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Show I Copyrighted 1910 by the Century Company 1 HPl CI? CT ATrt I By Henry Ketchell Welister, Author (With 1 I CPynghted 1909-lOby the Success Company " fig jjjlVy IVJ.3,11 Samuel Merwin) of "Calumet K" 1 I CHAPTER VIII. APPAHITIONS. Roscoe did not pause (o Investigate tho' effect of Ills blow, nor to waste a second one. If the mnn who hnd confronted him , thore In the oompanionwav were dead, so much the bettor. If he were only half-dead, half-dead, the Job could be llnlshed at anv lime. lie was out of the way for the nrOKfint li.nsr. Pnnnn 1.,, I I searching staterooms and passageways and Anally the crew's quarters, forward. Whon he had satisfied himself that he and his men were In undisputed possession posses-sion of the yacht, he emerged on deck again by the forward hatchway, and found Captain Planck already there. Ho directed him to go below with Schwartz, who had been engineer aboard tho whaler, and get iitcani up as promptly as possible. Ho himself remained on dock, directing tho unloading and stowage stow-age of those p-oelous golden slabs that the rest of the party were bringing out In boats from the shore. He paced the deck uneasily, forhcro was a superstitious streak In his pher-wlsc pher-wlsc strong composition which caused him always, a feeling of alarm when matters went too well with him; whon his plans succeeded beyond his hopes for thorn. He had expected to lose a . man or two In getting possession of tho yacht, vet they had gone off and left it, apparently, in the sole charge of the one disabled member mem-ber of their party. And. then, ho had not oxpectcd that tho relief would have sot out so soon; he had counted on having hav-ing to wait twenty-four hours moro before be-fore the field should clear itself for his , operations; and thoso twentv-four hours would have been fraught with perils. Now that he was In possession of the yacht, now that all the gold, except what three or four more boats could carry, was transferred safely to the bc-tween-deck space beneath the turtle- Iwjuiv, nuw unit me smoitc was pouring out of tho Aurora's funnels and the steam rising In her pressure gauges, he fell to wondering just what sort of trap that the devil was baiting for him. with this unbroken train of successes. When, -with the arrival of another boat from the shore, one of the great golden slabs it brought wont overboard as they were lifting It up on dock, he astonished the boat's crew by taking , tlic disaster good-naturedly. "Never mind, boys," he said; "we've got a plenty without that. Come! Look j alive with the rest of it." For now Ids mind was at ease again. The "hoodoo." as he would have called It, of a too complete success was broken i by this trifling mischance, i In reality, this primitive religion, which was all he had, was satisfied j He had performed a sacrifice, Involun- i tary, as such sacrifices must be. to tho envious devil which served him for a god. It occurred to him after It happened that perhaps Miguel would count for v 'i sacrifice, loo, for he had not come 1:i H.- P.nt tlir.fi mf ., ..r.. I, devil of a god could think that Miguel was worth much. Ho watched, 'through tho fog. the successful suc-cessful arrival of the" other boats, bring- . Ing Hie lati of the treasure with them. I I "We've got it all. Roscoe, unless you J want them barrels of whale oil." a man in the last boat sang out as they came alongside. "We'll leave them to pay for this nickel-plated ship." Roscoo answered. "Come! Look alive and-get aboard. We'll be ready to start as soon as we can get ' a little daylight." He looked thorn over, numbered them as if they had boon so many sheep, noted that they were all here, except poor Miguel; Planck and Schwartz were down toiling at the boilers. "Stay here till I come back." he commanded. com-manded. "I'm going below to sco that everything's stowed all right. When 1 come back I want to talk to vou." Hu disappeared down the after hatchway, hatch-way, switched on a light and indulged 5n a long, satisfied look at the great j masses of precious metal which were I stacked, according to his directions, in the strong-room. His purpose In coming down here was threefold. Ho meant to sue that the gold was stowed correctly and he meant to lock the room up, so that Its pro-clous pro-clous contents, would not bo tampered with, and bring tin; key away with him. He was not afraid that anv of his crew would try to steal It, but he thought the moral effect of having It locked away whore It was Inaccessible to them, anu of his keeping the key In his own nos- session would be a holp In maintaining his prestige as commander. They knew tho sea better than ho did, Just as ho knew tho nature of gold-bearing rock, it was necessary to do something to bolster up his position as chief of tho party and keep it abovo dispute. He did not want to have to kill anv of them yot. Tho Aurora would be short-handed short-handed enough as it was. But there was one moro reason for that hurried trip to the strong-room. Tie wanted to be sure that a certain rosewood box had come aboard along with tho treasure and what few stores they wore taking away with them. That little box had occupied much of his leisure since the dav when he had murderod tho owner of It. Ho had sometimes some-times wished that when It came Into his hands that day he had yielded to his impulse to shatter Ir. for the thing had always mocked him coquetted with him. He had often seen It. lying open on Captain Fielding's table In the tiny walled -off hole of a room they called the captain's cabin, while the captain himself was writing up his Journal or working upon his charts. He had. during dur-ing that first winter, frequently thought of trying to open It, should tho opportunity oppor-tunity offer Itself. Aflor ihn imirrtnt- n'linn Iia 1nr.tr lltnl little room for his own quarters, he found the box and preserved It with tho Idea that now, at least, he would get the bottor of it. Ho knew what Its contents wore well enough Captain Fiolding's chnrts and journal, and he had no curiosity concerning them. But tho secret mechanism of the box Itself tantalized him. and he meant some day to solve it. Once he had done so, he would kick tho thing to pieces and destroy de-stroy Its contents. Thero was nil there was to it at first, but during the next winter, when tho long night kept them prisoners in their narrow quarters, tho mystery of that little rosewood box took on an added importance to him and to the others, out of all proportion to anv effect which the solution of it could have. One by one, with the exception of tho Portuguese, Portu-guese, they tried. Hour after hom- fl. labored with It. "and Invariably they failed. The rest of them gave It up. and their admitted defeat gave Roscoe another Incentive In-centive for solving the thing himself, for he meant to leave no stone unturned to convince thorn that they were fools and weaklings; that he. Roscoo. was the only man among them. Such a conviction was necessary to his leadership. It was toward the end of that winter that the Portuguese made a suggestion destined to boar fruit. "It's a curse that has sealed up that box," ho said, i ;'Vou (?an't open it. and if you break I it. the curse will kill 'von " lie evidently believed implicitly In this theory, for no persuasion could Induce him to touch the box himself. Gradually, tho others had shown,- by little Involuntary Involun-tary acts, shrlnklngs and glances.' that Miguel's belief was Infecting them. Sometimes, Some-times, aflor a long succession of sleepless, sleep-less, lighttcss days. Roscoe found himself him-self believing it. -too. and regarding that little box as the sealcd-up casket of the murder he had done- upon the ownor of It. The crime was there Inside. To overcome that feeling, he had worked all the harder trying to solve Its secret. Ills interest now, however, in making sure that the box had really been brought aboard tho Aurora was not superstitious, sup-erstitious, but wholly practical. Thcv were leaving most of their stores behind thorn, as there was no time either to transport thorn to the Aurora or to destroy de-stroy thorn. With these stores and with the shelter afforded by the hut and the Ittlo chump of surrounding out-bulld-Ings, It was probable that somo members mem-bers oi tho Aurora's party, at least, would survive the winter. If a relief1 ship should arrive the next summer, or even the summor thereafter, it would probably find somoono on this dosolato shore who could tell tho story of the disappearance of tho Aurora and form a moro or less definite surmise as lo tho cause of It. That rosewood box had Captain Fielding's Journal In it, a Journal Jour-nal that had been written up lo tho very morning when Roscoo had murdered mur-dered hltn. Its discovery would go a long way toward bridging tho gap which Roscoo meant to leave In their departing depart-ing trail. In short. If that rosewood box were left bohlnd. Roscoe would always al-ways feel that ho was In more or less danger of detection. And ho didn't mean to havo a. thing like that hanging over mm. Consequently, when he discovered that tho box was not on board, and that his particular injunctions concerning It had been either neglected or disobeyed, ho came raging up on dock again, a most formidable figure, which caused his companions, com-panions, hardened rufTians though thev were, to cower and shrink away from him. In a torrcnl of furious blasphemy, he demanded to know why that box had not been brought aboard; and the concentrated con-centrated lees of his rage ho omptlon at last upon the two men whom he had ordered to do it. "Now," he concluded, when the torrent tor-rent had spent Itsolf. "you go ashore, you two. Yes. you. Carlson, I mean you, and you, Rose! go ashore now and get It. Then, after a momentary silence, he raged out the command again, amid a foul flood of abuse. But still they made no move to obey, and the big Swcdo, In evident torror, answered him. "1 won't got It, Roscoe. If you want that box, you can get It yourself." "What In hell do you moan?" the leader stormed. But his voice, ovon as he spoke. lost Its confident tang of authority. au-thority. Carlson huddled back Into place amon the other members of the crow, and from their moaning nods and inarticulate growls of assent, it was evident they knew what ho meant and why he would not go, that Ihoy assented In his refusal. re-fusal. Indeed, If Roscoe had not been luiivuiK jii mac intuitive reeling for Hie temper of his followers tho fooling which distinguishes only those leaders who govern otherwise than by terror, he would havo perceived that a strange spirit of unrest was distracting the wholo , party. I Ho saw It now, at all events, and when he repealed tho question. "What In hell o you mean?" It was with an inflection that meant he wanted to bo Informed. lou toll him." said Carlson, nodding to his companion. Rose. Evidently it was Rose who had told the story to tho other members of the party. He was a squatlv built man with a stubborn Jaw, anil Planck. In the days of his command, had a ways disliked him as that most undesirable unde-sirable post that can be . found in a torocastle a sea lawyer. niiai uki you leave tne uox In the hut for?" ho demanded. "He might not have come back if you had left it in the cave. "Come back!" echoed Roscoe. with a growl. "That's what 1 said. Wo went to the hut to get It. and thero was a light Inside, In-side, and there he sat, Just like ho used to. And he had the box open " "He1 Who do you mean?" There was no trace of truculence in Roscoe's voice now. Ho spoke as though his throat wore dry. "It was Captain Fielding; him to the life. And, yet, it was different from the way ho used to be. "We couldn't sec It very well. Its face was sideways and the light was behind it. and It looked .smaller and thinner more more like a woman. (If Rose had had .the word 'spiritual' In his vocabulary, he would have used It. In default of It. he gave up trying to express Just what he meant.) Anyway, there ho sat. with the box opon beside him. and that, red book of his open on Ills knees. Go back for It? Well, I guess not." There was a momentary silence after he had finished, and Roscoo could feel, as It stretched Itself out to tho length of half a minute or so, tho chill of their terror enveloped him. To throw It off. ho blustered, stormed at and abused thorn for a pack of liars. But In the end he sprang down into one of the boats, and said he would fetch the box himself Whether ho believed their story, or not, It was the only thing for him "to do. As he pulled shoreward ho tried hard lo convince himself that he did not believe be-lieve it; that Rose and Carlson had probably prob-ably forgotten all about the box. and had trumped up the story to avoid the neces sity oi going oacir. tor it. Ho must believe the story was a lie. There was no rational explanation of the thing the two sailors pretended they had seen. The box, not shattered, but lying open, after having deiled their ingenuity for four years! And a figure like Captain Cap-tain Fielding, yet strangely smaller, like a woman there was a touch of undc-flnablc undc-flnablc terror about that idea. It did not seem like a lie that Rose and Carlson would be capable of making up. Its very welrdness gave it a horrible resemblance to tho truth, lie remembered what Miguel Mi-guel poor, half-crazy Miguel used to say about It. Miguel In all probability-was probability-was dead now. Could Miguel, dead, have anything to do by way of a vengeance perhaps with the thing Rose and Carlson Carl-son had seen, or had believed they saw? "With an oath, ho cast the Idea away from him. They had lied, that was all. "When he got back to the ship he would have them flogged, both of them. That would teach them, and the others, too. perhaps, that ho was not to bo trifled with. He beached his boat, scrambled ashore and set out walking doggedly along In the direction of the hut. Tho fog was still all but impenetrable even lo his practiced vision, but be know tho shore like the palm of his hand. atd ho trudged on without a pause, until he was within ten paces, perhaps, of his destination. But there he faltered and .stopper), turned about, under an Irresistible Impulse Im-pulse of fear, and would havo fled had not sheer necessity compelled him to stop again. There was a light, n diffused yellow yel-low glow, faint but unmistakable, shining shin-ing out of tho windows of the hut. He know he could not go back to the Aurora jvlthnut. that, box; IL was necessary neces-sary both to his futuro safety and his present command of the situation. Ills one hold upon those sullon followers of his depended upon his being Impervious alike to terror and to defeat. If he were to go back now without accomplishing accomplish-ing his purpose, It would only bo a question ques-tion of days before they murdered him. They all hated him, enough for that, ho know. Yet. even under that .necessity. It was three or four minutes before, at the command com-mand of his burly will, ho began croep-ing croep-ing forward on hands and knocs toward the lighted window of the hut. And when he reached a point where ho could command. Its Interior, his knocM slipped out from undor him and lie lay prone upon the Icy beach, his race burled In his outstretched arms. For those two sailors had told the truth. Presently he drew himself up and squatted squat-ted back on bis haunches, staring. Human Hu-man or not, the figure there In the hut soomed .unaware of h'8 nrcsence. It was staring at the expiring llamo of the candle can-dle In profound abstraction. When it stirred, as presently It did. It was with a natural, human motion. And then the candle wont out. In the few seconds of silence which followed, his terror returned upon him with full force. "Rut It went away aB suddenly as It had come, and with Its recession there surged up In him a wave of brutish anger. It was no ghost that had sat in contemplation over tho contents con-tents of that box. for It wns moving now, 1 with human footsteps Jaltorlng, uncertain uncer-tain footsteps, at that. And when It appeared. Just visible and no more, outside out-side tho doorway. It called aloud In a human voice a woman's voice. At tho sound of It. he drew himself up. towering, before her. and so, became be-came visible lo her a monstrous, blurrod uncertain shape. And she cried out; this time In torror. Then, before ha could spring upon her and kill hor with his hands, as his brutish brut-ish instinct of rage urged him to do. he started back suddenly, and himself cried out! For a faint circle of light, waving, wandering, wan-dering, unoarthly, was shining straight down upon both of them through tho fog out of the sky Itself. Looking up, ho saw overhead a single, great luminous eye, and In the reflection of its own light upon the Ice. very faintly, faint-ly, the fabric of outstretched wings. Then from up thero. overhead, ho heard a voice a qulel. voice, "I'm here," II .laid. "Don't bo afraid." Blindly, Roscoe flung his hands, whirled around and fell: scrambled to hie feet again and fled like a man hag-riddon, hag-riddon, down tho shore. As he did so, ho heard a ragged volloy of shots from the direction of the Aurora. Au-rora. Tills sound of plain human light ing, which ho understood and did not fear, helped restore to equilibrium his mind, which a moment before had been totlerlng to absolute destruction. Once ho could get buck to his boat and feel the oars npder his hands again once be found himself pulling out toward the yacht, no matter how desperate the odds awaiting him thoro might be against him. he would, he felt, bo himself once more. Ho ran on and on down tho beach. Ho had not passed his boat, he knew, but he finally realized that he had passed the placo where he had brought the boat ashore. CHAPTER IX. WAITING FOR DAWN. Caylcy wheeled so that he headed up Into tho wind and dropped, facing the girl and with his buck to her. retreating assailant, lie had to drop almost vertically ver-tically In order to avoid being blown out Into the sea nftcr he struck tho Ice. Even as 11 was. ho went slithering down the glassy slope toward the water, and only managed to chock his Impetus by throwing himself Hat on his face and clutching at a hammock which chanced to orfer him n precarious hold. He had come down "all adrift." as sailors say. and his monstrous wings, powerless for lll.rl.t K..I ....( ...Illi florvnlnf' nm-Viir- I'slfy. cost him a momentary struggle while he was getting them bundled into controllable con-trollable shape. All the while he half expected an attack at-tack from tho man whom his sudden appearance ap-pearance had Just put to flight. Whether Wheth-er the man came back or not, would de-i de-i pond on how lyully Cayloy's portentous intervention had frightened him, but if he came back before the sky-man had got i clear of his wings, he would find an an-I an-I tagonlst as helpless as the girl herself. I Caylcy, before he dropped, had weighed it. as an oven chance that this very thing would happen. And if It did not, the odds were still rather against his coming out of the maneuver undamaged. Alighting upon an unknown surface at . night in .a dense fog and in the teeth of a number seven gale, was not an act which a sane sense i of self-preservation would approve of. But. thanks as much to luck as to skill, he presently found himself upon his feet uninjured. Ho at once set out. making what haste he could, across the Ice toward where he had last scon the girl, shouting up tho galo to her at the sunn; mm:, w iwiuw n jm- .i-i-. o..... heard no answer, but presently made hor out. dimly, only a pace or two away. His first act then, even before speaking, was to take out his pocket electric bull's-eye bull's-eye and turn It full upon her. "It's Just to make sure you're not hurt that I really gol down hero In time," ho apologized. "I wish I might have saved you the torror. but it wasn't until vou cried out thai I knew " "I'm not hurt," she assured him, "I'm a llttlo dazed, that's all. No. not with fright, wilh wonder. I hardly had time to bo frightened. But I thought you d gone this morning, that you had aban-, doned us Just as you said you would. . And yet, whon I cried out Just now, for ' help, It was vou that I called to. . . . And thon you came, out of tho sky. just as I was sure you would. For I was ! certain, with tho same certainly one has In dreams. Now thai It's over, I find , myself wondering again if you are real. I'm not hurt at all." Before he could find nnythlng to say In answer, they heard another shot, mufflod In the fog, from the direction of the Aurora, and in prompt reply to , It. another volley. "Wasn't there firing bfcforc?" she asked. "Can any one be attacking the , yacht? There is no one there but Tom, , you know, and he's disabled. Can't wo j can't I, got out there any way? Tho ! bora I came ashoro In Is right hero." t Without making her any answer, he , carried the unwieldy bundle his wings , mado into tho hut and left it there. ( then returned to her and offered her his hand. "We'll go down and look for your hnn I " lio in Irl Along the water's edge they searched, aided by the little beam from" his bull's-eye, bull's-eye, the sound of Intermittent firing from the yacht urging haste all tho while. But It did not take long .to force the conviction upon them that the boat was bone. Blown adrift, most likely, was Cayloy's explanation. Ho felt hor trembling. Whether with cold or drend, he did not know, but he took her arm and steadied her with tho' pressure of his own. I "Come back to tho hut," he said. "The ! situation isn't as bad as you think. I'll tell you when we get to shelter where we can talk." She turned obcdionUv, and breasted the icy slope with him. Neither spoke again until they were safe In tho lee of the hut. Then he said: "I don't think Fanshaw is alone there on the yacht Tho relief party and the flrst party from tho Aurora got together somo. time this afternoon and started back toward the shore. Thoy should be aboard tho yacht by now. though whon tho fog fell it put an end to my activities. activi-ties. The Walrus people have undoubt-1 odly attacked them, but they shouldn't havo any trouble In beating them off. 'They outnumber them and they arc bettor bet-tor armed; In fact, so far as I know, tho Walrus peoplo aren't armed at all. Thoy knew your people. I mean that tho yacht was llkoly to be attacked I told them so myself, and then their pretended pre-tended guide confessed " "How did you know about tho Walrus?" Wal-rus?" she asked curiously. '"The Portuguese was one of them; ho had guided your first party down Into a Utiles valley of perpetual fog. under orders to abandon them there. When he saw me sailing about overhead through the fog. you know he broko down and confessed and then, well, be made a clean breast of it lie know nothing of tho detnlls of his leader's plans: but tho mere fact that he had been delegated to guldo tho party Into a placo from i which It was to bo expected they could never get out. wns conclusive as to his inieniinns at jcasi. i He had spoken rather disconnectedly his sentences punctuated bv tho sounds of firing from tho yachtl By the time he finished they wore almost continuous. "Why does It sound so much fainter than it did?", she asked. "It's not noarly so loud as that first volley wo hoard." "It's a trick of the fog. vory Hkclv." ho said. "Focr Is a frightfully trcaclr-orous trcaclr-orous thing. It deceives men's ears as i well as their eves, There's no Judging i distance through It. When vou cried ' out just now, I couldn't tell whether vou I were fifty foet. below mo or ilvo hundred i feet. I was tip abovo It. you see. and I hadn't any way of tolling how deep It 1 1 was. There! Do you hear?" ho wenl on. "The firing has stopped altogether ' lour people aro almost certainly safe.": But tho girl's mind had not followed him to the new subject. "Vou wore up i thero In clear air?" sho asked, "and the foe was all below you?" "Like a bluish-grey blanket," he explained, ex-plained, "lit by tho Btnrfl. and nothing' olse. It was pouring along like the' greatest rlvor you ovor saw, the surfacol of It eddying off in llttlo wisps. The I upper air is comparatively still " ' nonduyou cou,1(In,t 4500 through It at: all?' sho questioned "couldn't see the land any moro than you could sec tho bottom of tho ocoan through tho walcr?" No more than that," ho assented. She shivered a little and reached out ' for his arm. "And vou camo down into I that, not knowing what you were to find rtot knowing whero Ui land was' 1 1 I I hfe'for1 mo2" y0U hlUl Ju8t rl;'kcd yo,,r t-nn'.'v''J1'"1 1101 wnl thaL sho should knou-not now. ill loast. In tho back ?.L V mlnd l,,cre 1,utl boo" a puzzled wonderment why she had come ashoro ; '"?1;ltt'1,.,lt our ous chain of events could K': have loft hor and that hairy n dnsu-r, Roscoe. face to face upon that unsteady volco and tho wav sho clung ,VL ! X aiVMt (V ""wort, showed plainly hiuJsh.,lIlHt 1,10 cxi'f-rlonce had boon an exhausting ono to her. Sho would not mnl 0,1,ll",,l lhla after n mSro momentary terror, such as tho sight of Mmi00 woul'1 .L'".uso hor' liowever sharp that terror hud been. h asked, "and sco ir it.f.; habitable? if ' &. youd hotter go In and let mo mako fhini. " (:oi1lfrta"le I can. I don't; uuni. you need have anv fanr ni.nm ,i, m ?, poop,,e' AmI worrying wouldn't uS. y .cl .an.vV'ny' T'xr'H notlilng iwt. n un nxt W,U for (il,ylFlit. Nothing Noth-ing can happen anywhere until then." -ipPcn. lf lho Iriis poople tney were all destroyed In tho attack son?,' 0l,'(I ''"ubtedly mako trouble a fhU In lmP',nllt; 'ovealod the fact thai n. ,! 011,(1 1shl l,lcm nfi! be"e- trom lli?tl00Vvay or 1,10 lu,t " from any-roubllnn, any-roubllnn, An.V"e-o "'as no need of t on I! ,tlle thin eonsldcra- tlon . not for tho present, at least. Its all right in there." she said, "I i,. n"'S h,"ow how many hours c,an,d1:,adB,n,S,CoV?'t0.l', CBm0' Bul t,1C J,ll0iB?!;ci 'j001 behind them gave access ac-cess inl0 a ny sl)0(J protnidng f the cornor of tho hut a id serving, evi -rlnm U'n aS a, veatl,,ue for It. Tile5 Inner ,Li ,te'l0r a,mI wronger affair, open-tho open-tho ?n J ;!.nF,l0-V0, u- save access to tno interior oi tho hut. rnc'.Uy y .T'tched ori ,i i,-s-oyo andi Tho , .J'rlCf. e,,ince , aboul thQ room. w?rc lwo or three rude, flimsy-ooklng flimsy-ooklng doors which undoubtedly opened Into small cabln-llko bedrooms; but tho principal part of tho hut was taken up selves0 r0m Whlch thoy f0llnd them r.iLT;'aSv a.d,snml 0CMnz Place onough. .i cot. square, perhaps, and not mn5 h.an hali ns "'- 111 one corner .ftLa.i ?,p of , "moke-blackened stones, evidently the. ruins of a fireplace. Thore wore shelves and cupboards along the want, and a number of narrow bunks. i,ilfy Y Fet .,,,s 1,1110 I'liU's-cyo on a sholf where they could mako the most of its thin pencil of light. He then Viw 'L w'.8,! ;utenlion to the door, and ;. '? . 1 st'Sf;lo succeoded In cot-ling cot-ling it shut, and. what was moro on. curcy bolted, by means of a heavy .0d.C.n bar which dropped Into an Iron iu2 r Vx lhe,y we,r0 attacked with the ,of.,tl,c d'U'llBht. this place would afford them security until tho people fiom the Aurora could come to their rescue. res-cue. His revolver was a Colt forty-five, and his bell was full of cartridges. With that weapon, ho remembered that ho had once boon considered the best shot in tho army The girl, when he turned to look at her. was seated on tho edge of a bunk at the other sldo of the hut. Her pallor Ihe traces of tears he could see in her eyes tho pathetic droop to her lips, all emphasized the thing hor voice had told him already, namely, that some emotional emotion-al crisis, which sho had been through in those recent hours, had loft her "quite exhausted. Without a word, ho turned to his bundle which ho had deposited In a corner cor-ner of tho room, and fished out from It his sheepskin sleoplng-bag. It was not until he approached hor. with II across his arm. that his eyo foil upon tho rosewood rose-wood box and the morocco-bound book whlt-h lay beside it I ' Her eyo followod his. 'They'ro father's papers," she said. "I found the box In here. That's why I stayed. . I hnd comu ashore " "Wall a minute," he Interrupted. Ho took up the book with a gontleness almost al-most reverent, laid It In the llttlo chest and sot It down on the floor Beside the bunk. Tho quality of tho act brought the too ready tears to hor eyes, but he did not look up at hor to surprlso them thero. "Now." he said. ".I'm xolng to take off those boots of yours, which aro wot, but which will servo excellently, nevertheless, for a pillow, and you are to take off i that heavy coat and get lnflldo this bag. Have you ever slept In one?" Ho was already tugging at ono of tho bools, and her protest went unheeded ii was only a half-hearted protest aflor all. When ho had taken off the boots, she submitted, without demur, to his unfastening un-fastening ihe frogs on her heavy sealskin seal-skin coat and slipping It oft" her shoulders. shoul-ders. When finally, with some assistance from him. she nestled down Inside tho great fleece-lined bag, when he had rolled hor small boots Into n bundle and made a pillow of thorn for her head, an he had said he would, sho exclaimed, half-robelllously. at tho comfort of It "all. "It Is so dollciously warm and soft," sho said. "I didn't know you were just being a luxurious sybarilo when you refused re-fused a mattress and a pair of blankets on tho yachl. If only you could be warm, tno, and comfortable." "I shall be.", ho assured her. "I'll make a cushion of that great coat of yours and sit down here at the foot of tho bunk. Vou To not to bother about me. You're to prove the efficacy of the slceplng-bng by going to sleep In It." 'And what will you do all the while sitting there and keeping watch? Would you would you like to rend father's Journal' If you would. I'd llko to have you. after what you said long ago about the men who risked and lost their lives trying to reach tho pole. T think If vou will read that book, you will understand, n spite of your wings. And well. I'd like to have you understand." He moved tho bull's-eye to another Part of the hut. where the light from It would not shlno In hor eyes, and would illuminate tho pages of the book she offered of-fered him to read, while ho sat, wrapped n her great coat, at the foot of the bunk. Once as he passed by her In the com- j... -nv.il ui inese arrangements, sho withdrew with-drew hor hand from the bag and held It out to him. "You've boon very good to linn- iir said "J 1ob't mean by risking ll l!rVmd PlllnSr"e: down Into that ijank or fog when you knew I was in nangor. A bravo man would do that. T suppose some brave men, anywav. But you've been better than that- Ho told hor not to talk, but to go to sleep; and without any moro words" ensconced en-sconced himself at hor foot, drew his legs tip under him. tailor-fashion, and began to read. Sho closed her eyes, or half closed them, but under the shadow of her lashes she- watched his face. Tho light thai did not shine In hers, Illuminated his- It was a beautiful face, bul In a wholly masculine mascu-line way, the first beautiful man's face she thought she had over seen that had no trace of weakness or effeminacy about it. It had looked bravely Into tempests, that face tempests of lho soul, as well as those of the open, cruel sky that he had conquered. But. with all its strength, with all Its defiance. It showed a Spirit, sensitive, accesslblo to pain. Watching him as ho read the paces of her father's Journal, she was as sure the story Tom had told her about him was false no; It was not Tom's falsehood, sho know thai he bolloved lho story as suro ho was Innocent of that Imputed l treachery anil torture as of the murder of the man who had once boon his Intl-JB male friend, from which her own dls-'vll covery and hor father's Journal clearedtiH She could almoHl follow the tragic nar-SlH nitlvo that the book contained from Uio.lM reflections on the skyman's fuco, Hig4H eyes never left the finely written pages, 'll and she was free to watch him as clo.sclyvH as she chose. ,'JH For a while every change In his nensNtH live color, every contraction or widenlug-fH of his eyelids, every dilation of his Unoiy.lH chiseled nostrils, every move of his half- JH parted lips, revealed to her something of JH lho spirit of tho man who read. aIH But presently lho warmlh. tho comfortfl tho stillncfs ovcronmo her, and she slept'IH or at any rate dozed, but never dcepJH enough to lose hor consciousness of thoIH presence of the man who sat thore read-iH When he drew near the end of the nar? ratlvc, sho. was again translating thy H quick succession of his thoughts, In the' H face, wherein he was unconsciously ex--' H hlhlting them. V She saw him close the book at last and sit there, as she had sat. with it upon' H his knees, absorbed, reflective. .Suddenly.' H he look up the book again, opened It and.'. referred lo tho entry on that last page. - H Mo was thinking now. not dreaming.' H His mind was on the active present, Be-'; fore long he stolo a look al her. Sho met" H his eyes. A "I'm glad father told us that the man H was left-handed." she said gravely. "b0. cause tho man who killed Mr. Hunter was- H loft-handed, too." ,', Sho had spoken the very thing his own H mind had been groping for without quite' H finding, and he started and stared at her. H "Why do you say that?" he demanded." H "How do you know?" ?W "It was a left-handed stick. I look itftXl up In my left hand and It fitted, that wasHM when I was fetching It out of tho cabln-fjM for uncle Jerry." i "Then that was how you know I hadn't 1 done It?" i "No. I didn't need any proof. I knew. H already, without that." . 1 "Suppose I had turned out to bo left-'.' H handed, loo?" ' 1 "I didn't think of thnL But It wouldn't' have made any difference to me. "When' you really have faith In anybody It Isn'b M easily shaken; not by mere circum-stances., circum-stances., at lenst." ? " "When you really havo f.-ilth,' " ho! Ut repeated. "Yes, T suppose that's so4" Hf He pressed his hands against his temple's! H "But there Isn't too much of that divlira commodity In the world " (To Be Continued.) H |