Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-10-13

Kitten. They liked tn sdle up to us ana
one could almost believe that they We've
purring
The captain continued to incrattate
himself with the chief. who got So
that he liked to sit on the biz Nor
wegians knee. where he signified his
curiosity in many things. which almost
stumped the captains ability in gesture
Yet the sailor did impart some notion
of all our accouterments. with the eN-
ception of the gums. As ! said before
we had been placed under the strictest
of orders not tn fire them. and the
captain had ignored all eager looks and
pointing fingers at these objects. This
only whetted their inquistiveness.
The chief became obsessed with the
mystery of the rifle. 1t soon appeared
that his propensity for climbing into tho
captains lap was mainly with the idea
of making furtive. ingenious attempts to
feel and learn the secret OF the long black
stick leaning against the shippers knee.
Childlike. he forgot all other marvels in
his desire for the one which was denied
him.
Yet he was good-natured about It, ana
in no sense petulant. SO that our relations
with the tribe continued TO be cordial and
profitable. They kept on bringing hides
and meats. which we paid for with tim
cans. Then suddenly occurred a. most
remarka bic incident.
-. ri
Failing to persuade any Of u.s. a num-
Der of the tribe had clustered around our
Eskimos, teasing them with signs to exc
plain the guns. and naturally the natives
wanted to show off. one afternoon when
the chief was in brotherly pow-wow
with the captain. We happened to look
up and see Jawbone standing apart
with an entranced group around him. His
rifle was at his shoulder and he was
drawing bead on a tin can which had
been set up on the ice couple Of hum
dred feet away.
The captain almost jumped over the
nut. letting out Yell to paralyze the
Eskimo. But the effect il had, naturally
was TO startle Jawbone's trigger finger.
Bang. The echo was terrific Ii roared
ana muinbled for miles away across the
Ice There is nothing more to tell about
the little people
Believe it or not. YOU please, but
with the report Of Jawbone's gun that
aripe OF dwarfs was absolutely erased.
L neE vanished. disappeared--went out,
We ran all around. calling waving our
arms reassuringly. scanning every direc-
tioh We went Systematically over the
ground. peerlng for holes i'm the snow.
We thought they might live under tn.
surface and had dropped back into their
secrecy There was no opening They
left no trace
This sounds preposterous. Yet there in
one explanation. These people were so
primitive that they seemed partly animal
Cats have been known to demateriaIize
as speedily whole group of riotous
Iennes on city pavement has been
licked into absence itself by a Fo,ll.t n of
July torpedo. Sedentary human muscles
nave no such faculty, but it is possible
that race almost prehistoric may still
possess this eerie spring.
:. x
We gave the problem up as unite In
We made our way back to the Olga
must now enter upon such a dark
rehearsal OF famine sickness, malice
and death that il would seem as though
those details should be consigned to the
Recovered depths of the. ocean: hut
wish TO give some idea OF the siuesome
pail which shrouded copper island.
The meat We brought with us from, Aha
elm race was quickly gone, and for a
stretch OF two interminaIble months we
hVed on wairus hide alone. We had il
boiled. parboiled and rareboiled. until
the very odor of il gagged me- But our.
negro cook, with glimmer of fun, long
frozen out of the rest of US, faithfully.
asked our choice each ,Iav of ham
lamD, peer, pork chops. mutton chops or
sausage, as lie served the stew. or OF
tea. coffee, beer, or milk" before he
brought us our cups of hot water.
There was one break i'm the plooro
On New Year day, 1903, the CAPTAIN
made a pie from flour and dried apples
winch he had hidden away. gave a large
slice OF this dun to each member of the
shlpS company, and then he aStoniShed
us all with a cup of punch around-punch
with a genuine stick i'm it, | later dis
covered that he had taken the alcohol
out of the compass.
Each day We worked on shore to rms
tie together enough driftwood to last
through the winter. and we stacked il
in huge pile on the crest of the island.
so that no matter how deep the snow
might fall could still locate our
supply. Yet the engineer as i'm The first
instance. remained aboard, and we we've
expecting violent quarrel one.
schooner in the midst of that icc-packed
sea was entirely too small To hold both
of these petulant. bitter men.
i had been able to discern the prol able
cause of the feud. After the meeting
with DIR. Amundsen had proved the exist
ence of the northwest pasSa2r the pair
had planned to DO away with me. tho
suspected representative of the owner,
sail through the new channel. and down
the Atlantic coast, paint off the name.
sell the schooner with valuable a cargo
OF skins they could meanwhile AS
.semble, and then disappear from tho in
quisitive eye of justice. But in the course
of their whispered plotting some Disagree
ment had developed about the division OF
spoils.
I had often read of brutal ana bully
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