Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1907-10-25
CHAPTER III.

"Y YELL, bein' as me an Glen.
lister is gougin' into the
J" bowels of Anvil creek all
last summer, we don't re-
ally get the fresh grub habit fastened
OIL 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 Us far as
the creek none, except maybe In the
shape of anecdotes.
I'VE don't get intimate with no nu-
triments except hog boosum an brown
beans, Of which luxuries we have I'M
stinted measure, an, bein' as this Is
our third year in the country, we han
ker for bony fido grub somethin' scan
'lous. Yes, ma'am. three years with
out taste of fresh fruit nor meat nor
nuthin' except pork an' beans. Why,
I've ct bacon till my immortal soul has
growed rind.
"When it comes time to close down
the claim. the boy is sick with the fe-
yer, an the only ship in port is Point
Barrow whaler. bound for Seattle.
AllCl UOOh OQl puSou5C my
have nothin' aboard to eat except can
ned salmon, it bein the end of two
years cruise, SO when 1 land In the
States after seventeen days Of fish
diet l am what you might call sated
with canned grub and have added
salmon to the list Of things concernin'
which l am goin' to economic.
"Soon's ever get the boy into o
hospital l gallop up to the best resta-
rawnt in town an prepare for the
huge potlatch. This here. determine,
is to be gormandizin' jag which shall
live in hist'ry an wharof in later years
the natives of Puget sound shall speak
with bated breath.
First call for IS worth Of pork an
beans an then full grown platter Of
canned salmon. When the waiter lays
'em out in front Of me, look them
vittles coldly in their disgustin' yisages
an say in sarcastic accents:
"'Set there, d you, an watch me
eat real grub which proceed to do.
cleanin' the menu from soda to hook.
When have done my worst, I pile
bones an olive seeds an peelins all
over them articles Of nourishment,
stick toothpicks into 'em, an. hayin'
offered 'em what other indignities &C.
cur to me. leave the place."
DeXtry and the girl were leaning
over the stern rail, chatting idly in the
darkness. 1t was the second night out,
and the ship lay dead in the ice pack.
All about there was fiat, foe clogged
sea, leprous and notified 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 9th
ers appeared; worming out into leagues
of open sea. again creeping into the
shifting labyrinth till darkness rem,
dered progress perilous.
Occasionally they had passed herds
of walrus huddled socially 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
feet was knocking at the door Of the
golden north
Chatting 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 Glenis
ter'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 realiz-
ing that these northmen were Offering
her the truest evidence Of camaraderie.
The frontier Is capable Of no finer
compliment than this utter disregard
of ones folded pages. 1t betokens that
highest faith in ones fellow man, the
| belief that he should he measured by
his present deeds, not by his past 1t
says, translated: This is Gods free
country, where man Is q man, moth
ing more. Our land is new and pure,
our faces are to the front II you have
been square, SO much the better; II
not, leave behind the taints OF artificial
things and start again on the level
That's all"
1t had happened, therefore, that
since the men had asked her no QueS.
tons, she had allowed the hours to
pass and stu hesitated to explain fur,
Their than She had explained to Captain
Stephens. 1t was much easier to let
things continue as they were, and
there was, after all, SO little that she
was ut liberty to tell them.
In the short time since meeting then
the girl had grown to like pextry, will
bis blunt chivalry and hoyish, whinlsi
cal philosophy, but she avoided Glen
lister, feeling shrinking. hidden ter
ror OF him, ever since her eavesdrop
ping Of the previous night, At tn,
memory Of that scene she grew hot
then cold-hot with anger, Icy at tn.
sinister power and sureness which
had yibrated in his voice. What kline
of life was she entering where mel
spoke OF strange women with this as
surance and limited thus Of ownership
That be was handsome and uAcon
scious Of It she acknowledged. ant
had she met him In her accustomed
circle of friends, CARRIED IN the con
yentionalities, she would perhaps hav'
thought of him as striking man, Wig
orous and intelligent, but here he seem
ed naturally to take on the attributes
Of his surroundings, acquiring a pic
turesque negligee of dress and moral
and suggesting rugged, elemental
chilling Dotentialities, While witt