The Omaha morning bee., 1924-12-14

paper what they have taken. They
seem as honest as daylight.
Almost the only trade In the
islands Is in fox skins. Sometimes the
Aleuts get slightly bolshevistic and
demand an advance both In wages
and in return for their skins. But
when they do this the traders simply
raise the price of the things that the
natives buy in return. So 1t doesn't
do them any good when they do get
their advance.
Fuel for Next Jump.
"On May the coast guard cutter
Haida steamed and with the help
of its men and boats we fueled the
planes. Captain Bissell had brought
the drums of gasoline here some
weeks ahead of us and stored them on
the beach. 1t was necessary for US
to take a whale boat as close IN as
1t would go. then run planks from 1t
to the shore. and wade in the water
up to our waists in order to roll the
drums down the planks. There was
stiff northeast wind blowing, and
choppy sea which would frequently.
break over the whaleboat and drench
all of us. Being wet and cold had by
now become a sort of daily habit
with US.
ITO our bitter disappointment, the
Haifa brought In no good news re-
garding Martin and Harvey. All they
knew was that when last seen the
Seattle was flying toward Black lake
and Bering sea. But we had not given
up hope, because we felt that they
had enough emergency rations to keep
them alive for about two weeks, and
we were sure that the coast of the
Alaskan peninsula had not yet been
thoroughly combed."
ION Tuesday. May g." according to
Les Arnold's diary, "the planes were
all ready to go on to Attu, but Major
Blair, on board the Elder at the
latter island, reported unfavorably on
the weather. So we all spent the day
hunting ducks, sea crows and eagles.
The ducks are so tame and so seldom
hunted by the Aleuts, who won't take
the trouble, that instead of flying
away when we approach them in
boat they simply sit there looking at
us. Not wanting to shoot them while
they are on the water. because there
could be no sport in that, we always
frightened them off before firing.
Eagles Prove Wary Prey.
Hundreds of ald-headed eagles live
among the mountain crags of these
volcanic islands. They wheel round
and round the symmetrical steaming
cones and are extremely difficult to
shoot. When we located one every
body in the party would blaze away
at once. On one trip there were at
least 80 Of us out hunting. Whenever
we would spot an eagle high up on a
crag we would all let go with our
army rifles. and then Mr.. Eagle would
calmly flap his wings. taxi off and
land on another erag. After he got
tired Of playing around with us he
would disappear over the volcano.
Having the boys of the revenue
cutter here makes life worth living.
They are as fine a lot as we have
ever met.
May eggs Vienna for breakfast
as usual. l doubt il there are many
who have enjoyed this rare breakfast
dish. The recipe, however, Is deep
secret, which Silent Smith has just
confided to me. To prepare eggs vi
emma you first bring your water to a
boil, then you drop in your eggs,
leave. them for two minutes. and,
prestol you have eggs Vienna.
Take-Off Proves Dangerous.
I'VE were up at dawn this morning
hoping that we might be lucky enough
to get a favorable weather report
from Major Blair. Sure enough, at
the good news came through. In
leaving Atka harbor We had to take
off cross wind coming in toward the
shore. Erik was the first to get into
the air, but Just as his ship left the
water he saw a williewaw whirling
toward him. Realizing that at that
altitude 1t might easily dash the
plane back into the water and wreck
1t. he attempted to turn In order TO
get out OF its path. He avoided 1t
partly. but 1t hit his tail, and as he
turned the ship was settling rapid
ly. Fortunately. by perfect plotting,
he managed to get Strengthened out
again before hitting the water. When
the New Orleans touched the waves
It must have been going fully 30
miles an hour,v so fast that II looked
as though the waves would fairly
sweep off the pontoons.
TITS at times like this, when you
only escape being wrecked by the
skin of your teeth. that you live
whole lifetime in the space OF a few
seconds. But there was one funny
thing about this incident. The pom
toons had been leaking, and We all
of course thought that coming down
ON the water with such terrific speed
would make them leak more than
ever. Smiling Jack jumped out
minus his smile for once, expecting
to have to start pumping water. But
strange as II may seem. the shock
simply seemed to seal the pontoons
up tighter.
Last Stop In America.
TT was 9:15 when we all finally
swung off on the long, cold 800
mile flight to Attu. On this hop we
had to make two long water jumps,
each Of about rs miles. excellent
practice for the still longer flights
4.l las al NJ
us on our way across the Pacific
to Japan. We were completely out
of sight OF land most of the time.
This gave us an opportunity TO
check our compasses. and 1t was a