The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-12-07
THE ADVERTISERS DAILY SHORT STORY


 Late in the spring of 1872 the steam ship Polaris. having fought its way | through Fury Strait, entered the open sters of Boothia Bay. Of all the peo- pie who knew of the voyage, only through the exciting accounts which fill- ed the newspapers of the time, few in deed can imagine its hardships, the long dark days when the ice had rendered the boat helpless, the dreary yet scarcely darker nights which sleep alone made bearable. and a cold which human sense could only register as pain.
 At that time I was assistant to Dr.. Taayer. the biologist of the expedition, and had been looking forward to the cruise as one long tour of pleasurable ex- citement.
 Measurable? I had used that word. but now, as look back and shudder, it seems meaningless. Days of excitement there were by the scorce: times when the awful question of death rose up be- fore us Still. they but make sombre background for the single hour which is stamped indelibiy upon my memory.
 The Polaris was anchored in latitude Northwestern British America, to my mind tho most dreary and desolate bit of land on this whole round globe.
 worn away. leaving exposed an almost barren waste. Away from the shore low moss-covered tundra" or frozen swamps, spread themselves on all sides, while here and there a margin of stunted tree growth cut a dull line across the bleak surface. Around and above all was the funeral gloom of an Arctic si- lence.
 Out in the bay great ice foes were moving slowly southward. Against the darkened sky we could see them in the distance, huge frozen mountains, ap- preaching steadily and silently like 1f erhn weird mission of destruction.
 It was on the 7th of May, a particu larly large berg drifted so close to the Polaris that the doctor and took the of killing a stranded bear or musk OK. I shall not speak of our tedious struggles along that ice cliff. nor of our weary wanderings over its cold mountainous surface. Terrible as they were it is not because of them that the day is memor- able to me.
 Unsuccessful in the search and with only the thought of getting back to the Polaris in my mind, l was wearily mak- ing my way along the small level stretch of ice to which our boat was anchored when my eye caught on something which caused me to pause. A feW feet ahead of me and buried an inch or two below the surface was some dark opaque ob- ject.
 "Furr' exclaimed; some fossil" The St. Petersburg mammoth came to my
 
 ing towards me. He too, was taken with the same idea and with our hatchets we began the work of excavation. A minute later the doctor sprang back, and l heard his hatchet fall changing upon the ice
 Good God" he cried. "look!' His last blow had left but thin, trans parent lens of Ice above the object of his search. A shiver, as of some ague. pass ed through my nerves. l recognized not the limb of some long buried fossil, but. staring up at us with awful composure, a human face. Had 1 been alone l would never have taken a second look. To the doctor however. such sights were less repulsive, and his instinct for investiga- ton instantly reasserted itself An hours hard work enabled us to lift the body from its icy tomb can see it now. The massive head and broad shoulders, the powerful limbs, and even the stern expression of that rigid face. Tn spite of my aversion. the physical asnect of the man filled me with awe. Never has that picture arisen to my vision-and the mist of years have come between-without impressing me with the belief that it was no common clay thar we touched that day.
 The entire body from shoulders to rect was enveloped in great coat or faded brown, fur. A hood which, doubtless, had once been attached to the coat. was pulled over the head, exposing only the heavily bearded face.
 "One of Sir John Franklin's party" l spndav,s story. HER ROMANCE" by