University of Missouri College of Engineering - Shamrock Yearbook (Columbia, MO)

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selves and give him a position that h might have the best that was, as the C Y had realized the capability, of the man u 'm, m Y h to command others, and that he had a ll of the details of the system at his finge tips. All of this they explained to hi they tried their best to make him se that they needed him and needed hi bad, they told him the salary they ha planned to give him. But he sadl shook his head, and told them that suc a thi Cf ' ' ' ng was impossible, they grew des- perate and offered him double their firs offer, and then finally four times. But he only refused and told them that his assistant, George Lewis, could handle the situation as well as he, and having delivered his final answer, he'turned and slowly walked from the office. Out- ' ewis and whispered some- I' e d 'C side he met L thing to him. That afternoon he dis- appeared from the communi one knew, no one tried to 1'ind out. As the disappearance of men was a common e people knew the ty, where no occurrence, for th law's arm was long and it's gripping iin- gers were always scratching and har- ' ey supposed that rowing the earth. Th this was the case with him and no one bothered to find out different, only his friend L ' ewis knew where he went to. Lewis had been very reluctant to see his friend go, for they had been to- gether ever since the road was a thing on paper. During their evenin ho g urs they had discussed and planned the next d 9 u ay s work. And many a pipe they had 11 way back to the Barrens with supplies for another period of loneliness on his sledge. No one recognized him but his friend Lewis, for a heavy red beard completely covered his face, and -his long thick hair completed the natural disguise. During his long exile he had set dead- falls and fox-baits along theledge of that long, slim finger of the Great Bar- ren which reaches out of the east into the country of the Great Bear, far to the west. The door of his sapling-built hut opened to the dark and chilling gray of the Arctic Circle, through. its one lonely window he could watch the sputter and play of the Northern Lights appier days, and listen to and dream of h the curious hissing purr of the Aurora which had grown to be a monotone in his ears. For six years, season after season, he came back with his load of furs, and the clerk at the trading post had written items something like the following in h t e cornpanyls books: March 17, Given came in toda Y with his furs. He left this after- noon with us usual supplies. Once before the clerk, when he had become ' curious, had added to the rec- ord: Strange why Given does not stay here overnight, and does not asso- ciate with any of us: Curious that he neverdrinks. ' ' Then what seemed the rnost strange Smqked together- of all was the fact that Justice Given A year had Passed' when he again had never asked for any mail durin all came to the Post, this time in the gray of these years, and no letter. had iver of the afternoon he drove in with his Come for him, dogs and his fursg for now he was a Th trapper. Night would see him on his . e Great Silent enveloped himand his mystery. Th ' e Yapplng foxes knew Foul-tee

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3 ustin when A Story of an Engineer, a Man of Red Blood. He had come to Alaska shortly gghgfgg after the gold rush. He realized the folly of the mad desire for the muck called goldg for he had heard from stray bits of conversation the names of many who had disappeared into the Great Unknown in their fren- zied rush to the gold fields. Then be- sides his purpose-well he had not come to gain wealth. He had very good rea- sons for being here, and none knew what they were, nor did they care to ask. Generally this type of questions would not be answered and sometimes the one that was questioned might be- come offended, and that meant that some one might go on a very long journey from which there' was no return. So the people accepted him as he was and in their crude andiuncouth ways gave him a welcome. Other than that they thought very little about him and both- ered him less. - ' A railroad had been thought of and some stir was aroused at the Post. He heard that the men who were backing the proposition were in need of a civil engineer, and had not been able to get any that would stay with them. Every- one that came soon became the Vic-- USTICE GIVEN was an engineer. 25 tim of the gold fever and left to join the frenzied? rush to the gold fields, thinking that he might be the lucky one. He inquired where he could find the officials and he was directed to a rough frame shack at the far end of the street. A few questions were asked concerning Thte A his past. These he refused to answer. This caused some doubt on the part of the officials for they had not been in this part of the world very long, and had not learned to steer clear of such discussions. But when they saw an an- gry flush spread over his face, they quickly changed the subject to one of technicalities. They discovered that his knowledge of what they wanted was unlimited. What he did not know about railroad construction, supervision and management was very little. So realiz- ing their nnd, they dropped all further reference to his personal history, and proceeded to show him their plans and explain just what they wanted. For several months he worked long hours, planning the work and driving the crude, ignorant laborers to under- stand that they must do their work rightg for the most of them thought that anyway so that it was done was good enough. He seemed to be every place. Not a level or gradeg nor a .tie or rail was laid that he was not there totsupervise it. He thrived on it while the officials set back and smiled and congratulated themselves on their brains for picking such a good man. A little over a year passed, the little road was completed. Trains had been scheduled to run. One day he came to their office and told them he was going to leave in a few days. They were as- tounded, they hardly knew what to say for a minute, for nearly a month they had planned to make him one of them-

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'i 1' ' I ' X S ... 'J A , t- fig-T: more of him than did his fellow men. They knew him for miles up and down that white finger of desolation, they knew the danger of his baits and his traps, they snarled and barked their hatred and defiance at the glow, of his lights on dark nights, they watched for him, sniffed for signs of him, and then blindly walked into his clever death traps. Oftentimes the howl of the gray wolf came rolling over the' icy ground and sent a shudder through his body. I-Ee knew what thati howl meant-hun- ger. . The foxes, the wolves, and justice Given! That was what this dead World was made up of-themg and him. He was killing-but they were winning. 'Slowly but surely they were breaking him down-they and the terrible icy loneliness. The loneliness he might have stood for many years. But they- were driving him mad. More and more he had come to dread their howling at night. That wasthe deadly com-bina- and the howling. In the laughed at himself for be- cowardg but at nights the moistened his brow, and tion-night daytime he ing such a cold sweat sometimes he screamed at the awfulness of it all. What kind of manner of man he had been, and of the strangeness of the life that he endured in the maddening lone- liness of that mystery cabin in the edge of the Barren, only one other man knew, and that was George Lewis, his former assistant, the only friend he had ever made during the time he had been in this wilderness. But two thousand miles south, George Lewis sat a small table in a brilliantly lighted and fashionable cafe. It was Fifteen 9 early in the summer, and Lewis had been down from the north not more than a month. The deep tan was on his face, and the tiny wind and snow lines crinkled at the corners of his eyes. He exuded the life of the big outdoors, as he sat opposite the pallid cheeked and weak-chested Bhrome, who would have given his millions to possess the red blood in the other's veins. Lewis had m-ade his strike,, while he was with the company. That day he had sold out to Bhrome for a hundred thousand, and he was filled with the flush of joy and triumph. Bhrome's eyes shone witha new sort of enthusiasm as he listened to this man's story of grim and fighting deter- mination that had led to the discovery of the gold mine away up in the moun- tains of the frozen north. He looked upon the other's strength, his bronzed face and the glory of achievement in his eyes, and a great and yearning hope- lessness burned like a dull fire in his breast. He envied him. He was no old- er than the other that sat opposite him on the other side of the table-yet a vast gulf lay between them. I-lie had his millions, the other with a flood of red blood coming and going in his body and his wonderful fortune of a hundred thousand. Bhrome leaned over the table and laughed. It was the laugh of a man who had grown tired of, life, in spite of his fortune. Only a few days before a famous specialist had warned him that the threads of his life were giving away -breaking one by one. He told this to his companion. He confessed to him with the strange glow in his eyes-a glow that was like a fire making a last