They staggered and panted like men
under heavy burdens; yet the packs on their backs were a matter
of but a few pounds. He questioned them eagerly, and their
replies seemed to relieve him. He hurried on. Next came two white
men, supporting between them a woman. They also behaved as though
drunken, and their limbs shook with weakness. But the woman
leaned lightly upon them, choosing to carry herself forward with
her own strength. At the sight of her a flash of joy cast its
fleeting light across Sitka Charley's face. He cherished a very
great regard for Mrs. Eppingwell. He had seen many white women,
but this was the first to travel the trail with him. When Captain
Eppingwell proposed the hazardous undertaking and made him an
offer for his services, he had shaken his head gravely; for it
was an unknown journey through the dismal vastnesses of the
Northland, and he knew it to be of the kind that try to the
uttermost the souls of men.
But when he learned that the captain's wife was to accompany
them, he had refused flatly to have anything further to do with
it. Had it been a woman of his own race he would have harbored no
objections; but these women of the Southland--no, no, they were
too soft, too tender, for such enterprises.
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