Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, October 25, 1903, Page 31

October 25, 1008, fall constantly Into the valley. There is a thundering of a spectral battle, as if the air were the scene of the war of annihila- tion that will break over the State if heaven does not call me to save the land at the right time. Day and night there is the thundering and the roaring. 1 listen to it day and night—day and night awaiting the message. And day and night they work to keep the one path open, for over it must come the call, over it I must go. The people work in constant peril. Before them, behind them the avalanches tumble, ever closing the path anew, ever shutting entrance and exit. They say that several have been killed already. What care I? T ghall stride over the lives of thousands and thousands in order to make my people great. . . Ll . . . . . A miracle! A miracle! See, a miracle has been performed for me. I knew it. An hour remained to me before I start for the capital. T have locked myself in, to pass it with this, my confidant. I think thot it may be the last time. How did everything fulfill itself so won- drously? She came to me! Through snow and ice, through terror and death, she forced her way to me. So mighty is her love, con- quering terror and death, to call me, the exiled and proscribed, to the throne of my fathers, where it waits for me. . - . . . . . . Tor this she shall e my Queen! T will write down calmly how it all hap- pened, In the afternoon T went out and walked far. At a great distance from the house T suddenly saw two figures moving along the path that lay by the shore. T could gee plainly how completely they were ex- hausted so that they could move forward enly painfully, And I could see, too, how a mighty wall of snow hung loosely over their heads, ready to fall at any moment and bury the weary, daring travelers under it. T saw ft and waited for it. But who were they? People who were coming to the Sea-Alp, to me—surely they were bearing a mes- rage. Perhaps a great one, deciding the fate of my house and my nation! Has my brother conquered himself again? Has he permitted them to wrest his signature from him? Has war been declared? And the two, over whose heads hangs the icy death, are bringing me the news? I must hear the message! Death must not hurtle from the air until T heard! T ran toward them, cbserving as I ran how their exhaustion increased, how a fine pale eloud arose even then from the overhang- fng mass. And I heard the thunder of an- ether avalanche, rolling fast. I called, T shrieked. But they did not hear me, One of the figures was that of a woman. Bhe walked ahead. A woman who was eoming to me, in danger of her life! Who «who could it be? THE ILLUSTRATED BELEL. Swiftly as I could 1 ran toward them, crying “The avalanche! Quicker! In heaven's name, quicker!" The howl of the storm, the thunder of the avalanche swallowed my words, In that instant T recognized the woman-—Gebhardt's sister! And then 1 saw a white mass fall from above, heard the roar. The ava and Gebhardt's sister under it. I screamed with a terrible cry. I tried to leap forward, but the whirling snow blinded me. 8o I had to stand and wait until the cloud of white had settled. The first that my glance saw in the white mists like a vision was Gebhardt's sister Over her head, too, a Royal crown hung and shiclded her, . . . . . . . . This is what happened in the Royal Palace. To tell me of it the beautiful woman whom I love and who loves me had found her way through snow and ice, through terror and death to me. More and more {inzistently government and nation demanded the declaration of war from the trembling sovereign. But the sovereign continued to fear and to tremble. Again they send my mother to him, and again she conquers her son's vacillation and weakness. In the council in the afternoon the King announces his determination (o sign the declaration of war. On the same evening the document fs lald before him. He expresses the wish to be left alone and commands that none must disturb him, In the next room His Majesty's adjutant waits, An hour passes. And a second hour scq, The adjutant hears the King sigh avily several times, The council has assembled and waits. A third hour passes The adjutant departs for a moment to call the King's chamber- lain. He is to enter the King's room. It is late at night. The chamberlain enters the door and sees the King sitting at the desk with his head upon it as if he were asleep. Softly he calls: “Your Majes The King does not hear, does not move. “Your Majes . Because the King still does not hear the man steps nearer and sees— 1t is dripping from the desk to the red carpet, and it has the royal color of the carpet. Dabbled with blood is the Declara- tion of War that bears—no signature. . * . . . Ld . L) The King is carried to his bed by adjutint and chamberlain. The room is shut off. It is announced: *“‘His Majesty is indis- posed,” The spiritus familiariris is on the spot at once. The Queen and the Queen- Mother are called. The Queen falls at the bedside as one dead; the Queen-Mother Is rigid and 'strong. The King's servants are sworn to silence. and that whole part of the palace is shut off and guardad. The council remains assembled. The doctors are asked how long His anche % h < renounced the succession, had to Majesty will remain “indisposed.” Not fully forty-eight hours more Who is the successor? A stranger! Has the King no brother? Oh, yes; but the brother has nounce because his reign would be a m for the nation. A secret deed is in ex- istence signed by him I'hen, why yes! Then we must call the stranger S0 they debate, and at last they deside to wait until it can be said: “The King is dead -long live the King!" And yet—they should let the brother come. No, better, wait until aill is over. One cannot know., ortune But he will come. He wil come! He will come to demand his 1ights, to step into his inheritance, to take the crown of his fathers The woman who loves him calls him! Accompanied by a faithful s rvant the Countess leaves the capital. She reaches the lake. There is only one path; it may be the path of death. She takes it. . . . . . . . . When I arrived on the Sei-Alp with the Countess and her companion the night had begun. 1 led the magnificent one into my rooms, served her with refreshmenis my- self, and then proceeded personally to my adjutant, to whom 1 sald: “The King is dying. I am nls successor, ited by God. Your sister has come me to preserve my rights at the deathbed of my brother, and after death to mount the throne which your sister ehall mount with me, thanks to my Royal power and my Dpas 1. “In an hour I shall start to the capital with the Counte Si the path has become impassable through the fall of an avalanche, we cross the lake No matter how—I must! If you wish to accompany me, come; if you would rather remain, stay! Which is your decision?” For me there is only one decision.” ¢ remain? des “To do what T ean in order to prevent Your Royal Highness from leaving the Sca-Alp."” I asked him: “Is that your loyalty for me?"” His answer was: “Yes, that it And 1 sked further, suppressing my- self mightily: “You, too, will congider it a misfortune if 1 become King?" “Yes.' “Misfortune for the land?" “Yen." “Because I am unable to rule?” HToo " “I tell you your sister shall be Queen." “That is impossible under the law of your house.” “1 shall make a new law that will make the impossible possible.' “Even then it would remain impossible.” “Because I am married already?” ‘“To an angel.” = —-—__—_'fi 11 “In whom you, however, sce an carthly wonman and white h oud before wme, with his secret love oxposed by me and naned calimly by e He struggle tor worus, could say nothing tor a period Lo cacumated wWith a hoarse voic “1 shall stiil do my utmost to prevent Your Koyal wmajesty irom leaving the sca Alp, How will you hinder me? ‘I shall not let Your Royal Highnoss ) Ah, you moan to use rorce ‘Porce, It neceossary Then it seized me I hurled mscll on him L caught him with the power ol & g.ant that descended on me at tohart in- stant. 1 threw him, Kneced on him, tred to strangle him. 1 would have done 1 had he not possessed the eyes of his si:ter, with which he looked i me without re- gisting. Then 1 let go of him, arose and dea- manded his word or hoaor that ne would not interfere with me BHut he would not give it Thereupon 1 calied some of my prople and told them: “the Wing hes dymmg. In a few days I will be your King And | commanded them to imprison the Count in his room une til the morning. The creatures obeyed me like dogs=. . . . . . . . . Everything iz ready for departure. Only one thing remainsg; to say farewcll to Judica, At first none of the men would dare the voyage across the i ven the r wards that | offered them could not niove them. Then | comm 1. As King 1 come- manded, 'They obeyed, and now the rabble crawls betore me, We took the strongest boat We must go yal re- with torchtight. With axes we mast broak our wa) It will be a voyag for life or death I had the ng boats slove in-in case the Count shoul ( ipe and try teo follow, They tell me that the boat is ready 1 must say farewell to Judica, . . - . . . It is done, She will lke Shail T take thi= 1ook with me Shall 1 throw it into the sea where it 18 deepest? Or shail 1 hurl it Into the fire, thus destroying what is a piece of my souly of this wrestling human soul with its little that Is good and pure and with its greas darkn With so much that is evil and wick d! Destroy these « S Do it, oh, do i And yet— 1f 1 were to luy this book into the easket again, and if 1 were to leave the casket open, and Yes, and if (To Be Continued.) ind its many abysses? The Saga of Trig Olafsen, the Swimming Mate (Copyright, 1903, by Albert Sonnichsen.) F YOU have knocked about Hono- lulu much you will have heard of Trig Olafsen, But perhaps you are a stranger there. Then g0 down to the docks some Sun- day morning when the seamen are loating about the gangways and ask. They will sing you the saga of Trig Olafsen, It will come couched in language hideously profane, but no matter, you will.learn all about Trig Olafsen. Perhaps, if they are in a good humor, they will tell you of Trig Olafsen's long swim with liberal criticism of the ways of Providence in preserving the morally unfit, ¥Yor Olafsen's notoriety as a hard case bucko mate equals his fame as a swimmer. If vou should ever meet Trig Olafsen you will understand why he is feared. Big of body, arms like thighs, gnarled and hairy; a lon-like head on a bull neck, a tawny mustache drooping over ponderous Jaws and halr of the most flery hue—such & man Is Trig Olafsen. Sailors on the west coast will rule or be ruled. Trig Olafsen has never been ruled in spite of many efforts on the part of insubordinate crews to subdue him. A crowd of Irish- men tried it once on Island Queen, but Trig piled into them and smote with the mighty arm of his Viking forefathers, Those were the days when Dave Kala- kaua's banner floated from the palace tow- ers and from the gaffs of a dozen good pailing ships. Trig Olafsen was mate of the Hawalian bark Aleha, then in the sugar, lumber and coal trade—coal from Australia to Honolulu, thence to San Franctsco with sugar, and back to Aus- traMla with Puget Sound lumber. From a sailor's point of view this was an ideal ship, and Aloha was a first- rate ship for living and easy to handle, but its crews invariably left at the end of each passage, Few made a full trip. As they didn’t stop to collect their wages the owners found it profitable to retain Trig Olafsen in their service, But on one trip they almost lost him. Aleha had cleared the doldrums and had barvely ecaught the northeast trades, 1t happened in the morning watch, about b o'alock. The yards were braced sharp up en the port tack, and if Aloha was making its course, that was about all. The mate, sniffing the wind, to take prompt ad- vantage of any favorable change, kept faithful watch by the weather mizzen rig- ging. The men were just taking coffec when the breeze hauled aft a trifle. In- stead of waiting until they had finished, Olafsen gave the order to square in a bit at once, ick away your spanker sheet,” he or- dered rext. A man did so, but the block on the boom jambed. The mate leaned over the railing to overhaul the sheet. Suddenly it clearcd and the boom shot out with a jerk to lee- ward. The mate had been leaning aguainst the boom, so naturally he went with it, but not having wings, he fell, and a minute later was shouting In the ship's wake. The mate's watch was made up part Melbourne larrikins and partly of 'Frisco roughs, an unwholesome mixture. Olafsen had not been very courteous to them on the trip and they remembered it now of all times. The ship was making a good six knots, and even had the helmsman brought it up into the wind, it would have taken a good hour to pick up the mate Put the wheel remained unshifted and Aloha sailed straight on, the men coiled up the ropes, and soon the shouts astern died out in the hiss of the wake But it wasn't to save trouble that they paid no heed. An hour later the man at the wheel cast loose a life buoy and roared out: “Man overboard!" The captain came on deck, all hands were called, the ship was hove to and a boat lowered. They spent an hour hunting, but of course it wasn't likely that they would find a man dropped gix miles astern A week later Aloha came into Honoluln and officially reported its mate lost at sea Aloha hauled up alongside the rail- road dock and began discharging its cargo of coal. The crew were employed on deck manipulating burtons and whips and driv- ing winches, while the Kanakas filled the buckets below. By Saturday you coull no longer jump down the hatchways to the top of the cargo. It was neariy noon. The men expected to knock off early and were in pretty good humor, laughing and bandying jokes with one another, Suddenly there came a crash—a bhucket dropped on deck, almost driving through the plans and near'y killing big Steve ot the burton. The man driving the for'd winch stood stiff, his face the color of a snake's belly, his eyes bulging. The others were about to swear at him, but following his rigid gaze, horror likewise stiffened them. Complete stillness had come over the busy scene. All eyes were fixed on something on the deck. Picking its way through the line of freight cars on the wharf came the tower- ing ftigure of the *“drowned” mate--Trig 5. The a writion Jeaped clear of a coal pile and landed at the foot of the gangway. The cabin boy, cleaning the gangway brass, lo d up, gave a fright cned scream and bolted down into the cabin, Only one man about there had never seen the mate's big figure, and he was the dock watchman As he did not see anything particularly ghostly in it this first time, and besides, had pretty clear conseclence, he took no part in the panic that followed. He ia the only one ¢ cise, impartial account of what happenecd the rest shiver yet when they think of it I have heard the watchman tell the story several times and he always tel it in ble of giving a con- humorous vein, To him it was extremel funny You see, he did not know the mate should have heen dead ten days Trig Olafsen ame up the gangway, his head thrown up like a lion smelling fresh meat. The plank quivered beneath his pon- derous tread tHis huge mustache trafled back over his set jaws, his hair bristled and his big hairy arms were swollen and bare to the elbow for he had thrown off his hat and coat on the dock He paused at the top for just one moment, then, with a roar lke breakers on a reef, he bounded to the deck The watchman says he never saw sucl a wild scramble—it conldn’t be compared to the panic at Welkikl, when the tiger got loose in the circus menageric Not only the ship, but the whole island was mu~h tco small for Aloba's crew just the: then The ghost seized a capst rack at the break of the n bar from the p and charged midships Five of the men leaped overs board and swarm frantically across the harbor to the mail dock., Two fled up the rigging and the rest sprang to the dock, a drop of nearly ten feet, Up the track they pelted Trig Olafsen after them, hurling the capstan bar ahead of him, picking it up again when he got to it, and roaring out bhlood curding ocaths in Norse and English a1l the while Here the watchman became hysterical and gsaw no more until Olafsen reappeared on the deserted deck, roaring and fuming among the empty coal buckets and using most unghostly language. Then the skipper came up from below and staggered against the skylight, white as a water-coaked co “What in de name of de Flying Dutch- man's fgure-head ye starin’ at me like dat fo roared Trig Olatsen He really didn't swear hy the flying- re-head; It was something decidedly more expressive than that dutchman's fig The captain recovired—no drowned man could swear like that, no living man conld swear ke that but ‘I'rig Olafsen. In flesh ard bleod The skipper and the mate approched each other, but what they sald the watchman I not hear Finally both went below )y th ‘ hin None of t wateh came abroad that night ‘he men of the other watch came straggling abroad toward dusk. They had no away. The « it conseiences to keep them rs made for the hills up by the Pall and were captured by the police next day and hrought ahoard in irons. The mate himself conducted the hunt, hut lodged no complaint against them—he only wanted thom with him on the passage to "Fris Of e } Honolulu on Aloha as mats récard of that j age is Jost to history., but occasionally you meet will tell you that there really 15¢ he has been there, The port Aloha reached 'Frisco alive that but they were carried etehers, aboard the marine ital launcl Nor was Trig Olafsen ever heard to complain of having gone unavenged. He always refers to that page (Continued on Page Thirteen,)