



Produced by K Nordquist, Ron Stephens and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
book was produced from images made available by the
HathiTrust Digital Library.)









[Illustration: "LIKE HIS FATHER BEFORE HIM, HE WAS ANSWERING THE CALL OF
THE GOLD."]




              CONNIE MORGAN IN
                  ALASKA

                    BY
             JAMES B. HENDRYX

                 AUTHOR OF
 "THE PROMISE," "THE LAW OF THE WOODS," ETC.

              [Illustration]

              _ILLUSTRATED_

            G.P. PUTNAM'S SONS
           NEW YORK AND LONDON
         The Knickerbocker Press




             COPYRIGHT, 1916
                  BY
              J.B. HENDRYX

            [Illustration]

   Made in the United States of America




CONTENTS


    CHAPTER                                        PAGE

        I.--SAM MORGAN'S BOY                          1

       II.--THE TEN BOW STAMPEDE                     16

      III.--THE NEW CAMP                             30

       IV.--PARTNERS                                 41

        V.--ON THE TRAIL OF WASECHE                  54

       VI.--THE MEN OF EAGLE                         70

      VII.--IN THE LILLIMUIT                         91

     VIII.--WASECHE BILL TO THE RESCUE              105

       IX.--THE WHITE DEATH                         120

        X.--THE _IGLOO_ IN THE SNOW                 141

       XI.--ON THE DEAD MAN'S LONELY TRAIL          156

      XII.--IN THE HEART OF THE SILENT LAND         169

     XIII.--O'BRIEN                                 185

      XIV.--THE ESCAPE FROM THE WHITE INDIANS       203

       XV.--O'BRIEN'S CANS OF GOLD                  219

      XVI.--FIGHTING THE NORTH                      234

     XVII.--THE SNOW TRAIL                          251

    XVIII.--ALASKA!                                 269

      XIX.--ON THE KANDIK                           283

       XX.--THE DESERTER                            296

      XXI.--MISTER SQUIGG                           312

     XXII.--THE MAN WHO DIDN'T FIT                  325




ILLUSTRATIONS


                                                 PAGE


    "Like his father before him, he was answering
    the call of the gold"        _Frontispiece_

    "Making sure that the boy slept, he began
    silently to assemble his trail pack"           42

    "McDougall's prize _malamutes_ shot out on the
    trail"                                         52

    "When Connie opened his eyes, daylight had
    vanished"                                      67

    "What could one small boy do in the face of
    the ultimatum of these men of the North?"      81

    "My dad would have got out, and, you bet,
    so will I!"                                   103

    "Now, what d' yo' think of that! I'd sho' hate
    fo' this heah rope to break!"                 116

    Connie Morgan "stared spellbound at the
    terrible splendour of the changing lights"    136

    "Waseche Bill attacked the hard-packed snow
    with his axe"                                 149

    "We'ah lost, kid. It's a cinch we cain't find
    the divide"                                   154

    "The boy's lips moved in prayer, the only one
    he had ever learned"                          166

    "The two partners stared open-mouthed at the
    apparition. _The face was white!_"            183

    "With a palsied arm he motioned to O'Brien,
    who stepped before him"                       195

    "The boy's fifteen-foot lash sang through the
    thin air"                                     216

    "As they passed between the pillared rocks
    the Indians broke cover, hurling their
    copper-tipped harpoons as they ran"           232

    "You make me tired!" cried Connie. "Anybody'd
    think you needed a city, with the streets all
    numbered, to find your way around"            237

    "Without waiting for a reply, Connie slipped
    softly over the edge"                         262

    "Recklessly O'Brien rushed out upon the
    glittering span of snow while Connie and
    Waseche watched breathlessly"                 272

    "My dad followed British Kronk eight hundred
    miles through the snow before he caught
    him--and then--you just wait."                299

    "Mechanically he drew the knife from its sheath
    and dragged himself to the body of the
    moose."                                       310

    "Between them walked a little, rat-faced man.
    The man was Mr. Squigg."                      331

    "Squigg slunk into the star-lit night."       337




Connie Morgan in Alaska




CHAPTER I

SAM MORGAN'S BOY


Connie Morgan, or as he is affectionately called by the big, bearded men
of the Yukon, Sam Morgan's boy, now owns one of the crack dog teams of
Alaska. For Connie has set his heart upon winning the great Alaska
Sweepstakes--the grandest and most exciting race in all the world, a
race that crowds both driver and dogs to the very last measure of
endurance, sagacity, and skill.

But that is another story. For Connie also owns what is probably the
most ludicrous and ill-assorted three-dog team ever assembled; and he is
never so happy as when jogging slowly over the trail behind old Boris,
Mutt, and Slasher.

No sourdough in his right senses would give fifty dollars for the three,
but Sam Morgan's boy would gladly sacrifice his whole team of
thousand-dollar dogs to save any one of them. For it was the fine
courage and loyalty of this misfit team that enabled him to beat out the
Ten Bow stampede and file on "One Below Discovery," next to Waseche
Bill, the big sourdough who is his partner--and who loves him as Sam
Morgan loved him before he crossed the Big Divide.

Sam Morgan was among those who went to Alaska in the first days of the
great gold rush. Like Peg's father in the play, Sam Morgan could do
anything but make money. So when the news came of gold--bright, yellow
gold lying loose on the floors of creeks up among the snows of the
Arctic--Sam Morgan bid his wife and boy good-bye at the door of the
little cottage in a ten-car