Gypsy - Lesley Pearse [126]
Since then, it transpired, prospectors in the area had swarmed there to stake claims, and fortunes were made overnight, but word hadn’t reached the outside world about it until now, for once winter closed in up in the Yukon, no one could get out.
Beth was only mildly interested, but as she continued to read as she walked along the street, she was suddenly hearing the words ‘Klondike Gold’ on all sides of her.
The boys had only just got up when she returned, but as she related what she’d heard and seen on the street and gave them the newspaper to read, their eyes lit up.
‘Where is the Klondike exactly?’ Jack asked. ‘Is it in Alaska?’
‘They called it the Yukon in the paper, and I think that’s part of Canada,’ Theo said, and began rummaging through his valise to find his map of North America. He pushed aside the cups and plates on the table and spread it out. ‘This is where it is,’ he said, pointing to an area further north from Vancouver, tucked behind Alaska. ‘We could go there.’
‘Oh no,’ Beth said flatly. ‘I told you when we got here that if we had to move it would be to the south where it’s warm. I am not going off on some wild goose chase to a place which is frozen solid all year.’
‘But we could become millionaires,’ Sam said, his voice cracking with excitement.
‘We could die of cold and starvation, more likely,’ she argued. ‘Don’t you remember learning about the Gold Rush of ’49 in school? Only a few people found some. Remember what Pearl told me too? She was there, but she made her money cooking for the prospectors.’
‘That’s exactly why we should go,’ Theo said, his eyes shining. ‘The perfect place to start a gambling saloon!’
‘Talk some sense into them,’ Beth urged Jack. ‘This is madness, we like it here, we’re doing fine. It’s stupid to throw it all away with all the other idiots who’ll run off there half cocked.’
‘I think we all ought to find out a great deal more about this first,’ Jack replied, backing neither her nor Theo and Sam. ‘Quietly, calmly and using our heads.’
It was impossible to be quiet and calm that day, for news of the gold was like a virulent disease sweeping through the town and infecting everyone. By the afternoon people were queuing for tickets on the next steamship to Skagway in Alaska, the town they said was the nearest point to the goldfields.
Shopkeepers were galvanized into action, putting signs outside their shops, ‘Get your outfit here’. Sledges which had been stored away for the summer were suddenly out on display. Tents, fur-lined coats and boots, mackinaws and galoshes were piled up invitingly. The dried goods store had a blackboard outside listing the items the owner had in stock which could be bought in bulk.
Theo and Sam were incandescent with excitement and even Beth found her heart beating a little faster, but Jack was strangely quiet. He took himself off to see Foggy, an old man who was in the saloon most nights and who he knew had been a fur trapper in Alaska in his younger days. When he returned a couple of hours later to have a wash and a shave before going to work, Theo and Sam asked what he’d found out, and he said he would tell them in the morning.
Gold was the only subject under discussion in the saloon that night. Old-timers who had prospected in California in ’49 found themselves the centre of attention. Men who knew about sledge dogs got free drinks, and any man who had ever sailed up the Inner Passage to Alaska could hold court.
‘I’ve studied the map, and talked to old Foggy,’ Jack said the following morning. ‘I’ve made a rough list of what he thinks we would need.’
Theo took the long list and roared with laughter. ‘We won’t need all that! A tent, blankets, warm clothes and a bit of food will be enough. Ice picks, saws, nails! Why would we need those?’
‘The Klondike is some seven or eight hundred miles from Skagway,’ Jack said quietly. ‘First we