The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-01-31

problem. as the supply aboard was not
sufficient to feed ten men more than
six weeks: whereas five months lay be-
tween them and the spring breakup.
Accordingly. the captain proposed big
hunt, and five volunteered-fOur deck
hands and the head pilot
So when the snow ceased falling these
five went forth. The five remaining
men watched their companions dwin-
ding into the great white silence till
they disappeared over q ridge, and
there was a muttering on the boat. for
a strange dread had grown up out of
the hush.
IN the afternoon a gusty wind grew
up from the northwest. sending long
snakelike streamers of snow writhing
and kissing down the valley. Hour by
hour the wind increased. and the re-
naming five peered anxiously into the
steadily contracting circle of the storm,
but no hunters appeared. And the
/ night cTept in through the thickening
snow haze scarcely perceived.
The five men sat huddled about the
furnace in the engine room, listening
for the voices of their returning COM
panions. The wind doomed down the
smokestacks and shrieked through the
| supporting cables.
Late in the night the captain pro-
posed game of poker. All except Han
way sat in. But though they staked
| their summers wages recklessly, the
gaming spirit was dead Once, when
/ q big jackpot had been opened, with all
/ hands staying, a violent gust of wind
| beat at the door and l1owled hoarsely
/ about the boat like the shouting Of a
| desperate man. The second engineer
/ dropped his cards face UP, and, leaping
/ TO his feet. cried. THERE They're
coming. They yelledr' Then he
dropped into his seat and groaned.
And when the second pilot called an
unusually stiff bet with a pair of trays
/ the captain closed the game.
Morning came-a trayesty of dawn
/ The day passed-a writing, bowling
| gray shadow. And the night came-a
mere deepening of the twilight, felt
rather than seen. On the evening of
| the third day the storm fell and the
yellow sun went down smiling cynically
upon the CHASTITY storm-swept spaces
Then the white, pitiless night crept in
| with stars that were as bits of broken
glass.
There were nov only five men in the
/ icebound Lucas-the captain, Hauway
the second engineer, the second piloi
/ and a deck hand.
The temperature fell again after the
storm: it reached 20 below zero, and
the snow became crusted. In the Ions
nights the dread-ridden crew heard tn.
coyotes bewailing their empty BELLE.
and the ache of their frosted feet. Al
night the cables. drawn taut with tn
intense cold. sang dismaIIy into the fro
zen hollow that was the world, and tn
contracting timbers popped an
+, groaned.
, One night in late December the cap
! tain dreamed a pleasant dream. I
seemed to him that the winter hal
broken up; the spring rains fell: tn
= good smell of the earth. mixed wit
b. the odor of wet grass. filled his nos
= trils. He felt the lift Of a flood be
( meath him. He heard the snoring of tn
4 engines; felt the eager trembling Of tn
1 boat as she nosed the flood and too
= the swirl of the current southwark.
I Then suddenly IL seemed that tn
Jennie Lucas shook herself like a We
2 dos. and he awoke with the sound {
e splintering wood in his ears. The boa
5 was vibrating. The machinery va
/ moving!
: He leaped out of his bunk and ran 0
deck. for he had not undressed. Thel
/. was a iight down the aft stairs. II
ID rushed down into the engine room an
found the boilers sizzling with heat an
7, the machinery working under 40 pound
= I Of pressure, which was steadily mount
ing. for the safety valve had been tie
l. / down.
! He cut the cords that held the val1
> and shut down the engine Then
:, looked about for Hanway, but he ws
not in the room.
4 where is that IDIOT" muttered II
y CAPTAIN: hes busted the padd
: wheels. I'll
He had reached the TOP of the stall
when a strange wild, moaning cry, lii
q and unlike that of a coyote, pierced Il
o silent night like a pang. The sour
t seemed TO come from the afforded
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