Page:The Spell of the Yukon and Other Verses.djvu/28



This is the law of the Yukon, and ever she makes it plain: "Send not your foolish and feeble; send me your strong and your sane— Strong for the red rage of battle; sane, for I harry them sore; Send me men girt for the combat, men who are grit to the core; Swift as the panther in triumph, fierce as the bear in defeat, Sired of a bulldog parent, steeled in the furnace heat. Send me the best of your breeding, lend me your chosen ones; Them will I take to my bosom, them will I call my sons; Them will I gild with my treasure, them will I glut with my meat;