The Irish standard., 1911-08-19

In torrent Of furious blaspnemy,
he demanded to know Why that box
had not been brought aboard; and the
concentrated lees of his rage he
emptied at last upon the two men
whom he had ordered to do 1t.
Now" he concluded, when tho tor
rent had spent itself. you 60 ashore,
you two. Yes. you, Carlson-I mean
you-and you, Rose; 60 ashore now
and get It,"
Then. after q momentary silence,
he ragged out tho command again,
amid foul flood Of abuse.
But still they made no move to
obey. and the big swede. In evident
terror, answered him. II won't get
it, Roscoe. If you want that box, you
can get 1t yourself"
What in hell do you mean?" the
leader stormed. But his voice, even
as he spoke, lost its confident tang of
authority.
You tell him." said Carlson, nod
ding to his companion, Rose Evident
ly it was Rose who had told the story
to the other members of the party. He
was sQuatly built man with stub
born jaw, and Planck, in the days of
his command, had always disliked him
as that most undesirable pest that can
be found in forecastle-a sea law
yer
What did you leave the box in the
hut for?" he demanded. HE might
not have come back If you had left
it in the cave"
Come back!" echoed Roscoe, with
a growl.
That's what said We went to
the hut to get it, and there was
light inside, and there he sat, just like
he used to. And he had the box
open"
He! Who do you mean?" There
was no trace of turbulence in Roscoe's
voice now He spoke as though his
throat was dry.
1T was Captain Fielding; him to
the life. And, yet. it was different
from the way he used to be. We
couldn't see 1t very well. Its face was
sideways and the light was behind it.
and 1t looked smaller and thinner
more-more like woman. Qf Rose
had had the word spiritual In his vo-
cabulary, he would have used it. In
default of 1t, he gave up trying to
express just what he meant.) Any
way. there he sat with the box open
beside him, and that red book of his
l.
Well, guess not"
There was momentary silence aft
er he had finished, and Roscoe could
feel 1t. as it stretched itself out to the
length of half minute or so, the chill
of their terror enveloping him. To
throw 1t off, he clustered, stormed at
and abused them for pack of liars.
But in the end he sprang down into
one Of the boats, and said he would
fetch the box himself Whether he
believed their story, or not, 1t was
the only thing for him to do.
AS he pulled shoreward he tried
hard to convince himself that he did
not believe it; that Rose and Carlson
had probably forgotten all about the
box, and had trumped up the story to
avoid the necessity of going back for
1t. ,.
| He beached his boat, scrambled
ashore, and set out walking doggedly
along in the direction Of the hut. The
fog was stir all but impenetrable, even
to his practised vision, but he knew
the shore like the palm of his hsnd,
and he trudged on without a pause,
until he was within ten PAGES, per-
haps, of his destination.
But there he faltered and stopped,
turned about, under an irresistible i'm
pulse Of fear, and would have fled
had not sheer necessity compelled
him to stop again. There was light,
diffused yellow glow, faint but I'M
mistakale, shining out of the windows
of the hut.
He knew he could not go back to
the Aurora without that box; it was
necessary both to his future safety and
his present command OF the situation.
His one hold upon those sul1en follow
ers Of his depended upon his being i'm
pervious alike to terror and to defeat.
If he were to 60 back now without
accomplishing his purpose it would
only be a question of days before they
murdered him. They all hated him,
enough for that, he knew.
Yet, even under that necessity, 1t
was three or four minutes before, at
the command of his burly will, he be-
gan creeping forward on hands and
knees toward the lighted window of
the hut.
And when he reached point where
he could command it's interior, his
knees slipped out from under him and
he lay prone upon the icy beach, his
face buried in his outstretched arms
For those two sailors had told the
truth.
Presently he drew himself up and
squatted back on his launches, star
ing. Human or not, the figure there
in the hut seemed unaware of his