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

even had trouble driving down claim
stakes but there was sufficient crust of
earth to allow for this. It's brown bulk
as whole looked like the back of
some Brobdingnagian whale, floating
along on the ocean.
By the third day we had our awaken
ing. Said the captain. We're stuck
here for the winter"
Stuck there for the winter? And with
the remnants of four months pro-
visions? Well. we did not discuss the
situation in phrases that you could
print. But we did justice to it. We
took the chill out of the air with COM
nent. Then. just as we were lapsing
into an abyss of gloom, the captain
routed us out He was good one, in
his way, the captain.
Come on now, every mothers son of
you, skip ashore and pick up drftwood,
or we'll freeze to death"
We stirred around at that and piled
into the boats, but the engineer hung
back. The captain yelled at him to jump
in. too The engineer coolly inquired,
What for" Wood roared the cap
tain.
That's not my business" blandly re-
sponded the engineer.
The captain fairly Kissed, Il order you
to get wood.
With the engineer still recalctrant we
showed off and rowed to land. We sus-
pected that a good deal more would come
of this incident.
We were about quarter of mile
from the ship. and Detroit was prying
with his AK at piece of wood which
was stuck to the copper, when he looked
up suddenly and cried:
Say. colonel, see what's coming.
| glanced up over the ridge of the
island and saw what appeared to be SIX
or seven little white poodles looping to-
ward us over the snow. 1t was pretty
sight.
.'Ice bears" shouted Detroit.
Then they looked like elephants
l must have tried to grab the AK. for
he exclaimed, ''Nothin doin. You stand
back of me- If ! can save myself and
you, all right
AS luck would have it, just as they
were almost upon us Mitch came along
with a repeating rifle and blaZed away.
back OH their launches. and stared.
Mitch killed two. Then the rest of
them scattered.
Those two bears were a godsend. But
the captain was furious because we did
not bag the whole seven. When we start
ed in TO bring them aboard the schooner
one bear filled all of one boat We towed
the other in the water to the ship. Al
skinned them and hung up the meat.
The captain took charge of the hides
We knew that two bears were not
going to last great while, with the num-
Der of people we had on board. But they
would help tide over the interval till the
ice solidfied, that we could send the
E,skimos out on hunting excursions. AS
it was. cur presence seemed to wait away
all animal life of the region.
Conceive, if you can. the prospect of
facing the winter under such conditions.
Ahead of were eight months of the
crueleSt temperatures, or darkness, ana,
SO far as we could know. starvation.
l haye told you that Tex Richards sa
loon, far back in Nome, had once looked
forlorn enough to me; but now 1t became
a multiple of the seventh heaven. SO
scared had we become outwardly, and al
ready so pinched and frosted inWardly,
that We could scarcely recognize the men,
cries of ourselves, half world away i'll
the states. To be stuck for the greater
part of q year on a little schooner in the
Arctic ocean, somewhere about the CEN
ter of North America, would have been
truly appalling with the best of compan-
ionShip. but with the SOrdid outfit of the
Olga 1t was enough to curdle the reason
Even if we had been only ordinary rue
tons, or the captain common sea dog,
1T might have been more endurable, but
already there was hate aboard
Il 4
over all, as everlasting dusk suffused
the sky, the aurora borealis shot CLEANS
like the searchlishts of a mystic battle
fleet, weaving back and forth, receding.
faring out, enveloping the copper island
in it's glow. until our CHASTITY, fur-clad
figures exhibited faces of purple green or
blue.
The end of our provisions was now In
sight. Yet there was hope. too. in the
possibility Of hunting. With Eskimos,
and ice for them to travel on it would be
queer. indeed, if they could not bag
something edible.
But we woke one morning to find our
direct fears confirmed. Feathers, Jaw
bone and Coma had vanished.
Days passed. but they did not return.
And we placed little confidence in the
value of their wives and children as hos
tages. To us these simply meant all
added burden.
l recall now that I began to see the
copper island in a new light. more gro
tesque, indeed than in that of the au-
rora There was weird humor in it all.
Here we were. possessed of staggering
riches-not scattered pockets of splacer or
inaccessible quartZ-but a hoard of UNI
adulterated bullion-and yet we were the
most destitute of paupers The copper
island, sufficient to cancel the national
debt, was not worth its acreage in the
lean fertility of Vermont.
When l speak of our panic over the
desertion of the Eskimos, / must except