The flag at the
Barracks flopped dismally at half-mast. Dawson mourned its dead.
Why Montana Kid did this thing no man may know. Nor beyond the fact that
the truth was not in him, can explanation be hazarded. But for five
whole days he plunged the land in wailing and sorrow, and for five whole
days he was the only man in the Klondike. The country gave him its best
of bed and board. The saloons granted him the freedom of their bars. Men
sought him continuously. The high officials bowed down to him for
further information, and he was feasted at the Barracks by Constantine
and his brother officers. And then, one day, Devereaux, the government
courier, halted his tired dogs before the gold commissioner's office.
Dead? Who said so? Give him a moose steak and he'd show them how dead
he was. Why, Governor Walsh was in camp on the Little Salmon, and
O'Brien coming in on the first water. Dead? Give him a moose steak and
he'd show them.
And forthwith Dawson hummed. The Barracks' flag rose to the masthead,
and Bettles' wife washed herself and put on clean raiment. The community
subtly signified its desire that Montana Kid obliterate himself from the
landscape.
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