CAMP FIRES IN THE YUKON 27 



road, but George Wright was a wonderful driver, 

 and by frequently resting the horses on the way up 

 and by a continuous stream of persuasive conversa- 

 tion addressed to them while they leaned on the 

 traces, the crest was successfully negotiated. 



Three hours later the buckboard, with the rest of 

 our party, took the trail of the transport wagon and 

 overtook it at the bottom of another smaller hill 

 about eight miles from town. The going all the 

 afternoon was very slow by reason of the hills, which 

 though not high were heavy, as the footing was soft. 

 Much of the way we walked along the trail, winding 

 through the woods of spruce and pine, while the 

 wagon creaked and groaned its slow onward course 

 around the hillsides. The sunlight lingers long in 

 this north country even in August, and it seemed we 

 had been facing its declining western glare for many 

 hours until at 11.20 P.M. we went into camp beside 

 the trail. 



The daily schedule is not at all a matter of a cer- 

 tain number of miles or a certain number of hours 

 on the road, but is determined solely by the con- 

 sideration of how much travel the horses can en- 

 dure, and that varies with the character of the coun- 

 try and the trail. The horses were given a good 

 feed of oats and then hobbled and turned loose to 

 feed upon lush grass growing beside a little pond, 

 while the rest of us put up tents and the fire was 

 started and supper cooked, after which we sat about 



