~~ " Belletonte, Pa., September 26, 1913. nm m— r——— North of Fifty. {BY REX BEACH] Copyright by McClure, Phillips & Co. i GEORGE was drinking and the uctivities of the little arctic wining camp were paralyzed Events invariably ceased odie gress and marked time Ww DE became excessive, and Dow nothing of public consequence stirred except the quicksilver, which was re tiring fearfully into its bulb at the song of the wind which came racing over the lonesome, bitter. northward waste of tundra He held the center of the door at the Northern ciub and proclaimed his modest virtues in a voice as pleasant as the cough of a bull walrus. “Yes, me—little Georgie! | did it I've licked 'em all from Herschel is- tand to Dutch Harbor, big uns and tittle uns. When they didn’t suit | made em over. I'm the boss car penter of the arctic, and | own this camp; don’t I, Slim? Hey? Answer | a skip as clear as a maiden's, while a map of aRgry Sears sUAYCd 2CTO8 the | heavy chest. As the shirt sailed through the air | Red lightly vaulted to the bar and, div- | ing at George's naked middle, tackled | beautifully, crying to Captain: “Get out quick! We'll bold him!” Others rushed forward and grasped the bulky sailor, but Captain's voice ! replied: “1 sort of like this place, und | 1 guess I'li stay awhile Turn him loose.” | “Why, man. he'll kill ye,” excitedly cried Slim. “Get out!” : The captive hurled his peacemakers from him and, shaking off the clinging arms, drove furiously at the insolent stranger. In the cramped limits of the corner where he stood Captain was unable to avold the big man, who swept him with a crash against the plank door at his back, grasping bhungrily at bis throat. As his shouiders struck, how- ever, he dropped to bis knees, and be- fore the raging George could seize him he avoided a blow which would have . stratned the rivets of a strength tester | me!” he roared at the emaciated bear | er of the title, whose attention seemed wandering from the Inventory of George's startling traits toward a card game. “Sure ye do,” nervously smiled Slim, frightened out of a heart solo as be returned to his surroundings. “Well, then, listen to what I'm say- ing [I'm the big chief of the village, and when I'm stimulated and happy them fellers | don't like hides out and lets me and nature operate things. Ain't that right? He glared inquir ingly at his friends. and ducked under the other's arms, weaping to the cleared center of the | floor, Seldom had the big man’s rush been avoided, and. whirling, he swung a voomliike arm at the agile stranger. | Before it muded Captain stepped In to mee ais adversary and, with the ’ weight of uis body behind the blow, drove a clinched and bony fist crash- | ing into the other's face. The big ' head with its blazing shock of hair’ | snapped backward, and the whaler | dropped to his knees at the other's | feet. The drunken tush of victory swept over Captain as he stood above the | ' swaying figure, then suddenly he felt Red, the proprietor, explained over the bar in a whisper to Captain, the ' new man from Dawson: “That's Big George, the whaler. He's a squaw man an’ sort of a hully—see? When he's sober he's on the level strickly. an’ we all likes him fine, but when he gets to fighting the pain killer be ain't altogether a gentleman Will be fight —oh. wili he fight? Say, he's there with chimes, he is! Why, Doe. Mil ler's made a grub stake rebuilding fellers that's had a lingering doubt cached away about that, an’ now when he gets the booze up his nose them patched up guys oozes away an’ hiber nates till the was dies ont in him. Aft erward bes sore on himself an’ apol- the great bare arms close about his waist witb a painful grip He struck at the bleeding face below him and wrenched at the circling bands which wheezed the breath from his lungs, but the whaler squeezed him writhing to his breast aud, rising unsteadily, | wheeled across the toor and In a shiver of broken glass fell crashing against the bar and to the floor. As the struggling men writhed upon the planks the door opened at the hur ried entrance of ap excited group, which paused at the sight of the ruin; ' then, rushing forward. tore the men apart The panting Berserker strained at ' the arms about bis glistening body, ogizes to evervhody Don't get into no ' trouble with vim, ‘cause he's two checks past the mit They don't | make ‘em as bad as him any more He busted the mold.” George turned and, spying the new- comer, approached, eying him with critical disfavor Captain saw a bearlike figure, clad cap-a-ple in native fashion, Reindeer ' pants, with the hair inside, clothed | legs like rock pillars, while out of the loose squirrel parka a corded neck rose, brown and strong, above which darkly gleamed a rugged face seamed and scarred by the hate of arctic win. ters He had kicked off his deerskin ' socks and stood barefooted on the cold and drafty floor, while the poison he had imbibed showed only in his heated face. Silently he extended a cracked and bardened hand, which closed like the armored claw of a crus tacean and tightened op the crunching fingers of the other Captain's expres sion remained unchanged, and. gradu ally slackening his grip. the sailor ! roughly inquired: “Where'd you come from? “Just got in fr'm Dawson yester day,” politely responded the stranger “Well, what're you going to do now | you're here? he demanded “Stake some ciaims and go to pros pecting, | guess You see | wanted to get in early before the rush next spring “Oh, 1 s'pose you're going to jump | some of our ground. hey? ain't! We don't want no claim jump ers here.” disugireeably continued the seaman “We won't stand for it. This is my camp-see? | own it. and these is my little children © ‘Then, as the Well, you . other refused to debate with him, he | resumed, groping for a new ground of attack “Say! eddicated dudes, too, ain't yon? You talk like a feller that had been to col lege.” and, as the other assented, Le scornfully calied to his friends, say ing: “Look here fellers: Pipe the fellyfish: | there animals that was worth a cuss. ‘They plays football and smokes cig: mreets at school; then when they're weaned they come off up here and fump our claims ‘cause we can't write ® location notice proper ‘They ain't no good | guess I'll stop it" I'll pet you're one of them while Captain, with sobbiug sighs, re- tleved his aching lungs and watched his enemy, who frotbed at the inter ference. “it was George's fault,” explained Slim to the questions of the arrivals. | “This feller tried to make a getaway, but George had to have his amuse ment.” A pewcomer addressed the squaw man in a voice as cold as the wind “Cut this out. George! This is a friend | Drove a Bony Fist Crashing into the Other's Face. | of mine. You're muking this camp a reg'lar hell for strangers. and now I'm | ' going to tap your little spap Cool off | never see one of these | ~see?” | Jones reputation as a bad gun man | ‘went hand in hand with his name as | swers, so (George explained: “i don't ' Uke nim, Jones, and | was jus’ mak. ing him over to took Hike a man. Captain moved toward the door, but the whaler threw nis bulky frame against it and scowlingly blocked the way “No. you don't You ain't going to run away till I've had the next dance, Mister Eddication’ Humph! | ain't begun to tell you yet what a useless little barnacle you are * , In the remodeling himself.” replied the { | gambler, . Windy Jim just drove in and says Bar ee. Red interfered. saying: “Look ‘ere, | George, this guy ain't no playmate of yourn. We'll all have a jolt of this disturbance promoter and call it off.” | voices, and. forgetting the recent trou- i | ward anxiously a good gambler, and his scanty re marks invariably evoked attentive an- | [M1 do it vet too.” he flashed wrathfully at his quiet antagonist * ‘Pears to me like he's took a hand | “but if you're iooking for something to do here's your chance ton and Kid Sullivan are adrift op the “What's that?" questioned eager ble at the news, the crowd pressed for- “They was crossing the bay and got carried out by the offshore gale,” ex- plained Jones. “Windy was follering ‘em when the ice ahead parted and begun moving out He tried to yell to ‘em, but they was too far away to hear in the storm. He managed to get back to the land and follered the shore ice around. He's over at Hunter's cabin now, most dead, face and hands froze pretty bad.” A torrent of questions followed and many suggestions as to the fate of the men. “They’ll freeze before they cam get { In this storm? wind,” added another. “and if they don't drown they'ili freeze before the tloe comes in close enough for them to land From the first annoouncement of his friends’ peril Captain bad been think ing rapidly His body, sore from his long trip apd aching from the hug of ; his recent encounter, cried woefully for rest. but his voice rose calm and clear. “We've got to get them off,” he sald “Who will go with me? Three 1s enough.” The clamoring voices ceased, and the men wheeled at the sound, gazing incredulously at the speaker. “What! You're crazy!” many voices said. He gazed appealingly at the faces before him. Brave and adventurous men he knew them to be, jesting with death and tempered to perils In this land where hardship rises with the dawn, but they shook their ragged beads hopelessly. “We must save them!” resumed Cap tain hotly. “Barton and | played as | children together. and if there's not a man among you who's got the nerve to follow me I'll go alone. by heavens!” Io the silence of the room he pulled the cap about his ears and, tying it snugly under nis chin. drew oa his | huge fur mittens. Then, with a scorn ful laugh, be turned toward the door. He paused as his eye caught the swollen face of Big George. Blood | had stiffened tn the beavy creases of his face ilke rusted stringers in a ledge, while nis mashed and discolored lips protruded thickly His hair gleam- ed red, and the sweat had dried apon his paked shoulders. streaked with dirt and flecked with spots of blood, yet the battered features shone with the anconquered. fearless light of a rough. strong man Captain strode to him stretched hand. “You're a maw." he said “You've gor the nerve, (jeorge, and you'll go with me, won't you?" “What! Me?’ questioned the sailor vaguely. His wondering glance left Captain and drifted round the circle of shamed and silent taces Then he straightened stiffly and cried: “Will | go with you? Certainly! [ll 20 (0 ~~ with you.” Ready bands narnessed the dogs, with out . dragged from protected nooks where they sought cover from the storm which moaned and whistled round the low houses. Endless ragged folds of sleet whirled out of the north, then ' writhed and twisted past. vanishing into the gray veil which shrouded she | landscape in a twilight gloom The flerce wind sapk the cold into the aching flesh like a knife and stiff- ened the face to a whitening mask, while a fusillade of frozen ice particles beat against the eyeballs with blind. ing fury i As Captain emerged from tis cabin, | furred and hooded, he found a long train of crouching, whining animals harnessed and waiting, while muffled figures stocked the sled with robes and food and stimulants. Big George approached through the | whirling white, a great squat figure, ! with duttering squirrel tails blowing from his parka, and at his heels there trailed a figure skin clad and dainty. “It's my wife,” he explained briefly to Captain “She won't iet me go : alone.” They gravely bade farewell to all, and the little crowd cheered iustily | against the whine of the blizzard as, | | with cracking whip and hoarse shouts, | | they were wrapped in the cloudy wind. | ! ing sheet of snow i i * . - * s . Arctic storms have an even same- ness—the intense cold, the heartless ' wind, which sugments tenfold the chill | of the temperature; the air thick and dark, with stinging flakes rushing by in an endless cloud. a drifting, freez ing, shifting eternity of snow, driven by a ravening gale, which sweeps the desolate, bald wastes of the northland. The little party toiled through the smother till they reached the igloos under the breast of the tall coast bluffs, where coughing Eskimos drilled pa- tiently at ivory tusks and gambled the furs from thelr backs at stud borue poker To George's inquiries they answered that their largest capoe was the three . holed bidarka on the cache outside. Owing to the small circular openings in its deck. this was capable of hold- ing but three passengers, and Captain ' said, “We'll have to make two trips, George.” “Two trips, eh?” answered the oth. | er “We'll be doing well If we last through one, I'm thinking.” i Lasbing the unwieldy burden upon | the sled, they fought their way along the coast again till George declared | they were opposite the point where | their friends went adrift They slid their light craft through the ragged wall of ice bummocks guarding the | shore pack and dimly saw ip the gray beyond them a stretch of angry wa. ters mottled by drifting cakes and floes. i il ashore,” said one. | does they held to (helt quest tow floating with the wind now padding desperately in a race with some dnrt mg mass which dimiyv towered above them and spintersa huangrily against its oeighbor close In thelr wake. Captain emptied ms six shooter till his numbed fingers grew rigid as the trigger. and always at nis back swells ed the deep shouts of the sailor, who with practiced eye and mighty strokes forced their way through the closing lanes between the jaws of the ice pack. At last, beaten and tossed. they rest ed. disheartened and hopeless. Then, as they drifted. a sound struggled to them against the wind-a faint cry. {llusive and deeting as a dream voice —and, still doubting, they beard it again. “Thank God: We'll save ‘em yet!” cried Captain, and they drove the ca- noe holling toward the sound Barton and Sullivan had (ought the cold and wind stoutly hour after hour till they found their great tloe was breaking up in the heaving waters. Then the horror of it had struck the Kid uli he raved and cursed up and down their tittle island as it dwindled gradually to a small acre He had finally vielded to the welght of the cold which crushed resistance out of him, und settled, despairing and listless. upon the ice Barton dragged him to his feet and forced tim round their rocking prison. bezgiug him to brace up, to ght it out like a man, till the other insisted on resting and drop ped to his seat again The older man struck deliberately at the whitening face of his freezing companion, who recognized the well meant insult and refused to he roused into activity Theo to their ears had come the faint cries of George and in answer to their screams through the gloom they beheld a long covered skin cance and the anxious faces of their friends. Captain rose from nis cramped seat, and, ripping his crackling garments from the boat where they had frozen, he wriggled out of the hole in the deck and grasped the weeping Barton. “Come, come, old boy! It's all right now,” he said. “Oh, Charlie, Charile™ cried the oth- er. “1 might have known you'd try to save us. You're just in time. though, for the Kid's about all in.” Sullivan apathetieally nodded and sat down again. “Hurry up there. This ain't no G. A. R. encampment, and you ain't got no time to spare.” said George, who nad dragged the canoe out and with a covered it anything in half an hour.” The night. hastened by the storm, was closing rapidly, and they realized another need of hasre, for even as they spoke a crack had crawled through the ice floe where they stood and, widening as it went, left but a | heaving cake supporting them. George spoke quietly to Captain, while Barton strove to animate the Kid. “You and Barton must take him ashore and hurry him down to the vil- lage. He's most gone now ” “But you?" questioned the other. “We'll have to come back for you as soon as we put im ashore.” “Never mind me,” roughly Interrupt. ed George. “It's too late to get back here. When you get ashore it'll be dark. I'll stay here.” “No, no, George,” cried the other as the meaning of it bore inp upon him. “1 got you into this thing, and it's my | place to stay here. You must go” -— But the blg man had burried to Sul van and forced him to a seat in the middle opening of the canoe. “Come, come.” he cried to the others; : paddle broke the sheets of ice which “It'll be too dark to see appeared maddened by the lash of the squaw. Then they wrapped Sullivan in.warm robes amd forced scorching brandy down his throat till he coughed weakly and begged them to let him rest. “You must hurry him to the In- dian village.” directed Captain. “He'll only lose some fingers and toes now, maybe, but you've got to hurry!” “Aren't you coming, too?" queried Barton. “We'll hire some Eskimos to go after George. [I'll pay ‘em any- thing.” “No: I'm going back to him now. He'd freeze before we conld send help, — = “Get in there and paddle to beat h—i." and, besides. they wouldn't come out in the storm and the dark.” “But you can't work that big canoe uloue. find him you'll never get back, Charlie, let me go, to” he said, then apolo- gized. “1 am afraid 1 won't last, though; I'm too weak.” The squaw, who had questioned not at the absence of her lord, now touched Captain's arm. “Come,” she said; “I go with you.” Then, address- ing Barton: “You quick go Indian house; white man die, mebbe, Quick! I go Big George.” “Ah, Chartie, I'm afraid you'll never make it,” cried Barton, and, wringing his friend's hand, he staggered into the darkness behind the sled wherein lay the fur bundled Sullivan. Captain felt a horror of the starving waters rise up in him, and a