You'll fish and hunt in a new region, which will have some surprises in store for you."

"But what about our farmers, our honest farmers, who are expecting us?"

"And will they have any reason to regret our absence when we come back rich enough to open up more farms for them and buy the whole district? Besides, Summy, you've been too sedentary up until now. You have to travel a bit in the world."

"Well," said Skim, "there are plenty of other countries I could visit in North America and in Europe if I felt like it. I certainly wouldn't start by rushing off to the heart of that abominable Klondike."

"You'll find it charming, Summy, once you discover for yourself that it's strewn with gold dust and paved with nuggets."

"Ben, Ben, you're frightening me. Yes, you're frightening me. You want to embark on a venture that will bring you nothing but hardship and disillusionment."

"Hardship, perhaps. But disillusionment, never!"

"To begin with, that damned claim is probably not worth as much as a patch of cabbages or potatoes at Green Valley."

"Then why should that company make us an initial offer of several thousand dollars for it?"

"And when I stop to consider, Ben, that it means going out to a country where the temperature drops to fifty below!"

"Excellent! Cold weather keeps you fit."

Finally, after a thousand objections, Summy Skim had to admit defeat. No, he would not let his cousin go to the Klondike alone. He would go with him, even if only to bring him back sooner.

And so, that same day, a telegram announcing the imminent departure of Ben Raddle and Summy Skim was sent to Captain Healy, the manager of the North American Trading and Transportation Company, Dawson City, Klondike.

BY TAKING THE CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY, tourists, merchants, immigrants, and prospectors can travel directly, without changing trains and without leaving Canada, from Montreal to Vancouver. On their arrival in this western metropolis, they have a choice of several different means of travel: by land, by river, or by sea, and of various means of transportation: by boat, on horseback, by wagon, or even on foot for most of the way.

Once their departure date had been fixed, Summy Skim could simply leave it up to his cousin to make all the arrangements for the journey, such as buying supplies and choosing the route. That would probably have suited the ambitious and intelligent engineer, the sole promoter of the enterprise, on whom all the responsibility fell-and who accepted it.

In the first place, Raddle quite rightly pointed out that the departure could not be delayed more than two weeks. It was important for Josias Lacoste's heirs to be in the Klondike before the beginning of summer, a summer, be it noted, that provides warmth only four months of the year in that far northern region located almost at the Arctic Circle.

Indeed, when he consulted the book on Canadian mining law, which governed the Yukon Territory, he came across Article 9, which reads:

"Any claim on which no digging is carried out for a period of seventytwo hours during the summertime (to be defined by the commissioner) shall revert to the public domain, unless special permission has been granted by the commissioner."

Summer, even when it comes early, begins in the second half of May. At that time, then, if work on Claim 129 was interrupted for more than three days, Josias Lacoste's property would revert to the Dominion government and in all probability the American syndicate would be quick to buy it up, probably at a lower price than they had offered to the two heirs.

"Now you understand, Summy," said Raddle, "that we really can't let anyone get ahead of us and that it's urgent for us to be on our way."

"I understand whatever you want me to understand, my friend," was the reply.

"Which is, after all, perfectly reasonable," added the engineer.

"I have no doubt of that, Ben, and I don't mind leaving Montreal as soon as possible if it means that we can also come back as soon as possible."

"We won't stay in the Klondike any longer than necessary, Summy."

"All right, then, Ben. When do we leave?"

"On the second of April, two weeks from now."

Summy Skim stood with his arms crossed and his head bent forward. He wanted desperately to shout "What? So soon?" But he said nothing, because it would have made no difference. Since he had agreed to go, he had sworn to himself that he would not utter a word of recrimination during the trip, no matter what might happen.

It was a wise move on Raddle's part to set April 2 as the latest possible departure date. With his eye on his itinerary, he launched into a series of comments, bristling with statistics that he manipulated with undeniable competence.

"For the time being, Summy," he said, "we don't have to choose between two routes to the Klondike, because there's only one. Some day, perhaps, it will be possible to get to the Klondike via Edmonton, Fort St. John, and the Peace River, which passes through the Cassiar district in the northeast corner of British Columbia."

"I've heard there's plenty of game in that country," remarked Skim, whose love of hunting was getting the better of him. "Why don't we take that route, by the way?"

"Because after we left Vancouver we'd have to go five hundred miles by water and then nearly nine hundred by land," replied Raddle.

"What route do you plan to follow, Ben?"

"We'll decide that after we get to Vancouver, where we'll be in a position to compare the advantages of different routes. Anyway, here are some exact figures that will show you the length of our itinerary: the distance from Montreal to Vancouver is 2,922 miles, and from Vancouver to Dawson City, one 1,555."

Skim did the mathematics. "Five and two make seven, five and two make seven again, five and nine make fourteen, and carry one; one and three make four, so the total is 4,477 miles."

"Exactly right, Summy!"

"Well then, Ben, if we bring back three pounds of gold for every mile we travel ..."

"At the current rate of $212 a pound, that would come to $2,847,372."

"Perfect!" said Skim. "That would be a nice return on our investment."

"And why not?" replied Raddle 3 "According to the geographer John Muir, Alaska will produce more gold than California, which yielded eighty-one million in 1861 alone.

"Why shouldn't the Klondike contribute its fair share to our planet's five-billion-dollar fortune in gold?"

"You've got an answer for everything, Ben."

"And the future will prove me right."

Of that, Summy Skim had no doubt.

"Besides," he added, "there's no going back on what we've agreed on."

"Right you are," replied Raddle. "It's just as if we'd already left."

"I'd rather it was just as if we were already home again, Ben."

"But you have to leave first, Summy," quipped Raddle, "before you can come hack."

"Your logic is perfect, Ben. And now let's think about getting ready for our trip. You don't go out to that incredible country with one spare shirt and two pairs of socks."

"Don't worry about a thing, Summy. I'll look after everything. All you have to do is get on the train in Montreal and get off in Vancouver. As for our preparations, we won't be like some immigrant setting out aimlessly for a distant land, lugging a heavy load of equipment. Our equipment is there already. We'll find it on Uncle Josias's claim.