Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-11-09

80 siiho ONeiloOhiHB tne ClBdT, TOlllnR
meadow-land to the north and east.
Down In the lowlands scores Of men
were employed In sowing and planting.
The soil was rich. Farmers and grain
ra,sers Users, u, among the passengers were
any vegetable, cereal or fruit indgen-
| GUS to Argentina (or at the worst, Pata-
gonia) could be produced here. Uncer-
tainty as to the duration of the warm
turing, of crops, was the chief problem.
No time was to be lost II there were to
be harvests before the cold and blight
Ing weather set In.
1t was extremely doubtful II the
spring and summer seasons combined
covered more than Ave months in this
latitude. Assuming that the climate in
this open part of the world was any
thing like that Of the Falkland Islands.
the rainy season was overdue. Midwin-
ter usually comes in July, with the tenn
degrees and ten degrees above zero over
a period OF four or five months. At the
time of the wreck, the thermometers
were registering about seventy degrees
during the day, and dropping to fifty
degrees or thereabouts after nightfall
This would indicate that spring wa
fairly well advanced, and that midsum.
mer might be figured on as coming In
January. 1t was now the end Of Mo-
vember. Warm weather probably wouln
last until February or March. Possibl.
they would be too late with their plant
ing, but they went about It speedily, de- 4,
terminedly, just the same.
All of them had had crop failures be.
fore. All of them had seen the labor of
months go for naught in the blight of an
evenings frost, or the sweep of a prairie
hre. So here on this virgin isle, in soil
whose sod mad never been turned, they
sowed from the bins of the slumbering
ship. Wheat and oats and fax, brought
Argentina nlninG
squash and beet-root; even beans and
peas were tried, but with small hope.
ana there were women ready to till the
soil and work the gardens. women to
SHARES as willing beasts OF burden, t.
WELD the hoe and spade and to watch
for the cherished sprout that was to glo-
rify their deeds.
The ring of the ak resounded In the
forest; the clangor of hammer and nail
Der went on from dawn to dusk--for
there was no eight-hour law in this
smiling land, nor was there any Other
union save that of staunch endeavor r
Other brotherhood except that Of man
There was never a question OF wag,
never a dispute as to hours, never a
thought of strike. Every laborer was
worthy of his hire-and his hire was
food
The Dorline was gradually being dis
mantled. She was being stripped of
every bit of material that could be used
IN constructing and furnishing the huts
The new camp lay not more than a mile
and half from the basin. road had
been cleared through the wood from the
small, hastily constructed dock and
runway on the eastern side of the basin
TO the open territory beyond.
Material, supplies, equipment we're
carried through the densely shaded ave-
nue., and later on, after the warehouses
ana granaries had been built, the leaty
lane witnessed the transportation of ton
upon ton Of stores patiently borne in
hundredweight lots, In bushel bags, in
clumsy parcels, by men whose work
seemed endless; wheat, barley, oats, SUI
gar coffee and other commodities en-
trusted TO the steamship company for de-
livery in the United States Tobacco,
canned and refrigerated meats, olives
NC n iies and dates in large quantities
We're included in the vast cargo, to say
ned fruits and vegetables Washed wool,
tanned leather, homespun cotton and
woolen cloth, silks, hides, furs, rugs
laces, linseed oil, blankets--all these
came ashore In course Of time. but Of the
sinister treasure that had inspired the
obstruction Of the ship, /. e., the man
ganese. the rubber, the nitrates, the cop
per bars, and the stacks OF high explo-
slves. not pound was moved. All this
day.
In the end. the once luxurious liner
was to be reduced to Skin and bones"
10 employ trite but emirently appro-
pirate phrase; Ultimately she became a
yestige Of her former opulence. Her
dtcks were torn up and the timbers
iiauled away to make floors in the h lts
me doors, mirrors, stairways, windows
rails, Tols, carpets pipes, bathtubs. toilets
lamps, every foot of woodwork from
stem to stern, berths. washbasins, kit.
chen ranges, boilers-in fact, everything
mat man could make use of was laknTI
from tne snip leaving nothing Of l.er but
q a, hoIlow, ecfoing shell through which
requiem ""'s''1
Much OF this material was carefully
slackcd or s'ored away against tho day
whrn II ctula be utilized in the cSn-
t,bini StbpuS.ion or small but sturdy ship in
Which crosen company Of sailors were
t2 rare out to sea once more in search
or the world they had lost.
Tlreless and indomitable engineers
tions th,es o on succeeded In transferring por.
ing dynamos, to the camp, where in
course OF time their skill and ingenuity
pade tair to triumph over seemingly IN.
Eernountable difficulties in the matter Of
o. Fully siX weeks elapsed, however. re-
tor~ the women were allowed to leaV,
tne snip Tor their new homes on the land
ana even then they came but a few ar n
S,,me S,,e ana only as huts were ready and
tuliy equipped to receive them Each
nut contained a combination kitchen and
iN!ng icom, with n single bedchnn,har
a substantial fireplace, built OF stone
ana mortar. with a tall chimney at the
PACK. was featureJn every house. The
cracks between the logs. and oii ch,nEs
were sealed with thick layers of mortar!
the ceilings, made of stout saplinCs vero
treated IN a similar manner, while the
roof, resting on a sturdy ridge-poie, and
securely anchored, was of three layers
oL Poies, lhterstices mortared and the
whole covered with vast quantity np
seaweed, moss and reeds held in HIaca
by several well-fastened sections OF iron
FalHng from the decks Of the Doraine.
mn'te 5he nuts were uniform In size,
shape and construction, there was moth"
ing 70 prevent the occupant from suhsa-
house LIS
For the present, however. the interss,s
compactness. "'d
The superintendent of construction,
was AIgernon Adonis Perclvai. As
matter or fact, the end OF the first week
tpanu eraI ~ nun oecupying the position Of gem
an unsolicited honor, but one which he
was resolved that no one, great or small
should deride. He had one stormy '.run..
Hnv.s ih, as aI1 ne de described It, with Mr. Lam
occurred about the middle of their first
week on the island when Virtually every
aple-bodled man from the Doraine was
az work cutting way through the for
waters edge. As the Incident is en-.
titled 70 a very definite place in this
narrative, more or less extended ac-
count OF 1t may be given here and now,
even az the risk or being classed as a dl-
gression. or, step backward in the &C.
Quence OF the history,