"And Flush of Gold loved him, and, having danced him through a whole
summer's courtship, at the end their engagement was made known. The fall
of the year was at hand, Dave had to be back for the winter's work on
Mammon Creek, and Flush of Gold refused to be married right away. Dave
put Dusky Burns in charge of the Mammon Creek claim, and himself lingered
on in Dawson. Little use. She wanted her freedom a while longer; she
must have it, and she would not marry until next year. And so, on the
first ice, Dave Walsh went alone down the Yukon behind his dogs, with the
understanding that the marriage would take place when he arrived on the
first steamboat of the next year.

"Now Dave was as true as the Pole Star, and she was as false as a
magnetic needle in a cargo of loadstone. Dave was as steady and solid as
she was fickle and fly-away, and in some way Dave, who never doubted
anybody, doubted her. It was the jealousy of his love, perhaps, and
maybe it was the message ticked off from her soul to his; but at any rate
Dave was worried by fear of her inconstancy. He was afraid to trust her
till the next year, he had so to trust her, and he was pretty well beside
himself. Some of it I got from old Victor Chauvet afterwards, and from
all that I have pieced together I conclude that there was something of a
scene before Dave pulled north with his dogs. He stood up before the old
Frenchman, with Flush of Gold beside him, and announced that they were
plighted to each other. He was very dramatic, with fire in his eyes, old
Victor said. He talked something about 'until death do us part'; and old
Victor especially remembered that at one place Dave took her by the
shoulder with his great paw and almost shook her as he said: 'Even unto
death are you mine, and I would rise from the grave to claim you.' Old
Victor distinctly remembered those words 'Even unto death are you mine,
and I would rise from the grave to claim you.' And he told me afterwards
that Flush of Gold was pretty badly frightened, and that he afterwards