Martinsburg statesman-democrat. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1906-1921, 1911-03-24

njgb+ bereft Of hope, and half muffin
ons they found land that never had
baen charted, and, most marvellous of
oil A human welcome. For here on
tho shore were Captain Fielding and
the two other survivors of his IL
fated expedition.
The fate of the explorers ship had
| been. 1t seemed, precisely that of the
Walrus. She had been caught in the
mack. crushed in it and carried against
This coast. Before the coming of
snring and with it the breaking of
The ice. Fielding and his men had been
able to carry their stores ashore, and
of these, the greater part still re
NAMED.
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 wears upon that nameless coast.
We can live like Christians" Cap
tain Fielding had said, land we can
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.
Il Among other things, quite casually
n he told them of a ledge in the hills,
II across the glacier, which contained,
Il he believed, the most extraordinary
Il 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itself had almost been replaced by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 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 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 extent his own excitement
infected the others. Even Captain
Planck whose only MISUNDERSTOOD
form of wealth was whale blubber, be-
gan to take an interest in Roscoe's
questions and in the explorers an
swers to them
1t was a 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 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,
4 and he, without a suspicion of the
sinister direction in which these
thoughts might turn, went on and told
h them all he knew.
Nhen, after period of tantaliZing
twilight the sun again came fairly
over the horizon, they besought their
commander, with a savage sort of
easerness from which he might have
augured i'll, that he take them at
4 once to the ledge. They had caught
slght Of it from a distance, even as
Cayley had done, hung in the air
above the valley, and had run reck-
iessly on ahead of their leader When
ne came up to them, he found them
dangerously excited, the man Roscoe
ldlrIy dazed and drunken with it.
FINALLY Fielding had left them to
'nelr own devices, and came away
win his two companions And until
tue llght of that short day had begun
10 IAN, they-the Walrus people
STAYED, gloating over this strangely
useless treasure.
vi three days after that the man
noscoe never spoke a word. On the
'o0Flh day, when the little party as
Selnoled for their midday meal, the II
ueo OF the Walrus were the only
oueS to answer the summons. Cap
Jam FIELDING and his two companions
mad disappeared.
captain Planck could not recall that
meal now without shuddering. for
ulefe at the foot of the table, oppo-
sI.e to him, had sat the man Roscoe,
""' murder written plain in every
,'Ae OF his face. He had looked a
geaSI rather than a man, that day
"' stated blood lust in his eyes made
uem positively terrifying, so that the
g'-1s shrank away from him. He
D'' seemed not to notice it, at least
~. 10 take offense at it. He was in
"l''Flous spirits for the first time
-'".e they had known him; seemed
ely TO try to be a good companion.
Ftaln Planck ahdicated his lead