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Show SYNOPSIS With his yacht, the Intrepid, abandoned aban-doned by its crew, Felix Horton, millionaire, mil-lionaire, with his mother, his daughter daugh-ter Nan, and Roy Stuart, puts into Equaw Harbor, Alaska, to recruit. Falling" to secure sailors, Horton engages en-gages a bunch of nondescripts stranded strand-ed there. A gigantic Pole, Sandomar, Is their, leader. Captain Way mi re, the Intrepid's skipper, is an old friend of Eric Ericssen, unemployed, but holding hold-ing master's papers, and he engages to sail aa chief officer. Horton is seeking uncharted islands. Nan and Eric Indulge in a moonlight flirtation, which brings them both to the threshold thresh-old of interest in each other, if not of love. The Intrepid is wrecked by one of Sandomar's crowd. Eric takes command of a small boat, with Horton, his mother and daughter. Nan's maid Marie, and Roy Stuart. Unable to help, they watch Sandomar kill Captain Cap-tain Waymire and leave the ship with his crowd. Waymire has thrown Eric a revolver. From one of the Aleuts, ashore, speaking a little English, Eric learns there is no communication with the outside world. Fireheart, priestess of the island, descended from a white man In the remote past, also knowing a little English, welcomes the castaways. Sandomar, backed by his crowd, declares there shall be no law on the island, but Eric, having the only gun, cows them for the time, declaring he Is the law. He- lays out work for all, whites and Indians alike. CHAPTER V Continued . "Half again as much dried salmon, smoked meat, and bread-root must be put aside for winter," Eric told them gravely. "Half again as many parkas and mukluks must be made. It means from sun to sun in good weather." He paused, his gaze sweeping the crowd. Some of Sandomar's men looked woe-begone. Law and labor, their special abominations, were clutching them again. Eric glanced at Nan, but some devil of pride glazed her gray eyes and set her lips in a grim line. "What would your highness have us do?" she asked bitterly. "Chew skins like the Eski-kimosr Eski-kimosr It must be all or nothing, life or death. 'Something just as bad, perhaps. per-haps. Yet I'm hoping that you three white women can be spared the worst jobs, simply because they'd seem so much harder to you than to the squaws." All work, both by brown and white, was to be under Eric's general direction. direc-tion. If disputes arose, he would settle set-tle them. He laid down the proposition proposi-tion that the soil belonged to the Aleuts, that the conquerors could exploit ex-ploit them, make them labor, rule them, but they must not starve them, steal from them, or shed their blood. The sailors could have only Aleut girls of proper age who gave themselves willingly; they could share the hunters' hunt-ers' wives, an old Aleut custom, only with the husbands' consent. If any man broke this law, or committed murder, or mutinied against the captain, cap-tain, he would be killed. "There can be no appeal," Eric said In a low, grave tone. "There'll be no chance for a second offense. The lives of the whole party are at stake. I myself will sentence the law-breaker and carry out the execution." Nan's look was sullen all her life she had given commands, never obeyed them, and discipline was a word she did not know but why did her heart leap up? Her gaze was dark with resentment, yet it could not turn from the viking form In the blowing mist, the bright erect head, the grave fare for the moment alight with the flame of Idealism, the eyes blue with the essence of the eternal sea. She almost hated him for dominating her, and despised de-spised herself for the thrill of it. On Chechaquo's advice, Eric divided his forces into three parties, the first to kill sea-lions hauling out to breed on the far beach, the second to gather eggs and net birds on the rotting, treacherous shale of the bluffs, and the third, mostly squaws, to spear, clean and dry a small early school of 6aimon that had escaped the half-built fish-trap. Among the squaws at the drying rack was a lean little woman with lively motions. It was Mother Horton. Hor-ton. With Marie's help she was cutting cut-ting Into strips and hanging the fish fast as her "slimer" could supply them. The "slimer" had slender, once-lovely hands. Eric watched them a full minute before she looked up. It was Nan, and she had deliberately chosen the hardest, most disagreeable chore In sight She was kneeling on the creek bank, cleaning fish. Her hands and face were blood-stained, stiff with slime and scales, her fingers were bleeding from fin-scratches, and she was sobbing, half In fury, half in pain. She saw him and sprang to her feet. With the Blocve of her parka she wiped her face of Its stain arid tears. "I wasn't crying," she told him angrily. "I got sand In my eyes." "You'd better stop till you get It out. . . . And I didn't mean you to do this, anyway." "I'm not doing It for you." Hit drawn pale cheeks began to darken. 'If you think I am, you're making the biggest mistake of your life. I'd have starved before I let you force me to do anything." "It wouldn't have been for me, anyway," any-way," Eric said gravely. "It would be for Law, which I'm trying to represent. repre-sent. I have nothing to win or lone." She whirled on hi in In swirt fury, lolling go everything. "That Isn't wlint you told Knudomiir hist night. Would you rnlnd saying wlih li girl you referred to? I don't think it was Marie. Vou must know she's engaged to Wilcox hut perhaps that wouldn't muke any difference to you." IStj Etlison Marshall Copyright by Edison Marshall TVNU Service "I referred to you, of course." "How do you know but that I'm In love with Roy? Or did you just mean to take me away from him by force, if necessary. Well, you can give that up, once and for all. I'll clean fish, or anything else, for the welfare of the party; but don't think I'm ever going to be your squaw, even if we stay here the rest of our natural lives. If I take anyone here, it will be Roy." Somehow Eric managed to smile. It was one of the few successful bluffs he had ever made. "I'm sorry you took that seriously." She seemed stunned. "Didn't you mean it?" "Naturally not. I supposed you saw through it Even men like Sandomar Sando-mar show some restraint to another man's girl. If he thinks there's a clear field, he'll be twice as dangerous." dan-gerous." Nan looked down, her eyes dry now and oddly dark. "I beg your pardon." "You needn't. It's a worth-while field, but I'm just not In it. And if you're in love with Roy, I wish you'd marry him here in the chapel. I'll "I'm Not Doing It for You." Her Drawn Palo Cheeks Began to Darken. say the same to Marie and Wilcox. It would save a lot of trouble, make you two girls far safer." "I'm not In love with Roy yet Nor with anyone." "Try to fall soon, won't you? And now we understand each other, let me ask you not to clean any more fish. The squaws don't mind doing It; they'd rather sit down to a nice messy job like this than to stand out in the cold water. Take a spear and try your hand, beside your father. It's exciting and the sand won't get in your eyes." Eric turned quickly, he could not wear the mask much longer. Pride! It was his own private devil. For pride's sake he had cast away the most fair and starlit hope that had ever touched his heart. That night he built a barricade for Nan's turf-house, and moved an old lone squaw so he could have a small hut to himself. It was centrally located, lo-cated, and by knocking out a block of turf, he made a window to hear Nan's or Horton's softest call. The oaken door was off a ship cubby, cast up hy the sea long ago, and its bolt of stone could not be forced without giving an alarm. Here he, too, could sleep secure se-cure from a surprise attack. Tired from the day's toll, Sandomar's Sando-mar's gang went to their hut at sundown. sun-down. Though they might plot and threaten, they would make no trouble tonight. He wakened with a heavy heart Just before dawn. What If he did win this Islend war with the elemental powers? For the others life, freedom, free-dom, the pursuit of happiness; for him, what gain? Only a succession of other wars with wave, storm, and crag continued bondage to his Idealism Ideal-ism the search for the distant lighthouse light-house that ever faded from his sight Love? He had denied It No girl like Nan would ever cross his trail again; she was the one girl whose steel could strike fire from the flint of his soul, . whose greatness called to his own greatness since the dawn of time; and he bad been afraid to fight fur her I It must be that his viking blood had paled In his veins, that the high place In the world he had willed to win was a fool's dream; otherwise he would hew his way to Valhalla for a mate like Nan! Suddenly he was called from his thoughts by a subdued sound outside his window. Save for the stillness of the hour he would never have caught It, and there was no earthly reason why his heart should fling against his Ido. . . . Hut there was an unearthly un-earthly reason. In the deep of his sailor soul he knew that this was destiny. des-tiny. All was not lost he was to ho given another chance. A dim white figure stole hy his hut and vanished In the dusk of the creek-bank. creek-bank. Slipping on his pnrka and mukluks, Eric quietly followed, but he was with ing fifty yards of the stream before he saw the ghost again. It looked almost loo bulky for a river spirit, hut presently It moved weirdly, Inst all animate shape, and then seemed to separate Into two entitles, fine of these, and Eric knew It wan n discarded discard-ed parka, fell and collapsed on the- ground; and the other stood for a few brief, breathless -seconds in silhouette against the dark water. Eric did not turn and creep away. By Thor and Woden, such folly was behind him! He waited, breathless, his presence unguessed, and a soft voice came stealing through the dark. It was Nan's, and she was addressing address-ing pagan gods. "I am not asleep," she said bravely, as the icy flood almost al-most took her breath. "I am not dead. I am alive." A moment later she had slipped on her warm fur parka and was hurrying hurry-ing back to the turfhouse. She did not see Eric till she was almost upon him, then she flung back with a gnsp. lie did not speak, but she recognized him instantly. "Spying?" she whispered, bitterly. "Yes, and glad of it." "1 thought at least you were a gentleman." gen-tleman." "I didn't come any nearer than this, although I. wanted to. I don't ask you to forgive me I'd do it again. But I do want your forgiveness for the lie I told you today." "What lie? I'm cold, you can tell me in the morning." "I want to tell you now. It was the blackest, biggest lie of my life. I said that I didn't mean my declaration to Sandomar. I did mean It, from the bottom bot-tom of my heart I am in the field. I want you for my own." Nan stood very still. Her eyes were long black shadows in the white blur of her face; but he could not guess their message. "If it was a lie, what you said today. I'm glad you took It back." she told him quietly, at last "I think you are a gentleman after all." "And you are loveliest, the bravest girl I've ever known. I knew It when I saw you by the salmon pool but I tried to dismiss you as unattainable. But I'm going to fight for you now. I'm going to try to win you away from Roy. You are my mate and If I lose you, I lose all the world." Nan gazed long and dreamily across the water to the glimmer of dawn. A child's sweet look was on her lifted face. "I'm glad you want me." she told Eric at last. "It almost makes me think that there Is something to me after all not just a spoiled young hellion but Eric, It will be a hard row. The odds 'are all against you, you see that This Island adventure Is only an Interlude In our lives. Some day we'll go back . . . and you must stay by the sea and the snow. Besides, you're competing against a dominant man, a man who always takes what he wants, and who's got a head start." Eric's heart only leaped the stronger. "But you are mine for the winning?" "For the winning, yes. I take back what I told you today, there's no Insurmountable In-surmountable barrier. I'm going In now, Eric. I'm not cold any more, but I'll see you In daylight." "It's daylight now." Eric's low voice had a jubilance she had never heard, lie looked out to the grim headlands, Just emerging from the dark. "It's the most beautiful summer day I ever saw." She smiled, and stole away.. Exultant, Ex-ultant, Eric walked down the beach, the seawind In his hair, the glimmer i of a new dnwn In his eyes. In the next day's toil, Eric had cause to remember Nan's expressions of Roy. Tills deep-thinking cynic was no fish out of water, but a power to be reckoned with, a dangerous rival for Eric's leadership. He had found his bearings and was coolly setting out to master his environment If he were so strong here, how could Eric compete with him on his own ground? Hoy had called Eric's attention to a black hog behind the bluffs. "It's a low grade of peat," he said. "I've seen the like In Ireland. Oct the men to cut out squares and set 'em out to drain. In n few weeks we'll have a new fuel ami enn divert considerable quantities of nnlmal fat Into the larders." Eric rejoiced, without a trace of Jealousy. This might spell the difference dif-ference between plenty and famine In the grim months to come. Hut the gulf between the leaders remained mibridged. As they were helping the hunters complete their tlsli trap, ready for the salmon run, Roy proposed thai it he extended so that It cover the channel, "Then we'll get every fish that mines up. As It Is, at least a fourth will get hy." "We've got to spare enough for breeding stock," Eric answered. "Salmon "Salm-on come bnck to the stream where they spawn. If we calch them nil, four years from now there won't he a fish to lie seen." It was another clash of viewpoints. "Ho you expect to be here four years from now? Thank (lod, I don't! Let's take the cash and let the credit go." But Eric stood by his guns. "It's not our Island. We're Invaders, hut we're not Huns, to destroy as we go. Moreover, It's only too possible that we may be standing on tills very bank not only four, hut ten years from now, waiting for the salmon run, n ml we don't want It to fail." lie turned to Chochaqiio, his bsllifT. "Tell the men to build the trap as usual." "I don't understand your point of view," Roy said. "Surely you aren't trying to pander to the natives." "I was pa ndcrlng only to my sense of right and wrong." was the grave answer. "That may seem laughable to you, but It's a fact. And It's true I'm trying not to antagonize tnc n.i lives any more than I can help," (TO Hit (XJNTINUltD.) |