Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1911-06-30

ting down to with MIN IN
the same mood and spirit which she
had shown before when she did not
know.
I'm about half famished." she said
as they began their meal, "at least
that duck smells perfectly ire
sistible. It's done to a turn, I think.
In a way, It's rather a joke that we
should begin our arctic privations
with q roast duck"
THERE'S something queer about that
hut" he said, something that gets
cueerer the more I think about It.
Why do you suppose the Walrus peo-
pie abandoned It? Or, rather, do you
suppose they did abandon It! They
couldn't have built another house
without dismantling this one. There
are no trees on this land to furnish
timber, and there certainly isn't Any
hardware store where they could have
those doors swung on hinges. But
those doors swung on hanges last
night and the bolt worked, and, more
or less, the walls and roof kept out
the gale. For this style Of architecture
it's in pretty good repair"
The girl wa only half convinced.
| That great heap of stones in there"
she began. doesn't look like good re-
pair or recent ~habitation."
mo It doesn't" he rejoined. TITS
been made to look as little that way
as possible. It wouldn't have got into
that condition otherwise in 100 years
Come, let's have a look. It's something
to hope for, at any rate"
ITO hope for?" she repeated ques-
tioningly.
did not at once volunteer any further
explanation, but from the shine Of ex-
element she could SEQ in his eyes, it
was evident that he contemplated
something better than merely hold
ing death at arms length for a
little while.
To the girls eyes there was but lit
tie about the interior of the hut to ac-
count for such a hope, even though
she saw that all Of the things he had
said about it were true. The fimsy
inner doors were still hinged to their
frames, and were provided with q
miscellaneous assortment Of catches.
1t was marine hardware, all Of it, evt-
IDENTIFY from her fathers ship, the
Phoenix. The hunks and shelves which
lined the walls looked perfectly solid
and well built. But the general ap-
of d%isrepair. 1t was absolutely I'M
furnished. The great heap OF smoke
blackened stones, of various sizes and
shapes, and the hole in the roof above
them, attested that they had once
been q fireplace.
From the forlorn aspect OF the Doom
the girl gladly turned her eyes away
and stood looking at Cayley instead.
He had been sweeping the walls, roof
and floor in a general survey. Now,
abruptly, he ven over to the heap OF
stones, picked up n of them, rubbed
his thumb over it and scrutinized,
with an air Of considerable interest,
the black smear 1t left.
That would account for the drift
wood" he said absently.
At that he might have seen in the
girls face a look of half-amused i'm
patience, but his abstraction was too
deep for him to notice it.
He walked over to one of the side
walls, pulled open what proved to
be a big solid shutter. revealing a
glazed window, and, for a long while,
stood there, unconscious of the look
the girl had turned upon him, uncon-
scious OF his present surroundings.
Yes, something % hope for, certain
ly." He turned away from the win
dow as he said 1t, and smiled at her.
"A good hoppe good fighting hope
that when the relief comes back next
summer they'll find you hero alive"
III you say so. I'll believe It," said
the girl, because you told me the
truth before. But do you mind telling
me Why!
II should have thought Of it soon
er. 1 should have noticed 1t last
night. My guess wa right, that's all.
This is not an abandoned hut. Don't
you see, it's in almost perfect repair?
The hinges on this shutter work, al
though II you look closely you can see
that some n rave a tug at them not
long ago In an attempt to pull them
out. And that patch o. the wall was
put on within a month. The men
who wrecked this placed worked hasti-
" and showed no great degree of imag.
nation. They hadn't much time, you
see, because they couldn't have begun
until they caught their nrst glimpse
Of the yacht. They had finished the
job before they could send a party
ashore"
But why in the world should they
do such q thing?" the girl protested
He shook his head. Il haven't
worked that out yet, not fully. at any
rate. After all. it's not the question
that concerns u.s."
I'm still in a maze about 1t. What
did you mean about the drift wood?"
Why, the SCOT on these stones
showed me that. They haven't been
burning drift wood in this fireplace.
They've been burning coal-or oil. per-
maps. 1 hadn't thought Of that. That's
why the drift wood collected again out
there on the talus. You remember
your father speaks of having used 1t
all? There have been a dozen men
living here ever since, and they didn't
need 1t. So they must have had some
other sort OF fuel"