New Britain herald., 1924-05-29
CHAPTER I. The Remittance Man

through the narrow, darkened har'
 bor mouth into the night and the
 storm. that this world of his was ar
 outcast world, land that God had
 cursed and forsaken, parah land
 outlawcd from the kindly. sun-kissed
 world where the races moved and
 teemed. Because it was his home
 because it's grim, strange spirit of
 desolation and death had long ago
 got hold of him. it was as if he were
 a pariah. too, God-cursed and God
 forsakcn, scarcely less so than the
 Remittance Man, with whom he had just become acquainted and who now lay in a drunken stupor in one of the tumble-down shacks in. the native
 village behind him.
 Such ideas did not haunt him often. He was huge and blond and rugged
 not a dreamer in any sense except as all men of the northern races, know ing life 10 it's cruel depths, are given to dreams-and his last name was Larson, His job, that of a web fore man in connection with the fishing
 that was the one industry in these far forsaken waters, kept him too
 busy for such moods as this. But ! tho North was showing its teeth to-
 night. Besides he was inwardly i'll
 at case from purely material con- i siderations--he had caught the can l nory launch. Jupiter, at Nushagak, ! with the idea Of connecting up with : the mail boat at squaw Harbor, the Jupiter's home port. in race to the outside" but the swft-breaking
 storm had forced the launch into
 miniature cove far up in one Of the
 most desolate and stormy stretches of
 seacoast in the entire North, there to
 remain for an uncertain time.
 or course if was only squal In
 the tradition Of scafarers. Captain Jim of the Jupiter--on the way home
 from a scouting trip for a new trap site--had driven his staunch little ship through seas twice as high. But Captain Jim did not care to take a chance when a mere passengers haste was the only consideration. Shiels. at Bellingham, and Bradford at Squaw Harbor had given definite instructions against that very thing, needless risk of the lives Of his crew. Yet Chris had to admit that this was no night for landlubbcrs
 In all his travels he had never known land quite like this marrow, trceloss. storm blasted peninsula that was the fence between the Pacific , Ocean and Boring Sea Pcrhaps 1 that was why he hated ii, and by A ! grotesque paradox that no mind such :, as his could over explain, loved it, too. | The hill behind him sheltered him from tho lash Of the wind, yet he felt the odd dryness in his head that al- ways marks zero weather. and tho , icy touch Of the frost, as of a hand, crept under tho heavy shirt. He wished he had his heavy coat that he had left in cabin in the village. Thence his thought turned ! to tho Remittance Men, wondering how he was making out. It Is not wise, on the Peninsula, 10 soak one self in distilled sour dough and thon lie in the cold. This was November: he made a bet with himself that the Remittance Man--granting that he sustained the drinking pace. he had SCI and which, because if surpassed lll records in this hard d-drinking land, was already famous clear to Nusha- not participate in the Russian festival with which all far. western Alaska celebrates the Christ mas season.
 As Chris watched, the storm seemed 10 increase; the beat Of the waves on the rocks had dceprrN more sinister sound. He had the sensible notion 10 follow the Remit ance Mans example and forget his 'redicamcni, tho storm, and all the moods it had brought. in sleep.
 Yet it was not to be that he should ie in his bunk, or that the Jupiter ihoud lie in safety in the harbor. The darkness without tho harbor was [ split by queer, upward { larting flare of light.
 The signal came from far away. Hidently from off the rock ribbed hore miles farther up the Peninsula, 'ut the clear. icy air enabled him 10 ; distinguish it with entire plainnrss : ie stood almost motionlcss. pecring 'here was only short wait. Then g Ie saw inc yellow flare again.
 The Jupitcr's course was decided or her. She was not to lie in tbe mug cove, nor yet 10 carry her eager l 'assenger to the home shelter or ! auaw TIarbor. Big Chris stepped i 0 the water line. v
 Captain Yim,'' hc ca Lied, '
 His voice. ringing and low. carried 8 asily in th" launch in the little hsr- q or. Captain Jim stepped to the 2 cor of his pilot house. and his reply [ oiled hack out of inc darkness like [
 Wsve out Of the dark sea. "Yas''- c Q said. and only tho dron hsttening ! [ the a-alusys marked among men | Scandins vian birth h-saved from r ablimi'y that full. mysterious sound. q
 Did you see dat light?" |
 No" "
 'nen Look. Fast by nor'east--" h
 They watched and the rocket made f long. yellow path through the dark | oss. There vas no .immediafe [ hanEe in Captain Jim's expression. o Ie rcarhed a hand and sounded a f onE that told his chief engineer fo 3 iand by. Then he gave certain T th"r orders -brusqusly. bawIing. as \ as his habit. q
 ''Rcfore you take in daf stiT come ! and put me aboard" Big Chris n sIled from the darIened shore. II Q as not that ho had any deiusi0ns in ! gard to this cruise Of the Jupiter
 he launch would not head toward . s home port: nor would there be s ny great thrill in battling these g