The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1920-04-15
CHAPTER lll-continued.

When repairs were finished. the un-
painted Sloop noSed out Of the bay
and breasted the tamcleSs blue. The
captain had whipped three Chineys
into the crew. and the lad loved them.
The mate. also Swedish but inclined
to silence, had frightened two eSrOe
up from the back rooms of the city, to
add to the quota. a Hindu, wild-cyed
and bony, hauled at the sheets, fire.
quently pausing to weep ut his own
ignorance. On these later occasions,
the silence Of the mate vas broken.
Their cook, a salty Irisllman. whose
life was for some reason forfeit in the
gold districts above the bay, cursed
with a frantic might his goodwill to
the newcomer, Stephen March, when
the boy confessed in himself Il line of
Celtic blood. Stephen was happy.
His days were filled Will, strong drink,
labor, and dreams.
The captain had read three books in
English, and he now read them again.
aloud to his midshipman. They were
the "Travels Of Marco Polo" a fatliom-
less treatise on 1.-The Art of Toxins"
and the Bhagavadyit:i. The pages of
these thrre-golden, fragrant, and ter
rible-wcre written afreSh III the eager
listener. He strOve to conceal how
they bit his pride. He shaved ut the
ropes with the yellow men, and some
times laughed with them: but they
watched him witt. narrowed eyes and
q lowering Of the chin, and even Done
Il at the stove practised more care
full ways in Stephens presence.
i In the evenings there were tales Of
China and her deep, mad deserts.
Vague yet irresistible. these yellow
strands were drawing him to Mid
Asia. Loneliness stirred in his breast.
The voyage was an affair Of months,
gale-cut, but Stephen March had made
his own inner arrival.
But he was twenty when he reached
the In-Shan mountains beyond the
China wall. The caravan had left
him at the village khan. for they were
turning southwark to cross the Hwang-
no and proceed upon the Ho-tau
plains, over a trail that might once
have heard merchants whispering the
news Of Jesus. Here March waited,
having no gold. Then, with the ur-
gent, mysterious summons still haunt
ing him, he was forced to turf his
Picking for money.
The English girl whon he married
III the square city Of Picking found in
him the quality of lortlship. They
%prospered together.
When he was twenty-sevcn, he went
again to the gap in the long Wall, in
the north. He had camels and pro.
visions, and a radiant heart. The I'm.
known treasure beckoned. A dim
remembered throne seemed waiting
out there. But the sleeted storms o.
winter came against him, and his
caravan diminished, until the robbers
fell upon them and left their bodies fol
the wolves when spring Should come
Only one other returned with Stepher
March-his Clliney boy, who had gon.
mad with desert fears.
The English wife was in mourning
and a small child was learning t,
walk In the garden court of the Pc
king house. Then the three of then
went to America, where Stephen fount
much gold, and his Englishwoman la,
less difficulty in teaching the mother
tongue to her son., Andrew.
She longed for her lords and thci
yays-many Of them long since turne
to quiet dust in some abbey-and tn
spirit of England must have hear(
for she was taken into the bosom @
that assembly. Her death sharpene
the old desire in Stephen, and whe
Andrew was sixteen. father and so
had journeyed together to the far cit
Of Picking. and to the Great Wall an
the plains of Ho-tau.
Andrew March had told L.evingto
of nat failure. so charged with beaut
ard sufrering-how the fierce heat {