To Win or to Die: A Tale of the Klondike Gold Craze

"So this is the golden city," said Dallas, as he and Abel sat, worn out and disconsolate, gazing at a confusion of tents, sheds, and shanties, for it could be called nothing els...

"There's a deal in make-believe, Bel, old chap," said Dallas one day, as they sat together in their rough hut of fir-trunks, brooding over the fire lit in the centre of the floo...

"Yes! Yes! What is it?" Somebody had spoken in the black darkness, but it was some minutes before Dallas Adams could realise the fact that the words came from his own lips.

The disposition was there to help, and as soon as he could get the door open, Dallas dashed out into the whirling snow, which rushed in blinding eddies about the hut, while Abel...

"Got a sled, hev you? All right, mate. Where's the line? Lay hold, Leggy, while I give it a hyste. That's your sort. Come on." It seemed like a dream, and as if all the peril an...

A strange feeling of stiffness and cold so painful that for some moments Dallas could not move, but lay gazing straight before him at the heap of ashes, which gave forth a dull...

The two men who had been fighting hard to reach Dallas, the sound of whose strokes seemed nearer than ever, rushed to their companion, who had begun chafing the buried man's fac...

"Rather a snowy summer," was the reply; "but never mind the cold: let's try wherever we halt to see if there is any gold; those fellows are getting out their tins."

The struggle was short, for the sides of the canvas building were frail; and as the flames ran swiftly up one side and the burning rags of the canvas roof began to fall upon the...

There was the sense of a terrible weight pressing the sufferers down, with their chests against the soft load bound upon the sledge in front; and utterly stunned, they lay for a...

Aided by Scruff, a fairly correct line was made for the forsaken sledge, the dog seeming to know exactly what was wanted, and preventing them from over-running the spot where it...

Dropping the piece of wood, he dashed into the dark hut, to find that the rush of wind from the suddenly opened door had started the embers in the middle of the floor flickering...

"Them?" said Norton, springing up and putting out his pipe; "I was in hopes they were hanged. Well, I'll be off; this means a serious matter for them. We shall have to get up a...

The fit of delirium which once more attacked Abel Wray was merciful, inasmuch as it darkened his intellect through the long hours of that terrible night, and he awoke at last wi...

It was horrible, but it was for life. There, close by him, slightly powdered with snow, was the unfortunate's sledge, and in an instant he was tearing at the rope which bound it...

"Nay, nay, lad," said Tregelly soothingly; "there's no one here now. That bag of gold was enough to bring one of the rowdies down upon you, but those three chaps wouldn't risk a...

"Well, we are doing no more now than when we started, while others are making fortunes. Let's strike right up into the mountains, make a bold stroke for fortune, and give that s...

There was silence directly, and the dark man went on. "Gentlemen," he cried, "we have made this a court of justice, and you chose me the other day, being an English barrister, t...

The speaker turned from his two companions, who were dragging the sledge up the slope of the snow-fall, and then smote one thigh heavily with the palm of his great hand.

The long-silent dog burst out into a hoarse bark once more, as the two young men knelt there as if paralysed, and the tiny splints died out one by one where they had fallen amon...

"Look here, gentlemen," cried the third excitedly, and he rose, planted a foot on the bench, and bared his bound-up leg, "here's that tall un's shot as went through my calf here...

"Wait a bit--wait a bit!" said Dallas through his teeth; "we'll pay the cowardly brutes yet. Bel, it makes me feel like a savage. I could enjoy pulling the rope that was to hang...

It was a long, weary tramp up by the higher waters of the huge Yukon River towards its sources in the neighbourhood of the Pelly Lakes, where sharp rapids and torrents were succ...

"You're quite right, my son," said the Cornishman coolly, after lighting his pipe and carefully examining the ground. "I'm not much of a hand at this kind of thing, but it looks...

Dallas stared the next morning when he opened his eyes, for the fire was burning brightly and Abel was bustling about in the lit-up hut, with nothing but a slight limp to tell o...

"Keep him off, mate--drag him back, Beardy! Can't you see he's tearing me to bits! Shoot! shoot! why don't you shoot? Never mind hitting me. Shoot!--can't you see the dog's mad?"

"It's no good, Bel," said Dallas one day; "I can't go begging round again. It's not fair to the men. I must go down to the town and bring back as much as I can."

And yet it was strange, for just then the embers fell together, a soft, lambent, bluish flame flickered up, making the interior of the hut light, and he saw that the dog still l...

"I say, if you speak in that way I shall break down altogether. That fellow choked a lot of the man out of me, and then the excitement, and on the top of it this horrible buryin...

"Thankye; that's quite cheering; anything's better than that horrible silence. What do they say? When a man gets in the habit of talking to himself it's a sign that he is going...

The preparations for fending the raft off the rocks that might be in their way, or keeping it from the wall-like sides which overhung them, were absurd; for as they were swept i...

The pursuit was short, for it seemed madness to follow in amongst the dense pines which formed the forest, placing themselves at the mercy of an enemy who could bring them down...

Abel was still weak and wanting in spirit from his long illnesses, but the courage displayed by his cousin roused him to action, and he followed the others into the hut.

"No: warmth is everything here. The ground is hot where the fire was, and we'll camp there till morning. I saw you had a sledge. We'll drag that to one side for shelter."

The store of provisions proved on examination to be far greater than had been anticipated, and it seemed plain enough that their enemy had, while seeking a place of refuge from...

"It is _no_ wandering dream, Bel. I tell you I seem to have been inspired to do exactly the same as you did, and I went to Uncle Morgan, who treated me just as he treated you."

Shortening days and shortening distances in and out of the wild ravine, where the water ran trickling merrily along in the brief sunny hours, but froze hard again at night. Ever...

"Were you, my sons?" cried the big Cornishman, smiling all over his broad face. "That's right. Well, I was thinking about you, and wondering whether I should find you, and here...

"As sure as the sun'll rise to-morrow morning somewhere if it don't here, my son. He's dying fast. Man can't live long going through what he's going through now. He's dying as h...

"All right, my sons," said Tregelly coolly. "Let's go in and get the lantern. The beggar has rolled about, and dropped down the pit. Sorry we can't cover him up. But we can't, o...

"Hooroar!" cried Tregelly. "Now, I call that fine, my sons. Why, if old Scruff comes back and says he's killed Master Redbeard, this'll be about as pleasant a time as I ever spe...