The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1910-07-24
Copyrighted 1910 by the Century Company
Copyrighted 1909-1Oby the Success Company

believed, the most extraordinary deposit
of gold in the world. So incredibly
rich was it. that the rock itself had
almost been replaced by solid metal
The Alaska gold. he said. was only the
sweeplngs, in his opinion of tins i'm
mense store.
At the sound of the word "gold
the eyes of the man named Roscoe had
frightened for the first time since they
had taken him, shivering from his long
immersion in the cold water, aboard
the Walrus. He drew into the circle
that sat about the reading lamp, and
heEan asking questions Cold was
mined it in Australia, j" California,
and in the Klondike. He questioned
Captain Fielding about the exact where.
abouts of the ledge, about the sort of
ore ii occurred In, and about the best
means of cutting it out.
To some extent his own excitement
infected the others. Even Captain
PlSnck,. whose only MISUNDERSTOOD
form of wealth was whale blubber, be.
gan to take an interest in Roscoe g
question and in the explorers answers
to them.
1t was a strange and rather pathetic
sort of excitement, Captain Fielding
hopeless plight, gold was about the
least useful thing they could find; not
hard enough to tip lances or arrows
with, too heavy and too easily melted
for domestic purposes. However, it
gave, them something to think about,
and he, without a suspicion of the sin.
lister direction in which these thoughts
might turn, went on and told them all
he knew.
When, after Il period of tantaliziug
twilight, the sun again came fairly up
over the horizon. they besought their
commander, with n savage sort of Gag"
erness from which he might have au-
cured i'll, that he take them at once
to the ledge, They had caught sight
of it from a distance, even rs Caylcy
had done, hung in the air above the
valley, and had run recklessly on ahead
of their leader When he came up to
them, he found them dangerously ex.
cited, the man Roscoe fairly dazed and
| drunken with it,
| their own devices, ana came away with
his two companions And until the
the light of that short day had begun
to fail, they-the Walrus people
stayed, gloating over this strangely
useless treasure.
For three days after that the man
Roscoe never spoke word. On the
! fourth day. when the little party as
scmbed for their midday meal, the
eleven men Of the Walrus were the
only ones 10 answer the summons. Cap
tain Fielding and his two companions
had disappeared.
Captain Planck could not recall that
meal now, without shuddering, for there
at the foot OF the table, opposite him.
written plain in every line of his face
He had looked beast, rather than a
man, that day. The stated blood lust
IN his eyes made them positively terri
flying, so that the others shrank away
from him. He had seemed not to notice
II, at least NOT to take offense at it,
He was in hilarious spirits for the first
really 70 try to be 4 good companion.
Captain Planck abdicated his leader
ship that day. He was perfectly con-
scious of the fact. He had known that
TO retain the leadership he must take
that murderer out and execute him. He
knew that if did not do this, the muir
derer, not he, would hereafter command
Welded the promptest obedience of any.
he would follow the luckless trio whom
they were never to sec again,
From that day to this there had
been no more murders. Roscoe had
ruled them with decision and trucu-
lence which put anything like insubor.
dination out of the question. He had
o'CH UptNti bcIltl lldH captain EldOCh
ever had been. He had worked them
fiercely all those four years, cutting,
everlastingly, at that wonderful, ex.
haustless golden ledge. beating the
friable ore out of it with heavy mauls,
then. laboriously, conveying the great
rude slabs of pure metal on rough
sledges, over the perpetual ice of the
they had deposited it. There were lit
orally tons of it hidden there when
the smoke from the yacht IS funnel was
first seen on the horizon
The moment the news Of the ap-
preaching steamer was reported to Ros-
coe. he had entered upon what seemed
to his followers thoroughly rratloual
had ordered them, first. to remove all
signs of recent habtation from the hut
to the cave where their gold was con-
cealed; then, to cover the cave mouth
with heap Of boulders, to secure it
against discovery.
Long before the strongest glass or
the ship could have made out their
back to the hills in hiding He had
kept them from answering the halls and
the gun-fire from the Yacht by the
sheer weight of his authority, without
yomehsafing a word of explanation.
The. next day they had seen the
searching party come ashore, and with
their knowledge of the lay of the land
found it perfectly easy to evade OBJ
servation. though nothing but the strong
habit Of obedience kept them from
counting it,
Then, along in the afternoon, had
happened what seemed to them the
strangest thing of all. They had seen
a solitary straggler from the searching
party coming alone across the ice. He
could not see them. II would have
been perfectly easy to evade him. but
Roscoe now ordered them to go down
to him and tell him who they were,
and to offer TO escort him along the
trail down the glacier. And at GER
tain point they were to lag behind and
let him go one alone. That was all
any of them knew of their leader IS
plans. till they saw the flying dart
and the smudge Of crimson on the snow.
Now, at last, came Planck to the
leader, asking the reason why. But his
mission, as it appeared, had not pros
pered
For long time Roscoe walked stead
ily on, until the two had come far up