Lincoln County times. (Jerome, Idaho) 1911-1919, 1918-03-07
CHAPTER III.
Tho Crevasse.

Tho Crevasse.
For an hour before the Hannah
reached Katma Miss O'NeiIl was busy
getting her little brood ready. Her
heart was as tender as q Madonna to
these lambs so Ill fitted to face a frigid
waste Their mother had been a good
woman. She could tell that. But she
mad no way of knowing what kind of
man their father might be. When thew
said their shifting good-bys at Katma
she was suspiciously bright and
merry. Soon the children were laugh
Ing again with her.
One glance at their father who in
troduced himself to Miss O'Neiu "a
John Hustled, relieved her mind great
~. His spontaneous delight at seeing
them again and his choking gratitude
to her for having looked after them
were evidence enough that this kind
eyed man meant to be both father and
mother to his recovered little folks
her temporary family stood on the
end Of the wharf and called pood-bys
TO the girl. When they turned away
she went directly to her room.
Elliot was passing forward when
Miss O'Neill opened her stateroom
door to 60 in. The eyes of the Young
woman were blinded with tears and
she was biting her lip to keep back
the emotion that welled up. He knew
ene was very fond of the motherless
children, but he guessed at an addi-
uonal reason for her sobs. She. too.
was as untaught as a child In the life
OF this frontier land. Whatever she
found here-how much of hardship or
happiness or grief or woe-she knew
that she had left behind forever the
sa1e harborage of quiet waters I'm
which her life craft had always fioated.
III came on to rain in the afternoon.
Heavy clouds swept across from the
mountains, and the sodden sky opened
ike a sluice-box. The Kusiak contin-
gent driven indoors, resorted to
bridge. Miss O'Neill read. Gordon FL
hott wrote letters, dawdled over mag
ezlnes, and lounged alternately In the
iao1es' parlor and the smoking room.
where Macdonald, Strong, a hardware
merchant from Fairbanks, and a pair
OF sour-dough miners had settled them
selves to poker game that was to
last all night and well into the NEXT
day.
OF the two bridge tables all the
players were old-timers EXCEPT Mrs
mallory. She had come in over the
Ice Tor the first time last winter. The
otner women felt that she was a bird
on passage, that the frozen Arctic
could be no more than a within to her.
Ihey deferred little to her because
sne knew the great world-New York
vienna London, Paris. Great names
zen from her lips casually and care
iessiy. Sne was full of spicy little
ahecootes about German royalty and
the BRITISH aristocracy. 1t was no won
eeE Gordon Elliot thought, that she
mao rather stunned the little social set
of Kusiak.
Through Northrup and Trelawney a
new slant on Macdonald was given to
1oroon- He had fallen into casual
oak with them after dinner on the
1ore deck To his surprise the Young
man discovered that they bore him no
grudge at all for his interference the
night before.
But we ain'r' through with Colby /,
Macdonald yet" Trelawney explained.
Mind, don't say we're going to get
him. Nothing like that. Here's the
point. We stand for Labor. He stands
for Capital. See? Things amt what
they used to be In Alaska, and it's be-
cause of Colby Macdonald and his
friends They're grabbers = that's |
what they are They want the whole |
works Understand? It's up to us |
to fight, amt ft7"
Later Elliot put this Viewpoint be-
fore Strong.
There's something in It," the miner
lgreed- wages have gone down, and
is partly because the big fellows are
interests. Alaska amt
| poor mans country the way 1t was.
But Mac amt to blame for that. He
las to play the game the way the
ards are dealt out"
The sky was clear again when the
hannah drew In to the wharf at Moose
lead to unload freight, but the mud
. the unpaved streets leading to the
ustness section Of the little frontier