The Clinging Kind That Such Men Fancy

With Mark still under the weather, welcome to the second of our Jack London Tales for Our Time this Yuletide - a brace of Klondike Christmas yarns written four days apart in November 1898. In tonight's story, a Steyn Christmas Show-like agglomeration of diverse nationalities are holed up in the Yukon on Christmas Eve when a stranger arrives at their cabin door. The punch is flowing and the reminiscences soon follow:

'So thet's how me an' the ol' woman got spliced,' said Belden, concluding the exciting tale of his courtship. '"Here we be, Dad," sez she. "An' may yeh be damned," sez he to her, an' then to me, "Jim, yeh—yeh git outen them good duds o' yourn; I want a right peart slice o' thet forty acre plowed 'fore dinner." An' then he sort o' sniffled an' kissed her. An' I was thet happy—but he seen me an' roars out, "Yeh, Jim!" An' yeh bet I dusted fer the barn.'

'Any kids waiting for you back in the States?' asked the stranger.

'Nope; Sal died 'fore any come. Thet's why I'm here.' Belden abstractedly began to light his pipe, which had failed to go out, and then brightened up with, 'How 'bout yerself, stranger—married man?'

For reply, he opened his watch, slipped it from the thong which served for a chain, and passed it over. Belden picked up the slush lamp, surveyed the inside of the case critically, and, swearing admiringly to himself, handed it over to Louis Savoy. With numerous 'By gars!' he finally surrendered it to Prince, and they noticed that his hands trembled and his eyes took on a peculiar softness. And so it passed from horny hand to horny hand—the pasted photograph of a woman, the clinging kind that such men fancy, with a babe at the breast.

Members of The Mark Steyn Club can hear Mark read To the Man on the Trail simply by clicking here and logging-in. Our first Jack London Christmas Eve story can be found here.

If you've yet to hear any of our Tales for Our Time, you can do so by joining The Mark Steyn Club. For details on membership, see here - and, if you're seeking something for a fellow fan of classic fiction this holiday season, don't forget our special Gift Membership.

On the other hand, if you'd like a book in old-fashioned book form, over at the Steyn store there are bargains galore among our Steynamite Specials - and, in celebration of SteynOnline's twentieth birthday, twenty per cent off all our books, T-shirts et al. If you really want to splash out this year, you can always treat your loved one to a deluxe berth on next year's third annual Mark Steyn Cruise.