The Omaha morning bee., 1924-12-14
Globe Cirdlers
at Jumping-Off''
Point of America
Lowell Smith Intrigues Appe'
tites of Pals as Chief Cook
With Rare" Dish
Eggs Vienna.
Told by LOWELL THOMAS.
lConuri1hk 1aal

Nelson, I'VE made ourselves at home
In the deserted store belonging to the
trader, Mr.. Goss, who spends most of
his time at Dutch Harbor. We
stretched some hunks across the tops
of boxes. rigged up a stove and swept
the floors. Lowell Smith, TO whom
living in the wilds was nothing new.
volunteered to act as chief cook. Jack
and Hank washed the dishes most of
the time, relieved only by Arnold and
Wade when the latter wanted to get
their hands warm. Ny own enthusi-
asm took the form of violent pas
sion for sweeping the floor, which I
did every 10 or Is minutes.
Smiths repertoire proved to be
limited, and we usually had eggs
Vienna for breakfast, lunch and din
ner. This Viennese diet made some
of us desperate and we started out to
forage for ourselves. In the store
were hundreds of cans of condensed
milk. which Jack and Hank devoured
like candy. They would make a few
holes In the can and then sit around
drinking It straight. Some of the rest
of us in prying about the island dis
covered that the local Aleut chief
had flock Of chickens which he was
trying to keep hidden from us. He
also had a motor boat, and by cross
ing the wires on the magnetic we
fixed 1t so 1t wouldn't work. The
chief. knowing nothing about engines
and suspecting that We might begged
us to fix 1t for him. This we did-in
return for two of his chickens, which
we even made him clean.
Guard Planes Against Storms.
Sunday May 4, as usual 1t was
raining, snowy and windy. We kept
watching the planes all the time for
fear they might get adrift. At night
It was customary for us to hang Ian
terms on the planes so we could
watch them from a window. But
the first night here the sea was ex-
tremely rough and Jack and Hank
met with a rather wild adventure
when they went out in a rowboat to
fix the lanterns.
THE planes were lined up, the Chi
cago closest TO shore, then the Bos-
ton, and finally the New Orleans. The
wind was blowing out from shore, and
the boys thought their safest plan
would be to row out to the New
Orleans. then turn around into the
wind and work back slowly to each
plane. But within the space Of a few
seconds a wille.waw came along and
the wind increased In velocity from
about 20 to so miles an hour. Not
being expert oarsmen, they found 1t
impossible to maneuver the boat.
First it would dip away down into the
water on one side and then on the
other. They found the only way they
could keep from capsizing was to pull
in the oars and sit right in the middle
of the boat. In this way they were
driven for a mile and a half right
across the bay. where the boat
smashed into the rocks in the dark.
Jumping out, Jack and Hank waded
in water up to their necks, pulled the
battered boat onto the beach, turned
1t upside down, and then walked back
10 the shack through a driving rain
storm.
Meanwhile. when they had not re-
turned, and when we saw no lights
burning on the planes, we became
alarmed and were all out on the
beach trying to find out what had
happened. =
Aleuts Lazy Crew.
AT first we hired the village
chiefs son and his buddy TO stand
guard over the planes. One would
stay out in the rowboat for a few
hours and then the other would take
his place. At any rate, that was
what they were supposed to do. But
ut night, when they thought we
wouldn't know. they. would come
ashore and sleep ON the beach. For
doing almost nothing we had to pay
them $40 day. Ny bunk happened
10 be IN. the attic. and with a couple
pf pieces of wood rigged up a sort
of triangle thingamajig similar to
what surveyors use. / had arranged
the planes so that they were exactly
In line. and by means of my triangle
I could wake up at any hour OF the
night and, by merely rolling over. /
sould take a sight and see just
whether the chiefs son was on the
fob. I didn't trust him. 20 used to
wake up about every hour. Finally
be and his buddy decided that this
Fas much too hard work, anyhow.
Just to give you an idea Of how
lazy these Aleuts are, Mr. Nye, the
school teacher. had a COW that gave
FAR more milk than he could ever
use. so he offered It to the natives,
but they were too lazy even to come
pnd get IT, We had much the same
experience with them. At the bottom
pf our gasoline drums there was al
WAYS considerable sediment, which
meant that we could not use quite all
of the gas in our planes. What re-
mained would have been excellent for
the chiefs motor boat. But would
,e come and carry 1t away? Not on
5our life.
Russians Discovered Islands.
"Two hundred years ago. when the
Russians first discovered these H.
nnds and came across In search of
new fur worlds to conquer, there
we're about 80, 900 natives, who were
great hunters and lived in peace and
rontentment. But the savage Rus.
,ians harassed and naltreated them
until today there are hardly thou
sand left. Uncle Sam has treated
them far better and not only has sent
hem school teachers but has helped
hem build homes.
nrhe island Of Atka boasts Of =
population Of this one lone white
nan. Mr.. Nye. and 10 natives. Mr..
Nye. like his predecessors. has helped