Roy Norton

“ I fought against an autocracy, because I believed it was unfair. In folly I joined an anarchistic society because I believed it the last hope—until I discovered that futile murder was its highest aim. Fools! No system dies with the death of one—no, or bf a hundred men! They accused me of betraying them, but—by my faith in God—I never did! They wouldn't leave me alone—they threatened death. Perhaps you recall the time when it became a question whether or not the United States would enter into an agreement with Russia permitting the latter to extradite escaped Siberian prisoners? ”

“ And it is the truth that, despite all he had suffered, that ragged, scarecrow skeleton of a man taxed us and our dogs to the limit of endurance, ever urging us and our dogs on as if he were half mad, or we fleeing from rather than into a pestilence. ”

“ I tell you that Peluk is a remarkable man. You don't know him as well as I do. I am qualified to speak. He is the half-breed son of a Russian trader and a native woman. The trader was an outcast, but all that was great in him, and intelligent, was inherited by his offspring. When the trader prospered and gained riches he deserted, willingly or reluctantly, that native woman and the son that, I think, he loved. In any event he went back to Russia, intending to be gone for but a few months, and—he never returned. The native woman died. The boy, Peluk, left alone, resolved to seek his father. ”

“ He was, in a small way, a Kosciusko fighting for the welfare of his own people, and if he had to adopt merciless measures when his people's welfare—yes, their very existence—was endangered——
Malitka's voice disturbed my thoughts.
“The results you have seen. Our people are comfortable, better disciplined, and, I like to think, nearer civilized than any other natives of which I know.”
“But,” I asked, still bearing my mission in mind, “of Harris Barnes——” and paused, not wishing to bluntly ask her for proofs of his death. ”

“ In the night, after the winds had died and the clouds cleared and the stars shone, our surviving half dozen natives, presumably after consultation and filled with superstitious dread of ill omens, took most of our dogs, all of our firearms, half of our food, and slipped away over the back trail. ”

“ Otherwise, you shall go your way, whither you list, assisted by me and my people, and I must try alone.'
“Of course our agreement was immediate. We had come to this country in the hope of enriching ourselves as well as in quest of refuge.”
Malitka dropped back into her chair with an attitude of finality amounting to relaxation.
“There's not much more to tell,” she said. “Harris Barnes was at first infatuated with the prospect of gold and latterly with the creative impulse. The barrabaras gave way to well-built houses. The natives appreciated the values of thrift and better living. ”

“ Almost as worthless seemed a chest of medicines and surgical instruments that I had insisted on bringing because—— Well, I haven't explained, perhaps, that at one time I had an ambition to become a woman physician, thinking I might give my services to the poor—and could have easily taken my degree. ”