Even hunkered down around the fire, welcoming its heat and light, he could barely connect with his ancestors of many thousands of years ago. Here, he and his two companions relied on these flames to survive. And yet beside them lay the boat with its food and guns, furs and prospecting equipment, saws and axes. Into this wilderness they had brought the tools of civilization, and Jack felt like a stranger here.
They dried their wet socks and boots, warming their feet and hands, but with every breath Jack knew that they would have to move soon.
“We could split up,” Jim said. “Take a different point of the compass each, meet back here in an hour.”
“That’s crazy talk,” Jack said. “If you fall and break your ankle, Jim Merritt, if you collapse under the weight of ice on your beard” They all laughed, but it was a subdued humor.
“I can feel the wild all around us,” Merritt said, glancing beyond the reach of the fire’s light. Is he still spooked Jack wondered, but Merritt said no more.
“I can feel the wild all around us,” Merritt said.
“We’ll be all right,” Jack said. “We were all wild once. But man rose up from his primitive origins, conquered the wildness both within him and without. We have minds, gentlemen. Thoughts that separate us from the lower animals. Passion and ingenuity enough to tame the wild, and to survive. But only if we respect its dangers. I say we leave the boat here, take only essentials for now, and head toward Dawson City. I figure we’re seventy miles away at least, and we’d be dead in ten. But the closer we get to the city, the more likely we’ll find some sort of shelter.”
“Trappers,” Jim said. “Prospectors.”
“Are there Indian villages around here” Merritt laughed.
“I think they’d have more sense,” Jack said. “And besides, I doubt they’d welcome three soft prospectors. No, it’s up to us to get through this on our own. It’s a challenge, that’s all. You up for it, boys”
He saw a glimmer of annoyance pass across Jim’s features at his use of the word boys, but then all three of them clapped hands and huddled closer around the fire, eager to get moving.
Jack was very aware of the darkness behind him. And if it hadn’t been for the fire stretching the skin of his face and glittering in his eyes, he would have been swallowed by the darkness
