Northern Ohio journal. [volume] (Painesville, Ohio) 1872-1896, 1873-10-11

Jutted out like shelf OF rock, ms sace.
cheeks, and forehead were sunburnt to
the hue of lava; his pale-blue eyes, deep
set and steady, famed with an amethys-
tine lambency that told of strange expe-
riences; his long hair, straight, brown,
rough, was tossed la rare confusion
about the hig;l, square head. from
which he lifted a fiea-bitten, mangy old
seal-skin cap. The man wore a color
less check shirt, patched and stained a
green baize pea-jacket, frayed and old !;
a bandanna kerchief about his neck and
his threadbare corduroy trousers were
tucked into the legs of great Russian
boots, redolent of tallow. The brown,
sinewy hand resting on the table was
seemed and ridged with the shiny scars
of a hundred cuts and bruises-alto-
gether, such a looking person as you
would not expect to find except among
the outpOsts of Montana mining or
among the highwaymen of the Austria
liam bush.
"Busy, hey-that means-well, I've
been among icebergs good deal, lately,
and Pm used to cold receptions. See
here, Mr.. Reporter. it'll be worth your
while to listen to me, and maybe you'll
find I'm not so rough as 1 look" The
stranger took chair and sat heavily
down opposite the reporter.
"I'm just In from the North Pole, /"
said he, as who should say I've just ar
rived from Albany. 'I'm On my way
to the Geographical Society of London,
and John Murray's publishing house in
Albemarle street, with the strangest tale
of adventures that ever thrilled the
world since Marco Polo turned up on q
summers day in Venice and was called
the biggest liar in Christendom. Mate,
I've sworn l wouldn't tell anybody
what I've seen and gone through until
1 told it in print, but-Well, the fact is,
Pm damned hungry. and there's hole
in my pocket as big as your head. I'm
going to ship for London tomorrow
Pm just from Frisco this morning
and, If you'll pay for what l can eat and
drink at a sitting, and put good point
on your pencil, I'll give you an outline
of the bravest and strangest voyage that
ever man set out on and saw through
to the bitter end"
The reporter looked at the stranger,
who did not wait for a reply, but or
dered a pint of whisky, some pounds of
cold beef, loaf of bread, and kickshaws
in the way of picked Sleeps tongues
and the like. Whatever else was false
Eabout him, there was no deception In re-
spect of his appetite. When he had
eaten enough finally, and filled a great
pipe with black navy tobacco, AMI be
gan to talk, the east wind seemed to dis
appear from his voice, which grew mel
low and refined, and there was an in.
ward look in his singular eyes which
Enthusiastically betrayed habits of specu-
lation and thought quite as frequently
indulged as the tendency to action. FL
nally, entranced, enthralled by the
mans earnest, fervent speech, and the
sad steadfastness of his recital. the re.
porter was so much absorbed in listen
tening that he half forgot to write. The
ever, are indeliably imprinted upon his
mind, and are here reproduced with az
near an imitation of the mans style az
is possible.
"My name is Andrew Denny, and
came from Allegheny County, in Mary.
land, from among folks to whom the
sea and seafaring ways are as LITTLE
known as the spicy breezes and phos
phorescent How OF the Indian Ocean
But when I was boy and worked in {
coal-pit by night l read Crusoe and tha
sort by day, and made up my mind tina
fellow had better be slipping up ant
down the restless green waves Of tn,
sliddery sea than crawling into blacl
hole underneath the immovable greer
| waves of the mountains for a livelihood
My daddy's opposition, the Pirate
Own Book and 'Shipwrecks and Disas
ters at Sea- finally brought things t.
the usual pass. When was Just turne,
16 crawled ont of the. garret window
early one summers day, with a coupl
of shirts tied up in hanpkerchief, an,
haven't seen old Allegheny Count
since. worked my way to Washing
ton on canal-boat, walked to Balti
more, and shipped for Liverpool on
leaky old bark. After that 1 made sew
eral voyages, and at last found my wa
into the South Seas on a Nantucke
whaler. 1t was long cruise, and ol
wasn't plentiful. I've chased tn
lsperm whale in pretty much all sea
where she blows, from the Seychell
grounds to the River Platte, from th
Persian Gulf to the Japan Islands, fror
Brazil banks to Tahiti, from Patagoni
to the Line, aud thence to the icy water
of Behring's Sea. tired of it, however
after a while, and thinking shore lii
i would suit me for spell, went into bu
iness in the Hawaiian Islands. wa
running good sugar plantation in w
aluku, Lahaina, and making money
too, when a missionary there to who
went for books to read lent me d
Kane's sArtic Explorations No mol
sugar-planting for me. When rea
OF that half-made discovery, and of no
Morton, the boatswain, stood on til
tpeak of Cape Independence. gazing owe
1.-THE white-caps of the unknown sea
wards the Pole, and then turned bat
again, felt there was something fl
me to do that brave men as had left III
done. My soul was just on fire wit
the blaze of life-purpose. 1t was
great purpose, though l say it, al
worth a hundred lazy explorations
the source of the Nile, made in the La
guild intervals of ague and fever, ,throue
brutal jungles and among brutal saw
lges. The great explorers have 9
Iyearned towards the North, and there
good reason why, for, as stout old Ma
tin Frobisher said nigh three hundr,
lyears ago, the probing the far North g
still the only thing leftundone wherel
, notable mind might be made famo
and remarkable"
81 sold out my share In the sugar CO
Germ iE Wialuku to my partner, a sla
sided Maine chap, for 81 600 cash and
free ticket to Southampton by way
Panama and st. Thomas, and started
lmy long pilgrimage to the pole-frc
Liverpool to Glasgow, where l shipp
aboard Greenland whaler, with the u
derstanding that at the end of the fis
ing season I was to be LANDED somewhe
In Greenland to pursue my quest.
the latter part of August. the ship bel
full and the pack being heavy in Baffii
Bay, l was landed at Disco, and I
Macgillivray sailed for home, 1 had
tgood enough outfit, Danish money
my pocket, trading articles for
Innuits, and as good a South Sea HI
fpoon in my hand as ever went thl
feet into a whales flank. My plan v
to get acquainted with the innui
learn their Esquimaux lingo, hire so
Of them and their dogs to sledge me q
=. north across the great glacier (taking
a backbone Of Greenland for road), a
s. so transport myself and kajak to
NJ shores of the open sea. Once there,
4 didn't reach the pole, it wouldn't be
fault. It's long story-I've got it
down here (striking his heart) in
charts and log-books; but it's enough
say couldn't make it. I couldn't
ne over the icy barrier that shuts
at Greenland on the north, barrier of
nc zen mountains that should say, wo
1T be able to wear Mont Blanc on til
a fringe, like n diamond ON lady's I
ce ger. Two winters and two summer
y, spent there among those hardy Esq
sst maux, trying the north from ford
mountain summit, all in vain. The