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Show SKjby tho Century ' B 1 fjk M 4 flkntftghtod 1909-10 ffl aPtt if IT m By Henry KetchoU Wolistor, Au- TNjBfebess Company. JLJLl C3jLm l W 1 J Tj thor(WIthSamuel Morwin) of 1fln . - AS etSKft1 their enemy was alone ethLMu Roseoe hlmsell wns ro-fo?XIME ro-fo?XIME conviction that Caylcy's iBhiijI stood between them atSvW Vo terror attrlbutablo to SOKb have held back that 'Tfcc bur desperate outcast. pjm i situation which caused ?rcPfc K9kt uaenslness was tins fear JS thWtar to the ar. This fear r jflCMSg alons near Die snow,- 'f iiMSfe'niever thought of I .tiHkld to Jeanne -is no align t-l0JIP!a t-l0JIP!a moment or two aftor-;,. aftor-;,. f5 cot It now the way to tJXMSour guardian angel. I Uo)!wlien I saw tho mound tip iCJHSS that Is formed y th 0,1 u2Bn' can't be burled so very BppBLow because the mound Kr I'm going up there now "jKlTnouBh. t least, so that I rih, IHk 'frin tll0rc' ' . v Cw)Pc'an dig out enough snow chiriiy'Bfe start up there,- she ob- nthjjKave to. I'll Just dive off iftfKThat you told me yourself. ! bHv?B;the big birds can take to i aiiLilBbvit a running start; and hiHTJBwJic.-ins and birds like that UBallJlni:3 and throwing them fs" and" how they arc always iUtbi?Siisc they've only got ln-it ln-it S.Fof Intelligence. None of JM?1 lK&u ever been thrown out ni L.--Hkfow. and they didn't know II tHlkHEu't I en St my start quite 4rm& BFwav as any other. Oil yes. tigjZmKfV'0 you JmaSnc. Jeanne i crfSBd lake an unnecessary risk a tki3Ky' life Is the only possible 4s?3JHft Is for yours?" SJBeircst of the day tunnelling ritaMe observatory. He did not "Biotf. he simply packed It. , ..MfiA'rclng the space from a Kjfce'of the pilot house door, "37 NliFtthc cliff's edge wide enough B MKpfenri of his wings. ' kK, watching on the beach &4(HL Ills first flight from this "BTeplto of her confidence In MfaWJhe endured a horrible mo- flHFor he came hurtling down. Mt.nn angle of sixty degrees; "MYtraverstrd two-thirds of thp beach, before his line dc-uu.iBrd dc-uu.iBrd and began curving up -SHLiMfcrizonlaL ww ihat he was safe, that IT wk-'dono the thing he had said Aa B.dropped down upon a bear-'i bear-'i U as spread before the hut, reyes, for what she haI seen jMtier a bit giddy. K(f "passed In a moment. She 1 CHUEts and lay. stretched at full :uijMFthe bear-skin, watching him idind dinped then towered lEKBfc that fntiln" violet sky, su-. su-. efful. majestically dominant jMaWe element he had con- r,'pi. thus, even though it was in eJS experience with her now. iHN in 'ier a mixed amotion. ftlTJH'dld not know whether Joy predominant. Tho power. "Mpriot grace, the free wide iKperformanee never fai'.ed to phalever he mighl bo to hei i TMjlnss were furled, when he ! gUjjjBKlr common tasks or walked i IHtmr- TIC C"' ,)car'w'nat'ver he might be then, when he took to the air ho became, at once, almost as unreal ns ho had been on thai ilrst niglii of al when i,e had descended upon the- floe beside her. She had not been exnccM atlng when she told him that when Phe saw him In illght ho did not seeni a man spirit!" ' 1 a Brent WlnBccl guardian There was a thrill of jov in that foe) Ing. too allliouith It added to her aonao tL lZ "hf'H11,1 M10 camo w"th the thought, which she never could dls-m dls-m ss further than the bacicirroiincl f i Z Jvl SV "'M1 chained that spirit to ho earth, she with her human lln ita.-tlons ita.-tlons and necosslties. She did he - best to keep Cayey from suspecting tho existence ex-istence of this feeling. She never ro-,V ro-,V 11 ,lur,n thc long hours tlS fS-j" C0"versaV0n together, and she tried as well as she could to dismiss it utterly from her own thoughts. But this last was Impossible. It was always hidden hid-den there somewhere, and when she saw him in flight It was a.ways tho thln she was most acutely conscious of. There were times when she could not bear to nt0rh hlm at, a"' ,a,ul 11 alwv-ivs a relief when tho wings were furled and more, and a comrade. uSomi?.(Q aL lcQ?1' was e word she had settled upon to deslgnale the relation rela-tion that existed between them. It did not altogether cover the ground, to be sure, but tentatively, and for temporary purposes it was. perhaps, more comfortable comfort-able than a word or phrase would havo boon that, possessed thc merit of greater accuracy. And yet when alone, as she was now she Indulged in speculating how she should frame that more accurate phrase, should necessity arise for doinp so. AS If to m.-ll.-O lln fnr- lk' 1,, lU,n I- character of those three first incredible days of her acQuaintance with Cayley. days which had changed tho meaning and the value of all that had entered into her lire beforfj as if to compensate for that experience, the weeks which had passed since then had slipped away In an almost unbroken routine. There were occasional reminders of Roscoe's existence and a few tin Important discoveries of articles of use. cither in thc cave or observatory. A furious snow-storm had ragert for a week. and nao Kept them imprisoned In Uielr hut for ns Mong again. These wore tho onlv incidents to break tho routine. They still divided their days as they had set out to do upon Caylcy's discovery discov-ery of the tracks of an unknown man In the snow. They kept "watch and watch," as the. sailors say. the two of them never sleeping at .the same time. i ?"t, If.,,Iie 11:110 had Gone monotonously, t had slipped away wonderfully fast. She had not been bored nor melancholy. Indeed, In-deed, she and Cayley had both been too busy for that forlorn Indulgence. There was an incredible number of things to do. things which would make such a difference differ-ence to their comfort and security, thai what they had to resist was a feverish haste and an attempt to get evervthlntr done at once. And she was generally so tired when it came time to call Cayley at midnight for the beginning of his watch, that she slept like a child, until elKht o'clock thc next morning, when an-I an-I other day's work began. There was always something delicious about that part of tho day. The fact that she and Cayley were together onlv for those eight hours made it possible to condense their companionship to a rather higher tension than is ordinarily possible, for people who are always In each other's company. But still, she said to herself, as she lav there on the bcar-skln, gazing up. lazily, at the soaring creature that seemed so unrelated to the man who was tho sub-b'ct sub-b'ct of her thoughts, but still, companionship compan-ionship was the word for It. He had not made love to her: he had never repeated the declaration that he hnd made to her rJi?Vi0.ret,ul,,at tho yncht was eone and i, 1 u J3 aoKpnce mount, Once in a while ne had 'used some caressing little word or endearment In speaking to her. and, J?ri"e J"",1'01' ft'" much more rarely had orterod her the caress of his hands or of nn arm across her, shoulders. ii V1'.1!1111 nad happnnod almost never at all lately. It rather noticeably had not imppened. Her own expressions of af-rectlon af-rectlon wore rather impulsively demonstrative, demon-strative, and she had noticed, once or twice, that ho had seemed to shrink away from them. That w'n ihrt r",r .......I it. i . r ------ -..w m out iuviccu tiiu situation In her own mind. So far, at least, there was no reason for tiuarrollng with the designation "comrade." But she knew perfectly well that she had only reviewed one side of It. On thc other side, to begin with, was the great luminous fact that here, upon this frozen Arctic land alone, and worse than alone, amid privations she would onco have thought Intolerable, and In dally peril of death, she and Cayley had been unfelgnedly and delightedly happy-she happy-she and this man whom she never saw until two days before that amazing conjunction con-junction of circumstances that had thrown them thus together. They two. strangers as the world reckons such matters, mat-ters, had been living for weeks within the confines of an enforced Intlmacv, which would have become irksome with any other person, her father excepted, Perhaps, that she had ever known. But it wns not irksome to them. Thev began the eight hours they called their dav, together, to-gether, with the high spirits of a pair of children, and they ended them with reluctance, re-luctance, tempered only by the anticipation anticipa-tion of another tomorrow. There was moro than comradeship In that, certainly. She and Tom Fanshaw had been comrades and, as she had told him, she loved hlm very mucn, but at the thought of spending an Arctic winter win-ter with hlm, she smiled rather wryly. Was she quite honest, after all. in telling tell-ing herself that Cayley had not mado love to her? Ho had put nothing of the sort into words, to be sure, and ho had sought none, not even thc most easily granted, of n lover's privilege's, had even, as she had noticed, shrunk away a little from those she had half-unconsclously offered of-fered him. Jeanne was a woman, but she was still enough of a girl to wonder a little why he did that. But this was a digression from the main theme. After all, no matter what he was saying or doing, there was something some-thing In his eyes and sometiirng In his voice that made love to her every day. Perhaps It was that something which gave a new exciting dcliclousncss to each of the shortening days that passed. There was never the cadence of finality about It. It was like a long suspended harmony har-mony In music. But she knew all the while that some day, or otner, that suspension sus-pension would be resolved. That first day on the beach when he had told her that he loved her. that her warmth, her faith, her fragrance were, Indeed, the very soul of him. he had said she need make no answer, need come to no decision. de-cision. ?Ie had never asked for her answer aince, and yet she knew that some day he would take up that scene where he had left It. It might be on a day when the coming of the relief would open the world to them again, the old world which seemed as If it might be concerned with another planet altogether, it was so far away; or it might be upon a darker dav. the last of that precious little string of days that they had stolen, one at a time, out of the palm of doatn. But on one or the other of those days It would come; she felt sure of that. She sat up suddenly, erect, upon tho bear-skin, with the realization that It was nearly dark. Their hours of daylight w-ere getting very Bcanty now. Today's allowance was gone, although it was not yet three in the afternoon. She looked aloft for Cayley, but could not see hlm. Then, the next moment, she heard the whine of the air through his rigging, and ha sailed down on a long slant and alighted beside her. Ho got clear of hia planes with an unaccountable un-accountable air of huste. ana held out both hands to help her rise. "What do wo do vlth sentinels who go to sleep on duty?" ho questioned with a laugh. "I wasn't asleep," she said contritely, hut It was just about as bad. I was thinking " She , paused there, then added, "about you. What's thc sentence of the court?" Already he had his wings folded up and was handing them to her. "Thc sentence Is that you shall be frightened with a bear story. There's a big one coming down the beach after you this very moment, and you're to surrender surren-der tho revolver to me nnd slay under arrest in tho hut until after I have killed lihn." one am not neou to do toiti tnat ne was in earnest, in spite of tho nmlle that went with his words. She turned about quickly and looked up the beach, sighting along Cayley's arm as he pointed. Even ln tho deep twilight she could already make out the shambling figure that was coming along toward them on all fours. "Why docs ho move In that queer sort of way?" she whispered. They had shrunk back Into the shadow of thc hut. the girl actually Inside of the vestibule and Cayley on tho door-step. "IJfi's been wounded. When I wa3 overhead I could make out thc blood stains on his side, and he was leaving a track on the Ico." "Wounded in a fight with another Oear?" "No, that's not likely." She asked no further explanation, hut slipped Into the hut. The next moment she was back with tho field-glasses. "While you're attending to the bear," 'she said In a whisper. "I'll Just keep watch up the beach for for any one else." The past weeks had made ono difference differ-ence ln her attitude toward Cayley which she was now aware of, as she contrasted her sensations on seeing Philip step forward, for-ward, mif nf thra olinllor nf tlio lmt in confront the bear, with those she had experienced ex-perienced when he hnd set out on a similar sim-ilar errand once before, She knew him now, and sho had no fear for him. Tho feeling that thrilled her now was nearer akin to pride than anything else. Cayley fully Justified her confidence. Tho course the bear was taking would have brought him within twenty yards or their door-step. When he first caught sight of Cayley he stopped. In two minds, apparently, whether to be hunted or to do tho hunting himself. Then, as Cayley advanced upon him rather slowly, he decided, de-cided, hissed at him venomously and reared up. Ho was already badly enough wounded to have taken all the fight out of any other sort of animal, but half alive as he was, he cost Cayley four cartridges. Three of those shots Cayley was reasonably reason-ably sure must have entered a vital spot. Thc first ono took the bear between tho eyes as he was rising The second was fired Into his open mouth. The third was probably deflected by thc massive fore paw which ho was holding across his body, ln the attitude of a boxer. Tho fourth shot, however, penetrated his throat and probably smashed one of thc two first vertebrae, for it seemed to bring, the mons er down all in a heap, where ho finally lay still. Cayley could havo reached him with his foot. "Good shooting," said tho girl quietly from the little vestibule. He re-loaded tho revolver, letting tho empty shells drop unheeded on the Ice at her feet. He gave the wapon back to the - girl, and bent over the bear. "I'm less Interested in what I did to him," ho said, "than In what he got from the enemy who first attacked hlm." The light was althost gone, so that all he could see were two or three Irregular dark slalns upon tho white fur. A wound ln the fiank, which none of Cayley's shots could have accounted for, ho explored with practiced hand. Watching him as he did so, tho girl could see that he had found something unexpected, something whicn surprised him greatly. And there was more than surprise. There wns alarmed urgency In his voice when ho spoke to her. Ho offered no explanation. Merely told her to go into the hut and make fast the solid wooden shutters over the windows. He would como in and would tell her what It was all about, in a moment. Tho girl had hardly finished the task he had given her, when he camo ln. In his blood stained hand he was holding out something for her inspection. Conquering a feeling of repugnance, sho bent over the hand, cast one glance at the thing It contained and then started ! up and sazed, wide-eyed. Into his face, i "A bullet!" she said. "But but we ! thought that Roscoo wasn't armed not with flio arms, I mean." j Cayloy nodded. "But this peems to be pretty good evidence that he Is. That's why I sent you into the hut. It occurred 1 to me that he might be rollowlng the : bear, and that the lighted windows might 1 give him a chance for a shot at one of , us. No matter what superstitious feass ho has. he could hardly be too much afraid to fire at us from a safe distance, if we happened to offer a fair mark." But we must havo offered him that a hundred times In tho last weeks, that Is if his rifle had anything like a modern rane." "That bullet Is certainly a modern piece of ordnance," said Cayloy. "It's soft-nosed and steel-jacketed." i He laid It down on a shelf and went f Into the store-room to wash tho stama j of the encounter from his hands. ( "After all," ho said. "It's onlv ono more fl mystery, and I don't know that ono moro c can make anv great difference. Not In f our way of life, certainly." ' Both tried to stick to that view of rt ' 8 and. for the present, to dismiss conjee- I fi ture upon the new topic from their minds, I but they did not succeed very well. The Idea that forced Itself upon them, ln spite of their attempts to discredit It, was that Roscoe's acquisition of a modern, mod-ern, long-range weapon wltn ammunition to match did not date back to the murder mur-der of Captain Fielding, nor to the disappearance dis-appearance of the Aurora, but that he had found tho weapon, by some strange chance, only very recently, perhaps within with-in a day or two. It was a disquieting thought, at best. It was time for Cayley to turn In and for Jeanne to begin her evening watcn alone, but before that happened they paid an extra amount of attention to the security se-curity of their doors and windows. During tho first week or two after the establishment of this routine, the girl had found this period of lonely watching difficult dif-ficult and almost Intolerable. She had started ln terror at noises, some of them Imaginary nnd others Insignificant. The timbers of the hut creaked In the frosty air like an old wooden snip. The great Ice masses of floe and glacier were always al-ways splitting off with reports that varied var-ied in -intensity from the sound of a pistol pis-tol shot up to that of the explosion oi heavy ordnance. During the first ten days she had repeatedly re-peatedly roused Cayley on ono false alarm after another, but her lately acquired ac-quired knowledge and experience, together to-gether with a better tuned set of nerves, had conquered these fears so completely that she had almost forgotten them. Consequently, she was Irritated and pretty thoroughly disgusted with herself to find the wole pack of these forgotten alarms besotting her again tonight. Sho started at every sound she hoard, ana sounds of ono sort or another were iiiuol mceesanc. j-iair a dozen times she yas on the point of waking Philip, but the memory of those former useless invasions in-vasions of his mucli needed repose, checked her. It was a little before eleven o'clock when Cayley came out of a deep sleep to find her bending ovor him. shaking him y.,Xh(: Bnoulder "d crying out his name. Get up quickly!" she said whon she saw that ho was awake. "Philip, the hut 3 on lire!" (To be continued.) ' |