Chapter 1

The Vortex 321

ILLUSTRATIONS

We were in a caldron of fire. The roar of doom was in our ears (p. 143) Frontispiece

FACING PAGE

"No," she said firmly, "you can't see the girl" 116

Then, as I hung half in, half out of the window, he clutched me by the throat 316

"Garry," I said, "this is--this is Berna" 476

This is the law of the Yukon, and ever she makes it plain: "Send not your foolish and feeble; send me your strong and your sane. Strong for the red rage of battle; sane, for I harry them sore; Send me men girt for the combat, men who are grit to the core; Swift as the panther in triumph, fierce as the bear in defeat, Sired of a bulldog parent, steeled in the furnace heat. Send me the best of your breeding, lend me your chosen ones; Them will I take to my bosom, them will I call my sons; Them will I gild with my treasure, them will I glut with my meat; But the others--the misfits, the failures--I trample under my feet."

--"Songs of a Sourdough."