The Argosy, Volume XLIV — page 128: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

IN FROZEN FET TERS. BY MARCUS D. RICHTER. A tale of strange adventures in and about Iceland, involving a mysterious linking of the past with the present. SYNOPSIS OF CHAPTERS PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED. FELTNAR, a New England scientist anxious to search out the haunts of the great auk, invests in the whaling ship Goodcheer, and goes a voyage in her, taking as a companion one Macklin, an old sea captain whose brain has been turned since the loss of his wife and child, swept away before his eyes years since in a wreck, from which he himself was miraculously saved. The men on the Goodcheer, incited by the mate, believing their poor luck with whales due to the presence on board of the feeble minded man, decide to put him and Feltnar adrift in a small boat," but chance arranges it that only Feltnar falls a victim to their designs. He is cast ashore on the coast of Iceland, and meets a farming family of natives, the Geogsons. Firik, the son, speaks English, as does also his sister Bruda. With them is living a striking-looking girl known as Indridi, who, it seems, was cast ashore when she was a child. Kirik is much interested in her, and is inclined to be jealous of Feltnar. The latter had a peculiar experience on the night when he lay exhausted on the beach. He dreamed some one placed a queer looking cloak about his shoulders, andjawakes to, find that such a garment is really there. It turns out that it has been put there by the Wild Woman, a strange character who lives by herself in the neighborhood, and with whom Indridi is very friendly. The young people take Feltnar to call upon her, and she prophesies that his appearance among them will bring trouble. While on a walrus hunt with Eirik, the latter quarrels with him over Indridi, and then rushes off. Feltnar later chances upon a strange vessel, a Viking ship, frozen in an iceberg, where she must have remained for hundreds of years, held intact by the ice. Boarding her in wonder, he is startled in the cabin by coming face to face with a man whose glassy eyes stare into his own. CHAPTER XIII. A STRANGE LINK WITH THE PAST. “T ORD! I am going mad!” ex- claimed the American. “ That —that didn’t move.” He forced himself to look again into the compartment, now illumined with the warm summer sun. It shone upon ,the face of the dead man. And what a face it was! There was no expression of agony upon it, only a great calm and the knitting of the heavy brows. The flesh was blue-white and looked more like marble than aught else. Again did the horror of the thing grip the American as he gazed a second time upon the stiffened corpse. And this added emotion was caused by the strange familiarity in the expression and in the contour of the features. The man was hatless, and the yellow hair which grew thickly upon his great head fell over the shoulders of his tunie like a jion’s mane. ‘The eagle-like nose and broad, full face were already known to the observer, and he trem- bled. Jt was the man of his dream—the Jeader who had leaped ashore from the ship of his vision. Yes, for there upon the table was the stcel cap with its frontal picce in the shape of a hawk’s head. This man was Guthmund of the Mighty Arm—if old Thorhall’s tale was to be believed. , And how close the resemblance was to Eirik Geogson! Surely nobody could doubt the descent of the young Ice- lander from this frozen Viking. Feltnar dragged his eyes from the contemplation of the dead chief and looked about the room. Lying on the floor, as though it might have at one time leaned against the table, was a sreat battle-ax, the helve a massive beam, the head and blade corroded with rust. *This story began in the September issue of THe ArGcosy. The three back numbers will be mailed to any address on receipt of 30 cents. GORMIGOOO SS (SO in