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Show 18 as short as possible. "You don't seem to have a grubstake, son," he said, sidling up to me in the dining room line. "Not yet." I concentrated on the beef carcasses hanging in a line next to us. I counted the ribs. "Don't seem to have a partner, either, son," "Not yet. And the name's Erickson." "Just call me Dad," he said smoothly. The rest of the time the men sprawled on top of their grubstakes, playing solitaire. Hating each other. Scheming how to get off the ship faster, and how to pick up gold faster than everyone else. After the first week they became so bored they began talking and playing cards together, and soon several partnerships were formed. I hoped that someone would get bored enough to want to hitch up with a kid. But no one did. Mostly I sat on the hay bales, talking to the horses, wishing I could find Rexy on this very ship. Sometimes I talked to Captain Hillis, who like conversation as much as the bottle. toe sailed north from San Francisco up the coastline of California, Oregon, and Washington, our small steamer rocking in the rough waters. Reaching Vancouver Island, we sailed around its southern tip to Victoria, and from there entered the protected waters of the Inside Passage. |