Volume 2 - ElectricCanadian.com

THE YUKON ADVENTURE 145who had been a sailor and was a first-class all-round handyman,as strong as a bull, soon became proficient, and Stewartalso developed considerable aptitude for the work. An amplestock of "grub" and blankets, a light tent and a supply ofthe bank's notes were loaded on the canoe, and on the followingday, May 22, this raw crew set out on the trip of six hundredmiles over unknown and in many places extremely dangerouswaters. 1The first day, although all hands worked like mules,they made only ten miles and Colonel Steele's predictionsrecurred ominously to their minds. That evening the tentwas pitched for the only time on the trip. On subsequentdays every member of the crew was so tired by nightfallthat a quick dive into the blankets was the only preliminaryto a night's repose. The second day saw a start at daybreakand more steady plodding through the mush ice, although therate of advance was often not more than a hundred yards orso per hour. At the first Mounted Police post they reached,they obtained a sled for use in hauling the canoe when the icewould not permit it to be forced through. To use the sledmeant unloading the canoe on the ice, placing it on the sledand then reloading; even then it was a matter of trusting toluck whether or not the ice would support the sled. Aftereight hours spent in hauling it over rotten ice under a blazingsun, a stretch of about four miles of open water was reached,and the lighter work of paddling the canoe came as a welcomerelief. The open water was soon succeeded by an ice jam,caused by an on-shore wind, and as it was now fairly late theparty rested for supper and took to their blankets on thebeach, where about sixty other people were encamped whohad been caught in a similar predicament.The third day found the ice jam heavier than ever onaccount ofwind, and the manager, a very heavy man whoshould never have attempted the trip, developed a severesore throat and badly swollen legs. No progress could bemade that day or the next, but by the following morning thelSee plate 22, facing page 146.