“Gregory!” a loud voice startled Sam and Donald, then Henry Drury burst into the cabin. His face was pale and his eyes large with fear. He looked around and his face registered disappointment. “He’s not here.”
“What’s wrong?” Sam asked.
“I can’t find Gregory and I thought he might have come to see you.”
Sam’s heart sank. “We haven’t seen him.”
Henry groaned. “The little bugger has no fear. He just takes off whenever he feels like it sometimes without letting us know. We’ve told him many times about the dangers of hurting himself and us not knowing where to look for him.”
“We’ll come help,” Sam said. He and Donald grabbed their coats, hats, and mitts.
They hurried outside and were greeted by Clarence Berry. It was almost dark but the snow helped lighten the evening. A slicing wind made the cold even sharper. The thought of his little friend being out in this weather chilled Sam more than the cold weather itself.
“Maybe he’s at Harold and Bert’s place.” Sam knew that Gregory liked to visit them after leaving his cabin.
“Let’s try it.” Henry hurried up the creek, the rest of the men following him through the snow.
When they reached Gordon’s claim Sam broke off and headed through the bush to where Gordon had the tent. He didn’t expect that Gregory would have gone there, but it needed to be checked. The tent was dark. Sam didn’t even call out. He opened the flap and looked in. It was empty. Where was Gordon? Should they be searching for him, too? He looked at the footprints in the snow but there were too many of them to know which ones were the most recent.
Sam hurried to Bert and Harold’s cabin. They had joined the other men and there were now six of them in the search party.
“Anything?” Donald asked him.
“The tent is empty.”
Donald sighed. “Now what do we do?”
“I think we have to continue looking for Gregory. And we’ll keep an eye open for Gordon.”
Donald nodded.
“Do you have any idea where else he might have gone?” Sam asked Henry.
Henry started to shake his head, then stopped. “Yesterday he wanted to see what Joseph Ladue’s new town looked like. I told him it was too far and we didn’t have a dog team to pull us.”
“Do you think he could be going there now?” Sam hoped not. It was a long way in this cold.
Henry’s shoulders slumped. “He could be. Once he gets something in his head he keeps at it until he has done it.”
Sam knew that. He had seen it in Gregory’s ability to pester him until Sam had relented and let him cut some wood with the axe, or feed some wood into the stove, things that Sam thought were too hazardous for a child.
“I’m not a child,” Gregory would pout. “I’ll be eleven in five months.”
“My, god, he’ll freeze,” Henry cried.
“Not if we find him first,” Clarence said. “Let’s go see if we can locate his tracks.”
The six men hurried to where the Eldorado joined Bonanza Creek. They looked in the snow for evidence of Gregory’s footsteps. Now that the creeks were frozen, they were used as a thoroughfare. Men walked from claim to claim to visit or headed down to the Klondike River and Ladue’s town. Those men who had dogs hooked them up to sleds and sped up and down the ice.
“There they are.” Henry pointed to small prints in the snow near the edge of the bush. However, they soon disappeared as they veered onto the tramped down snow on the ice.
The men fanned out across the creek. They were looking for anything, a lost mitten, a huddled form, a kid walking.
“Gregory!” Henry called. He had tears in his eyes. “Gregory, where are you?”
“Hey, Gregory!” Sam tried. “I need you to help me chop wood.”
They trekked along, peering into the bush, stopping when they heard a noise.
“He’s a bit young to be so headstrong.” Henry sounded as if he was trying to explain why his son would have left home. “We’ve always had a hard time getting Gregory to listen to his elders.”
Sam knew that sometimes, in Gregory’s case, it was almost impossible for an elder to make him pay attention. Especially when Gregory would get an innocent, almost angelic look on his face that melted his heart. Maybe, if I hadn’t given in to him so many times, he wouldn’t be so set on doing whatever he wanted, Sam thought.
“Watch for a hump in the snow,” Sam said to the others. “One day when he was visiting me I told him that if he ever got lost in the winter to cover himself with snow because it works as insulation.” He hoped that Gregory would remember that.
They stopped at each cabin and waited while Henry checked to see if Gregory was inside. Sam went with him and looked over his shoulder hoping to see Gordon in one of them. Two more miners joined them.
“He’ll be frozen by the time we find him.” Henry was getting more frantic with each step. “Why didn’t I take him there to satisfy his curiosity? Why didn’t I think that he would try it on his own?”
“What if he hasn’t gone there?” Donald asked. “What if he was just exploring around your cabin?”
“Isabel and I checked all over our claim and Clarence’s because he goes there, also.”
“He was at our place yesterday, but not today,” Clarence said.
Sam’s fear was matching Henry’s. It was getting colder and darker. They had to find Gregory, and Gordon, soon.
Then they heard yelling around a bend ahead of them. Henry started running with Sam right behind. They rounded the curve and saw a man with his hand on Gregory’s arm. Gregory was trying to get away.
“I don’t think your parents want you to be out at night,” the man said.
“Gregory!” Henry yelled, anger and relief in his voice. He ran up and threw his arms around his son.
The man stood back. “I saw him walking by and he looked cold so I invited him in to warm up. I thought if I kept him long enough someone would come looking for him. But he was bound and determined to continue. You guys made it just in time.”
Henry hugged his son, barely able to speak. Sam felt tears prickling in his eyes as he felt his own relief.
“Thank you.” Henry reached out and shook the man’s hand, keeping one protective arm on Gregory’s shoulders. “Thank you, thank you.”
The man nodded.
Sam also shook the man’s hand.
“He’s a good boy,” the man said, as if trying to soften the fact that Gregory had taken off without permission. “We had a nice chat.”
After Henry thanked them for their help, the men dispersed to their separate cabins. Sam and Donald went to Gordon’s tent. It was still empty.
“What do we do?” Donald asked.
Sam shrugged. “It’s not the first time he’s spent the night outside. It’s his choice and there is nothing we can do about it.”
“But it hasn’t been this cold before. And I’m not so sure how much of it is his choice and how much is whatever is driving his mind right now.”
“It’s too dark, even with the snow, to go looking for him now. We could walk right past him in the bush and not see him, especially if he doesn’t want us to find him.”
“I’ll check on him early in the morning,” Donald stated.
They trudged back to their cabin.
“When Emma and I have children, I’m going to make sure they listen and understand dangers,” Donald said when they were warming themselves back at their cabin. “I don’t ever want to lose a child, like Henry did tonight.”
Sam smiled to himself, as he dried the water from the thawed icicles that had formed on his beard. Donald was constantly talking about how much he loved Emma and his plans for their future, a future he wasn’t even sure was going to happen.
“Have you asked her to marry you, yet?” Sam asked, knowing the answer.
Donald shook his head.
“Why not?”
“Because I have nothing to offer her.” Donald looked crestfallen.
“Well, you will as soon as we start hauling out our gold in pails.”
Donald brightened. “Yes, if only that does happen.”
Both men were relieved the next morning when Gordon yelled at them to go away when they went to the tent.
* * *
Pearl added more wood to the stove to bring the heat in the cabin back up. On bread and pie making days they had to lower the fire so as not to burn the loaves and it would get cool inside. Both she and Emma were so happy to be in the cabin and so thankful to Donald for making it possible. It was crude and windowless with a dirt floor but it was bigger than the tent, and they liked having the extra room. The layout was much the same except that they had blocked off the far end with a blanket for a bedroom and they had bunk beds to sleep on.
They had been in the cabin for a month now and were again making some money through selling their baking. Seven loaves and four pies were cooling on the table and the fermenting starter for the next batch of bread was in a tin hanging above the stove. They had grown accustomed to the taste and now used it to make flapjacks for their breakfast and biscuits to go with their meals.
Pearl and Emma dressed in their heavy coats, wore mittens, and wrapped scarves around their heads. Before making their deliveries they had to haul water. Pearl grabbed the two pails while Emma picked up the ice chisel and axe. When they stepped out the door, Pearl noticed a man clearing off one of the lots on the next block with a shovel. Must have bought it from Joseph, she thought as she hurried along with Emma through the snow to the frozen river. They walked out on the ice to the community water hole. Someone had been there just before them because there was only a film of frozen water on top.
Emma jabbed at the ice with the head of the axe. Pearl filled the pails and went back to the cabin. Soon after they had moved into the cabin they’d bought a water-keg from the warehouse and set it close to the stove. It took the two pails to fill the keg and Pearl went back to refill them. They returned to the cabin with glowing cheeks and Pearl placed the pails beside the keg. This gave them enough water for a few days unless they decided to wash clothes or have a quick bath.
They had moved their supply of wood over beside the cabin and, before he left, Donald had topped the pile up for them. If they needed more before Donald returned, they could buy it from Paul. Emma loaded some pieces of wood into her arms, carried them inside, and dropped them on the small stack they had in the corner.
With that done, they loaded the fresh loaves of bread and pies into their washtub and covered them with a towel. They had experimented with the dried fruit until they had gotten the recipe right for the pie filling. They had men vying for the pies each week.
Pearl added her writing pad and pencil, then blew out the candles. They each took a handle of the tub and went outside. It was the middle of the day and the sun, though low on the horizon, was bright in the blue sky. The air was crisp and cold. They made their rounds delivering the loaves and pies to their customers. The men always had their money ready, so it was a quick exchange.
One of the men who liked their bread was Joseph. He had now turned the operation of the sawmill to a manager and he spent most of his time in the warehouse. Besides dealing in merchandise, he was using the store as his headquarters for selling town lots and lumber.
Pearl made sure she and Emma delivered his loaf last so they could stop and chat. As usual, they left the tub outside and then entered with Emma carrying the bread and Pearl her pad and pencil.
“Ah,” Joseph smiled. “My bread baked and delivered by such lovely ladies.”
Pearl smiled back. He was always saying something like that when they came and she tried to have a comeback.
“You can talk nice all you want, but you still have to pay for it.”
“I thought you might see through my ruse.” Joseph set seventy-five cents on the counter.
“Actually, we need more flour, fruit, and baking soda,” Pearl said. She produced the money they had made that day and put it beside Joseph’s money.
Joseph went into the storage room and came back with a sack of flour, a bag of dried fruit, and a box of baking soda.
“I’ll take these to the cabin and check on the fire,” Emma said.
“Okay.” Pearl was grateful that Emma usually found a reason to leave them alone.
Pearl watched as Joseph hurried to the door and opened it for Emma. She was getting worried about him. While he still had his smile and his easygoing manner, it seemed that each time she saw him he was looking more and more tired. She wondered if he was ill or if he was just too busy to sleep.
“I see you’ve sold some more lots,” Pearl said.
“Yes.” Joseph nodded. “There will be a full town here soon.”
Pearl smiled. He may be tired, she thought, but he hadn’t lost his enthusiasm for the vision he had for the area.
“Has anyone else found gold on Bonanza Creek?” Pearl plopped her writing pad on the counter. She used her articles as a reason to spend time with him.
“Clarence Berry has reached bedrock on the claim he shares with Anton Stander on Eldorado,” Joseph said. “Apparently, a single pan of pay dirt yields more than fifty-five dollars in gold.”
“That’s wonderful.” Pearl thought of Ethel Berry, the woman who had befriended her over three months ago. “But what is pay dirt?”
“It’s the dirt that is brought out of the ground and which everyone hopes is full of gold.”
“So they’re finding lots of pay dirt?”
“Yes, they are hiring men to haul the dirt up by windlass and pile it on what is called a dump. When it thaws in the spring they will shovel the muck and gravel into a sluice box so that the gold can be separated from the rest.”
“It sounds like dirty work.”
“It is.”
“I’d like to go there some day to sketch and write about what is happening on the creeks.”
“I know a man with a team of dogs and a sled. I can borrow them and take you.”
“You could?” Pearl knew that the eagerness in her voice was as much from the thought of spending time with Joseph as it was from going to where history might be in the making. “I’d like that, but when would you have the time?”
“I can make time. What about this Saturday?”
Pearl told herself to keep calm, to keep her voice composed. “That would be fine with me,” she said.
A customer came in and with a smile at Pearl, Joseph turned to him.
Pearl headed to the cabin, giddy with happiness. A day with Joseph. She was going to spend a whole day with Joseph. And, best of all, it was his suggestion. He had asked her. Sure, she had hinted, but she hadn’t expected him to catch onto her hint and actually offer to take her.
“Guess what happened?” she bubbled, as soon as she had opened the door.
Emma looked at her and smiled. “It must be good news.”
“Joseph is taking me to the gold creeks on Saturday.”
Emma’s eyes widened. “He finally asked you on a date?”
“Well, I don’t know if you would call it a date. I said I’d like to go to Bonanza Creek sometime and he said he would take me on Saturday.”
“How are you going?”
“By dog sled. He’s borrowing a team from a friend.”
“A date and a dog sled ride at the same time,” Emma grinned. “When he finally makes a move, it’s a good one.”