38 CAMP FIRES IN THE YUKON 



to follow into the heavy timber. A red fox, sur- 

 prised by the buckboard, looked at the occupants 

 no farther away than forty yards, while a silver gray 

 fox was seen a bit later, trotting along three hun- 

 dred feet away; we did not attempt to molest them 

 as the fur was not prime. 



After a long hard pull we reached the summit at 

 an altitude of 2880 feet and began to slide down the 

 boggy road at a pace that quite made up for our 

 tedious ascent, so that by noon we had reached the 

 foot of the mountain, and lunched at Jarvis River. 

 Some of us caught grayling for our supper, and after 

 the horses had fed and rested a couple of hours we 

 forded the Jarvis River and continued our westward 

 course. 



The buckboard was to be driven rapidly in an ef- 

 fort to reach Kluane Lake that night, while it was 

 planned to drive the transport as far as possible and 

 camp for the night. A short distance after starting 

 we began to wind our slow way up Boutelier Moun- 

 tain, giving the horses frequent rests, during which 

 we tried with .22 rifles for ducks on the little ponds 

 but without success. 



On our way up it began to rain, and the farther 

 we ascended the harder it rained and the worse the 

 roads became, until about six o'clock, with a final 

 lurch and groan, the transport sank in the clay up to 

 the axles within three hundred feet of the summit of 

 Boutelier Pass. George Wright tried cussing and 



