stefansson-wrangel-09-32-087v

374 THE ADVENTURE OF WRANGEL ISLAND

formerly did, though he still implies she removed the pages—at
least he has made no other suggestion as to how they were ab-
stracted.

Before the news publication of the deplorable statement of Feb-
ruary 11,1924 (as quoted above), the families of the Wrangel party
had had time and opportunity to make up their minds about the
manner and causes of the tragedy. The relatives of the two vet-
erans, Knight and Maurer, were familiar with our plans and meth-
ods from the beginning. They and the other families had seen the
available records. All that was not missing or mutilated of Lorne
Knight’s two-year diary had been sent to his parents and typed
copies to the other families. Each family had the letters received
from their dead, and copies of most or all of these had been ex-
changed between the various recipients. Ada Blackjack had vis-
ited Mr. and Mrs. Knight at McMinnville, Oregon, for a week
and had given them her story of the island life from the landing
in 1921 to the death of their son in 1923. In common with nearly
everyone who has seen Ada Blackjack in Seattle, San Francisco,
or Los Angeles they formed a very high opinion of her. Her gentle
diffidence, soft voice, and obvious sincerity have won particularly
extravagant praise from those who do not realize that these are
rather common qualities among Eskimos. But be the qualities
personal or racial, they are equally convincing, and whoever talks
with Ada Blackjack believes her. Mr. and Mrs. Knight had all
the more reason to believe, since her story coincided in all essen-
tials with their son’s diary. Their sorrows had begun to soften
with time, they were in a measure reconciled, they took pride in
the heroic and simple story of their son’s illness and death as told
in his handwriting and by the lips of the gentle woman who had
done her best for him to the end. They realized that had she
been wiser and more experienced she could have done more, but
superstition and lack of skill are but human weaknesses. They
loved her for what she is, such as she is, and for what she had
endured and tried to do.

During and after Ada Blackjack’s visit Mr. Knight wrote at
length to the other relatives and to me, sharing with us the infor-
mation he secured and the opinions he formed. He had already
labored hard to mitigate the grief of the others by imparting to
them through letters the better understanding of the situation