A chair was brought, and he was helped to stand upon it.
He was no more sober than the crowd above which he now towered—a wild crowd, uncouthly garmented, every foot moccasined or muc-lucked[3], with mittens dangling from necks and with furry ear-flaps raised so that they took on the seeming of the winged helmets of the Norsemen.
Daylight's black eyes were flashing, and the flush of strong drink flooded darkly under the bronze of his cheeks.
He was greeted with round on round of affectionate cheers, which brought a suspicious moisture to his eyes, albeit many of the voices were inarticulate and inebriate.
And yet, men have so behaved since the world began, feasting, fighting, and carousing, whether in the dark cave-mouth or by the fire of the squatting-place, in the palaces of imperial Rome and the rock strongholds of robber barons, or in the sky-aspiring hotels of modern times and in the boozing-kens of sailor-town.
Just so were these men, empire-builders in the Arctic Light, boastful and drunken and clamorous, winning surcease for a few wild moments from the grim reality of their heroic toil.
Modern heroes they, and in nowise different from the heroes of old time.
"Well, fellows, I don't know what to say to you-all," Daylight began lamely, striving still to control his whirling brain.
"I think I'll tell you-all a story.
I had a pardner wunst, down in Juneau.
He come from North Caroliney, and he used to tell this same story to me.
It was down in the mountains in his country, and it was a wedding.
There they was, the family and all the friends.
The parson was just puttin' on the last touches, and he says,
'They as the Lord have joined let no man put asunder.'
"'Parson,' says the bridegroom, 'I rises to question your grammar in that there sentence.
I want this weddin' done right.'
"When the smoke clears away, the bride she looks around and sees a dead parson, a dead bridegroom, a dead brother, two dead uncles, and five dead wedding-guests.
"So she heaves a mighty strong sigh and says,
'Them new-fangled, self-cocking revolvers sure has played hell with my prospects.'
"And so I say to you-all," Daylight added, as the roar of laughter died down, "that them four kings of Jack Kearns sure has played hell with my prospects.
I'm busted higher'n a kite, and I'm hittin' the trail for Dyea—"
"Goin' out?" some one called.
A spasm of anger wrought on his face for a flashing instant, but in the next his good-humor was back again.
"I know you-all are only pokin' fun asking such a question," he said, with a smile.
"Of course I ain't going out."
"Take the oath again, Daylight," the same voice cried.
"I sure will.
I first come over Chilcoot in '83.
I went out over the Pass in a fall blizzard, with a rag of a shirt and a cup of raw flour.
I got my grub-stake in Juneau that winter, and in the spring I went over the Pass once more.
And once more the famine drew me out.
Next spring I went in again, and I swore then that I'd never come out till I made my stake.
Well, I ain't made it, and here I am. And I ain't going out now.
I get the mail and I come right back.
I won't stop the night at Dyea.
I'll hit up Chilcoot soon as I change the dogs and get the mail and grub.
And so I swear once more, by the mill-tails of hell and the head of John the Baptist, I'll never hit for the Outside till I make my pile. And I tell you-all, here and now, it's got to be an almighty big pile."
"How much might you call a pile?" Bettles demanded from beneath, his arms clutched lovingly around Daylight's legs.
"Yes, how much? What do you call a pile?" others cried.
Daylight steadied himself for a moment and debated.
"Four or five millions," he said slowly, and held up his hand for silence as his statement was received with derisive yells.
"I'll be real conservative, and put the bottom notch at a million.
And for not an ounce less'n that will I go out of the country."
Again his statement was received with an outburst of derision.
Not only had the total gold output of the Yukon up to date been below five millions, but no man had ever made a strike of a hundred thousand, much less of a million.
"You-all listen to me.
You seen Jack Kearns get a hunch to-night.
We had him sure beat before the draw.
His ornery three kings was no good.