Buck heard the chaffering, saw the money pass between the man and the
Government agent, and knew that the Scotch half-breed and the
mail-train drivers were passing out of his life on the heels of
Perrault and Francois and the others who had gone before. When driven
with his mates to the new owners camp, Buck saw a slipshod and
slovenly affair, tent half stretched, dishes unwashed, everything in
disorder; also, he saw a woman. Mercedes the men called her. She was
Charles s wife and Hal s sister a nice family party.
Buck watched them apprehensively as they proceeded to take down the
tent and load the sled. There was a great deal of effort about their
manner, but no businesslike method. The tent was rolled into an awkward
bundle three times as large as it should have been. The tin dishes were
packed away unwashed. Mercedes continually fluttered in the way of her
men and kept up an unbroken chattering of remonstrance and advice. When
they put a clothes-sack on the front of the sled, she suggested it
should go on the back; and when they had put it on the back, and
covered it over with a couple of other bundles, she discovered
overlooked articles which could abide nowhere else but in that very
sack, and they unloaded again.
Three men from a neighboring tent came out and looked on, grinning and
winking at one another.
You ve got a right smart load as it is, said one of them; and it s
not me should tell you your business, but I wouldn t tote that tent
along if I was you.
Undreamed of! cried Mercedes, throwing up her hands in dainty dismay.
However in the world could I manage without a tent?
It s springtime, and you won t get any more cold weather, the man
replied.
She shook her head decidedly, and Charles and Hal put the last odds and
ends on top the mountainous load.
Think it ll ride? one of the men asked.
Why shouldn t it? Charles demanded rather shortly.
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