th " detective, "but we can afford to leave him alone fo af awhile. What‘s to be done next, boys ?" "I say let‘s go to work,""‘ replied Ned. "Our bus1- ness is gold digging and we‘d better be at it, sceln that there s no chance to get out of this 1nferna swamp.‘ l 0 « Lost in the Great Swamp ! It‘s a sad fate 17 the Unknown, but I know a man who can he out."... ~ ©Who?" asked Dick. «©Pierre, the guide." «Pshaw ! tered about the old Russian diggings. about as much use to us as Pierre."" o ©You‘re wrong,"" said the detective. "They are of we can get at Pierre. j f "Hello! Do you mean to go for Mr. Pierre an" _put him to work?"" demanded Ned. suppose he meant to betray us to this gang from the — first." f "*It looks that way, of course,"‘ replied Ned. "B you‘d better let him alone. It would be the hei folly to risk another encounter with the gang.‘ The detective made a mumbling reply and Wa ke away. The Unknown is good for another of his myste‘ ious dlsappearances about this t1me,” remarked Ne <«"Just wait a bit. You‘ll see." x And, sure enough, before the sun was an hour h1 Edith discovered that one of the boats was missing, f and the detective was nowhere to be found. | They did not waste much time in worrying abo it, however, for they knew the Unknown‘s ways to well to imagine that Worrylng WOuld do the lea good. ~l Before this Ned and Dick had gone to Work on’ he YOUNG KLONDIKE AND THE MAD MINER. «This looks well, Dick," remarked Young Klon— i dike, ‘poking over the pile of sand. "I can see the _ little nuggets with the naked eye." ©Same with me,"" replied Dick. Y it is going to pan out rich." f _ ©Bhall we do a little washing before dinner, or wait _ until we have given Edith‘s cooking a try ?" _ ""Oh, we may as well wash out a few pans just to _ see how it goes,"" replied Dick. _ There was plenty of water to be had from the small _ stream which ran through the bottom of the gully, ‘‘ and the boys went to their washing; by the end of _ half an hour they were able to report the most as— _ tonishing results. | _ The first pan showed a yield of over fifteen hundred _ dollars, roughly estimated, of course, but it was not _ possible that it could be more than a hundred dollars . out of the way. _ _ The second pan showed a little over twelve hun— _ dred, but the third gave the astonishing yield of two | — thousand. | Ned knew that it was commg He could tell by the enormous weight of the sand as he lifted the pan. UssWell, by the J umping Jeremiah, as the Un— "It‘s my opinion, —‘_ known would say, if he were here,""‘ cried Young —«»Klondike, " this beats anything I ever saw." f _ "It‘s a most unheard of yield for simple panning,"‘ _ replied Dick. "This mine is well worth working. _"We must put a gang of men on it, Ned, if we ever® _ manage to find our way out of the Great Swamp." _"Which we are going to do sooner or later, of course, but I hear Edith calling us to dinner. We had better go." It wasn‘t very much of a dinner, but the boys com— _ plimented Edith on the creditable manner in which —she handled the few provisions they possessed, and _ the talk was all gold and about the wonderful yield. / _ * Of course we must remember that the mine don‘t ‘J b %long to us," said Ned. " If it has ever been record— _( /. _ed‘ we shall be able to find it out in Dawson City, and [ if not, why, all we‘ve got to do is to jump the claim _ under the mining law." . 8 ©How is the mad miner?" asked Dick. .\ _ you seen him lately, Edith ?" @_ "I had alook at him a short time before I called you,"‘ replied Edith. "He seemed to be sleeping just the same then." 8 "*Guess I‘ll look in on him,"" said Ned, and he went _ _over to the shelter to find, to his astonlshment that 1t was deserted. _\ ___The mad miner had disappeared. But how had he gone ? [ The boat was drawn up on the shore all right, and ;g: _ there was no place on the island Where the man could [ | hide. | _ _ "He must havedrowned himself !"‘ exclaimed Ned, | and with a shout he told Dick and Edith how the 1 case stood. ' ««Perhaps he has swum over to the tundra," sug— gested Dick. * Have ie could not have used his own boat; that must | 'v,' ¥ix i godratien ofe oo ons t s ie e ere B ”‘““‘* *““"“‘ “"?*‘* omlaiivrein en mssn o es l‘ F 3 : painn Tiaba oo Solt £. OV cie onl comoande n hme a uSn is .n 1 Nee ies in .n Sve . & o whaa have been left up at Jacques‘ camp,"" said Ned.. "I‘m afraid the poor wretch has drowned himself and I‘m sorry, for he did try to do me a good turn." . § ‘That‘s what‘s the matter,‘‘ said Dick. " If there was fanything we could do—hello ! Here is a letter ! By Jove, it‘s addressed to Young Klondike, too!" The letter was just the leaf of a memorandum book with a few lines scribbled on it. Dick picked it up and handed it —to Ned, who read as follows : «©Don‘t forget that the miners are starvmg in the swamp. You go in by the slew just beyond where you left me. I‘m going there now to try to rescue them. I‘ve lost my boat, so I‘m going to swim. Come, Young Klondike. Your king commands it. Come and help in the good work. GEORGE REx." * Well, upon my word, this is most extraordinary !" exclaimed Ned. "Does he expect to swim all the way across the lake and then up the slew ?" ‘Probably he don‘t expect anything; he is Just going to do it,""‘ replied Edith. will do strange things." We must follow him,""‘ declared Ned. "This fully accounts for the cries we heard last night. If there is a party of suffering miners lost in the swamp we must go to the rescue." «But the Unknown ! asked Edith. «‘Then there is the gold,"" said Dick. want to lose that again."" < We can hide the gold,"" replied Ned, " and a note can be left for the Unknown telling him where we have gone. It is in the cause of humanity, and we must not hesitate !* Work on the island was going on in good earnest, and there seemed to be plenty to do beside digging gold. Can we leave him behind ?" “;We don‘t CHAPTER XIL. U S TS LNX TJM B . LOoADING such provisions as would quickest relieve _ the necessities of a starving party into the boat, Young Klondike with Edith and Dick set off over the lake, heading for the slew, up which Mr. Pomeroy had led them the night before. As they rowed along they discussed the mad miner and the singular adventures through which they had passed.— _ @lf we could only get out of the swamp," re— marked Ned. "That‘s what‘s troubling me. I don‘t like the idea of being iost here with winter coming on, for all the big nuggets on earth .won‘t compensate for the risk we run of losing our lives." "If we don‘t get out soon there will be no chance of getting out before spring," said Dick, "and of course we are not at all prepared to winter here. It was a crazy undertaking starting for the Russian diggings this time of year." "i‘.« »‘:!é@ Mu .-ll « Madmen, you know, .ﬂ-,rxi'.{ $ess Tsc hn moes ndesl 2 e c en nc a in o 5en inss | 'vamshedv from the1rg 31ght. *o ‘ *I wonder how far we are from Klopstock,"" said _Edith. "Of course we have no idea, and for all we o know we may be within a few miles of it."" *True euough, ‘"‘ replied Dick, "but even allowing that is so, since we don‘t know the way we might Just as well be at the other end of the: earth."" ««Hello!" cried Ned. ©"What‘s all that smoke over there ?" The atmosphere was unusually clear that morning and one could see for a long distance. Ned pointed out a column of smoke off to the westward. — It rose straight up, for there was no wind, and just beyond it was another column and beyond that a third. «"What do you make out of it ?"‘ demanded Edith. «< IG‘s in exactly the opposite direction from J acques’ camp.‘ "Why, it must be frost fires," replied Ned. "It __can‘t be anything else." "‘Then there you are," said Dick. «There is no— body building frost fires on the tundra, I suppose." £I don‘t know about that,‘‘ laughed. Ned. "©Wouldn‘t want to be sure. We built one on the island, didn‘t we ?" «‘That‘s what we did." "Well, then, anyone seeing our fire would have _ been puzzled, same as we are now, but I don‘t be— lieve those are frost fires, Dick. My idea is that they are burning in the old Russian diggings. That‘s Klopstock diggings as sure as you live."" Now, Young Klondike was fully justified in this ~conclusion, for the smoke was in the direction of —Klopstock, and there was absolutely no other min— ing camp near. f «©That‘s worth looking into,"" declared Ned. "Lo— cate the direction, Dick. We shall make a move that way as soon as we are through with this busi— mness."" They pulled on and entered the slew. Before they had quite reached the place where they lost sight of the mad miner the day before, they were sud— denly startled by the sound of something like a big animal rushing through the tundra moss. «‘What in the world is that?"‘ exclaimed Edith. «©Can it be a moose or a caribou ?"" «Hardly on the tundra,"‘‘ replied Ned., "It‘s some— thing, though. Get ready, Edith. We may have a fight on hand.". Edith leveled her rifle in the direction of the sound. They had not long to wait. All at once they saw the mad miner rush out of the tundra and dive head— first into the slew, giving a wild shout as he went. In a moment he rose to the surface, and without looking back or showing by any sign that he was aware of the presence of the boat, he went swimming off up—the slew yelling in the wildest fashion. ‘‘Pull L Pull!" eried Ned. *‘ We must catch up with him! Hello, there, Mr. Pomeroy!_ Hello!" He might as well have called to the winds for any attention the mad miner paid to him. ; ‘ In a few moments he turned 1nt0 the tundra and exclaimed Edith. Do you think the C We ar( looking for is there ?" «Wouldn‘t wonder at all,"" replied Ned. “Letf push right on and see."" _ _ i. Before they had taken a dozem strokes all wer startled by loud cries coming over the swamp. _ ___ "Help! Help! Help!" rang out through th" giant moss. ‘ « Fire a shot ! Let them know we are heret: l;.,i. claimed Dick. the people we are looking for." Edith fired twice. Immediately the cries ceased «"That settled them," said Dick. " Gave them th(! 19. scare, I suppose. Like enough they‘ve been attackec by the‘J acques gang."‘ | you ?". shouted Ned if you are in trouble, friends." We are lost in the swamp!‘‘ came the answer_ - after a feW moments. We are starvmg to death‘,& almost gone !"‘ , : "©That‘s business !"‘ cried Ned. "We‘ve locate' them at last. Who are you?""‘ he yelled «We wa fl/-'f‘ ' to know who you are ies f «sian diggings. Who are you !" . f _ «‘They call me Young Klondike!" replied Ned $ «©Perhaps you have heard the name!" .. Wws " Hooray ! Hooray 1 2?,4 ies Young Klondike was perfectly well known. ««How many in your party ?" cried Ned. " Eleven !"‘ came the answer. ; «Where are you ?" § We can‘t tell you. We don‘t know." oE . «* Are you in the moss or on an island ?" . . t «©On an island. We can‘t be far from you. Weg ¥ can hear you very plain." | " All right! We‘ll try and find you, but I don A€ know as we can give you much help. We are lostm the swamp ourselves." C It proved, however, to be less trouble to locate tl;fn",,{" distressed party than Young Klondike ant1c1pateU-" for in a moment they came to the place where the mad miner had disappeared and found, as they had. expected, a cross slew. R Y of Mr. Pomeroy, but every stroke brought them near-'"j.; er and nearer to the voices which kept shouting to them from time to time. At last a turn in the slew brought them in 31ght of a small island occupying the middle of the slugglshi | stream which here widened. _ \_: A number of half starved looking men were gat‘h. t ered on the shore and a wild shout of welcome went. f up as Young Klondike‘s boat approached. — nlok “Thank God you have come, young man ’”_,;; j [ We haven‘t a blessed thing to eat in the camp." ( ‘‘Oh, we can fix you off all right on that score !" answered Ned. " Don‘t worry, friends. For the time _ being your troubles are over. We‘ve brought the grub along and will give you a good square meal right m 4 iri 22 oo w o _ It is a pleasant thing to feed the hungry. f _Young Klondike had an opportunity to enjoy that rasure to the fullest extent that day, for a more enous crowd than these miners one never saw. The leader introduced himself as Charley Rolfs; a hicago man, he said he was. Being unsuccessful in 'flis prospecting operations on the Klondike he de—. ‘ermined to try his luck at the old Russian diggings, — ind gathering a party around him they had started NenClm Sene s e ROR ie Sigene § hree weeks before. _ _ [ _ When they reached the Great Swamp their guide [ veserted them and they soon lost their way among %he slews, and right after this they were attacked by e Jacques gang and robbed of everything of value n their possession. f .“‘lWe‘ begged hard to have them guide us into inpstock, or back to the foot of the mountains,"‘ od Charley Rolfs. _ ""We‘d have cheerfully given . 4 éie‘m even the clothes on our backs if they would only ”ave done this, but they wouldn‘t listen nor tell us "ihiqh way to go. All they would do was to leave us f;_f"ur boats and I suppose that was because they were otherwise I don‘t believe but what lgiey would have shot every one of us, and carried off old and leaky, % ~ the boats." wo : your guide‘s name?"" he added, seized with a sudden idea. ' ‘ .;n Pierre Montalban,"‘ replied Charley Rolfs. _ ‘CAs I supposed. He is the scoundrel we hired to $ | uide us through to Klopstock. A snowstorm which we encountered on the Barman Fields rather spoiled his plans, but he got in his fine work later. One of tir party has gone to look for him now. If he ever s hands on the fellow, there‘ll be no more act— 4 tapper for the Jacques gang, and that‘s just ‘, i;: ’,;_Ef;out what he has been doing right along." l;‘?’ﬁlt was decided that they should all return to the "’,’%"‘j:’and-. and join forces. Charley Rolfs‘ party seemed ?5‘(’ be an honest, straightforward lot, and Young '"‘"‘-'l}pndike felt that he could trust them with his golden @eret. —~ & ie had another idea also in connection with these j | _ @5‘ We‘ll put them to work on the mine, Dick,""‘ he ;_‘;3‘£§&‘18pered. ‘CH we can once get through to Klop— _ gﬁagpck and raise a party to hunt these toughs out of \the swamp, there is no reason why.we shouldn‘t hire Lite _,,;{*f'these.fellows and let them work the mine on 2, [X (TThe scheme was certainly a good one, for Charle; | :‘;g,g.‘;:_:‘g,c_ernew‘as;cer ainly a good one, for Charley | o S | 4 @0 t6 [ — "What was A PERSTST" + (| | i+ ; matter to hire men in the Klondike at any price, these ueeded for his work. ‘ As they pulled down the slew, Ned asked Charley Rolfs about the mad miner. + That man !‘‘ cried Charley. "Why, of course we have seen him many a time. ming in the slew and yelling out that he was the"king |of the Klondike. Then all at once he made a bolt right into the tundra, where any sane man would sink into the mud up to his neck. I don‘t see how he does it, I vow !" « Wall, now, boss,"" said a grizzled old miner who madman of Newfoundland." . f © Hold up, Henry," said Charley, "I just want to tell Young Klondike that we have seen him many times since, and once he came on the island and talked quite sensibly and promised to send us help. That was last night, in fact. Say, boss, perhaps it was him what sent you ?" : } ‘That‘s who it was,"" replied Ned. "I‘ll tell you my experiences with him later. Now, then, Henry, let us hear about your madman of Newfoundland." (© Wall, boss, it was when I was working in the copper mines at Betts‘ Cove, on the island of New— foundland, that I seen him. Everybody knowed him in them days. That man used to walk all over the island—it‘s entirely uninhabited in the interior, you know. He‘d be seen on the Atlantic coast, and then all of a sudden he‘d pop up in the Labrador settle— ments, or away up north or some other place ; but what I was a—getting at was his swimming in the icy waters.~— Didn‘t make no difference whether it was winter or summer; he‘d jump right in and swim across a river or a channel. No one ever knowed who he was nor never will now, for one night he was found dead in a lonely hut on the Labrador coast, and that‘s what will happen to this fellow some of these days, you‘ll see," > ' é j "TI‘ve heard of that man," said Ned:. "I read. about him in the papers before I léft New York, but here we are at the lake and it‘s only a short distance to the island now. Hello! Some one firing! What‘s | the meaning of this ?" Rifle shots were heard off in the direction of the isl— _ and, and anxious to know what they meant Young Klondike and Charley made all possible haste to get their boats around out of the slew. f Here the island lay in plain sight before them, and to their dismay they could see a number of boats filled with men along the shore. Several of the men were firing up at the bluff where stood the Unknown perfectly regardless of his danger firing down at them. j seemed to be just the sort of fellows Young Klondike 1e. He scared us almost _ to death first time he came, for there he was swim— was one of Charley‘s party, " that reminds me of the _ P . «> en he sls BRSinnind, . erommunceesscmi en 28 YOUNG KLONDIKE AND THE MAD wKrm ... .. [ 00. ..‘ The madman," "©Great Scott! It‘s the Jacques gang!" cried Dick. : __._"FHaster! Pull faster!‘" @xclaimed Edith. "The Unknown can‘t hope to hold on there long ! We are M4ast in time!"‘ — M CHAPTER XIII. oUT OF THE GREAT SWAMP AT LAST. C ArE we just in time to save the Unknown or just in time to be too late?"‘ cried Ned, filled with a thou— sand fears. Indeed, it looked pretty black for the Unknown. — Anybody else would have retreated from the edge of the bluff instantly, but the detective stuck to his post and fired shot after shot. Anybody else would have done some damage to the enemy, but the Unknown‘s aim was notoriously bad, and Ned could not see that his firing interfered much with those in the boats. § All at once they saw the Unknown‘s plug hat go flying off ; evidently a bullet had gone through it, and this seemed to settle the business, for the detect— ive immediately beat a retreat and passed out of view. A shout went up from the boats, and the men be— gan pulling for the shore with the evident intention of landing on the island. Up to this time they did not appear to have caught sight of Young Klondike‘s party, and Ned and Char— ley Rolfs, who had been pushing forward for all they were worth, were now within rifle range. * This is our time !‘‘ cried‘ Young Klondike. them have it, boys! Now then, altogether!" There were three rifles among Charley Rolfs‘ party which had escaped the thieves, and as Ned, Dick and Edith each had theirs, they were able to let the enemy have a very respectable volley ! It did the business. Three men fell back in the boats wounded. ©Sheer off from that island or you are all dead men !‘‘ shouted Young Klondike, and before the enemy ‘*Tuet _.could bring their boats around so that they could get a shot, two more volleys were poured upon them, and as far as Ned could see there was more damage done. At all events this settled the battle, for the boats were turned in the opposite direction. Pulling around the island the attacking party was soon out of sight. Then the Unknown appeared on the bluff waving his hat and shouting : ©Come on! Come on, Young Klondike! By the . _Jumping Jeremiah, we‘ve made them hunt a hole, and I‘ve made a capture! Come on and see who it is Y?’ "Zed thinks he‘s done a big thmg,” laughed Edith. «*I can tell by the way he speaks; but who do you think he can have got hold of ?" _ "TI‘m sure I can‘t imagine,"‘ ‘replied Ned. suggested pick «"Now that‘s nonsense,""‘ said Ned. "How could_— the mad miner get back to the island~ unless he hadf' wings.‘ > ‘‘Obh, L don‘t know about that * 'said' Dick «©While we stopped to feed our friends here he might f have swam back—there was plenty of time." ' ~ But as everybody pooh—poohed this, Dick said no _more about it, and they pulled on to the 1sland to be met by the detective on the shore. * Well, what have you been up to now, Zed ?" cried Rdith. /‘ You _ are always, getting into some scrape.‘ 4 55 Up to snuff and up to Jacques‘ camp where I made a capture,""‘ exclaimed the detective. "I found him. asleep in the lower hut and I marched him out. I‘ was seen, though, and the gang followed me as soon as they could launch their boats. Ye gods and little — fishes! You all came just in time. 1I say, Young Klondike, who have you got there ?" Ned explained while the prospectors were coming ashore, but not a word of explanation would the Un— known give. ' ‘‘I‘xve got my man, that‘s all!"‘ he kept saylng «©Come up on the bluff and see who he is." Of course no one expected to see the Unknown‘s . mythical man when they arrived at the tent, and _ they were not disappointed, for the detective‘s pris— oner proved to be no less a person than Pierre. f ©By gracious ! here‘s good luck!"‘ cried Young Klondike. "Now we‘ve got a man who can guide — us out of the Great Swamp." Pierre, whose. hands were bound behind h1m, f scowled blackly. x «"Mebbe I will and mebbe I won‘t !‘‘ he sald '.“I' don‘t like the way you treated me, boss. ‘Twan‘t a squar deal to go off and desert me the way you did."! .:. $ "Rats!‘‘ cried the Unknown. sled down that Devil‘s Slide on purpose ? tell you to jump off ?" * All the same I don‘t like it," growled Pierre. «That‘s what made me join this gang.‘ . * Rubbish !"‘ cried Charley Rolfs. * You‘ re a cap— per for the gang, that‘s what you are. Don‘t you _ j know me ?" * «‘No; never seen you in my life before," the guide. X x "He lies, boss," said Charley, turning to Youngf; Klondike. "This is the guide who betrayed us. I‘m prepared to shoot h1m for his treachery, if you say the word." f wl «Y ou don‘t surprise me, Charley, replied Youn’g‘g Klondike, "but to shoot him would certainly be a very foolish piece of business. What this fellow ha’s’f"’ got to do is to guide us out of the Great Swamp." . : «*We‘ll see about that,""‘ growled Pierre. " By the Jumping Jeremiah, you bet we will !*" 'c-rif,e_‘ the Unknown. 4 1 i#f ; fuse." * Did we run our Did we‘ .J s eal e o ce gruntedp‘: | 3 imin 4 olChanech YOUNG KLONDIKE aXND THE aD wxus . ) / h y 1. go in the direction of Klopstock. Ned told about the smoke, which indeed was still visible, and it was de— cided that the camp could not be so very far away. — We‘ll leave the gold where you buried it, dear boy,” the Unknown remarked to Ned. "I like your plan of hiring these men, and I think we can put it through if we can only get a party at Klopstock to | _ help us hunt the Jacques gang out of the swamp." | _ Ned then took Charley Rolfs and one or two of his | men down into the gully and showed them how the _sand panned out. «"I‘ll give you and your friends ten dollars a day _ and half interest in all you take out to work this claim 1‘ for me through the winter,‘‘ Ned now announced. \_«©You shall be provided with a comfortable house and plenty of provisions, and I think you can make a good _ thing out of it. All you want is to be assured that | it _ you are safe from attack by the Jacques gang, and ;x I think we shall be able to fix that, too." _—_ This very liberal proposition was received with the greatest enthusiasm, for all these men had heard of | _ the wonderful success of Golden & Luckey and were l:. only too glad of an opportunity to associate them— B .. . _selves with the firm. _ Preparations for an immediate departure were now t put in order and soon they were ready for a start. _ "I hate terribly to go away and leave that unfor— ' ""‘"“»f'--tunate fellow Pomeroy behind us,"" Ned remarked to . _ Dick, as they were about to go down to the boats. The words were no more than uttered when the hemlock boughs which formed the front of the brush shelter were thrown aside and out walked the mad _ miner to the utter astonishment of all. B — His clothes were wet and sodden, and his long hair | ? —hung in a matted mass down upon his shouldeis but _ he was sane and answered rationally when Young | ‘ Klondike addressed him. Of all that had happened since he jumped over— | board on the previous night, he had not the faintest J recollection Nor could he tell how he got back to the g camp " No matter. I‘m used to Don‘t worry about me. J . '.{.it * he said, " but for Heaven‘s sake take me with you | 7-,_,;,;to Klopstock. CGet me out of this dreadful swamp be« _ fore winter comes on." & of course, nobody raised any objection, and the mad _miner went in Young Klondike‘s boat. _ They passed out of the lake into a wide slew, and ;-'for an hour pulled toward the smoke through various _ windings, guided by Pierre, who grudgingly pointed ;fout the way, when the Unknown‘s revolver had been U a few times planked at his head. i) If it had not been that the smoke was constantly | j‘ ,;‘uoming nearer, Young Klondike. might well have — doubted if it was safe to trust such a man as Pierre. VW All at once the guide changed his tune. . ‘"Say, boss!" he exclaimed, "I‘ve been thinking _ this business over, and I‘ve made up my mind that ‘after all I‘d sooner go to Klopstock than not." _©Come, what put that notion into your head ?" de &" 'It—wasv determined to make a start at _once and to manded the detective. sudden change of front?" «©Come, now, I hain‘t a—talkin‘ to you," growled 3 Pierre, « I‘m addressing a gent what goes by the name of Young Klondike. Do you hear me, boss ?" ‘Of course I do,"" replied Ned, who had been listen— ing to some of the details of Mr. Pomeroy‘s sad story, ‘©but I must say I don‘t like the way you speak to | my friend." ‘‘Oh, that be blowed. What do I care for that little bag of wind? I say I‘ve changed my mind and am ready to go to Klopstock. I‘ll turn State‘s evi— cence and give away the gang.‘"‘ < By the Jumping Jeremiah, you are mean enough to turn informer or any other old thing,"" cried the Unknown. " But here we are at the entrance to an— other slew ; which do we do, take it or go straight on ?"" «Take it,""‘ replied Pierre, promptly, and the boats were turned into the slew. "If I remember rightly, our way lay straiolit | ahead,"" said Mr. Pomeroy, looking anxiously around. «However, I can never trust my memory for any— thing nowadays, but I‘m sure there is a cross slew leading out of this, back into the one we have just left a little distance ahead ; perhaps he means to make a short cut, in which case it will be all right." «That‘s the way !‘ cried Pierre. ""Don‘t you try tn throw no scare into Young Klondike, I‘m running this business now."" ‘ You‘re getting entirely too fresh ! That‘s what‘s the matter with you!"‘ cried the Unknown. < Ned, I‘m afraid we are running into a trap." CC «Look! Look behind us !"‘ cried Edith. «* Good gracious, you are right!" A number of boats had suddenly come out of the tundra in the rear of Young Klondike‘s party. They were filled with armed toughs who immediately opened fire. At the same instant Edith gave a shout, calling their attention to four other boats on ahead which had come into view around a turn in the sluggish stream, and were now bearing down upon them as fast as oars could pull them along «©That‘s your work, you treacherous dog !" cried the detective, shaking his fist at Pierre. * You knew that Jacques would lay for us here. By the Jumping Jeremigah, I see him in the forward boat ! «We must prepare to defend ourselves, friends !" » cried Ned. "Charley Rolfs, you attend to our en— emies in the rear, and we‘ll look out for the ones ahead. Zed, don‘t bother any more with that fellow. We‘ll settle his case when we get to Klopstock. Now, then, up rifles!. FKire !"‘ But promptly as Ned acted, he was not in time to get in the first shot, for at the same instant a volley of bullets came flying toward them from both parties of the Jacques gang. Young Klondike‘s answer was prompt, however, and for a few moments the battle raged in livel) style "What do you mean by this ‘ noloseiint en NE easet: Facurtiie meu 7 S * rora pensrread > > fWipces t uin mt on digiiy— n opmveaiedees cane s O apal y nianas niers / 5 2 — ' 3 2 x ; : w ow ; e — pefaac c ie r es Bs roecaresss Cl .. Reqiel wl d iinees O Te ioi Anliiet «2 niteatinreich Sss 4hi is Pak Pn imipnt e . eelanat Mc ceninti= . ontnain n oi to o Sn e 1 \— + m , <B 5. p — % s this% s hy f : , % s . Hierpmeatofecpptige pett onl % > k _ Fodin‘ss ' 4 hi Teinnc n ein ie i ivinteient i Nivicsta ioh 23s0055. w6 5 * udvn gath i ; moncias praing s Es er C h Misa — ' Sn se zo s ‘_'" a ic w‘ :R s enX aGe V ~ ; 3 n e im M egerinion GpiNEDNARATAIRT c Riges. s ... .. is s o nmat n nariiiis .sn sns ChiaMiieoce P : s intinrrr ies remiaomaap en e eapet mss ® r walia & o megsimined Er man * F en mc aceamer uoo en rafmpe en ExE ¥ mz i conerensnet aats drae mees Heale ves. 4. : s ie Pn grvkm m 6 Ceesmans — & — ~ 9 m Ed it covem r—R es a h — cnpresaes, . 37— z is use his rifle. rain of bullets they swung around into the cross«slew. # ))0 Mikas youne Kmownpik® axp THE Map minem _ _ _ _ _Mr. Pomeroy took an oar and gave Ned a chance to ~«©Make for the cross slew !"‘ he cried. "‘*We are within a stone‘s throw of Klopstock now.. If we can only ‘cut in ahead of them, we may yet succeed in giv— ing them the slip." : f The Unknown plied his oar vigorously, and amid a A yell of rage went up from the other boat, as they passed out of sight between the big walls of moss, and Pierre scowled blackly, but his face grew darker still a momentlater, though nobody noticed him when the shout of triumph went up from both boats. There, right before them, was dry land and a mining camp and Old GHory waving. ’ ©Klopstock at last !‘ cried the mad miner. "It was nearer than I thought for. We are safe !" And so they were, for the Jacques gang followed them no further, and in a few moments Young Klon— dike‘s party landed in front of a collection of log huts. Sturdy miners ran out to greet them. Many of them knew Young Klondike, having worked for Golden & Luckey in their different mines. When Ned told his story, an expedition was fitted out to hunt down the‘Jacques gang—they star"t'e,dv, & early the following morning. Many of them were. captured and turned over to the authorities, and the rest were driven out of the Great Swamp. Young Klondike and his friends, after establishing . Charley Rolfs‘ party at the mine on the island, went . back to Dawson City, with their gold accompanied by. Mr. Pomeroy, who remained sane during the entire . journey, and, indeed, is still so. His mind seems to be completely restored, and he is now at work in Young Klondike‘s great mine in El Dorado creek. _ Charley Rolfs is doing well on the island, and every— thing points to a successful mine. it recorded in the firm‘s name. It belongs to Golden & Luckey to—day. iss f Shortly before this journey to the old Russian dig— gings was undertaken, Ned and his friends passed. through a series of highly interesting adventures in a different part of Alaska. These will be found fully described in the next number of this series, and it is a_ story: which we advise all to read. 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HOW TO BECOME AN ACTOR—Containing completeinstrucQ tions how to make up for various characters on the stage ; together with" the duties of the Stage Manager, Prompter, . Scenic Artist and Property Man. By a prominent Stage Man— . ager. Price 10 cents, Address Frank Tousey, publisher, 29 . West 26th Street, New York,. HOW TO MAKE MAGIC TOYS—Containing full directions for _ making Magic Toys and devices of many kinds. By A. Ander— . son. Fully illustrated. Price 10 cents. For sale by all news— _ _ dealers, or sent, post—paid by mail, upon receipt of price. _ Ad— dress Frank Tousey, Publisher, 29 West 26th Street, New York* . HOW TO DO CHEMICAL TRICKS—Containing over one hun— dred highly amusing and instructive tricks with chemicals. By A. Anderson. Handsomely illustrated, Price 10 cents.. o. Ned found that . the claim had never been located, and promptly had Address . * For sale by all newsdealers, or _ sent post—paid, upon receipt of _ ' rice. Address Frank Tousey, Publisher, 29 West 26th Street, _ —New York. © HOW TO MAKE A MAGIC LANTERN—Containing a descrip— tion of the lantern, together with its history and invention,. . Also full directions for its use and for painting slides. Hand— . somely illustrated, by John Allen. Price 10 cents. For sale by > all newsdealers in the United States and Canada, or will be. sent to your address, post—paid, on receipt of price. Address . Frank Tousey, publisher, 29 West 26th Street, New York.. HOW TO BECOME A* CONJURER — Containing tricks with _ Dominoes, Dice, Cups and Balls, Hats, etc. Embracing 36 illus— trations. By A. Anderson, Price 10 cents. Address Frank: Tousey, publisher, 20 West 26th Street, New York,. ho 24 HOW TO TELL FORTUNES BY THE HAND-Containing rule for telling fortunes by the aid of the lines of the hand, or the _ secret of palmistry. Also the secret of telling future events by _ fas aid of moles, marks, scars, etc. ‘Illustrated. By A. Anderson,. _ Price 10 cents. Address Frank Tousey, publisher, 20 West26th_ Street, New York. Cl VALUABLE INFORMATION ON EVERY SUBJECT. —Price Onlym 10 Cents Eéch. _ Book.—ContamiAig the great oracle of human tuestiny; also this true meaning of almost any ind of dreams, together with charms, ceremo— _ mies, and eurious games of cards. A complete _ book. Price 10 cents. Address Frank Tousey, T ’.f}.-'nublisher, 29 West 26th Street, New York. No. 2. How to Do Tricks.—The great book f magic and card tricks, containing full in— wtruction of all the leading card tricks of the jay, also the most popular magical illusions as erformed by our leading magicians; every boy > whould obtain a copy of this book, as it will both _|| emuse and instruct. Price 10 cents. Address "’-;;»,sall{'rank TFousey, publisher, 29 West 26th Street, W tew York. — "irtation are fully explained by this little book. Besides the various methods of handkerchief, : (an, glove, parasol, window and hat flirtation, . 1t contains a full list of the language and senti— ment of flowers, which is interesting to every— sody, both old and young. {'iy without one. Price 10 cents. Address Frank ;a':’ouiey, publisher, 29 West 26th Street, New ork. foras A \ _ No. 4. How to Dance is the title of a new «nd handsome little book just issued by Frank ‘Wousey. It contains full instructions in the art if dancing, etiquette in the ball—room and at warties, how to dress, and full directions for :?lling off in all popular square dances. Price _"}) cents. Address Frank Tousey, publisher, 29 "Nest 26th Street, New York. _No.5, How to Make Love.—A complete uide to love, courtship and marriage, %iving iingible advice, rules and etiquette to be ob— sorved, with many curious and. interesting mings not generally known. Price 10 cents. . — A.ddress Frank Tousey, publisher, 29 West 26th _ street, New York. ; .No. 6. How to Become an Athlete.—Giving . (ull instruction for the use of dumb—bells, In— — dian clubs, parallel bars, horizontal bars and N_ Yarious other methods of developing a good, — ealthy muscle; containing over sixty illustra— — Sons,. Every boy can become strong and healthy ‘ 7 following the instructions contained in this listle book. Price 10 cents. Address Frank l:ork j _ No. 7. Row to Keep Birds.—Handsomely nustrated, and containing full instructions for _ the management and traininﬁ of the canary, _ mocking—bird, bobolink, blackbird, paroquet, s f,g;arrot, etc, Price 10 cents. _ Address Frank | MB vouls;ey, publisher, 29 West 26th Street, New _ _No, 8. How to Become a Scientist.—A use— Jﬁﬁ'{dl and instructive book, giving a complete _ Lraatise on chemistry ; also, experiments in mcoustics, mechanics, mathematics, chemistry, nd directions for making fire—works, colored ves, and gas balloons. This book cannot be vualed. Price 10 cents. Address Frank Tousey, ‘iblisher, 29 West 26th Street, New York. t‘ o No. 9. How to Become a Ventriloquist.— Harry Kennedy. The secret given away. _ yery intelligent boy reading this book of in— | alructions, by a practical professor (delighting — multitudes every night with his wonderful imi— i’g't;tions), can master the art, and create _ any ‘mount of fun for himself and friends. It is ho greatest book ever published, and there‘s / mmillions (of fun) in it, Price 10 cents. Address — Wrank Tousey, publisher, 29 West 26th Street, Now York. s _ No. 10. How to Box.—The art of self—defense ‘Ade easy. Containing over thirty illustrations | o guards, blows, and the different positions of — 1 wood boxer. EKvery boy should obtain one of _ these useful and instruetive books, as it will wach you how to box without an instructor. [ s i( s 29 West 26th Street, New York. / No, 11, How to Write Love—Letters.—A || wust complete little book, containing full direc— — waons for writing love—letters, and when to use .,:,&;’!lem; also giving specimen letters for both — ¥ung and old. Price 10.cents. Address Frank P1 ulstey, publisher, 29 West 26th Street, New XTK, ring complete instructions for writing letters Jladies on all subjects; also letters of intro— »tion, notes and requests. Price 10 cents. Aress Frank Tousey, publisher, 29 West 26th Elyoet, New York. o No. 3. How to Flirt.—The arts and wiles of _ You cannot be hap— . , less. ‘ousey, publisher, 29 West 26th Street, New _ V‘—ice 10 cents. Address Frank Tousey, publish—— No. 13. How to Do it; or, Book of KEKti— quette.—It is a great life secret, and one that every young man desires to know all about. Send 10 cents and get it. There‘s happiness in it. Address Frank Tousey, publisher, 29 West 26th Street, New York. No, 14, How to Make Candy.—A complete hand—book for making all kinds of candy, ice— cream, syrups, essences, etc., etc. Price 10 cents. Address Frank Tousey, publisher, 29 West 26th Street, New York. F4 No. 15, How to Become Rich.—This won— derful book presents you with the example and life experience of some of the most noted and wealthy men in the world, including the self— made men of our country. The book is edited by one of the most successful men of the present age, whose own example is in ilself guide enough for those who aspire to fame and money. The book will give you the secret. Price 10 cents. Address Frank ‘Tousey, publisher, 29 West 26th Street, New York. $ No. 16, How to Keep a Window Garden.— Containing full instructions for constructing & window garden either in town or country, and the most approved methods for raising beautiful flowers at home. The most complete book of the kind ever published. Price 10 cents. Address Frank Tousey, publisher, 29 West 26th Street, New York. No. 17. How to Dress.—Containing full in— struction in the art of dressing and appearing well at home and abroad, giving the selections of colors, material, and how to have them made up. Price 10 cents. Address Frank Tousey, publisher, 29 West 26th Street, New York. No, 18. How to Become Beautiful.—One of the brightest and most valuable little books ever given to the world. Everybody wishes to know now to become beautiful, both male and female. The secret is simple, and almost cost— Read this book and be convinced how to become beautiful. _ Price 10 cents. Address Frank Tousey, publisher, 29 West 26th Street, New York. f No, 19. Frank Tousey‘s United States Dis— tance Tables. Pocket Companion aad Guide. ~—Giving the official distances on all the rail— roads of the United States and Canada. Also table of distances by water to foreign ports, hack fares in the principal cities, reports of the census, etc., etc., making it one of the most complete and handy books published. Price 10 cents. Address Frank Tousey, publisher, 29 West 26th Street, New York. No, 20. How to Entertain an Evening Par— ty.—A very valuable little book just published. A complete compendium of games, sports, card— diversions, comic recreations, etc., suitable for parlor or drawing—room entertainment. It con— tains _ more for the money than any book pub— lished. Price10cents. Address Frank Tousey, publisher, 29 West 26th Street, New York. No. 21. How to Hunt and Fish.—The mos, complete hunting and fishing guide ever pub— lished. It contains full instructions about guns. hunting dogs, traps, trapping and fishing, to— %ether with descriptions of game and fisht rice 10 cents. Address Frank Tousey, publish— er, 29 West 26th Street, New York. No. 2%. How to Do Second Sight.—Heller‘s second sight explained by his former assistant, Fred Hunt, Jr. 6 logues were carried on between the magician and the boy on the stage; also giving all the codes and signals. The only authentic explana— tton of second sight. Price 10 cents. Address . Frank Tousey, publisher, 29 West 26th Street, New York. No,. 23. How to Explain Dreams.—Every— body dreams, from the little child to the aged man and woman. This little book gives the ex— lanation to all kinds of dreams, together with ucky and unlucky days, and ** Napoleon‘s Oraoc— ulum,‘‘ the book of fate. Price 10 cents. Ad— dress Frank Tousey, publisher, 29 West 26th Street, New York. No, 24. How to Write Letters to Gentle— men.—Containing full directions for writing to gentlemen on all subjects; also giving sam— ple letters for instruction. Price 10 cents. Ad— dress Frank Tousey, publisher, 29 West 26th Street, New York. : No. 25. How to Become a Gymnast.—Con— taining full instructions for all kinds of gym— nastic sports and athletic exercises. Embrac— ing thirty—five illustrations.— By Professor W. Macdonald. A handy and useful book. ice 10 cents. Address Frank Tousey, publisher, 29 West 26th Street, New York. $ Explaining how the secret dia— — No. 26. How to Row, Sail and Build a Boat.—Fully illustrated. Every boy should know how to row and sail a boat. Full instruc— tions are given in this little book, together with instructions on swimming and riding, compan— ion sports to boating. lPrice 10 cents. Address Frank Tousey, publisher, 29 West 26th Street, New York,. No. 27. How to Recite and Book of Reci— tation_s.—Containin.g. the_most popular _selec— — tions in use, comprising Dutch dialect, French dialect, Yankee and Irish dialect pieces, togeth— er with many standard readings. Price 10 cents. Address Frank Tousey, publisher, 29 West 26th —. Street, New York,. —_No. 28. How to Tell Fortunes.—Everyone is desirous of knowing what his future life will bring forth, whether happiness of misery, wealth or povery. You can tell by a glance at this little book. Buy one and be convinced. Tell your own fortune. Tell the fortune of your friends. Price 10 cents. Address Frank Tousey, publisher, 29 West 26th Street, New York. No. 29. How to Become an Inventor.—> Every boy should know how inventions origin— ate. ‘This book explains them all, giving exam— ples in electricity, hydraulics, magnetism, op— tics, pneumatics, mechanics, etc., etec. The most instructive book published. Price 10 cents. Address Frank Tousey, publisher, 29 West 26th Street, New York. No. 30. How to Cook.—One of the most in— structive books on cooking ever published. It contains recipes for cooking meats, fish, game and oysters; also pies, puddings, cakes an!a a.ll kinds of pastry, and a grand collection of reci— pes by one of our most popular cooks. Only 10 cents per _ copy. Address Frank Tousey, pub— lisher, 29 West 26th street, New York. No. 31, How to Become a Speaker.—Con— taining fourteen illustrations, giving the differ— ent positions requisite to become a good speak— er, reader and elocutionist. Also containin gems from all the popular authors of prose a.n§ poetry, arranged in the most simple and con cise manner possible. Price 10 cents. Address Frank Tousey, publisher, 29 West 26th Street, New York. No. 32. Hoew to Ride a Bicycle.—Hand— somely illustrated, and containing full direc— tions for mounting, riding and managing a bi— cycle, fully explained with practical illustra— tions; also drections for picking out a machine. Price 10 cents. Address Frank Tousey, publish— er, 29 West 26th Street, New York. No. 33. How to Behave.—Containing the rules and etiquette of good society and the easi— est and most approved methods of appearing to good advantage at parties, balls, the theater, church, and in the drawing—room. Price 10 cents. Address Frank Tousey, publisher, 29 West 26th Street, New York. No. 34. How to Fence.—Containing full in— struction for fencing and the use of the broad— sword; also instruction in archery. Described with twenty—one practical illustrations, giving the best positions in fencinhg. A complete book. Price 10 cents. Address ank_ ‘Fousey, pub— lisher, 29 West 26th Street, New York. No. 35. How to Play Games.—A complete and useful little book, containing the rules and regulations of billiards, bagatelle, backgam— mon, croquet, dominoes, etc. Price 10 cents. ~ Address Frank Tousey, publisher, 29 West 26th Street, New York. No. 36. How to Solve Conundrums.—Con— taining all the leading conundrums of the day, amusing riddles, curious catches and witty say— ings. Price 10 cents. Address Frank Tousey, publisher, 29 West 26th Street, New York. No. 37. How to Keep House.—It contains information for every body, boys, girls, men and women; it will teach you how to make almost anything around the house, such as parlor or— naments, brackets cements, sselian harps, and bird lime for catching birds. Price 10 cents. Address Frank Tousey, publisher, 29 West 26th Street, New York. No. 38. How to Become Your Own Doctor. —A wenderful book, containing useful and practical information in the treatment of erdi— nary diseases and ailments common to every family. Abounding in useful and effective reci— gee for general complaints. Price 10 cents. Ad— ress Frank Tousey, publisher, 29 West 26th Street, New York,. : .‘< $ ‘, engesndtratatin.. mss asgorys "hcpta ce en t ce o cuebinteince .. S pann cmmmmsees . 10 Little Deadshot, the Pride of the Trappers, 16 Fred Farrell, the Barkeeper‘s Son, *\ PLUCGCK ThE HANDSoMEST PUBLISHEDT ® LUC — CGontarss Azz Sorts or Targs. EVERY STORY COMPLETE 32 Pages. 1 chk Decker, the Brave Young Fireman, by Ex Fire Chief Warden .8 The Two Boy Brokers, or, From Messenger Boys to Million— aires, by a Retired Banker Sinttle Lou, the Pride of the Convinental Army. A Story of the American Revolution, by General Jas. A. Gordon 4 Railroad Ralph, the Boy Engineer, by Jas. C. Merritt § The Boy Pilot of Lake Michigan, by Capt. Thos. H. Wilson 6 Joe Wiley, the Young Temperance Lecturer, — by Jno. B. Dowd 7 The Little Swamp Fox. A Tale of General Marion and His Men, . _by General Jas. A. Gordon 8 Young Grizzly Adams, the Wild Beast Tamer. A True Story of Circus Life, by Hal Standish 9 North Pole Nat; or, The Secret of the Frozen Deep, by Capt. Thos. H. Wilson by an Old Scout 11 Liberty Hose; or, The Pride of Plattsville, by Ex Fire Chief Warden 12 Engineer Steve, the Prince of the Rail, by Jas. C. Merritt 13 Whistling Walt, the Champion Spy. A Story of the Ameri— can Revolution, by General Jas. A. Gordon 14 Lost in the Air; or, Over Land and Sea, by Allyn Draper |— 15 The Little Demon; or, Plotting Against the Czar, by Howard Austin by Jno. B. Dowd | _For' Sale by All Newsdealers, ‘of Price, 5 Cents Per Copy, by ZE‘RANK TOUSEY, Publisher, 29 West 26th St., 17 Slippery Steve, the Cunning Spy of the Revolution, PRICE 5 CENTS. Beautifully Colored Covers. by General Jas. A. Gordon 18 Fred Flame, the Hero of Greystone No. 1 by Ex Fire Chief Wa.rdq io 0 19 Harry Dare; or, A New York Boy in the Navy, i ol f by Col. Ralph Fenton 20 Jack Quick, the Boy Engineer, by Jas. C. Merrith 21 Doublequick, the King Ha.rpooner, or, The Wonder of the . Whalers, by Capt. Thos. H. Wilson 22 Rattling Rube, the Jolly Scout and Spy. A Story of the Revolution, "acs, 23 In the Czar‘s Service; or, Dick Sherman in Russia, by Howard Austin 24 Ben o‘ the Bowl; or, The Road to Ruin, by Jno. B. Dowd 25 Kit Carson, the King of the Scouts, 26 The School—Boy Explorers; or, Among the Ruins of Yucatan, by Howard Austin 27 The Wide Awakes; or, Burke Halliday, the Pride of the — Volunteers, by Ex Fire Chief Warder 28 The Frozen Deep; or, Two Years in the Ice, by Capt. Thos. H. Wilson 29 The Swamp Rats; or, The Boys Who Fought For Washing— — : by General Jas. A. Gordon _ by an Old Scout: l, (a / ton, _ by General Jas. A. Gordon > 80 Around the World on Cheek, f by Howard Austin 31 Bushwhacker Ben; or, The Union Boys of Tennessee, A by Col Ralph Fenton || or will be Sent to Any Address on Receipt ROBERT J. MOHR 39 JACKSON AVENUE BO, GLENS FALLS, N. Y. New York 3¥ b d t J NNb Cb er dn scians enicte AW encters (5r 0 inee uP iouli. unA aicient oo on oc 4e ei d Aminrton a Hiewthss X Price 5 Cents. x Young Klondike; or, Off for the Land of Gold. z Young Klondike‘s Claim; or, Nine Golden Nuggets. 3 Young Klondike‘s First Million; or, His Great Strike on El Dorado Creek. 4 Young Klondike and the Claim Agents; or, Fighting the Land Sharks of Dawson City. * ‘,ﬁaﬁX}oung Klondike‘s New Diggings; or, The Great Gold Find on _ Owl Creek. 6 Young Ktj!bndike's Chase; or, the Gold Pirates of the Y ukon. 7 Young Klondike‘s Golden Island; or, Half a Million in Dust. 8 Young Klondike‘s Seven Strikes; or, The Gold Hunters of High Rock. ‘9' rYoung Klondike‘s J ourney to Juneau; or, Guarding a Million in ‘¥_ Gold. : 10 Young Klondike‘s Lucky Camp; or, Working the Unknown‘s Claim. 11 Young Klondike‘s Lost Million; or, The Mine Wreckers of Gold Creek. For Sale by All Newsdealers, or will be Sent to Any Address on Receipt of Price, 5 Cents Per Copy, by gg'.West 26th St.,_: | 22 Young Klondikes ‘Mastodon Mine; or, The Biggest Strik FERANK TOUSEY, t & tss \1'\” 14 Young Klondike‘s Trump Card; or, The Rush to Rocky R’lver.' 15 Ydung Klondike‘s Arctic Trail or, Lost in a Sea of Ice. .' 16 Young Klondike‘s New Bonanza, or, The Gold Diggers f French Gulch. 17 Young Klondike‘s Death Trap; or, Lost Underground. 18 Young Klondike‘s Fight for a Claim; or, The Boomers Raccoon Creek,. Mouth of the Y ukon. ? 20 Young Klondike‘s Winter Camp; or, Mining Under the Snow. 21 Young Klondike‘s Death Creek Deal; or, Downing the 'q King of Dawson. ‘ All. , V 23 Young Klondike‘s Company K; or, Prospecting in an Unkno: ' Land. X PM ue P i t nke sls B
Periodicals
Klondike River Valley (Yukon)
English
Vancouver: University of British Columbia Library
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Original Format: University of British Columbia. Library. Rare Books and Special Collections. Phil Lind Klondike Gold Rush collection. RBSC-ARC-1820-16-44
Klondike River Valley (Yukon)--Fiction
[Magazine-- Young Klondike-- stories of a gold seeker. No. 26, New York]
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