Peabody High School - Peabody Yearbook (Pittsburgh, PA)

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4' ', 18 THE PEABODY But there was always a time when wolf and grey wolf meet. If Elk was the lord of the trading post, U, Sf, Mack, as he was called for short, was master of the trading. That is, he was powerful to make or break Skag- ginac trading post, It depended on him alone whether or not the weekly supply of pelts poured into the rude wooden building controlled by Joe Elk. If Joe held power of life and death over the men of the post, U, S.'s word was law to the half-breeds and natives on whom the post depended for skins. U, S. Mack was a gigantic brute who had left the United States for reasons of his own. Hence came the name by which he was known. There were few as bad and none worse than he in Alaska, He and Elk were friendsg the kind of friends men are when it is indispensible to the other for a livelihood. But under the skin there smouldered a firce hate which threatened to burst out continually. Tonight Joe and U, S, had been discussing the business projects of the coming month during which Mackin- son would be up North. Elk remarked U, S. could have made a sale at Fort Silver if only he had gone on before. Several buyers from the States were to be there for three or four more days. The sum he mentioned that these buyers paid interested U, S. he said he'd go. .Elk laughed and bet him a sack of dust he couldn't make it. U, S. took the bet in a rage and Elk sneered. The hate between them burst out in a moment and it was then Mackinson's voice had first attracted attention, Outside with his men UU. S. brieHy stated his enterprise. It was char- acteristic of his discipline that no one thought of remarking on it. A light sled was swiftly hitched to the six strongest dogs and a sack of skins was strapped on it. The question of provisions arose. U, S, was out of food, He would have to ask Elk for more supplies or risk the trip on what he couldgather from his men. Mackinson grinned and then swore. He would not ask Elk for provisions, curse him. He'd show him! Hastily some scant supplies were gotten together and then U, S, clad in fur from top to toe stepped onto the sled and was off with a crack of the whip, He was well under way before Elk got up from the table and sauntered out of the saloon. His nonchalance fooled no one. They all knew. Dirty work without a doubt! Elk entered his private office and came out a moment later loading a revolver, He was dressed for sledding. A group of men through the saloon door saw him pass out into the night. What's up? said one, If yer askin' me grinned another evilly, I'll say Mack's up to dirty work and Elk's plannin' ter go him one better. Them two sure do hate hard. All I hope's they'll kill each other some day. The speaker was right. Mackinson knew Elk had sent men on with skins anyhow. He'd never told him about it if he hadn't. By doing so saved Elk the discount otherwise due U, S. He also knew the sled were heavy and loaded well. Moreover, his own dogs were superior to any man's at the post and he felt it would

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' 'l' ll li l'l2.Xl1UDY 17 MARGARET BROOKS, 'Editor IOSEPH HARRlSON, Editor Room 120 Room l09 RETRIBUTION Carol Savage l'll get to lfort Silver in three days if l have to kill every d-- dog in doing it. cursed l'nited States Blakinson as he strode toward the door of the trading house. llis heavy voice rolled and boomed through the noisy room attracting everyone's attention to the conversation. l'nited States whirled again with his hand on the door knob. llis little red rimmed eyes shot sparks at -loe lilk, the owner of the trading post. l'll get there in three days, -loe lilk, and be back here in eight for the nioney-mor you Y 'l'he door banged vieiously blowing a wave of icy wind over the staring inmates of the room. .X momentary hush followed and then the elinkinig of glasses and jingle of coins was resumed with increasing hilarity. .loe lilk sat motionless staring at the table before him. llis shaggy brows were knit over a pair of cruel gray eyes, shadowing their depths to an almosot inky blackness. 'loe was known throughout the North for his cold blooded cruelty to everything that breathed. l.iving in a land of desperate men he was the most desperate and hardest of all. lt was whispered his revolver butt carried nicks for eight lives and there was not a hand of the law that was not aching to grasp him. lle controlled the trading of Alaskan seal at a most important post: a position he had won bv a mroffram of murderinv 1 l 5 bl' stealing, lying and bullying such as had never been equaled in that country.

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' In Q THE PEABODY 19 be easy to beat Elk to the coveted treasure of gold and whiskey. Added to this, he had a thorough knowledge of the undertaking and knew how to cope with its perils. Elk knew all this too. He therefore conceived the idea of shadowing Mack to a convenient barren, and then shooting him from behind, taking the sled and going to the fort with the skins. He did not stop to consider the fact that he was undertaking the very thing he bet U, S. couldn't be done. That was like Joe. It was a matter of a few moments for him to put his dogs in the traces of a small flyer. A can of provisions was stowed away and inside of five minutes two tracks in the snow crust might be seen where one had been before. U, S. drove at a hard pace, never slackening but never increasing. It was a pace that would go on for sometime, finish up with a slightly greater speed and then U, S. would need new dogs. He knew this but dogs were a smaller matter in this moment of hate and greed. A lone wolf howled dismally at a little distance but no other sound broke the stillness save the flying feet of the dogs and the swish of the sled runners on the snow. On and on through the night ceaselessly raced Makinson while a mile or so behind pursued Joe Elk. Twice during the first day he stopped to rest his dogs but Joe kept on intent on making up the distance that night. He did not need to save his dogs because he would use Makinson's after he had killed him. That saw the northern star low in its course before Elk came in sight of U. S. A revolver cracked and re-echoed over the waste as the nearly spent dogs ate up the remaining space. U. S., stooping to adjust a robe saved his life. Like a Flash he drew and fired full into the oncoming sled. Elk crumpled up and the dogs came to a stand. U. S. stopped also and possess- ed himself of everything of value including the supplies. By dawn the streaking drifts had made Joe Elk's last bed invisible forever. On pushed U, S. as if nothing had happened. Hate was dead but greed still lived and urged him on. Morning of the third day saw him entering the narrow pass which brought him out less than a mile from his destination. But his dangers were not yet over. He 'had withstood the strain and had saved his dogs, he had held to the trail but he was yet to pass between two great ice moun- tains alive with sliding snows and falling icicles. Carefully the sled pro- ceeded until the opening of the pass was in sight. Then Fate snapped a trace strap. With an oath U, S. rolled out to repair the damage. A crash- ing roar as though a hundred cannon suddenly filled the air. Makinson whirled to see a mountain of snow and ice rushing down upon him so swiftly that scarcely had his cry been uttered than it was buried with him under forty feet of death. Pk at wk wk an The men at the post said little but were much relieved. Many stories arise as to the fate of the two men but none know the truth that the snows of many years cover.