The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1904-11-17
CHAPTER XIV.
eankala Starts on Adventure,

Extreme old age is like childhood in
many ways. II is spoken OF as second
childhood almost universally and what
becomes common expression among
people is usually true. A maxim, an
adage, quotations. legend or supersti.
tion does not become such until II has
been demonstrated to be true in theory
or has good foundation for its origin.
Old age Is like youth in many ways.
Both are pettish, fanciful Jealous and
unreasonable and often long for the
impossible. But one OF the greatest
similarities In youth and age is the
quickness with which the spark OF life
ia extinguished or rekindled In either
extreme.
The infant goes to sleep hale and
hearty. II awakens to expire from
some sudden attack OF disease. The
aged falls to sleep In the most cheerful
moments to awaken no more. The in
iant rallies from the point Of death al
most instantly; its face soon wears
smile and ell trace of suffering has
passed.
The aged are given up for lost. The
last spark Of life seems extinguiehed
But suddenly the dull eye lids reopen
with fash. The wIinkled face Is
iekindled with life and the aged limbs
become active, as II youth had re.en-
tered the body. 1t may be spasmodic,
it ia true, but age often battles with
death for hours, days, weeks, months,
and even years.
sankala slept no more that night.
She stood in the partially opened door
and alternately gazed out upon the
bay and then upon the form OF the aged
sleeper, who lay upon the bed near the
lamp. The fight between the fisher
men was her fight. II Is true that she
wac no longer one OF them, but she had
spent her life among them and their
interests appealed to her as If they
were her own. Besides. Dan Lapham
was one of them. He had promised to
save her aged friend from the county
poor farm and this to her was almost
as important as life itself. She felt an
interest in Dan other than this. They
had tended their traps side by side.
Dan was kind 10 her. He was kind to
her dear old Ringwold. She was frail
and friendless. Dan was strong and
companlonable. 1t Is natural for the
weak to lean upon the strong. II is
natural for the strong to support the
weak. There Is fellow feeling be-
tween the weak and strong that draws
them to each other. Especially is this
the case when the strong is a man and |
the weak is a woman. i
When the hrst shot was fred that
morning between the fishermen its 10
port reached sankala. She knew that
Dan was there. She knew that he
would be in the front. A certain
amount of alarm came over her that
can only be experienced by those who
have been placed In a similar position.
And when fusilade after fusilade opened
up, her anxiety was immeasureable.
But still she would not recall her
friend from what she conpideid to be
his duty. She was still young, II Is
true, and had been reared among peo-
Pile who earned their living battling
with the elements--people who spent
their life in storms and on stormy
waters, who had but little time, and
less inclination, to devote to cultiva-
tion OF the intellect. But Sankala had
come from different class, and her
inheritance was manifest wherever she
went. She was superior to her po.
sition In spite OF the conditions. She
possessed all Of the elements of the re-
fined woman without the cultivation.
Duty, adherance to principle, the de-
tense Of ones inherent rights is more
sacred to such people than life itself.
Ringwold awoke with the dawn. A
night OF sound sleep had rekindled the
old spark Of life. The man was his
feeble old self again.
"How did 1t oil happen, sankalaY"
be inquired.