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from the crew. Led by Duncan Pope and Boyar a swarm of husky Tlingit Indians
hustled toward the schooner. In the van was Katlecht himself, grinning
broadly. He thrust out his hand as he had seen white men do, and with the
fingers of the other plucked at the red flannel shirt LaBarge had sent him
from San Francisco a year before. He also carried a bowie knife Jean had sent
and displayed it proudly.
The exhausted sailors resigned their places at the capstan to the Tlingits,
and twenty powerful Indians took over. Others hauled and pushed at the hull
while still others cleared brush ahead of the moving schooner. And the fog
held, gray, drifting streamers of it lurking among the trees like lost ghosts.
The air was damp and cold.
Helena had joined the cook in making tea and serving Tlingit and seaman
alike, working from a fire beside the portage. By noon, with the fog showing
no change, the schooner had advanced its full length out of the
water. Sweating and tired, Jean accepted a cup gratefully. Holding it in both
hands he warmed his numbed fingers, his breath forming a little fog of its
own.  You re all woman, Helena, he said.  I never thought I d see a princess
serving tea to my crew.
 Why should a princess not care for her  she had started to say  man but
caught herself in time  men as well as any other woman? She walked around the
fire to him.  Jean, can we do it? How does it look now?
 If the fog breaks we re in trouble. Otherwise ... well, we re making
progress.
I think we can do it or I d not have tried.
 Was there another choice?
 No.
The schooner moved at a steadier pace. The Indians had brought grease from
their camp, barrels of it that came in their bidarkas, and they were slapping
it liberally on the skids. The Susquehanna, unnaturally tall now that she was
out of her natural element, towered above them. Once a small gust of wind came
through the pines and the fire guttered, and all waited, holding their breath,
but the wind disappeared and the fog held.
Jean returned to the capstan and took his place, plodding steadily for an
hour. When Kohl relieved him, he returned to superintending the shifting of
the tackle and the guy wires. Also, with apprehension for what might happen,
he had two tall poles cut to make a shears in the event they needed to
grasshopper the schooner. He had never seen it attempted with a craft of this
size but as a boy he had seen the heavy river schooners grasshoppered over
sand bars on more than one occasion, and knew that at last resort this would
be the method to use. Yet once the schooner reached the far side of the
portage they must skid it into the water. Mentally he calculated the times of
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the tides. They worked within narrow limits of time and their only hope lay in
the fog. If the fog held they could do it, but if it did not...
Small men trooped to the fires for tea and warmth. Twice Jean had rum broken
out and laced their coffee when the switch was made to that beverage. During
the late afternoon Katlecht sat by the fire sipping his coffee and rum when he
suddenly looked up at LaBarge who had stumbled wearily to the fire.  Fog go,
Katlecht said.  Fog go soon.
Jean glanced at Kohl, and their faces were grim. Indians were excellent
judges of weather; if Katlecht was right their time was short. He sent a
messenger to the men at the gun to stand by for trouble, then had guns brought
from the ship s armory and passed around to the men to be kept close to hand
in the event of attack.
Despite their weariness the men returned to their labors with a rush. The
water ahead of them meant escape and freedom; to be caught here meant death or
worse, a Siberian prison camp. The Tlingits, filled with their age-old hatred
of Russians, fell to with a will and to the tune of chanteys they shoved and
pushed on the capstan bars. It was slow, painstaking, backbreaking labor, but
the schooner moved and the water lay ahead of them, only a short distance away
now. But the fog was thinning...
Jean glanced up and saw a star ... then other stars.  Pope, he said,  take
the gunner, Gant and Turk, and go out and relieve the men at the gun. Don t
take any unnecessary risks, but do what damage you can. He hesitated.  Wait
until she s close, Pope, and for God s sake, hurt her.
Within the hour the fog was gone and darkness had come. Once more torches
were lighted and the heavy blocks were shifted again, new anchor trees had
been chosen and marked out. The shifting of the gear took less time now that
the movements had become familiar. Once again the capstan was manned. The
schooner was moving.
Taking his rifle, LaBarge started back toward the Tenakee side, Helena
walking beside him. Bundled in furs against the penetrating chill of the
night, she walked easily beside him, showing little of the exhaustion she must
feel.  Can we get into the water before daylight?
 If the men hold out. They re weary now; how they keep going I can t guess,
and Indians never work like this, anyway.
The skids had been torn up and taken to the opposite side to use again, and
there was little evidence of what had been done except the cut brush and the
trampled earth. Standing together they looked out upon the dark and silent
water. There was no sound but the soft rustle of the water on the shore, and
above them the vast sky, studded with stars. The sounds of working men, the
creak of tackle, the groaning of the schooner s timbers and occasional cries
of the men seemed farther away than they actually were. A coolness came off
the water. Somewhere out on the inlet a fish splashed.  Even if we make it [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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