The God of His Fathers: Tales of the KlondykeLondon, Jack
General
The God of His Fathers: Tales of the Klondyke
London, Jack
Klondike River Valley (Yukon) -- Fiction; Short stories, American
Floyd Vanderlip was a strong man, apparently. Hard work and hard grub
had no terrors for him, as his early history in the country attested. In
danger he was a lion, and when he held in check half a thousand starving
men, as he once did, it was remarked that no cooler eye ever took the
glint of sunshine on a rifle-sight. He had but one weakness, and even
that, rising from out his strength, was of a negative sort. His parts
were strong, but they lacked co-ordination. Now it happened that while
his centre of amativeness was pronounced, it had lain mute and passive
during the years he lived on moose and salmon and chased glowing
Eldorados over chill divides. But when he finally blazed the corner-post
and centre-stakes on one of the richest Klondike claims, it began to
quicken; and when he took his place in society, a full-fledged Bonanza
King, it awoke and took charge of him. He suddenly recollected a girl in
the States, and it came to him quite forcibly, not only that she might be
waiting for him, but that a wife was a very pleasant acquisition for a
man who lived some several degrees north of 53. So he wrote an
appropriate note, enclosed a letter of credit generous enough to cover
all expenses, including trousseau and chaperon, and addressed it to one
Flossie. Flossie? One could imagine the rest. However, after that he
built a comfortable cabin on his claim, bought another in Dawson, and
broke the news to his friends.
And just here is where the lack of co-ordination came into play. The
waiting was tedious, and having been long denied, the amative element
could not brook further delay. Flossie was coming; but Loraine Lisznayi
was here. And not only was Loraine Lisznayi here, but her cosmopolitan
reputation was somewhat the worse for wear, and she was not exactly so
young as when she posed in the studios of artist queens and received at
her door the cards of cardinals and princes. Also, her finances were
unhealthy. Having run the gamut in her time, she was now not averse to
trying conclusions with a Bonanza King whose wealth was such that he
could not guess it within six figures. Like a wise soldier casting about
after years of service for a comfortable billet, she had come into the
Northland to be married. So, one day, her eyes flashed up into Floyd
Vanderlip's as he was buying table linen for Flossie in the P. C.
Company's store, and the thing was settled out of hand.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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