Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1910-12-13

. W.
been charted. and, most marvellous Of
oil. human welcome. For here on
the shore were Captain Fielding and
the two other survivors OF his Ill.
fated expedition.
The fate OF the explorers ship had
been. 1t seemed, precisely that Of tEq
Wolrus. s.to had been cuarht in The
racls. crushed in 1t and carried aga>ns
Ms coast. De!crn the co7oins ~
eprirg, end with It the breaking OF
the ice. Fielding and his men had beer.
able to carry their stores ashore. and
Of these. the greater part still re
manned.
OF the Walrus people. in all. there
were II, and these. with the three
original castaways, settled down to
the prospect Of an indefinite number
of years upon that nameless coast
We can live like Christians" Cap
tain Fielding had said. and we San
always hope"
His superior knowledge Of arctic
conditions made him. rather than Cap
tain Planck. naturally commander of
the little company. He established
the regimen Of their life, doled out
the store from day to day, and, as
best he could, through that long win
ter night. provided entertainment for
the forlorn little group. He told them
of his explorations on the coast. of the
lay Of the land. of what they might
hope to see when the sun should
come back to them, marking the be-
ginning Of another long arctic day.
Among other things, quite casually
hs told them Of ledge IN the hills.
across the glacier. which contained.
he believed. the most extraordinary
deposit Of gold in the world. So in.
credibly rich was it. that the rock
itself had almost been replaced by
solid metal. The Alaska gold he said,
was only the sweepings, in his opin-
ion, of this immense store.
At the sound Of the ward gold" the
frightened for the frst 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 began asking questions. Gold was
something he knew about. He had
mined It In Australia, in California.
and in the Klondike. He questioned
Captain Fielding about the exact
whereabouts Of the ledge. about the
sort Of ore It occurred in. and about
the best means Of cutting It out
TO some extsnt his own excitement
NAN NJ
Planck. whose only well-understood
form Of wealth was whale blubber, b.
gan to take an interest In Roscoe's
questions and In the explorers an
swers to them.
It was strange and rather pathetic
sort Of excitement. Captain Fielding
thought. TO them. IN their practical
ly hopeless plight, gold was about the
least useful thing they could tad: 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 . suspicion of the
sinister direction in which these
thoughts might turn. went on and told
them all he knew.
When. after q period Of tantalizirg
twilight, the sun again came fairly
over tho horizon. thoy besought their
commander. with . savage sort Of
eagerness from which he might have
augured Ill. that he take them at
once to the ledge. They had caught
sight Of 1t from q distance, even an
Cayley had done. hung in the air
above the valley. and had run reck.
lessly on ahead Of their leader. When
he came up to them, he found them
dangerously excited. the man Roscoe
fairly dazed and drunken with 1t.
Finally Fielding had left them to
their own devices. and came away
with his two companions. And until
tho light Of that short day had begun
to fail. they-the Walrus people
stayed. gloating over this strangely
useless treasure.
Fur three days after that the man
Roscoe never spoke . word. On tho
fourth day, whom the little party as
sembled for their midday meal, the II
men Of the Walrus were tho only
ones to answer tho 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, oppo.
site to him. had sat the man Roscoe,
with murder written plain in every
limo Of his face. He had looked q
beast, rather than a man. that day.
The stated blood lust in his eyes made
them positively terrifying, 20 that the
others shrank away from him, He
had seemed not to notice II, at least
not 70 take o6ense at It. He was in
hilarious spirits for the first time
since they had known him: seemed
really to try to b . good COMPANION
Captain P1anck abdicated his lead
ership that day. He was perfectly
conscious Of the fact. He had known
that to retain the leadership he mus,
take that murderer out ana execute
him. He knew that II he aid not do
this. the murderer. not he. would here
after command tho party, and tina,
ualess he himself yielded the prompt
ct obedience of any. he vonlA eol,ov