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346 THE ADVENTURE OF WRANGEL ISLAND

talking too much, her low spoken “Bennett” brings him instantly
to her side.

Her manners are charming, she has a gentle reserve and poise
that anyone might envy. In new surroundings and among new
people and unaccustomed things, she carries herself with dignity.
She takes pride in her appearance and in keeping Bennett looking
well.

There is something appealing about Ada. People find them-
selves wanting to do things for her. On the boat going down to
California, people wanted to talk to her and hear about her ex-
periences. She was very shy about talking to strangers, and an-
swered questions in as few words as possible. It was next to im-
possible to induce her to talk about Wrangel.

Reporters found her very difficult. She would not talk or have
her picture taken. She seemed to have an instinctive knowledge
of the presence of newspaper people, and she would take Bennett
by the hand and retreat hurriedly to her cabin, and there she
would stay until the ship was safely out of port. This led to
complications and amusing incidents, because Ada had definite
news value. One irritated reporter who failed to get an interview
wrote that “Ada Blackjack and her halfbreed son, Johnny Black-
jack, arrived today on the Emma Alexander. She refused to be
interviewed and talked in a native dialect, tho she is said to speak
English.” As a matter of fact Ada had said nothing.

Another reporter gave up the task after he had waited, he said
afterwards, for fifteen minutes for an answer to his question,
“Were there many wild animals on Wrangel Island?” After the
lengthy wait, Ada said “A few.”

As far as she was concerned, she had nothing to say of sufficient
importance to cause such pursuit of her. She was never a heroine
to herself. She was not given to thinking much about the part
she played in the tragic history of the Wrangel Expedition. She
did not want to talk for several reasons. Her native reserve and
suspicion of strangers—and because she wanted to forget the ex-
perience that made such a deep impression upon her, as she said
—“because it always makes me have a choke in my throat and
tears come to my eyes.” She wanted to forget—her feeling in
that was not so different from that of the men who had gone