The Call of the Wild: Klondike Cannibals, Vol. 2 Read Online Free Page B

hundreds trying anything to get their passage North, and hundreds more just standing around gawking at the spectacle. Meanwhile, the pickpockets and cutthroats have the run of the place.”
    Captain Shepard nodded thoughtfully. “I want to show you something,” he said . He led Jack over to his desk and pulled out a map titled North America showing all routes to Alaska and Klondike country. He unfolded it carefully.
    Jack couldn’t help but feel a thrill of excitement as the three of them stared down at the mysterious expanse of Alaska for a moment.
    “I was reading about that Seattle bookseller, William Stanley, in the papers this morning,” Captain Shepard said. “He says the Klondike is without doubt the best place in the world for a man to strike it rich.”
    Jack had read the same story. “I guess he is probably right—”
    Eliza frowned and shook her head, interrupting them. “Of course he would say that, wouldn’t he? Because it happened to him .” She caught Jack’s gaze. “Don’t you see? That doesn’t make it any more likely to happen to you . If anything, it makes it less.”
    “El Dorado is the richest placer creek in the world,” Jack said steadily, taking a small sip of bourbon. It burned pleasantly on his tongue. “And Bonanza is almost as rich.”
    Jack knew Eliza thought this Klondike craze was just a pipe dream, just anothe r version of snake oil for the quacks to hock through the daily papers. According to her, the steamship companies had hatched the whole plot in a bid to raise ticket prices.
    Jack met her gaze boldly. “Do you know how many creeks there are in Alaska?”
    She glanced down at the map for a moment and sighed. Then she shook her head.
    “That’s the thing,” he said, finishing his bourbon. “No one does.”
    But Eliza was not going to give up that easily. She shared Jack’s stubborn streak. “Do you really think everyone can come back rich?”
    Jack frowned, and opened his mouth to respond, but found that he couldn’t.
    Her question troubled him . Of course, Jack wasn’t everyone . He felt certain that he would succeed where other men would fail, because of his boundless ambition and frightening work ethic. But the question bothered him on an intellectual level, as a socialist: if every man became rich, who would do the work that needed to get done? After all, rich people were only rich because their money could compel others to work for them…
    “So what’s your plan?” Captain Shepard asked Jack , trying to change the subject. There was a glint in his steely-coloured eyes. “Come on boy, if I was your age, I would’ve left already. I would’ve found a way.”
    Jack thought quickly. He knew he couldn’t ask Eliza for a loan now, not when she was all worked up like this. It would be better for him to show his absolute determination to make his way to Alaska, regardless of what happened.
    “I’ ll go to the offices of the Morning Call first thing tomorrow,” Jack said with a shrug, “and convince them to hire me as a reporter. I have no trouble living rough, and I can write, too…”
    “So you are a newsman now,” Eliza said, her voice turning brittle with emotion. “I thought you wanted to dig for gold.”
    “Pan for gold, dearest,” Captain Shepard said calmly, trying to soothe her. “They use pans…”
    Eliza ignored her husband, staring darkly at Jack now. He grew equally stubborn under her gaze.
    He wished he could explain how badly he needed to go. “I can’t go back to the laundry in the fall,” he said to her at last. “It’ll kill me.”
    “Jack…” Eliza sighed. She wanted him to apply with the postal service.
    “Look,” Jack began, trying to keep from sounding angry. But they could all hear the strain in his voice. “You know I’ve been sending my writing out… And the Morning Call published me before… so I thought…”
    “That was almost four years ago.”
    “I just need a chance,” Jack said quietly.
    “And we need