Valentine Democrat. (Valentine, Neb.) 1900-1930, 1911-05-18

I When, after a period Of tantalizine
twilight, the sun again came rairly
over the horizon. they besought tneiI
commander, with a savage sort OF
eagerness from which he might have
augured Ill, that he take them at
once to the ledge. They had caught
sight of it 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 It
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 a word. On tbs
fourth day, when the little party AZ
sembled for their midday meal, the II
men Of the Walrus were the only
ones to answer the summons. Cap
tain Fielding and his two companions
had disappeared.
Captain Planck could not recall that
meal nov 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 q
beast, rather than a man, that day.
The stated blood lust in his ayes made
them positively terrifying, SO that the
others shrank away from him. He
had seemed not to notice 1t, at least
hilarious spirits for the first tims
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 executs
him. He knew that IL no did not do
this, the murderer, not he, would here
after command the party, and thai
unless he himself yielded the prompt
est obedience of any, he would follow
the luckless trio whom they were
never to 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 iercely all those fouI
years, cutting, everlastingly, at that
wonderful, e%xhautless 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 cavs
near the shore, where they had de-
posted it. There were literally tons
of it hidden there when the smoke
from the yachts funnel was first seen
on the horizon.
The moment the news of the ap
preaching steamer war reported to
Roscoe, he had entered upon what
seemed to his followers a thoroughly
irrational and inexplicable line of 40
ton. He had ordered them, first, to
remove all signs Of recent habitatior
from the hut to the cave where theil
gold was concealed; then. to cover the
cave mouth with a heap of boulders
to secure it against discovery.
Long before the strongest glass On
the ship could have made out theft
moving figures, he took the whole
party back to the hills in hiding. He
had kept them from answering the
halls and the gun-fre from the yacht
by the sheer weight of his authority
without vouchsaing q word of expls
nation.
The next day they had seen the
searching party come ashore, and with
their knowledge Of the lay of the
land found it perfectly easy to evads
observation, though nothing but the
strong habit of obedience kept then
from counting 1t.
Then, along in the afternoon, had
happened what seemed to them the
strangest thing Of all. They had seer
a solitary straggler from the search
ing party coming along across the
Ice. He could not see them. It would
have been perfectly Easy to evads
him, but Roscoe now ordered them
to go down to him and tell him wha
they were, and to offer to escort him
along the trail down the glacier. And
at a certain point they were to lae
behind and let him 90 On alone Thai
was all any of them knew of thei,
leaders plans, till they saw the fyina
dart and the smudge OF crimson Oh
the snow.
Now, at last, came Planck to the
leader, asking the reason why. But
his mission, as 1t appeared, had not
prospered.
(To BE CoNTINUED)