The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1921-11-03

the gold to leap out OF the mouth
What's that l hitT asked Lund.
Soft, ike rat" He lunged forward.
felt for the poke, and found ii. lifted
it, hefted il. his forehead puckered
with deep seams, discovered the open
end, poured out some OF the eOlors on
one palm, and used that for a mortar,
grinding at the grains with his finger
for pestle, still weighing the stun
with slight up-an-dOwn movement OF
his hand.
He nodded as he slipped the poke
into a side pocket and the cabin grew
very silent. Lund's face was grimly
terrible. He stepped back across the
companionway
$50" he said, his deep voice muf-
f1ed by some swift restraint. you
found it. And yo're going back after
more?" His forehead was still creased
with puzzlement oval, I'm going
with ye, eyes or no eyes, an TIL keep
tabs on We, Bill Simms. by day and
night. You can lay TO that, you
slimy-hearted swab!"
His voice had risen again. Rainey
saw the sweat standing out on the
captains forehead as he answered:
"Of course you'll come, Jim. No
need for you to talk This way"
mo need to talk! BY the eternal.
what I've got to says bin steamin' in
me for fourteen months o. blackness,
an it's comm out, now it's started
Who's this man, who was tallzin' with
We when come aboard?"
That's Doctor Carlson. He's to be
surgeon this trip, Jim," said Simms
deprecatingly, though he darted a look
at Rainey half suspicious, half resent
full.
Rainey, on the hint, turned toward
the ladder quietly enough, but Lund
had nipped him by the biceps before
Rainey had taken a step.
You'll stay right here" said Lund,
while / tell you en- this Doc Carlson
what kind of a man Simms is, with
his poke full Of gold and me with the
price Of my last meal spent two hours
ago. 1 won't spin out the yarn.
81 rescued an AIeut off a bit of q
berg one time There warn't much Of
him left to rescue. Hands an feet an
nose was frozen so he lost 'em, but the
pore devil was grateful, an he told
me something. Told about an island
north of Boring strait, west of Kotze-
bue sound, where there was gold on
the beach richer and thicker than IL
ever lay at Nome. / makes for it, gifts
close enough for my Aleut to recOg-
nize tit amt an easy place to for
get for one who has eyes-an' then
we're blown south, an we git into ice
an trouble. The Aleut dies, an /
lose my ship. But was close enough
to get the reckonin' of that island.
Finally / land at Seattle, broke. !
meet up with the man they call Hard
luck Simms. Also they called him
Honest Simms those days / like him,
an l finally tell him about my island.
l put up the reckonin', an he supplies
the Karluk, grub, an crew
"Simms' luck is still ag'In' him. The
Karluk gifts into ice, gifts nipped an
carried north. way north, with wind
an current, frozen tight in a noe. II
looks like we've got to winter there,
Mind We, I've given Honest Simms the
reckonin' of the island. We 20 out
on the ice after bear an we kill a
Kadiak bear. Me-rll never stand fol-
the shoOtin' Of another bear if 1 can
stop it.
I've bin havin' trouble with nv
eyes right along. I'm on the foe not
eighty yards from Simms. No, not
sixty 1t was me killed the bear, an
we're goin' back to the schooner for a
sled. 1 stayed behind to bleed the
brute. All of a sudden, like it always
hits you, snow-blindness gifts me, an ]
shouts to Honest Simms
along comes a Point Arrow blister
That's a gale that breeds an bursts
of a second out of nowhere. It gath
ers up all the loose snow an ice crys.
tails an drives 'em in a whirlwind
You lose yore direction even when you
got eyes. I'm left, in it by that bilge
| blOoded skunk, blind on the rockin'
breakin' foe, while he scuds back ID
the schooner with his men. That.
Honest Simms! Jim Lund's left be
hind but Honest Simms has the posi-
ton of the island"
Il didn't hear you call out you were
blind, Lund. The wind blew your
words away. I didn't know but what
you were as right as the rest of US
We found the schooner by sheer luck
before We persisted. We looked fol
you-but the foe was broken up. W
| looked"
"Shut up!' beloved Lund. "Yor
sailed inside of twenty-four hours,
Honest Simms The natives told me
so later, when l could understand tall
ag'in. Dye know what saved me? The
bear! stumbled over the carcass
when was nigh spent. ripped IL VI
and clawed some Of the warm CUTS
| an climbed inside the bloody body an
| stayed there till il got cold an
clamped down over me. waitin' FOL
you 10 come an git me. Homes
| Simmsl