OCR Text |
Show 123 "Sraile on us, Lady Luck," Caribou always said as he whirled the pan. He looked up in the general direction of the pansy hat. "Smile on us!" "She d i d n ' t smile," Tip said, night after night. Through the dark Northern days I toiled endlessly in the depths of the e a r t h . My arms ached, ray back ached, and my hands were b l i s t e r e d . I sweat and froze alternately. But I told myself every day, i f there would just be a thin layer of gold nuggets waiting at bedrock, i t would be worth a ll the misery. Tip and I were at the surface dumping d i r t when Caribou h it bedrock. We could hear him, twenty feet below, striking against the hard rock. We both dropped to our knees and peered down the dark shaft. Tip began singing her crazy song: All I want i s f i f t y million dollars, And seal skins to protect me from the c o l d . .. "Is i t pay d i r t ? " I shouted. Caribou did not answer, but we could hear him down there, shoveling and mumbling. In a few minutes he called, "Pull ' er up!" We raised the bucket. That is, I turned the crank while Tip |