Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1911-06-30

When, after period of tantalizins
twilight, the sun again came fairly
over the horizon, they besought their
commander, with a savage sort OK
eagerness from which he might have
augurod i'll, that he take them at
once to the ledge. They had caught
sight of 1t from a distance, even as
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
the light of that short day had begun
to fail, they-the Walrus people
stayed, gloating over this strangely
useless treasure.
| For three days after that the man
Roscoe never spoke word. On the
fourth day, when the little party as
sembled for their midday meal, the IL
men of the Walrus were the only
ones to answer the summons Cap
|
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
line of his face. He had looked a
beast, rather than a man, that day.
The stated blood lust in his eyes made
them positively terrifying, so that the
others shrank away from him. He
had seemed not to notice 1t, at least
not to take offense at 1t. He was in
hilarious spirits for the first time
since they had known him: seemed
really to try to be a good companion.
Captain Planck abdicated his lead
ership that day. He was perfectly
conscious of the fact. He had known
that to retain the leadership he must
take that murderer out and execute
him. He knew that II he did not do
this, the murderer. not he, would here
after command the party, and that
unless he himself yielded the prompt
est obedience Of any. he would follow
the luckless trio whom they were
never 10 see again.
From that day to this there had
been no more murders. Roscoe had
ruled them with a decision and q
turbulence which put anything like
insubordination out of the question.
He had been obeyed better than Cap
tain Planck ever had been. He had
worked them f1ercely all those four
} years, cutting. everlastingly, at that
) wonderful, exhautless golden ledge.
beating the friable ore out of It with
{ heavy mauls, then, laboriously, con-
{ veying the great rude slabs of pure
/ metal on rough sledges over the per-
! petual ice of the glacier to a cave
: near the shore, where they had de-
posted 1t. There were literally tons
3 of it hidden there when the smoke
e from the yachts funnel was first seen
D on the horizon.
r The moment the news of the ap.
:. preaching steamer was reported to
r Roscoe, he had entered upon what
a seemed to his followers thoroughly
irrational and inexplicable line of &C.
C ton. He had ordered them, first, to
J. remove all signs of recent habitation
Il from the hut to the cave where their
d gold was concealed; then. to cover the
It cave mouth with heap of boulders
8 to secure 1t against discovery.
l. Long before the strongest glass or
IT the ship could have made out theiI
N moving figures, he took the whole
q party back to the hills in hiding He
It had kept them from answering the
d halls and the gun-fire from the yacht
E. by the sheer weight of his authority
without vouchsafing a word of expla
y nation.
8, The next day they had seen the
d, searching party come ashore, and will
y their knowledge of the lay of thu
a. land found 1t perfectly easy to evad'
TX observation, though nothing but tn,
" strong habit of obedience kept then
d, from counting 1t.
n Then, along in the afternoon, hat
happened what seemed to them tn
,e strangest thing Of all. They had seel
I'd a solitary straggler from the search
ce Ing party coming along across tn
m Ice. He could not see them. 1t woul
IT, have been perfectly easy to evad
he him, but Roscoe now ordered then
p, to go down to him and tell him VIII
as they were, and to offer to escort hir
nd along the trail down the glacier. An
la, at certain point they were to la
ed behind and let him go on alone. Tha
ct was all any Of them knew of thei
he leaders plans, till they saw the flyin
ut dart and the smudge of crimson o
the snow.
mt Now at last. came Planck to tn
in leader, asking the reason why. Blu
cd his mission, as 1t appeared. had nc
,e- prospered.
s's CTo BE coNTINUED)
tn ----
Progressive Farming.