CAPTAIN KLINKENBERG 53 



he will hear some time and will not only hear but will 

 remember for years. That a man you have never seen 

 and who lives a thousand miles away has a wart on his 

 nose is well known to you and to every one in your post. 

 In this respect the whaling fleet does not differ. When 

 you are living in a big city, it seems reasonable to be 

 told in the movies or in a novel that criminals go into 

 "the northern wilderness" to hide, but if you know the 

 North yourself you will know that that is one place where 

 hiding is impossible. Klinkenberg's arrest, then, would 

 come whenever the authorities desired, unless, indeed, 

 he might be able to get "outside" and lose himself in 

 the really impenetrable jungle of some big city. 



The Klinkenberg story of romance and horror was im- 

 pressed upon me more strpngly because there was at the 

 island a United States Commissioner by the name of 

 Judge Marsh. He consulted with me about various 

 things. His theory was that an American ship was Ameri- 

 can territory and that it was, therefore, his business to 

 investigate the charges against Klinkenberg. He wanted 

 somebody to act as clerk to copy down testimony and, 

 accordingly, asked me to come aboard the Olga. He took 

 testimony from all the crew. It is the gist of this testi- 

 mony which I have given above. Judge Marsh later took 

 this testimony to San Francisco. A warrant was even- 

 tually issued for Klinkenberg. He was arrested by a 

 United States Revenue cutter, tried in San Francisco and 

 acquitted. He may have been guilty or innocent. If 

 he was guilty, he may have been guilty of only a part 

 of the charges made against him. But the stories which 

 center about this affair have continued since then to multi- 

 ply in the North, until now they form a whole cycle of 

 legend. Klinkenberg himself still lives in the Arctic. 



