Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1910-11-11
AN ARCTIC
KNIGHT
Story Of an Exploring
Party
By EDWIN B. ERHART
Copyright. 1910. by American Press
Association.

A----------------------
Arters ceased biting his nails aud
rested long. lean chin in the hoIlows
Of his hands.
II could tell you something that
would surprise you" he said gazing at
me across the table.
stared at him expectantly.
"WhatT7 l monosyllabled.
Arters gloomed mcditatively. but
showed no disposition to answer
The girl on the cot nung a pitifully
thin arm over her head and moaned
and murmured In her sleep.
'Well, whntT' | reiterated sharply
The long trip that day across the mo
notonous, never ending white plaln
had done little toward improving my
temper.
Arters arose to his great height.
squared hii broad shoulders aud tip
toed around the table
II am Godr' be whispered in Iny ear.
| saw that had to do With mad-
man
This is a strange world" continued
Arters. a ruminant note In his voice
Here we are come. you and l. to this
forsakep country in a quest fer a lost
woman explorer and all for a miser.
able pittance doled out to us by Chi
cago newspaper" He brushed an Inn
patient hand across his eyes. My
memory isn't all that II should be-
he confessed. Il should have remem.
bered who | was-ani-a ard then this
trip would have been Unnecessary
Arters cast furtlve glance toward
the cot in the dim corner. is she an
angel he murmured querulously. "or
Ruth Proctor, the girl we came search
ing for? can't seem TO remember
somehow"
Both" ! answered. and my COM
panion was satisfied
1t seemed years since the Meteor
had assigned US. stair reporters at the
time. to the hazardous task of finding
Ruth Proctor. the intrepid girl ex-
plorer. who had sci ont two years be-
fore to fad the north pole and was
now supposed to be somewhere in the
vicinity Of the ninetieth degree.
The Meteor is not one to stint its
embassies We. the words Of Arters
to the contrary. fairly reveled in mon
ey. and the essentials of the trip were
all forthcoming and were Of the best
Our boat, the Lost Hope, was marvel
OF technical construction. made for
this very purpose ard for our enter
prising journal
Miss Proctor. the young society wo-
man who had forsworn New York
and the callow amusements of her set
to do something really worth while.
had been conspicuous in the limelight
on the eve of her departure and for
twelve months thereafter. Now If she
was referred to at all in the papers
formerly enthusing over her nerve and
daring she was given ne more than a
passing paragraph. Her fame babe
fair to be niched with that of her IL
lustrious predecessor. Andre. the fame
of-failure
But the Meteor kept an impatient
eye northward. and when the relief
expedition came home without her Ar
tiers and were given the word to go
in search of the girl.
Arters was the Benjamin ]. Arters
of much mad scrambling on the part
OF ambitious dailies that lusted for his
efficient services. He was a writer
keen of brain and pen and one Of the
highest salaried fact getters in the
world of smudge and cheap paper.
No college degree journalist was Ar
tiers. but a reporter
Smith. the managing editor. had said
to me, "You are to accompany Ar
ters'-not on account Of my stellar
position on the staff. understand, but
because had been one of the adven-
turers In that first rush to the Yukon
and knew my north
Our ship had rare good luck, the ice
drift allowing us at the last to come
within a quarter mile Of the silent
Maid Of Orleans. Ruth Proctor's boat.
OF course it was deserted. The log
book was gone. We had no way Of
telling whether the crew had returned
to the tran after the original first rush
toward the pole or perished Of cold
With four Eskimos. dogs and sledges
we began the tail of our "trip Our
route in all probability was the same
as that of Ruth proctor's party.
Eskimos are peculiar humans. Our
men seemed perfectly contented, but
one morning we crawled out Of our
sleeping bags 10 find them gone. They
had taken with them our fastest dogs,
two sledges and large supply Of our
provisions Wisely we decided not TO
pursue.
Fate must have planned our expedi-
tion with an eye for the melodra-
matte At any rate. when We found
the fur clad maid explorer she was
alone, seemingly deserted by every
body and half crazed and sick She
had food. hut in order to make this
last she had been slowly starving her
self to death. She was moving toward
the polel | fell in love with her
straightway. and I guess Arters did.
Ruth Proctor was witching thing
despite her ugly. shape destroying
=kins. and the hunger and snow fever
had made her dainty face but that
much more pathetically beautiful De
spite her stern resolve to find the pole
and the self reliance Of her. she WIS
"a most feminine person
We turned hack The girl. now that
the incentive for keeping up was par-