It seemed that the troop had landed, fresh from the States, a hundred
and a quarter strong, hot with the lust for gold, yet shaken by the
newspaper horrors of Alaska's rigorous hardships and forbidding
climate.
Debouching in the early fall, they had hastily prepared for an
Associated Press-painted Arctic winter.
Had they been forced to winter in the mountains of Idaho, or among
Montana's passes, they would have prepared simply and effectively.
Here, however, in a mystic land, surrounded by the unknown, they grew
panic stricken and lost their wits.
Thus, when the two "old timers" came upon them in the early winter
they found them in bomb-proof hovels, sunk into the muck, banked with
log walls, and thatched over with dirt and sod.
"Where are your windows and ventilators?" they were asked, and
collectively the camp laughed at the question. _They_ knew how to
keep snug and warm even if half-witted "sourdoughs" didn't. _They_
weren't taking any chances on freezing, not on your tin-type, no
outdoor work and exposure for them!
As the winter settled, they snuggled back, ate three meals and more
daily of bacon, beans, and baking-powder bread; playing cribbage for
an appetite.
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