Evening star., 1925-02-22
BY ROCKWELL KENT.


~ APE HORN remained not only
purpose to which by our
souls desire and our out
ward boastfulness we stood
committed, but a problem so
difficult of solution that 1T occupied
our minds to the exclu3ion of every
other thought.
That Ultima Thule of mariners is
not, most readers must be told, the
southernmost point of the continent
of South America, nor of TERRA del
Fuego, nor even of some great island
nearly adjacent to 1t. 1t is the south
most point of small rocky island
of forlorn and Isolated group, the
Wollastons. and lies, scaled in
straight line, about rs miles south
easterly from Ushuaia.
The town of Ushuaia, TERRA del
Fuego, with its population of some
hundreds or a thousand souls, stands
at the bend of a little bay opening
into Beagle Channel, isolated by an
almost impossible wilderness of
mountains from all land communica-
tion-the farthest southern city" of
the world. Into this town we two
had tramped. ragged, dirty and tired,
with all the goods we owned upon
our backs and nothing in our pock-
cts. And had the people, after star
ing and smiling at our grotesque ap-
pearance, decided to lock us up for
mad 1T would have been less to Won
der at than that on perceiving our
madness they somehow caught its
spirit from US. And when to all who
questioned us as to our purpose we
replied Cape Horn" they answered,
Crazy! but good for you!"
We did not propose, having adven-
tured thus far, to content ourselves
with standing on the limit of the
Oh
for that we were completely and ex-
clusively equipped. However, we
could pace that long water front and
look at the varied craft that lay at
anchor in the harbor and discuss
which one could serve our purpose
best.
There was small sloop of about
10 tons; she was of the very size we
wanted, and She was idle. Upon
somehow acquiring her we set our
hearts. And that we might in our
poverty as we'll have coveted the
yacht of an emperor never, in our
fatuous and unreaecting eagerness,
occurred to us.
x x x
THE owner of that much desired
l. craft was one Fortunate Beban
the first citizen of the town, who
opened the way for old friendship
and credit for US, 1 sought him out.
Beban heard my story and consid-
cred. Yes, he would rent the boat;
the terms he'd have to think about
And although the interview had been
friendly enough, my heart sank.
While waiting 1 bore credentials to
old Mr.. Feeque, who came there 40
years ago to found the town.
We drank coffee and cognac to-
gether.
"Beban-" he shook his head.
"Lundberg, at Harberton," he coun-
seled me, 'fs your man for the Horn;
and If that fails, get Indians and
canoe. 1t can be done that way, if
you must do it,"
Beban, meanwhile, considered"
Lundberg. at Harberton, was 40 miles
away on Beagle Channel. We were
growing desperate.
Giving up all hope of getting a re-
ply from Reban, l had set a day to
cross in small boat of Feeaue's to
Navarfn in search of Indians-it
seemed the only thing to do-when,
in the stiffness of the early morning,
] heard the chugging of a motor in
the bay. A little sloop came in and
tied up at the mole. And it was Lund-
berg,
We'll" said Lundberg, when we had
moved together to a public house and
had finished my impassioned plea,
If you can get Beban's boat, do-and
I'll stand credit for you. If you can't,
I'll take you"
BY strange chance Lawrence came
up at that moment seeking me-
4 have Beban's answer" he said
with a sick grin. Five hundred
American dollars for the first 10 days
or less, and $50 day after that"
That settles it," said Lundberg.
And If we lose your boat" | said,
as quickly as he had spoken. 'I'Il
give you mine that's now in Admiralty
Sound"
IF we lose mine" answered Lund-
berg solemnly, mo one of US will ever
need another"
solution of the problem of the means
for getting to the Horn was that
Lundberg was not prepared to start
with us at once. His plans neces-
STATED delay of several days, and
that, with my allotted time in South
America drawing near it's end, was
exasperating enough. Yet it was with
wild elation that l returned to my
bedridden mate and communicated
the event to him.
&& x X
I was both natural and proper that
Lundberg, after an excursion for
logs to Lapataia Bay, should desire
to visit and say adieu to his family
at Harberton before starting with us
on that suicidal" voyage southwark.
And, in order to keep very close to
that skipper upon whose humor we
were now depending, we prepared to
accompany him.
At Harberton, however, we entered
on such happy weeks as might have
held Odysseus longer than 10 years
from home. Yet about those unpre-
tentious grounds and buildings there
was little-with the fair exception of
the terraced flower Garden-to sug-
gest to the eye the comforts and the
pleasures that we found there. The
surrounding meadows and pastures
had but the mild beauty of cul-
tiVated rolling country. True, such
quiet scenes possess a tranquility
which is moral quality akin to
beauty and that is perhaps more en-
duringly contenting to the spirit.
The days went by like hours On
one preteXt or another Lundberg put
off sailing with US to the Horn until
after Christmas.
Lundberg's reasons for delay were
without end; and their elusiveness
somehow detracted nothing from
their plausibility. Our sailing ap-
peared now to hang upon the ar
rival of an Argentine transport the
Rio Negro, on which he was ship
ping logs to Buenos Aires; but the
date set for that ships arrival vacil-
lated tantalizingly
We reached the sth of January.
Then a new plan occurred-to be
carried to the nearest point of Ma
varin Island, to cross it on foot to