The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1922-02-04
A Man To Ills Mate
BY j. ALLEN DUNN


| on the ice after bear an we kill a
kadiak bear. Me-Tll never stand for
the shoOtin' of another bear if | can
stop it.
I've bin havin' trouble with my
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. | 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 q Point Arrow blister.
| That's gale that breeds an bursts
of second out of nowhere 1t gath
ers up all the loose snow an ice crys-
tails an drives 'em in whirwind.
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 to
the schooner with his men. That's
Honest Simms! Jim Lund's left be-
hind but Honest Simms has the posi-
tiOn Of the island"
Il didn't hear you call out you were
blind, Lund. The wind blew your
words away. l 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 for
yOu-but the foe was broken up. We
looked"
"Shut up" beloved Lund you
sailed inside of twenty-four hours,
Honest Simms. The natives told me
so later, when l could understand talk
agin. Dye know what saved me? The
bear! I stumbled over the carcass
when l was nigh spent. l ripped 1t up
and clawed some of the warm CUTS.
an climbed inside the bloody body an
stayed there till it got cold an
clamped down over ME. Waitin' for
you to come an git me. Honest
Simms!
THAT bear was bed and board to
me until the natives found it, an me
In it, more dead than alive. Never
mind the rest. get here the day be-
fore you start back for more gold.
AN I'm goin' with you. But first
countin' O. what you got already. I've
got this young chap with me, an he'll
give me a hand to'ard square deal"
Lund propelled Rainey forward 4
few steps and then loOsened his grip.
The captain of the Karluk appealed to
him directly.
"Mr. Lund is unstrung." said the
captain He is under the deluSion
that we deliberately deserted him and,
later. found the gold he speaks of.
The first charge is nonsense. We did
all that was possible in the frightful
weather. We barely saved the ship.
"As for the gold, we touched on the
island, and we did some prospecting,
very little, before we were driven
offshore. The dust in the poke is all
we secured. We are going back for
more, quite naturally. l can prove all
this to you by the log
Lund had been standing with his
great head thrust forward as if con-
centrating all his remaining senses in
an attempt to judge the captains talk.
The doctor sat with one leg crossed,
smokingl cigarette, his expression
sardonic, sphinxlike. To Rainey, a
little bewildered at being dragged into
the affair." and annoyed at it, Captain
Simms' words rang true enough. de
did not know what to say, whether TO
speak at all. Lund supplied the gap.
'If that amt the truth, you lie well
Simms," he said. But l don't trust
We. You lie when you say you didn't
/ hear me call out | was blind. Sixty
yards away, | was. an the wind hadn'
, started. You deserted me-left me
5 blind, tucked in the bloody. freezin
carcass of bear. Left me like the
cur you are. Why, you"
The rising frenzy of Lund's voice
was suddenly broken by the clear note
of girls voice. One of two doors IL
2 the after-end of the main cabin hat
opened, and she stood in the gap
slim. yellOw-haired, with gray eyes
, that blazed as they looked on the LITTLE
1 tableau.
e "Who says my father is cur?" she
) demanded. "You?" And she face
Lund with such intrepid challenge II
4 her voice, such singing contempt, tina
f the giant was silenced.
! 81 was dressing" she said, "or
e would have come out before. 1t you
j say my father deserted you, you lie J
4 Captain Simms turned to her. DOC
: tor Carlson had risen and moved
n toward her. Rainey wished he wa
t on the dock.
S "Go into your cabin, Peggy" SAT-
: the captain. This is no place TO
= YOU l can handle the matter. Lun'
q has cause for excitement; but l cal
e satisfy him."