The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1907-08-12

canned salmon. When the waiter lays
'em out In front of me, l look them
vittles coldly in their disgustin' visages
an say in sarcastic accents:
Set there, d you, an watch me
eat real grub which l proceed TO do,
cleanin' the menu from soda to hook.
When I have done my worst 1 pile
bones an olive seeds an peelin's all
over them articles of nourishment,
stick toothpicks into 'em, an, havin'
offered 'em what other indignities oc-
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 fat, 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
| fleet 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 Clients
! 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 mortimer 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 be measured by
his present deeds, not by his past. 1t
says, translated: This is Gods free
country, where q man is a man, moth
ing more. Our land is new and pure,
our faces are to the front If you have
been square, so much the better; if
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 still 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 at liberty to tell them.
In the short time since meeting them
the girl had grown to like Dextry. with
his blunt chivalry and boyish, whimsi-
cal philosophy, but she avoided Glen.
lister, feeling a shrinking, hidden ter.
rOr Of him, ever since her eavesdrop.
ping of the previous night. At the
memory of that scene she grew hot
] then cold-hot with anger, icy at the
sinister power and sureness which
had vibrated in his voice. What kind
of life was she entering where mer
spoke of strange women with this as
surance and limited thus of ownership
That he was handsome and uncon
SciouS of it she acknowledged anC
had she met him in her accustomed
circle Of friends, CARRIED in the con
I oh h.
thought of him as a striking man, Wig
Orous and intelligent but here he seem
ed naturally to take on the attribute:
of his surroundings, acquiring a pie
turesque negligee of dress and moral.
and suggesting rugged, elemental
chilling potentialitieS. While witt
him-and he had sought her repea
eddy that day-she was uneasily awar,
Of his strong personality Juggling a
her; aware of the unbridled passion
ate flood of nature unbrooking O.
delay and needless of denial This
was that antagonized her and set he
every mental sinew In rigid resistance
During DeXtry's garrulous rambling
Glenister emerged from the darkness
and silently took his place beside ne
against the rail.
What portent do you see that make
you stare into the night SO anxiously :?
he inquired.
IT am wishing for q sight of tn
midnight sun or the aurora borealis,
she replied.
Too late for one an too fur soutl
for the other" Dextry interposed
Wen see the sun further north
though"
Have you ever heard the real origil
of the northern lights?" the young MAJ
inquired.
Naturally. 1 never have" she an
swered.
We'll here it is. I have it from
the lips of E great hunter of tn
Tananas. He told it to me when wa
sick once in his cabin, and inasmucl
as he is wise Indian and has