The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1910-07-24

n
ANYTHING else. Ever since he went
away, YOU We been like father to me-
and Tom, dear old Tom. like n brother
And then building this ship and COM
ing III here yourself. facing the dang
ers yourself and letting Tom face
them, all for such an impossible hope.
less hope as that message the sea
brought to us. -
Her voice faItered there, and she
bent down abruptly and kissed the hand
that was still carcssing her own.
'tMy child he said, "your father
and | were Ike brothers-nearer to
each other than most brothers. He
went away, knowing that if his venture
failed, if it ended fatally for him, as
it probably did, l should regard you
as my daughtcr--as Just as much a
child Of mine as Tom is If you hadn +
been IN The case Mt all. we d have built
This ship and como mp here to find Tom
Fielding inst the same There. don u
cry, Put on that big fur coat of yours
aud come out with me on deck ~
it IS safe TO say that no craft even
remotely resembling the Aurora had
ever cui the Arctic circle before; but
for all that, old Mr. Fanshaw had
crdered the building of her. Captain
Corcoran. Of ;hc United States revenue
cutter Bear, q man who knew Arctic
waters and Arctic ice rs wcll as any
VINO ever sailed admitted as much when
he came aboard nt St Michaels to pay
IA call In fact, old Mr. Fanshaw knew
what he was about most of the time,
ms his financial rivals were frequently
forced TO admit.
His later years Of leisure and COM
parative ease had not dulled the in
tellectual processes of that keen,
shrewd brain of his: and he knew the
sea better than he knew most things.
In his early. rouGh-and- tumble days he
had voyaged much at random about
the, world, and now that he was old,
n fair proportion of his great wealth
was invested in ocean carriers.
The news from Captain Fielding,-a
strangely pathetic account of his ex-
pedltlon and the loss of his ship, which
an Arctlc whaler had fished up in a
bottle The summer beforehand not
; reached them in San Francisco until
; after the passage through Behring
straits was ice-locked for the winter
fanshaw had spent the time, there
fore, and devoted practically the whole
or his personal attention to building
and cquipping the Aurora for the exact
purpose to which he meant to put hcI
Her hull had received tie most thought
fnl care, and for Just one great pur-
pose, In vain the designers at the
ship-yard protested that she would be
slow, unhandy, wet and laborous in a
,
that he knew that as we'll as they did,
but that hull of that shape could
not be crushed in the ice, whatever
the milling forces of the pack which
bcset her might be 1t was this mill
ING force. of the pack that had destroyed
Fielding ship: thar had destroyed also
though Fanshaw did not know 1.-THE
Walrus. But if the Aurora were be.
set. she would be able to wait till
open water came again.
It was altogether likely, they thought
, when they started out, that they should
be able to return from their expedition
without wintering north of the straits.
In that case, the expedition would be
nothing more than Il comfortable Yacht
ing cruise. And there was no use, Mr..
|, Fenshaw said, in beginning to eat wal
rus steak the moment one got outside
the Golden Gate, Just because the cruise
: was to be in Arctic waters So the
breakfast to which he and Jeanne had
, lust done such scanty justice was as
daintily served, and as aPpetizing a
repast az they could have had in the
great stone house on Mob Hill that
: Jeanne had called home ever since her
/ father went away.
1t was under this reasonable expccta.
ton that the voyage would be pro-
ductive of few dangers and few dis
comforts, that the old gentleman had
yielded to .1eanne's impassioned plea,
and taken her alone.
The moment Mr.. Fanshaw and Jeanne
emerGed upon The deck they heard the
sound Of oars beneath them, and look
ING over the rail saw one of the boats
IN which the shore party had set ont,
pulling up along side the accommoda-
ton ladder. Three men were in it,
!, HWhat news. Tom9' his father
called ont 1nXlonsly pOouoh to bolip
his former tranquil manner. "Havc
YOU anything' | hope there $ nothing
wrong
The Younger man looked up. He saw
his father, but not the girl. Nothing
wrong he grrow!ed. Except this in,
again, aud | did it lust when" He
broke the sentence off short there, his
eye falling ut that moment upon Jeanne.
She paled a little, for she had been
quick 70 perceive that something he
had been about 10 tell would not be
told now, or must be told differently.
But she waited until his father, together
with the two sailors, had got the dis.
abled man up onto the deck and safely
installed In an easy chair. Then graveIy.
but steadily, "Just as what, Tom |?
What clue had they found Just as you
had to come awav?'
"!t was very WONDERFUL he said,
about breaking camp this morning. we
saw man coming toward us across
the ice. We thought at first that 1T
was Hunter, and we were mighty glad
10 see him. because he had strayed off
somewhere and hadn't camped with us.
But we soon saw it WASH t he, WASH It
a man anything like him. He was n
queer, slouchng, shuffling creature,
dressed in skins. and he came up in n
hesitctilg way, as if he was afraid of
us. He couldn t talk English, nor un-
dcrstand it, apparently He looked to
me like Il Portuguese, and / tried him
in Spanish-good Filipino Spanish-on
.ne chance. / thought IL startled him
n little, and he pricked up his ears
at it. but he cou!dn & understand that
either Ile Just kept beckonng and re-
| poa:Ing two Words
What words, Tom7 Out with ito
This from the O." gentleman, who had
controlled his patience with difficulty
during the little silence. But the
: younger man hesitatcd and looked into
the girl IS face, mutoly, half.ouestion.