Alaska: A Novel by Michener James A

Author:Michener, James A. [Michener, James A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Tags: Literature & Fiction, Contemporary, Genre Fiction, Action & Adventure, Family Saga, Historical, Contemporary Fiction, Sagas, Historical Fiction
Amazon: B00FO60AZ0
Publisher: Dial Press Trade Paperback
Published: 2013-12-17T08:00:00+00:00

Will Kirby was policing the seven thousand boats being built along Lake Lindeman and the waterway leading to Lake Bennett when he heard that yet another prospector had been killed coming down from Chilkoot Pass, and with a sense of irritation with Americans who barged into dangers they did not comprehend, he hurried up to where reports said the accident had occurred. He was shaken to find that the dead man was Buchanan Venn, who had proved himself so reliable on the pass, and when he came upon the woman Missy and her son and found them shivering beside the lake, bereft and unable to focus upon the manifold problems that now confronted them, he felt great pity for them and did what he could to help.

‘We’ll look after you. We don’t allow women to suffer disadvantage on this trail.’ Taking Tom aside, he said firmly: ‘Now we see whether you’re going to be a man or not,’ and he was gratified to watch the boy respond by taking charge of the sled that had killed his father.

Gathering them beside the lake, he said: ‘It’s my job, you know, to see that the dead man’s goods are properly handled … a legal disposition, that is,’ and he was startled by the amount of money Buck had carried, and he warned: ‘Mrs. Venn, I can’t just hand this money over to you. Much too dangerous. I’ll ask Superintendent Steele to take charge of this till you reach Dawson.’

Kirby’s statement raised two difficult questions, and Missy took each in turn: ‘I’m not Mrs. Venn. But half the money Buck carried is mine. And I will not turn my half over to anyone.’ Kirby nodded, but stood by his first judgment: ‘We’ll wait till Superintendent Steele gets here on his inspection.’

The search of Buck’s property turned up two items which Missy and Tom would not allow him to keep. The first was an envelope containing the hundred-dollar bill for the Belgian Mare, which, as Missy explained, belonged to her: ‘We have nothing to do with it except to deliver it.’

Sergeant Kirby smiled indulgently: ‘But, ma’am, don’t you see? It’s just this kind of money we can’t have floating around with a defenseless woman. I must keep it. She’ll get it, I assure you.’

‘But I must deliver it … personally. It’s an obligation.’

‘And so you shall.’ But the envelope with the money he filed in his blouse.

There was no argument about the paper Tom defended: ‘An engineer drew this for me. It’s plans for the boat we’ll have to build,’ and when Kirby handed back the sketch, after surveying it, he said: ‘That man could draw. Whoever he was, he knew boats.’

‘If we build like that,’ Tom asked, ‘can we sail it to Dawson?’

And now the gravest problem of all arose, one that Will Kirby had had to face several times before: ‘Sit down, please. I need your full attention.’ Standing soldierlike and handsome before them in his proper uniform of striped trousers, neat

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