<h2 id="c19"><br/>CHAPTER XIX <br/>PASSING THE RAPIDS</h2>
<p>As the raft, which had been dragged from the
bank of the river by the hermit of the mysterious
lodge, swung out into the ice strewn current, it
shot directly for the glacier’s end as if drawn
by a magnet.</p>
<p>Taking a quick turn of the rope about a point
of rock, the aged man braced himself for the
shock which must come when the raft, with its
load of sleds and other trappings, had taken up
the slack.</p>
<p>All too soon it came. Bracing himself as best
he could, he held his ground. The strain increased.
It seemed that the rope must snap;
that the old man’s iron grip must yield. Should
the raft reach the glacier it would be lost forever.
The muscles in the man’s arms played like
bands of steel. Blood vessels stood out on his
temples like whipcords, yet he held his ground.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_154">[154]</div>
<p>Ten seconds passed, twenty, thirty, then with a
whirl like some wild animal yielding to its captor,
the raft swung about and shot away down
stream.</p>
<p>Plunging forward, leaping rocks, gliding over
glassy surfaces of snow, puffing, perspiring, the
old man followed.</p>
<p>Now he was down; the cause seemed lost. But
in a flash he was up again, clutching at a jagged
rock that tore his hand. For a second time he
stayed the mad rush of the raft. Then he was on
again.</p>
<p>Bobbing from reef to reef, plunging through
foam, leaping high above the torrents, the raft
went careering on. Twice it all but turned over,
and but for the skill of its master would have
been crushed by great grinding cakes of ice.</p>
<p>For thirty long minutes the battle lasted; minutes
that seemed hours to the aged man. Then
with a sigh he guided the raft into a safe eddy
of water.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_155">[155]</div>
<p>Sinking down upon a hard packed bank of
snow, he lay there as if dead. For a long time
he lay there, then rising stiffly, made his way
down the ledge to drag the raft ashore and unlash
the sleds. After this he drew the sleds up
the hill one at a time and set them across the
blazed trail.</p>
<p>“There!” he sighed. “A good night’s work
done, and a neat one. I could not have done it
better twenty years ago. ‘Grow old along with
me,’” he threw back his hair as if in defiance
of raging torrents, “‘The best is yet to be. The
last of life, for which the first was made—’”</p>
<p>Having delivered this bit of poetical oration
to the tune of the booming rapids, he turned
to pick his way back over the uncertain trail that
led to his strange abode.</p>
<p>Eight hours after she had crept into the luxurious
bed in the guest room of the strange
lodge, Marian stirred, then half awake, felt the
drowsy warmth of wolf-skin rugs. For a moment
she lay there and inhaled the drug-like perfume
of balsam and listened to the steady breathing
of the Eskimo girl beside her. She was
about to turn over for another sleep, when, from
some cell of her brain where it had been stowed
the night before, there came the urge that told
her she must make haste.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_156">[156]</div>
<p>“Haste! Haste! Haste!” came beating in
upon her drowsy senses. It was as if her brain
were a radio, and the message was coming from
the air.</p>
<p>Suddenly she sat bolt upright. At the same
instant she found herself wide awake, fully
alert and conscious of the problems she must
face that day—the passing of the rapids and
covering a long span of that trail which still
lay between them and their goal.</p>
<p>She did not waken Attatak. That might not
be necessary for another hour. She sprang out
upon the heavy bear skin rug, and there went
through a set of wild, whirling gestures that
limbered every muscle in her body and sent the
red blood racing through her veins. After that
she quickly slipped into her blouse, knickers,
stockings and deerskin boots, to at last go tiptoeing
down the corridor toward the large living-room
where she heard the roar of the open fire
as it raced up the chimney.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_157">[157]</div>
<p>She found her host sitting by the fire. In the
uncertain light he appeared haggard and worn,
as if quite done in from some great exertion.
Of course Marian could not so much as guess
how he had spent the night. She had slept
through it all.</p>
<p>With a smile of greeting the old man motioned
her to a seat beside him.</p>
<p>“You’ll not begrudge an old man a half hour’s
company?” he said.</p>
<p>“Indeed not.”</p>
<p>“You’ll wish to ask me things. Everyone who
passes this way wants to. Mostly they ask and
I don’t tell. A fair lady, though,” there was
something of ancient gallantry in his tone, “fair
ladies usually ask what they will and get it, too.”</p>
<p>For a moment he sat staring silently into the
fire.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_158">[158]</div>
<p>“This house,” he said at last, “is a bit unusual.
That pipe organ, for instance—you
wouldn’t expect it here. It came here as if by
accident; Providence, I call it. A rich young
man had more things than he knew what to do
with. The Creator sent some of them to me.</p>
<p>“As for me, I came here voluntarily. You
have probably taken me for a prospector. I have
never bought pick nor pan. There are things
that lure me, but gold is not one of them.</p>
<p>“I had troubles before I came here. Troubles
are the heritage of the aged. I sometimes think
that it is not well to live too long.</p>
<p>“And yet,” he shook himself free of the mood;
his face lighting up as he exclaimed, “And yet,
life is very wonderful! Wonderful, even up
here in the frozen north. I might almost say,
<i>especially</i> here in the north.</p>
<p>“I came here to be alone. I brought in food
with a dog team. I built a cabin of logs, and
here I lived for a year.</p>
<p>“One day a young man came up the river in
a wonderful pleasure yacht and anchored at the
foot of the rapids. Being a lover of music,
he had built a pipe organ into his yacht; the one
you heard last night.”</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_159">[159]</div>
<p>“And did—did he die?” Marian asked, a little
break coming in her voice.</p>
<p>“No,” the old man smiled, “he tarried too
long. Being a lover of nature—a hunter and
an expert angler—and having found the most
ideal spot in the world as long as summer lasted,
he stayed on after the frosts and the first snow.
I was away at the time, else I would have warned
him. I returned the day after it happened.
There had been a heavy freeze far up the
river, then a storm came that broke the ice
away. The ice came racing down over the
rapids like mad and wrecked his wonderful yacht
beyond all repair.</p>
<p>“We did as much as we could about getting
the parts on shore; saved almost all but the
hull. He stayed with me for a few days; then,
becoming restless, traded me all there was left
of his boat for my dog team.</p>
<p>“That winter, with the help of three Indians
and their dogs, I brought the wreckage up here.
Gradually, little by little, I have arranged it
into the form of a home that is as much like a
boat as a house. The organ was unimpaired,
and here it sings to me every day of the great
white winter.”</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_160">[160]</div>
<p>He ceased speaking and for a long time was
silent. When he spoke again his tones were
mellow with kindness and a strange joy.</p>
<p>“I am seldom lonely now. The woods and
waters are full of interesting secrets. Travellers,
like you, come this way now and again. I try
to be prepared to serve them; to be their
friend.”</p>
<p>“May—may I ask one question?” Marian
suggested timidly.</p>
<p>“As many as you like.”</p>
<p>“How did you know I was at the door last
night when you were playing? You did not
see me. You couldn’t have heard me.”</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_161">[161]</div>
<p>“That,” he smiled, “is a question I should
like to ask someone myself; someone much wiser
than I am. I knew you were there. I had been
feeling your presence for more than an hour
before you came. I knew I had an audience. I
was playing for them. How did I know? I
cannot tell. It has often been so before. Perhaps
all human presence can be felt by some
specially endowed persons. It may be that in the
throngs of great cities the message of soul to
soul is lost, just as a radio message is lost in a
jumble of many messages sent at once.</p>
<p>“But then,” he laughed, “why speculate?
Life’s too short. Some things we must accept as
they are. What’s more important to you is
that your sleds are beyond the rapids. When
breakfast is over, you can strap your sleeping
bags on your deer and I will guide you over the
trail around the rapids to the point where I left
your sleds.”</p>
<p>A look of consternation flashed over Marian’s
face. She was thinking of the ancient dishes and
how fragile they were. “I have some fragile
articles in the sleeping bags,” she said. “They—they
might break!”</p>
<p>“Break?” He wore a puzzled look.</p>
<p>For a second she hesitated; then, reassured
by the kindly face of the gentle old man, decided
to tell him the story of their adventure in the
cave. Then she launched into the story with all
the eagerness of a discoverer.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_162">[162]</div>
<p>“I see,” he said, when she had finished the
story. “I know just how you feel. However,
there is now only one safe thing to do. Leave
these treasures with me. If the rapids are frozen
over when the time comes for the return trip,
you can pass here and get them. You’ll always
be welcome. Better leave an address to which
they may be sent in case you should not pass
this way. The rapids freeze over every winter.
I will surely be able to get them off on the
first river boat. They can be sent to any spot
in the world. To attempt to pack them over on
your deer would mean certain destruction.”</p>
<p>Reluctant as Marian was to leave the treasure
behind, she saw the wisdom of his advice. So,
feeling a perfect confidence in him, she decided
to leave her treasure in his care. Then she
gave him her address at Nome, with instructions
for shipping should she fail to return this way.</p>
<p>“One thing more I wanted to ask you,” she
said. “How many men are there at the Station?”</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_163">[163]</div>
<p>“One man; the trader. He stays there the
year ’round.”</p>
<p>“One man!” she exclaimed.</p>
<p>“One is all. Time was when there were
twenty. Prospectors, traders, Indians, trappers.
Two years ago forest fires destroyed the timber.
The game sought other feeding grounds and the
trappers, traders and Indians went with them.
Gold doesn’t seem to exist in the streams hereabouts,
so the prospectors have left, too. Now
one man keeps the post; sort of holding on, I
guess, just to see if the old days won’t return.”</p>
<p>“Do you suppose he could—could leave for a
week or two?” Marian faltered.</p>
<p>“Guess not. Company wouldn’t permit it.”</p>
<p>“Then—then—” Marian set her lips tight.
She would not worry this kind old man with
her troubles. The fact remained, however, that
if there was but one man at the Station, and he
could not leave, there was no one who could be
delegated by the Government Agent to go back
with her to help fight her battles against Scarberry.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_164">[164]</div>
<p>Suddenly, as she thought of the weary miles
they had travelled, of the hardships they had
endured, and of the probability that they would,
after all, fail in fulfilling their mission, she felt
very weak and as one who has suddenly grown
old.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_165">[165]</div>
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