Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-06-05

paralIeled heroism into this flag which, az
sole survivor, he carried upon his heart, hs
had died.
But what diabolical agent brought this
man here, then? If the last observation
was made at the eighty-second degree, how
could this starved and frozen creature make
his way from thence, nearly 4S0 miles? 1t
was a monstrous impossibility.
Such thoughts demanded an answer; and
the two dumfounded men demanded q solu-
tion from each other. They glared at the
dead face, but it rendered no account OF its
grewsome presence. Then, to cap the
climax of this day, the Sergeant sat down
and cried, like man shaken with terri
BILE sorrow, or like woman relieved from
an awful anxiety.
"Oh-ohP' he sobbed in broken tones,
sits all right. OF course he's here"
"How?" stammered the tutor, looking
for all the world like the dead man, in
glassiness of color.
'Thank God Oh-oh-he didn't comet
He driftedl He Just happened here?'
This scientific and simple solution re-
lisyed the amour-propre and the madden
utterly, that the great sobs came as bless
ing.
1--WE can raise our own flag, anyway"
remarked the young man. Sergeant
Willtwig did not notice how feebiy the
words were spoken. He only thought of
the honor of taking possession of the land
and of doing it honorablv.
? ''When will it emerge between Spitz-
bergen and Nova Zembla?" mused the Ser
geant as he raised the pole.
st think the English flag ought to float
there, too" observed the tutor "It got
here first"
'sBut it wasn't It's fault" The Sergeant
glanced at the pleading eyes of his COM
panion. They looked as if they belonged
to q body translated. ''It shall fly below"
he added. Reluctantly he tied the British
flag to the halyard and made ready to raise
It, The tutor struggled to his feet and
stood before the flags. For moment both
removed their fur caps and bowed their
heads before the emblem of their nation,
placed on the proudest eminence in the
werld.
The beautiful Stars and Stripes foated
fair and tree above their heads.
"Can't it 60 little higher" urged the
tutor In whisper, pointing to the British
flag. "Somehow-I think-it deserves ii"
faltered the shattered man. Mumbiing .
little reluctantly, as if it detracted from his
glory, the Sergeant raised the under flag
three inches
''There! that's enough!Y he growled. "Oh,
my boy! We haven't eaten for five hours
Come! let Me carry you back What have
been doing?" Remorse smote him too
late; he saw the anguish of death In the
tutors face.
mot yet" he breathed.
Crawling even upon his knees, the gen.
erous youth, with last effort, stood up and
raised the undermost ensign until it foatsd
on an equality with its conquering rival.
The Sergeant look at him heIplessly. This
act killed the boy. He cast into the face of
the Sergeant an imploring, a commanding,
q loving look, tried to speak again, and
passed, like hundreds of Arctic heroes,
softly into the other world.
As be breathed his last, the most beauti-
full phenomenon of nature saluted his
soul. About the sun, two other
suns of marvellous radiance were seen to
shine. They glowed in the colors of the
blue, the yellow and the orange. Their
iridescent rays kissed the face which soon,
in its eternal tomb on the neighboring
island, would never know change and de-
cay.
With bowed head the bereaved man, now
the loneliest man In the world, set his back
upon the dead hero, upon the triumphant
faes, his lace against the glittering par
helion, and sought, with broken steps, his
hut Of ies.
To b obsss~,ss ~ a.dxJ