San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1923-09-10
Begin Here Today.

Ned C0fnct goes on voyage II
Northern Canada and Alaska for hi
father. Godfrey Cornet. lie is t.
exchange two thousand silk an,
velvet GOWNS with the Indians fol
fine furs. The profits are to be spill
1925. the Lions share TO Ned. Sever
persons go on the snip with Ned
His fiancec. Lenorc Hardenworth
and her mother; Bess Gilbert, ;
seamstr' IS: Captain Knutzen. as
sisted by McNab AID Forest and one
cook.
Mrs. Hardenworth objects to cat
ing at the same table with the seam
stress. Bess resolves TO avoid the
three aristocrats. Ned is polite "a
Bess when occasionally they meet,
but Lenorc and her mother ignore
the girl.
As the voyage continues and the
weather grows colder much discom-
fort is felt by Mrs. Hardenworth
and Lenore who have come Insult
ably clothed for n sea voyage. Now
go on with the story.
The name of the craft was the
Charon. The thought chilled him
and dismayed him.
For all his boosted realism, Ned
Cornet had never got away from
superstition. Man is still not far
distant from the Cave and Squatting
Place, and superstition is specter
from out the dead centuries that
haunts all his days. The coinci-
dence that their craft, plying through
| these deathly waters. should bear
such a name as the Charon sudden
" suggested dark possibility to
| Ned. All at once this man, hereto
fore So sure, so self-sufficient, so in
credulous of anything except his
own continued glory and happiness
and life, was face to face with the
first fear-the simple, primitive fear
of death.
Was that his fate at the journeys
end? Not mere trial, mere hardship
and stress and adventure, but I'M
compromising death! Was he ex-
periencing a Dremonition? Was that
training camp soon to be a reality.
as terribly real as these cold seas
and this sky Of stars. instead of a
mere Pigment of an old mans child
ish fancy?
The thought troubled and haunted
him, but it proved TO be the best
possible influence for the man him
self. For the first time in his life
Ned Cornet was awake. He had
been dreaming before: for the first
time he had Weakened to life. Fear.
disaster, the dreadful omnipotence of
tate were no longer empty words TO
him; they We're stern and immutable
realities. He knew what the wolf
knows, when he bowls to the winter
moon from the snow-swept ridge;
that he was a child in the hands of
Powers SO vast and awful that the
sublimest human thought could not
even reach to them. He could see,
dimly as yet but Enthusiastically, the
shadow of that travail that haunts
mems days from the beginning to the
end.
His fathers blood. and in some de-
gree his fathers wisdom. was begin
ming to manifest itself in him. 1t
was only whispered voice as yet,
wholly to be disregarded in the face
OF too great temptation. yet neRr-
theless it was the finest and most
hopeful thing IN his life. And it came
particularly clear one still. mysteri-
Gus night. shortly after the dinner
hour, as he faced the North from the
deck Of the Charon.
The schooner's auxiliary engines
had pumped her through Unimak
Pass by now. the passage between
Unlmak and Akun Islards. and now
she had launched forth into that
wide, western portal of { re Arctic
Boring Sea. Still the wonderful sue
cession of bright days had endured.
no less than marvellous, along the
mist-swept. southern shore of the
peninsula, but now the brisk. salty
wind FROM the northwest indicated
an impending weather change. 1t
mad been a remarkably clear and
MINDLESS day and the night had come
down. so swiftly and so soon, was
OF strange and stirring beauty. The
stars had an incredible luster; the
sea itself was of an unnamed purple.
marvelously deep-such color as
scientists might find lying beyond
the spectrum. And Neds eyes. to-
night, were not dulled by the effects
of strong drink.
For some reason that he himself
could not satisfactorily explain Ned
hadn't partaken of his usual after
noon whiskies-and-sodas. He simply
wasn't in drinking mood. stead
lastly refusing to partake. Lenore.
though she had never made it n point
TO encourage Ned's drinking habits.
could not help but regard the refusal
rs IN some way a slight to herself.
ana was CORRESPONDENCE downcast
and irritable. Wholly out of sorts.
she had let him go TO the deck alone.
racing over the bow he suddenly
perceived faint silver radiance close
TO the horizon. His first impression
was that the boat had taken SOUTH
easternly course. and this argent
sieam was merely the banner of the
rising moon. Immediately he knew
better; except by the absolute dis
ruption of cosmic law. the moon
could not rise for at least four hours.
lie knew OF no coast light anywhere
IN the region, and it was hard TO be-
heve that he had caught the far-off
gllmmer Of ships light. Seeming
~ such followers of the sea had been
left far behind them.
But as he watched the light grew.
His own pulse quickened. And pres
entity radiant streamer burst
straight upward like rocket. flut-
tered n moment. and died away.
\ strange thrill and stir moved
through the intricacy of his nerves.
lie knew now what this light por-
tended; it was known 10 every way
fare, in the North. yet the keenest
excitement took hold of him.
The Northern Lights,' he told
himself. A ouiyer of CIVILIZATION