Hammond Times, Volume 2, Number 47, Hammond, Lake County, 12 August 1907 — Page 3

Monday, 'Ausrust 12, 1907.

THE LAKE COUNTY TIMES

By REX E. Copyrltfht, 1005. by (Continued.) "You mustn't talk about mo that "way. I can answer your questions. It's true I ran away. I had to. The tailors came after me and fought with these men. I had to pet away quickly, and your friends helped me on here from gentlemanly kindness, because they paw me unprotected. They are t till protecting me. I can't explaia how important It is for me to reach Nome on the first boat, because it isn't my secret. It was Important enough to make me leave my uncle at Seattle at an hour's notice when we found there was no one else who could go. That's all I can say. I took my maid wltij me, but the sailors caught her just as she was following me down the ship's ladder. She had my has of clothes when they seized her. I cast off the rope and rowed ashore as fast as I could, but they lowered another boat and followed me." The captain eyed her sharply, and hi3 grim lines softened a bit, for she wa3 clean cut and womanly and utterly out of place, lie took her in shrewdly, detail by detail, then spoke directly to her: "My dear young lady, the other ships will j?et there just as quickly as ours, maybe more qukkly. Tomorrow we strike the Ice pack, and then it Is all a matter of luck." "Yes, but the ship I left won't get there." At this the commander started and, darting a great, thick fingered hand at her, ppoko savagely: "What's that? What ship? Which one did you come from? Answer me." "The Ohio," she replied, with the effect of a hand grenade. The master glared at her. "The Ohio! Good God! You dare to stand there and tell me that?" lie turned and poured his rage upon the others. - "She says the Ohio, d'ye hear? You've ruined me! I'll put you in irons all of you. The Ohio!" "What d'ye mean? What's up?" "What's up! There's smallpox aboard the Ohio! Tht3 girl has broken quarntine. The health Inspectors bottled "I'll put you in irons all of you.'" up the boat at 0 o'clock last night. That's why I pulled out of Unalaska ahead of time, to avoid any possible delay. Now we'll all bo held up when we get to Nome. Great Heavens! Do you realize what this means bringing this hussy aboard?" IIW eyes burned, and his voice shook, while the two partners stared at each other in dismay. Too well they knew the result of a smallpox panic aboard this crowded troop ship. Not only was every available cabin bulging with passengers, but the lower decks were jammed with both humanity and live stock all la the most unsanitary conditions. The craft, built for 300 passengers, was carrying triple her capacity. Men and women were stowed away like cattle. Order and a half tolerable condition were maintained only by the efforts of the passengers themselves, who held to the thought that imprisonment and inconvenience would last but a few days longer. They had been aboard three weeks, and every heart was aflame with the desire to reach Nome to reach It ahead of the pressing horde behind. What would be the temper of this gold frenzied army if thrown into quarantine within eight of their goal? The impatient hundreds would have to lie packed in their floating prison, submitting to the foul disease. Long they must lie thus, till a month should have passed after the disappearance of the last symptom. If the disease recurred sporadically, that might mean endless weeks of maddening idleuoss. It might even be impossible to impose the necessary restraint. There would be violence, perhaps mutiny. The fear of the sickness was nothing to Dextry and Glenister, but of their mine they thought with, terror. What would happen in their absence, where conditions were as unsettled as In this new laud, where titles were held only by physical possession of the premises? During the long winter of their absence ice had held their treasure Inviolate, but with the warming summer the jewel they had fought for po wearily would lie naked and exposed to the first comer. The Midas lay in the valley of the richest creek, where meu had schemed and fought and slain for the right to Inches. It was the fruit of cheerless, barren years of toil, and if they could not guard it they knew the result. The girl interrupted their distressing rejections.

Spoilers,

BEACH. Ri E. Beach, "Don't blame these men, sir," she begged the captain. "I am the only one at' fault. Oh, I had to get away! I have papers here that must be delivered quickly." She laid a hand upon her bo--m. "They couldn't be trusted to the unsettled mail service. It's almost life and death. And I assure you there is no need of putting me in quarantine. I haven't the smallpox. I wasn't even exposed to it." "There's nothing else to do," said Stephens. "I'll isolate you in the deck smoking cabin. God knows what these madmen on board will do when they hear about it, though. They're apt to tear you to shreds. They're crazy!" Glenister had been thinking rapidly. "If you do that, you'll have mutiny In an hour. This Isn't the crowd to stand that sort of thing." "Bah! Let 'em try it. I'll put 'em down." The officer's square jaws clicked. "Maybe so; but what then? We "each Nome and the health inspector henrs of smallpox suspects, then we're all quarantined for thirty days; 800 of us. We'll lie at Egg island all summer while your company pays five thousand a day for this ship. That's not all. The firm is liable in damages for your carelessness in letting disease aboard." "My carelessness!" The old man ground his teeth. "Yes; that's what it amounts to. You'll ruin your owners, all right You'll tie up your ship and loso your job. that's a cinch!" Captain Stephens wiped the moisture from his brow angrily. "My carelessness! Curse you you say it well! Don't you realize that I am criminally liable if I don't take every precaution?" He paused for a moment, considering. "I'll hand her over to the ship's doctor." "See here, now," Glenister urged. "We'll be in Nome In a week before the young lady would have time to show symptoms of the disease, even if she were going to have lt--and a thousand to one she hasn't been exposed and will never show a trace of It. Nobody knows she's aboard but we three. Nobody m111 see her get off. She'll stay in this cabin, which will be just as effectual ns though you isolated her In any other part of the boat It will avoid a panic you'll save your ship and your company nobody will be the wiser then if the girl comes down with smallpox after she gets ashore she can go to the pesthouse and not jeopardize the health of all the people aboard this ship. You go up forrad to your bridge, sir, and forget that you stepped in to see old Bill Dextry this morning. We'll take care of this matter all right. It means as much to ns as it does to you. We'vo got to be on Anvil creek before the ground thaws or we'll lose the Midas. If you make a fuss you'll ruin us all." For some moments they watched him breathlessly as he frowned in indecision, then: "You'll have to look out for the stewurd," he said, and the girl sank to a stool while two great tears rolled down her cheeks. The captain's eyes softened, and his voice was gentle as he laid his hand on her head. "Don't feel hurt over what I said, miss. You see, appearances don't tell much hereabouts most of the pretty ones are no good. They've fooled me many a time, and I made a mistake. These men will help you through. I can't. Then when you get to Nome, make your sweetheart marry you the day you land. You are two far north to be alone." lie stepped out into the passage and closed the door carefully. CI I AFTER III. 1 TELL, bei ft i9ter 1: f f bowels I T last sui ELL, beiu' as me an' Glenis gougin' into the of Anvil creek all summer, we don't re ally get the fresh grub habit fastened on us none. You see, the gamblers downtown cop out the few aigs an green vegetables that stray off the ships, so they never get out as far as the creek none, except maybe in the shape of anecdotes. "We don't get intimate with no nutriments except hog boo sura an' brown beans, of which luxuries we have unstinted measure, an', bein' as this is our third year ia the country, we hanker for bony fido grub somethii scan'lous. Yes, ma'am, three years without a taste of fresh fruit nor meat nor nuthin' except pork an' beans. Why, I've et bacon till my immortal soul has growed a rind. "When it comes time to close down the claim, the boy is sick with the fever, an' the only ship In port is a Foint Barrow whaler, bound for Seattle. After I book our passage I find they have nothin' aboard to eat except canned salmon, it bein' the end of a two years' cruise, so when I land in the States sfter seventeen days of a fish diet I am what you might call sated with canned grub and have added salmon to the list of things concernln' which I am goin to economize. "Soon's ever I get the boy into a hospital I gallop up to the best restarawnt in town an' prepare for the huge potlatch. This here, I determine, is to be a gormandizin' jag which shall live In hist'ry an' wharof in later years the natives of Puget sound shall speak .with bated breath,

"First I call for $3 worth of pork an beans an' then a full grown platter of canned salmon. When the waiter lays 'em out in front of me, I look them vittles coldly in their disgustin' visages an f,ay in sarcastic accents: " 'Set there, d you, an' watch me eat real grub,' which I proceed to do, cleanin' the menu from soda to hock. When I have done my worst, I pile bones an' olive seeds an' peelin's all over them articles of nourishment stick toothpicks into 'em, an', havia' offered 'em what other indignities occur to me, I leave the place." Dextry and the girl were leaning over the stem rail, chatting idly in the darkness. It was the second night out, and the ship lay dead in the ice pack. All about there was a flat, floe clogged sea, leprous and mottled in the deep twilight that midnight brought in this latitude. They had threaded into the ice field as long as the light lasted, following the lanes of blue water till they closed, then drifting idly till others appeared; worming out into leagues of open sea, again creeping into the shifting labyrinth till darkness rendered progress perilous. Occasionally they had passed herds ttf walrus huddled sociably upon Ice pans, their wet hides glistening in the sunlight. The air had been clear and pleasant,' while away on all quarters they had seen the smoke of other ships toiling through the barrier. The spring fleet was knocking at the door of the golden north. Chafing at her imprisonment, the girl had asked the old man to take her out on deck under the shelter of darkness; then she had led him to speak of his own past experiences and of Glenlster's, which he had done freely. She

was frankly curious about them, and she wondered at their apparent lack of interest in her own identity and her secret mission. She even construed their silence as Indifference, not realizing that these northmen were offering her the truest evidence of camaraderie. The frontier is capable of no finer compliment than this utter disregard of one's folded pages. It betokens that highest faith in one's fellow man, the belief that he should be measured by his present deeds, not by his past. It says, translated: "This is God's free country, where a man is a man, nothing more. Our land is new and pure, our faces are to the front. If you have been square, so much the better; if not, leave behind the taints of artificial things and start again on the level. That's all." It had happened, therefore, that, since the men had asked her no questions, she had allowed the hours to pass and still hesitated to explain further than she had explained to Captain Stephens. It was much easier to let things continue as they were, and there was, after all, so little that she was at libeity to tell them. In the short time since meeting them the girl had grown to like Dextry, with his blunt chivalry and boyish, whimsical philosophy, but she avoided Glenister, feeling a shrinking, hidden ter ror of him, ever since her eavesdropping of the previous night At the memory of that scene she grew hot then cold hot with anger, icy at the sinister power and sureness which had vibrated in his voice. What kind of life was she entering where men spoke of strange women with this assurance and hinted thus of ownership? That he was handsome and unconscious of it she acknowledged, and had she met him in her accustomed circle of friends, garbed in the con ventionalities, she would perhaps have thought of him as a striking man, vigorous and intelligent but here he seem ed naturally to take on the attributes of his surroundings, acquiring a picturesque negligee of dress and morals and suggesting rugged, elemental chilling potentialities. While with him and he had sought her repeat edly that day she was uneasily aware of his strong personality tugging at her; aware of the unbridled passion ate flood of a nature unbrooking of delay and heedless of denial. This it was that antagonized her and set hei every mental sinew In rigid resistance During Dextry's garrulous ramblings Glenister emerged from the darkness and silently took his place beside hei against the rail. "What portent do you see that maket you stare Into the night so anxiously?" he inquired. "I am wishing for a sight of the midnight sun or the aurora borealis, she replied. "Too late for one an too fur south for the other," Dextry interposed "We'll see the sun further north, though." "Have you ever heard the real origin of the northern lights?" the young man inquired. "Naturally, I never have," she an swered. "Well, here it Is. I have It from the lips of a. great hunter of the Tananas. He told it to me when I was sick once in his cabin, and inasmuch as he is a wise Indian and has reputation for truth I have no doubt that it is scrupulously correct "In the very old days, before the white man or corned beef had invaded tills land, the greatest tribe in all the north was the Tauanas. The bravest hunter of these was Itika, the second chief. He could follow a moose till it fell exhausted ia the snow, and he had many belts made froi the claws of the brown bear, which is deadly wicked and, as eyery one knows, inhabited by the spirits of yab!a men,' or devils. "One winter a terrible famine settled over the Tanana vallev. The moose departed from the gulches, and the car ibau melted from the hills like mi?t The dogs grew gaunt and howled all mght, the babies cried, the women be came hollow eyed and peevish. "Then it was that Itika decided to go hunting over the saw tooth range which formed the edge of the world. They tried to dissuade him, saying it was certain death because a pack of

monstrous white wolves t Han the moose and swifter than tu was known to range these moil running madly in chase. Alwa;.r clear, cold nights could be seen the flashing of the moonbeams from their gleaming, hungry sides, and, although many hunters Lad crossed the passes ia other years, they never returned, for the pack slew them. "Nothing could deter Itika, however, so he threaded his way up through the range and, night coming, burrowed into a drift to sleep ia his earitou skin. Peering out into the darkness, he saw the flashing lights a thousand times brighter than ever before. The whole heavens were ablaze with shifting streamers that raced and writhed back and forth in wild revel. Listening, he

heard the hiss and whine of dry snow under the feet of the pack and a distant noise as of rushing winds, although the air was deathly still. "With daylight he proceeded throngh the range till he came out above a magnificent valley. Descending thfl slope, he entered a forest of towering spruce, while on all sides the snow was trampled with tracks as wide as a snowshoe. There came to him a Tioise which as he proceeded increased till it filled the woods. It was a frightful din, as though a thousand wolves were howling with the madness of the kill. Cautiously creeping nearer, ht found a monstrous white animal strng gling beneath a spruce which had fallen upon it in such fashion as to pinion if securely. "All brave men ase tender hearted, so Itika set to work with his ax and cleared away the burden, regardless ol h neril to himself. When he had released it the beast arose and, in stead of running away, addressed him fa the most polite and polished Indian, without a trace of accent " 'You have saved my life. Now, w hat can I do for you?' 'I want to hunt in this valley. My people are starving,' said Itika, at which the wolf was greatly pleased and rounded up the rest of the pack to help in the kill. "Always thereafter when Itika came to the valley of the Yukon the giant drove hunted with him. To this day they run through the mountains on cold, clear night in a multitude, while the light of the moon flickers from their white sides, flashing up Into the sky in weird, fantastic figures. Some people call it northern lights, but old Isaac assured me earnestly, toothlessly and with the light of ancient truth as I lay snow blind in his lodge thai1 it is nothing more remarkable than the spirit of Itika and the great white wolves." "What a queer legend!" she said "There must be many of them in this country. I feel that I am going t like the north." "Perhaps you will," Glenister replied, "although it is not a woman's land." "Tell me what led you out here in the first place. You are an eastern man. You have had advantages, education, and yet you choose this. You must love the north." "Indeed I do! It calls to a fellow in some strange way that a gentler country never could. When once you have lived the long, lazy June days that never end and heard geese honking under a warm, sunlit midnight, or when once you've hit the trail on a winter morning so sharp and clear that the air stings your lungs and the whole white, silent world glistens like a jewel; yes, and when you've seen the dogs romping in harness till the sled runners ring and the distant mountain ranges come out like beautiful carvings, so close you can reach them well, there's something in it that brings you back that's all, no matter where you've lost yourself. It means health and equality and unrestraint That's what I like best I dare say the utter unrestraint. "When I was a schoolboy I used to gaze at the map of Alaska for hours. I'd lose myself in it. It wasn't anything but a big, blank corner in the north then, with a name and mountains and mystery. The word Yukon suggested to me everything unknown and weird hairy mastodons, golden river bars, savage Indians with bone arrowheads and sealskin trousers. When I left college, I came as fast as ever I could the adventure, I suppose. "The law was considered my destiny. How the shades of old Choate and Webster and Patrick nenry must have wailed when I forswore It! I'll bet Blackstone tore his whiskers." "I think you would have made a suc cess," said the jirl, but he laughed. "Well, anynow, I stepped out leaving the way to the United States supreme bench unobstructed, and came north. I found it was where I belonged. I fitted in. I'm not c&ntented don't think that I'm ambitious, but I prefer these surroundings to the othersthat's all. I'm realizing my desires. I've made a fortune. Now I'll see what else the world has." He suddenly turned to her. "See here," he abruptly questioned, "wbat's your name?" She started and glanced toward where Dextry had stood, only to find that the old frontiersman had slipped away during the tale. "Helen Chester," she replied. "nelea Chester," he repeated musingly. "What a pretty name! It seems almost a pity to change it to marry, as you will." "I am not going to Nome to get married." He glanced at her quickly. "Then you won't like this country. You are two years too early. You ought to wait till there are railroads and telephones and tables d'hote and chaperons. It's a man's country yet" "I don't see why it isn't a woman's country too. Surely we can take a part ia taming it Yonder on the Oregon is a complete railroad, which will be running from the coast to the mines in a few weeks. Another ship back i there has the wire and poles and fix

ings for a telephone system, which will

go up in a nigt-t As to tables d'hote, I saw a real French count in Seattle with a monocle. He's bringing ia a restaurant outfit imported snails and j pates de foie gras. All that's wanting is the chaperon. In my flight from the I Ohio I left mine. The sailors caught j her. You see, I am not far ahead of j schedule." j "What part are you going to take in j this taming process?" he asked. J She paused long before replying, and j when shfc did her answer sounded like ; a jest. J "1 herald ike coming of the law," ; she said. "The law! Bah! Red tape, a dead language and a horde of shysters! I'm afraid of law in this land. We're too new and too far away from things. It puts too much power in too few hands. Heretofore we men up here have had recourse to our courage and our Colts, but we'll have to unbuckle them both when the law comes. I like the court that hasn't any appeal." He laid hand upon his hip. "The Colts may go, but the courage never will," she broke in. "Perhaps. But I've heard rumors already of a plot to prostitute the law. In Unalaska a man warned 'Dextry, with terror In his eye, to beware of it; that beneath the cloak of justice was a drawn dagger whetted for us fellows who own the rich diggings. I don't think there's any truth in it, but you zan't tell." "The law is the foundation. There can't be any progress without it. There is nothing here now but disorder." "There isn't half the disorder you Jiink there is. There weren't any crimes in this country till the tenderfeet arrived. We didn't know what a thief was. If you came to a cabin, you walked In without knocking. The owner filled up the coffeepot and sliced into the bacon; then when he'd started your meal he shook hands and asked your name. It was Just the same whether his cache was full or whether he'd packed his few pounds of food 200 miles on his back. That was hospitality to make your southern article look pretty small. If there was no one at home, you ate what you needed. There was but one unpardonable breach of etiquette to fall to leave dry kindlings. I'm afraid of the transitory stage we're coming to that epoch of chaos between the death of the old and the birth of the new. Frankly, 1 like the old way best. I love the license of it. I love to wrestle with nature, to snatch and guard and fight for what I have. I've been beyond the law for years, and I want to stay there, where life is just what it was Intended to be a survival of the fittest." His large hands as he gripped the bulwark were tense and corded, while his rich voice issued softly from his chest with the hint of power unlimited behind It. He stood over her, tall. virile and magnetic. She saw now why he had so joyously hailed the fight of the previous night. To one of his kind It was as salt air to the nos trils. Unconsciously she approached him, drawn by the spell of his strength "My pleasures are violent, and my hate Is mighty bitter In my mouth. What I want I take. That's been my way in the old life, and I'm too selfish to give It up." He was gazing out upon the dimly lucent miles of ice, but now he turned toward her and, doing so, touched her warm hand next his on the raH She was staring up at him unaffect edly, so close that the faint odor from her hair reached him. Her expression was simply one of wonder and curios ity at this type, So different from any she had known. But the man's eyei were hot and blinded with the sight of her, and he felt only her beauty heightened In the dim light, the brush of her garments and the small, soft hand beneath his. The thrill from the touch of it surged over him, mastered him. "What I want, I take," he repeated, and then suddenly he reached forth mm V "THiafi I want, I take.' and, taking her in his arms, crushed her to him, kissing her softly, fiercely full upon the lips. For an instant she lay gasping and stunned against his breast; then she tore her fist free and with all her force struck him full in the face. It was as though she beat upon a stone. With one movement he forced her arm to her side, smiling Into her terrified eyes; then, holding her like iron, he kissed her again and again upon the mouth, the eyes, the hair and released her. "I am going to love you, Helen," said he. "And may God strike me dead if I ever stop hating you!" she cried, her voice coming thick and hoarse with passion. Turning, she walked proudly forward toward her cabin, a trim, straight haughty figure, and he did not know that her knes were shaking and weak. (To be continued.) A Itc Ilnrs placed In THE LAKE COl'XTY TIMES "want" column, win probably .ecu re Trbat 70a

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