The Tucumcari news and Tucumcari times. [volume] (Tucumcari, N.M.) 1907-1921, 1916-08-17

: and resumed the copying finished
my work aud had opened the door to
leave. when he spok" to me.
Hump. II YOU will look N the west
coast OF the map ~ Norway you with
see an lndontation called ROmsdal
iiurd. VAS born within y hundred
miles Of that stretch of water Tut I
was not horn Norwegian an q
Dane. NV father ami mother were
Danes and how t.ny ever zane to
that bleak hight 81 land on tho west
coast do not know never heard
7 outside of that there ~ uo;hiuP tGys
tcrious. They were poor p"'plr ant
urlcti"rcd. They came OF genera
tioNs of poor unlcttctci pcoplc-pcas
ants of tho sea, who sowCd their sons
ON the waves as has boon their Gus
tom since time began. There Is no
moro to tell"
but there Is." | objected. 1T Is
still obscure 20 me"
What can tell you" ne demand
cd with q recrudcsccuce Of nercencss
'Of the meagcrncss ~ a Chilh's life ?
of fish diet and coarse living? Of go
ing out with the boats from the time
could crawl? OF my brothers. who
went away ono by one TO the deep.sca
farming and never came back? OF my
self, unable to read or write. cabin boy
AZ the mature age OF ten on the coast.
wise. old country ships? OF the rough
fare and roughcr usage. where kicks
and blows were bed and breakfast and
took the place OF speech. and fear and
hatred and pain were my only soul
experiences? | do rot care TO remem
her. A madness up In my brain
even now az think ot Il. But there
were coastwisc shippers ! would have
returned and Killed when q mans
strength came TO me. only the lines
% my life were cast at the time In
. other places. | did return. not long
ago. hut unfortunately the shippers
were dead all but one, a mate In the
old days. a skipper when | met him.
and when | left him a cripple who
would lever walk again"
"But you who read Spencer and
Darwin and have never seen the inside
Of a school. how did you learn to
read and writc?" queried.
In the English merchant service.
Cabin.boy at twelve, ships boy at four,
teen ordinary seaman at sixteen. able
seaman al seventeen. and cock OF the
f~o'c'sle. infinite ambition and infinite
loneliness, receiving neither help MOI
/ a. o, yaVhp ItJ 10 oil fnr ,gani(-ya 40
igation. mathematics. science. li'era
turc. and what not. And OF what use
has Il been? Master and owner OF q
ship AZ the top OF my life, az you say
when | am beginning 10 diminish and
die. paltry, isn't II? And when the
sun was up was scorchcd. and be
cause ! had no root withcred away
But history tells OF slaves who
rose 20 the purple" | chIIci
And history tells OF opportunities
that came 20 the slaves who rose &c
the purple" he answered grimly. "Nc
man makes opportunity All the great
men ever did was To know II when II
came to them. The Corsican knew.
have dreamed as greatly as the Corsi
can. should have known the oppor
tunity. out Il never came. The thorn.
sprung up and chOked me. And
Hump, | can tell you that you know
more about me than any living nan
except my brother"
And what Is he? And where Il
he?"
Master OF the steamship Macedo
MIA. seal hunter" was the answer
we will meet MIN most probably on
the Japan coast. Men call him Death
Larsen"
Death L~arsen!" ! ln%yoluntaril,
cried. Is he like you"
Hardly. lie Is a lump Of an ami
NAL without any head, lie has al
my-my-"
"Brutishness." suggested
"Yes--thank you for the word-al
my brutishness. but he can s%carcel!
read or write"
And he has never philosophical oil
lite." added.
No" Wolf Larsen answered, will
an Understandable air OF sadness "An'
he is all the happier for leaving III,
alone. lie is too busy living II TO thinl
about Il. My mistake was In eve
opening the books"