The Great Gold Rush Part 26

"Yes, sir; Constable Hope."

"What did the stranger say?"

"He talked philosophy."

"Philosophy!"

"Yes; he's an Australian."

"Did he rouse them?"

"They did not say much; he held them quiet."

"Any sedition?"

"Yes, sir. He says the man who steals another man's work is a murderer, in that he takes a portion of his life; and he quoted the Bible."

The Sergeant saluted and retired. Smoothbore paced his room. A man who could silence a Dawson crowd--one who quoted the Bible--was a man to be watched! Smoothbore knew his duty; it was to his sovereign, and his sovereign's authority; it was in his province to maintain the integrity of his sovereign's empire. He knew that many of his men sympathized with the miners, and that the miners were conscious of this sympathy. He knew, also, that many of the miners believed, in the case of an uprising of the people, that the opposition of the police would be merely nominal. The question, what action he should take, had been facetiously asked him many times; but he had allowed no man to read his mind. The iniquities of the liquor-permit system were known to him, for in his official capacity he had to enforce the law. The rascality in the Gold Commissioner's office, and the graft of the toll-bridge and the Bonanza Creek trail, all--all were known to him, and were bad, bad--thoroughly bad. Villainy, barefaced or subtle, permeated officialdom, but officialdom he must protect.

There was no real hesitancy, although he recognized both sides of the question. He was going to do his duty, and he knew that his men would follow him.

Twenty men were present on the Dome at the time appointed. No one had marked their coming, and it would not have mattered if they had. Men often climbed the Dome to spy out the land or to locate the timber that grew upon its sides, for it would soon be winter, and logs were already being cut and hauled. From the Dome all who were approaching could be seen; there were no walls with ears at that place.

John moved a resolution that a council be formed, representative of the four nationalities--Australian, English, Canadian, and the United States. He and George would canva.s.s the Australians and English. Hugh said he and Joseph Andrews would work among the Canadians. Long Shorty thought he could round up a host of Americans, and Frank Corte said he would back him up. These were men who would form the council. The first thing to do was to canva.s.s the town and find out how many could be won to the cause, after which another meeting would be held and progress reported. Following this, the creeks were to be gone over. To prevent bloodshed the force must be overwhelming. Bonanza, Hunker, and Eldorado would probably not yield many helpers. These creeks had been staked before the advent of Poo-Bah, and the police had given records. The owners had no complaint. Nothing more than moral support could be counted from these. But on the new creeks--Dominion, Sulphur, Indian River, Australia Eureka, Too-Much-Gold, All-Gold, and the rest--there was little doubt that the support of thousands could be obtained.

On the hillsides of Bonanza and Hunker startling discoveries had recently been made. Gold Hill was proved enormously rich, Adams Hill, Magnet Hill, and Monte Cristo Hill were all of great potential wealth.

The White Channel was being discovered, and the rights of location were hard to establish, if not impossible. In the gambling and dance-halls clerks of the Gold Commissioner's office were nightly to be seen squandering money on gambling and women. Their wage was two dollars per day and food, yet many of them rather lived in the hotels at a cost of fifteen dollars per diem! All this explained the difficulty of obtaining record. The rightful owners of the newly-discovered property were mostly residents of Dawson, employing lawyers in their attempt to obtain just rights. These men were the most desperate. Then there were the Forty Mile, Glacier, and Twelve Mile Creeks. There was a large number on Glacier and Forty Mile Creeks.

The nature of the discussion was necessarily wide. John insisted that they all should devote attention to the town for the first few days.

Each man gained as an adherent should be questioned as to his arms and ammunition, the capacity of his rifle, and the quant.i.ty of his ammunition. Notes were to be taken of these details. Only by such means could they estimate what might be expected from the men on the creeks.

The need of caution was expressed by all on all. No word of what was doing should be allowed to reach the police, and every possible adherent must be carefully sounded ere he was taken into confidence.

John tarried on the Dome after the meeting. He requested George, Frank, and Hugh to post to the home-camp and prepare a meal. A tremendous responsibility had come to him in the last few hours; and now that action had been taken he wished to meditate upon it. He had taken a great step, and could only contemplate a result far-reaching.

When the last man had disappeared among the timber below, he arose from his seat and wandered towards the wooded gulch to the north of the Dome, which he had partly explored in the days of his convalescence. He thought he remembered something. He found it again--a cleft in the rock.

By the aid of a few poles and brush and a little moss it would become a fair habitation, his den!--"David therefore departed thence and escaped to the Cave Adullam ... and every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him."

Was he to be another David?

He sought the home-trail; and as he ate his meal told his companions that he would camp alone; no one else had better be with him in the Cave of Adullam.

That afternoon he placed an outfit on his back and walked to his new lonely abode. Time was precious, so he would not allow any of his companions to a.s.sist him, but rather requested that they should turn immediately to their work of organization. Besides, it was his humour to be alone.

As he chopped the trees necessary to complete his den, his mind conceived many things. Fond recollections came, and they led to a contemplation of the purposes of his life. Was he ever to be useful, creative? Instinctively his mind avoided the immediate issue of events.

After all, the time for thought had given place to the time for action.

CHAPTER XXIV

WITHIN THE BARRACKS

When Constable Hope had made his report upon Berwick's abiding-place, and added to it particulars as to his visitors, and the council held on the Dome, Smoothbore recognized that he had to do with a man of more than ordinary character and intelligence. In the first place, a council held upon the Dome's summit in broad daylight was not susceptible to eavesdropping. As a base of a.s.sault upon the town, a modern rifle might drop a bullet into the barrack yard. There were possibly fifty thousand men against less than two hundred!

As a matter of fact, six hundred officers and men were on their way to the Yukon, via the Stikeen route: that is, if they had not got "cold feet" and turned back. In any case, such military outfits were of little good. Being a staunch believer in the Police, Smoothbore had little faith in the Militia!

The report of the meeting on the Dome was to the effect that council had been held and that the different parties attending it had immediately left town. Berwick's former residence had been abandoned, and its other occupants (who had been at the meeting) were not to be seen in any of the dance-halls or gambling-saloons.

Crossing the quadrangle of the Barracks from the orderly-room towards his own private office, immediately after reading the report of Constable Hope, Smoothbore met Inspector Herbert, the officer of the day.

Smoothbore returned the other's salute and stopped, which brought Herbert to a standstill also, and then, glancing over his shoulder at the Dome towering behind the town, inquired,

"Herbert, how would you like leading a squad of men against a trenched position on the top of the Dome?"

"The only way a man could storm that position would be by flying machine--and they're not invented yet. But you might cut off the enemy's supplies--that is, if you had enough men--or their water--there is no water except in the draw at the back. Were you thinking of having some manoeuvres, sir?"

"Manoeuvres may be made necessary by the dread realities of war."

Herbert opened his eyes wide, and looked at his chief. Smoothbore did not return his gaze; he was still looking intently at the top of the hill, where he could see a flag-staff and the figure of a man. Herbert followed his gaze, noted the human figure, and made to take his military gla.s.ses from their case. But his superior checked him. "Don't look up there with your gla.s.ses; some one may have his on us."

"You don't mean that you seriously fear an insurrection," Herbert then exclaimed; "that these dirty prospectors will show fight?" Herbert had a contempt for the populace similar to that of Louis XV.

Smoothbore turned to him. "There are as many known murderers in Dawson as there are mounted police in the whole of the Yukon. On that hill there is a man who quotes Scripture; can probably string out his pedigree to the Conquest; and propounds the doctrine that the man who steals another's substance steals that portion of his life which went to the acquiring of that substance. This is a dangerous doctrine--because it makes our grafters murderers! The great majority of his followers will absorb this doctrine without question. Every one of the discontented is ready to lay the responsibility of his non-success on the shoulders of the officials. G.o.d knows we have real grafting and grafters enough; but if you would hear each separate tale of woe, or the different tales of woe that each malcontent will unburden himself of at the least excuse, and add the whole together, the sum would involve twice the number of claims at present made in the Yukon Valley. It does not matter that these injuries are many of them fancied: the effect upon the possessor of the delusion is the same. These men have endured countless hards.h.i.+ps on the trail: they have--many of them--staked their all in the venture. The hopes they encouraged within themselves as they struggled to the goal have given place to dejection. Now they find themselves at the end of their resources, and their ways are blocked by corruption! Can you not understand how little organized agitation will ferment rebellion?"

"And they have abundant ammunition," commented Herbert, ever-practical.

"They brought a great supply with them, thinking to kill game on the way. They met little or none, and consequently have their ammunition unspent. Look in at any of the second-hand shops, and you will find numbers of the highest cla.s.s of modern rifles, with stacks of ammunition, on sale at half their original cost."

"Then you really fear rebellion?"

"Not fear, but I think rebellion is not improbable. Officers of the mounted police don't fear anything this side of the Great Divide," and the speaker smiled.

"Would it not be well to arrest the ringleaders, and nip the thing in the bud?" asked the Inspector.

"We have no charge to lay against them, except the voicing of sedition; and there was only one man who did so. And if we did arrest him--no! it would not do! Besides: sedition!--there are enough people voicing sedition within earshot of Whitehall to keep the prisons of England filled were they all arrested. It would be a hard thing to get a jury to convict on a charge of sedition."

With this the Commandant continued his way to his office.

Smoothbore sat at his desk, and filled his pipe. His conversation with his Inspector had not dispelled his apprehensions--far from it. He must do something. He turned to the constable who was busy with papers at a neighbouring desk, and sent him for Sergeant Galbraith. In the meantime he sat and thought. There were few Canadians in the total population of the Yukon, while the English and Australians were the most bitter against the existing wrongs, and foremost in their utterances of protest.

In due time Sergeant Galbraith entered and saluted. Smoothbore turned to him,

"Constable Hope has not been able to find any trace of the a.s.sociates of Berwick at their tent, nor in the dance-halls?"

"He has not, sir."