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Show 15U Riding back to Gold H i l l , the three of us sat alone on the top of the coach. Caribou did most of the talking. "I haven't told you about my f i r s t partner," he said quietly, "my partner l a s t year. He was younger than I-just twenty years old. I t ' s his guitar in the cabin. He packed i t over Chilkoot Pass." He paused-for a long time-but I knew he had more to t e l l. "Then what?" I asked, trying to help him along. "Well," he said, "we nearly starved that f i r s t winter, and we both got scurvy. But he didn't pull through. I didn't know about spruce-needle tea then. I didn't know about a l o t of things." I nodded sympathetically. "You know I'm apprehensive about seeing Josephine again," he continued. "With my f r o s t b i t t en face, and no teeth. But that i s n ' t the main reason." "Oh?" Tip asked. "He was Josephine's kid brother." Neither Tip nor I knew what to say. But Tip put her arm around him. I knew he was trying to tell me something. And I had almost changed ray mind about leaving them when we were having our spree at the Fairview. But I would join them later in Seattle or San Francisco. A millionaire. Surely we would be no different. Besides, there was that thing with my blood. I had already |
