For weeks at a time they would hold on steadily, day after day; and for weeks upon end they would camp, here and there, the dogs loafing and the men burning holes through frozen muck and gravel and washing countless pans of dirt by the heat of the fire.

• 有时他们会一天接一天，一连走好几个星期；有时则随处扎营，停留几个星期，人们用火在冻结的腐殖土和沙层上钻洞，淘洗数不清的盘盘泥沙，狗则无所事事地闲逛。