Evening star., 1925-02-22

huddle. shivering with cold, and let
the rain drive past US on the gale.
After a last steep ascent OF several
hundred feet we reached the mountain
top. and, clinging there against the
storm, beheld the vast and fearful Won
der of the region Of Cape Horn. Through
the drifting murk of the clouds appeared
wilderness of mountain peaks with tho
torn sea cleaning at their base, stark
islands with the storms night over them
or gifstening with sunshaft on their
streaming sides, or veiled illusively in
falling rain. And, as we looked, sud
denly the darkness of a midnight closed
around us, obliterating everything but
the pinnacle Of rock on which We
crouched for shelter
Then the squall strickland the
screaming fury of it shook our faith in
the stability of granite mountain peaks
White lines Of hail streaked past, hiding
the universe in their perpetual stream
The world became to US that bit of rock
we chung to- a cast-on meteor fragment
hurled through space.
And then as suddenly as Il had come,
the squall had passed, and we were back
again upon mountain peak But It
was Winter now, and the sun shone on
slopes white with new-fallen snow
our eyes turned southwark Tho
| jagged range of Hermit Island was
shrouded in a passing storm Hall Is
land Off its eastern end was almost lost
In the obscurity of vapors that ingulfed
| the south
! Look !" we cried
The vapors parted past the hard.
| dark edge of Wollaston appesred a
cloven point Of rock faint and far off
with white surf cleaning at its foot
| Horn Island!
We have seen IT! And the vapors
! close.
| RERTE, still prostrated from the de-
- bauch, lay in his wigwam. wh.n
| we had called on him and asked his
| prophecy OF coming weather the oracle
mad replied unfailingly, VERY bad" And
| so 1t proved. 1t was the 14th of Januarv
the eve Of the last day that we might
Keep the boat. The wind ragged In
aoated. and it rained. 1t was unutter-
ably dismal
This evening, as I stood looking out
1 saw a change come over out of doors
Inc rain had almost ceased. went ont
| ana walked to the waters edge II was
near sundown, and the clouds had made
II almost dark. But now a golden light
| transfused the atmosphere and present
| ~ as l stood looking northea sterIy across
the water there appeared a rainbow
| talntly glowing there
| oiiieh OF the pot OF gold came to
| my mind, and / remembered the pIesn,-
| ing arch that had spanned our so,,+h
| "ard way four months ago. and that
| again had seemed to lead us througb
! the mountains, and now, ever eIuding
an attainment, it beckoned nortbward,
there is no rainbow's end, l tbougb+
let even as | watched it now il prer,
@ i,ioie orlght and more defined a full
| drch olazed across the north and i+s
ehds. passing the horizon. came Dearar-
| approaching each other in the lo1,ra,
! hefnlcyele. Now they were upon the ,,sr.
waters OF the harbor and moved etiiI
Ishniy downward through the wind
oloWn spray like destiny approacbing-
o0"'uiiI,na NM atlon. The flaming circle closed
l. "here the two ends meet was 7,
Berte came staggering ont IF bis
"lgwam. At my anxious question
ABOUT the morrow's weafber-or
which hung our last hope of attain
| ing the Horn
so had" not
We sailed at the first sign y. dor.,,
Berte and the intrepid Vasouez nm
e&peeteoiy appeared alongside in
thelr skif and asked to be carried
| through Washington Channel we
| TOOK them on board and the skfff IN
TOW. In that dark canal between the
/ mountains of WolIaston and E2oyIaI,
I
that our passage desecrated the 81
renee, and the echo of the noisy mo-
tor haunted, too soon, its puny ar
rogance at the slumbering Titans.
close to the shore, in the lee of a
small peninsula of Wollaston Island
we stopped to disembark our passen-
| gers. They had the wind and the
sea astern to make the bav. but their
courage failed them and they fairly
| cringed with lack of resolution
| Come on!' we cried impatientIy,
"get outr'
Somehow they clambered into the
skiff. They had brought two guns
on board; some one held the gun out
to Vasquez who seemed to grasp it
in his trembling hands
Have you got it?" was asked.
"Good.'
And the gun, released, slipped
through his fingers and sank to the
bottom of the sea. We tossed the
rifle into the skiff, ordered them to
let eo-and bore away, leaving them
frantically pulling for the shore.
And now the Horn!
1t was still the twilight of early
morning. gloomy twilight, for not
a streak of crimson had broken
the dark pail of the clouds The
crested sea was mountain high and
tragically black, a restless, tossing
| Sed, not WlnQ-DlO OUT more IerFl-
BILE In that 1t seemed to lift and fall
by some energy within itself. Our
boat was slow in answering the helm;
she was sluggish and dispirited and
had no buoyancy to ride the crests,
but, like an overladen tired thing,
let them break over her and pour
the length of her and weigh her
down. 1t was raining; we were
drenched.
The companionway was a cramped
shelter for the three men. 1 went be-
low and crawled on all fours through
the dripping smoRe-filled, suffocat-
ing darkness of the hold to reach the
forward hatch. If it happened to be
fastened, it occurred to me, I'd never
live to reach the air again. 1t wasn't.
I propped il open-only an inch or
two for breath; but a moment later
a sea boarded us and poured deluge
| through.
We had almost reached the middle
of Franklin Sound. A strong wind
had increased the seas violence; we
We're being roughly handled and were
making very little progress. The
mate, holding the tiller, watched the
seas with concentration so intense
that his face had an expression OF
agony Christopherson was as inn
passive as ever, but not smiling. If
my own countenance showed any
chalance, 1t must have been faith
faith in Christopherson and Ole
Ytterock, the mate.
For a long time in the wild uproar
of the engine and the sea and wind
no one had spoken. Then Christie
pherscn spoke in Swedish to the
mate, and the mate answered-with-