Western liberal. (Lordsburg, N.M.) 1887-1919, 1911-02-17


our ship had Tait good lucK, rne ice
drift allowing MS mt the last to come
within a quarter mile Of the silent
Maid of Orleans. Ruth Proctor's boat
or course it was deserted. The log
book was gone. We had no way Of
telling wbGther the crew IS returned
to the trail after the %oriCinal first rush
toward the pole or persisted Of cold.
With four ESkim0s. dogs and sledgeS
we began the tail Of our "trip. Our
route I'm all probability was the same
as that Of Ruth Pructor's party.
Eskimos are peculiar humans. Our
men seemed perfectly c%ontented. but
one morning we crawlCd of our
sleeping bags 10 find them gone. They
had taken with them our fastest dogs.
two sledges and a large supply Of our
provisions. Wisely we decided not to
pursue.
Fate must have planned our eXpedl-
ton 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. but in order to make this
last she had been slowly starving her
self to death. She was moving toward
the pole. I fell In love with her
straightway, and | guess Arters did.
Ruth Proctor was a witching thing
despite her ugly. shape destroying
skins. aud the hunger and snow fever
had made her dainty face but that
much more pathetically beautiful. De
Fplte her stern resolve to find the pole
and the self reliance of her, she was
n most feminine person.
We turned back. The girl. now thai
the incentive for keeping up was par.
TALLY removed. grew seriously III. and
after nine days ON the back track we
came across Il deserted shunty that
had been u vantage point ON our pole
ward trip and prepared to stay there
until she was some recovered. We
knew nothing of her struggle nor why
we had found her alone. Her mind
was gone temporarily.
! was worried. and had been for
some time. about Arters. His gaunt
face had metamOrphosed into a
pinched, weird c~aricature of its for
mer leanness. and II | spoke to him
suddenly he started curiously nor
deigned an answer. Occasionally he
broke out into a babble Of meaning
less sounds apropos of nothing what
ever in our arctic world. He would
sometimes catch himself at this and
flush shamefacedly.
Arters Ia now again back In the
rickety chair across the table from me.
mumbling incoherently and with his
great knotted hands clinching and UNI
%clinching restlessly.
This deserted shack. erected by some
forgotten voyager who, Providence
knows how. had got timber enough
together for that same purpose. was
the point of our first food cache. we
had now eaten down to almost the
last Of Ii pemmican. Tomorrow we
would dig up our treasure. enough to
last us until we reached not too dis
tant civilization.
Arters suddenly ceased his mad ium-
BILE Of words. He pillowed his head On
his arms and slept. l yawned. and,
despite my resolve to stay awake and
guard my mad comrade, the rhythmic
breathing OF the two sleepers lulled
me to nm unconscious condition.
was awakened by n gentle shake
Of the arm. The frightened eyes OF
Ruth Proctor stared into mine. All III
ness seemed to have vanished from her.
He Is dead" she gasped and point
ed an eloquent finger at the stil form
opposite me.
An investigative hand touching the
iced flesh Of him testified to the truth
OF this.
With infinite tact Miss Proctor came
forward and placed a soft little hand
In my own. Il win be little bother to
you" she said simply. The snow
sickness has left me. What-what
shall we do with The tears sprang
from the black depths OF her eyes, and
she turned her head away. unable to
complete the sentence.
we must leave him here" I an
swered. we have only one sled. you
know. Later | win return for him"
ITO think" came brokenly from the
lips OF the maid explorer, that he gave
up his life in his effort to save mine"
Woman-like. she Graded her pretty
face In her arms and abandoned her
sels 70 her g-4s