1 66 CAMP FIRES IN THE YUKON 



wild, so that a fording on the morrow looks decid- 

 edly dubious in view of the fact that the rain still 

 continues. 



September 14. As we had five o'clock breakfast 

 at the cabin, the rain had ceased, but the leaden 

 clouds overhung the Donjeck Valley and the wind 

 blew cold between the mountains. Bidding good- 

 by to George Wright, who was returning with the 

 unloaded pack horses to the rest of our party, we 

 took our own saddle horses, with two pack animals 

 loaded with outfit and provisions, and made a suc- 

 cessful crossing of the Wolverine, after which our 

 course led up the valley of the Donjeck, traveling 

 along the bars. 



During the morning we had a number of snow 

 flurries, while back upon the mountains it snowed 

 very hard. As we plodded along with a cold wind 

 from the north at our backs, a silver gray fox sat up 

 on one of the bars, five hundred yards ahead of us, 

 but the wary animal did not permit closer approach 

 but sought safety in flight. About noon we came 

 to a ford on the Donjeck River and plunged into 

 the swift current, where the horses were shoulder 

 deep in the stream, but made the crossing success- 

 fully in spite of being carried down-stream a short 

 distance. In the early afternoon we reached the 

 timber on the east side of the valley where the trail 

 starts up across the tundra-covered Burwash Moun- 

 tains, that had been difficult of crossing on our 



