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Show Hj Copyrighted 1910 by the Century Company F I llr"T lITl By Henry Ketchell Welister, Author (With 1 1 I f Copyrighted 1909-10 by the Success Company J tlJok. Jj XT JLOAJL 7 Samuel Merwin) of "Calumet K" H 1 1 CIIAPTEK V. jS- THE DART. H Mish. high up In the clour opaline air Bj Eh was a broad, golden gleam. Nearer It BJ J? ciiiH1, and broader IL grew, and as it BJ 4 grew, and as IL caught more fully the f Blantlntr beams of the low-hanging Arctic BJtjjT sun, it shone with prismatic. Iridescent HHfl color among the gold, llko nn archangel's wings The shining thing towered nt ff last right above the mast-head, but high, fK nigh up in the sky. BJ?- Then the four watchers uttered, In one B jf breath, a horror-frozen cry, for, as a B Jf falcon does. It dropped, hurtling. But EM ,i not. to the destruction they foresaw; tjM oi)tv more It darted forward, circled half B & round the yacht, so close to her rail j. that they heard the whining scream of B il the air as those mighty wings cleft through It. And then, as on the night t before, his planes upstanding straight, B f Cayley leaped backward, clear of them, B nnd alighted on tho floe beside the B v. Old Mr. Fanshaw walked quickly around the deckhouso and hailed the new arrival. "Won't you come aboard. B i sir?" Jeanne heard him call. "I'll send the dinghy for you." if- "Thank you." they heard him answer. ;, "There wasn't much room for alighting B . on the deck or I could have spared you & the trouble." J Jeanno stole a. glance Into Tom Fan-BJ Fan-BJ t shaw's stern, set- face, vonderlng If tho BJ f tone and the Inflection of that. vote BJ '' would Impress him as It had her. "Don't Wflti j. 'oti find it hard to believe that he could K have done such a, thing?" she asked; "a ) '0 man with a voice like that?" "I only wish I found it possible to B 4 believe he hasn't. Not evcrj villain- In i this world looks and talks like a tliug. If they did, life would be simpler " lie I pnused a moment, then added, "And we f- know he did the other thing out there i In the Philippines." i Her face paled a little at that, stiff- f encd somehow, and she did not answer. ft They sat silent, listening to thc roce'd- i ing oars of the dinghy as It made for the I lee-floe. Suddenly the girl saw an ex- I presslon o perplexity come into Tom ; Fanshaw's face. "When you talked with m . him. Jeanne, last night, did you tell him fMJ omf name? Mine and father's. I mean? ZM't DUT you give him any hint who wo were, B- or that we were people who might know Bj' "No. only my own: and who father was. He asked me about that." . : "Ah." ho said. "Then that accounts B for his coming back." B ' She had hoped that In some way or Bf other the trend of her answer might be Bf in tho sky-man's favor, and was dls- B; appointed at seeing that the reverse was H . She had to repress a sudden Impulse Bt ; of flight when they heard tho return- Bj r Ing dinghy scrape alongside the accom- Bj ; niodallon ladder.. And even though "b Bf resisted It. she shrank back, nevcrthe- By less, into a corner behind Tom Fan-shaw's Fan-shaw's chair. Tho old gentleman was Bf f waiting at the head of (he ladder, blnck- Br Ing, with the bulk of his bod', the ncw- BT comer's view of the deck and those who Bf t were waiting there until he should have B: fairly come aboard. Bt "Mr Philip Cayley?" he Inquired Hi : stiffly. "JIy name is Fanshaw. sir; and Bf . I think my son, who sits yonder " he ; stooped aside and Inclined his 'head a M ''Mh ' Tom's direction "is. or was wt i once, an acquaintance of yours." From B her placo In the background, Jeanne saw Br ;i look of pcrolexlty nothing more than f that she felt sure come Into Philip BJ f Ca-'ley's face. Tlio old gentleman's man-Bt: man-Bt: nr was certainly an extraordinary one Bl ; In which in greet a total stranger, five BJ '. hundred mllos away from human habi-Bt habi-Bt ' tatlon. Cayley seemed to be wonder-Bj wonder-Bj ; lug whether It represented anything J .' more than the Individual eccentricity of Kj ! the old gentleman, or not H ) Evidently ho recognized Tom Fanshaw Br at once. and. after an almost Impcr- ; centible hesitation, seemed to make up EE ' hs mind to overlook the singularity of ; his welcome. "I remember Ijioutcnant Ml Fanshav.- well." he said, smiling and Ki sneaking pleasantly enough, though the 15 ?lrl thought she hoard an underlvlng f nolo of hardness In his voice. "You were ;f at the Point while I was there, weren't r you? But It's many years since I've seen you." H,; At that he crossed the deck to where youncr Fanshaw was sitting, and ln-ld BJ f oul his hand. Tom Fanshaw's hands re-Bt re-Bt ' malncd clasped tightly on tho two arms B of his chair, and Ihe stem lines of his B1 face never relaxed, though' he was look-Bp. look-Bp. Ing stmlght into Cavloy's eyes "I rc- i member you at the Point very well." he BT snld. "but. unfortunately, there are some UM sl(yies of your subsequent career which JxU I remember altogether too well." Wm l The girl did not need the sudden look Bl of Incandescent anger she saw in Philip Bj ' Oayley's face to turn the sudden lido Bl of hor sympathy toward him. IL was BJ not for this old wrong of his that they ; had summoned him. as to a bar of jus-Bit jus-Bit ttce, to the Aurora's dock, but to meet the acciiKHtlon of the murder of Perry Bf Hunter, Whether he was guilty of that By . nuirder. or not. this raking up of an Big old unproved offense was a piece of un-HJ un-HJ necessary brutality. She could not un-jk un-jk dcrstand how kind-hearted old Tom f could have done such a thing. Thinking B 4. IL over afterward, she was able to un-Bt un-Bt dersland a little better. In her own heart she did not believe Bf Tayley guilty. Neither the story Tom If had told her. nor the damning array of It circumstances which pointed against him B A lind counloracled. as yet. the impression H i which his singularly charming peison- f nlllv bnil mnilr nnnii hor duvlntr llmf If strange, mysterious hour they had had l together upon the ice-floe the night be- To her then, his manner of coming . aboard the yacht had pointed to Inno-'. Inno-'. ' cjtnee rather than to guilt his self-pos-1 itcsslon, his smile, his extended hand. : But to Tom, who entertained no doubt at all of Ills guilt, these things were the ; simple manifestation of effrontery, of an almost Inhuman coolness and Impudence, ( ; and had exasperated him beyond his sclf-l sclf-l ; control. ; From behind Tom's chair she could ' : see how heavily this blow bo dealt had ffi: told. For one Instant Philip Cayley's W sensitive face had shown a look of unit un-it spcakable pain- Then It stiffened Into if a mere mank Icy. disdainful. It was a moment heforc he spoke. L,- "When ho did. It was to her. "I don t know why this gentleman presumes to rL keep his seat." he said. "If It Is as a ! , precaution against, a blow, perhaps, he , ; need not let his prudence Interfere with 1 ' ' his courtesy." : : "Ho has Just met with an accident.' .' ; she said quickly. "He can't stand No. i r Tom. Sit still. " and Iter hanls upon i his shouldors enforced the command. I Cavloy bo wad ever so slight 13. "I snn-t snn-t I ' pose." he continued, "(hat since last nlchl I ' : 3'ou al?o have hoard the story which I ; this gentleman protests he remember? I '. so much too well?" Rvt At thnt. he turned to old Mr, Fanshaw: IIP, "Will vou tell me. sir." ho asked, "for Fl what purpose I was invited to come flT aboard this yacht?" Tom spoke before his father could an- ) ' swtfr spoke with a short, ugly laugh, -if h "Yan weren't Invited. You woro, as the Jti'A ' :'- police pay. 'wanted.' " 31 "Be oniot Tom!" his father command- iBJ od "That's not the way to talk to 'Bj ' ' anybody." ., , , Jb3 . : Cayloy's Hps framed a folnt. satirical Bjl ; smile: and again he bowed slowly, But. ; he said nothing, and stood, waiting for flB) : 1 the old gentlomnn to go on. iBl This Mr. Fanshaw seemed to find It Bl S either difficult to do. At lasU how- 391 5? ever, he appeared to find the words ho Hljt' wanted. "When Miss Fielding gave us 1HC an account, this morning, of the strange flflljK visitor she had received last night, wo 1MH were I was. at least Inclined to think BlKfl. she had been dreaming it without know- iflftv. Ing it. To convince me that you were 'BK real and not a vision, she showed me a 5b material and highly Interesting souvenir Z9B of your oall. Tt was nn Fsklmo thrpw- lHKr ing-stlck, Mr. Cayley. such as tho Alas-SBffii Alas-SBffii u. ton nnd Siberian Indians uso to throw flartB and harpoons with. It happens HBlf that I've had a good dent of experience $BEr: among those people, and that It know rBcT hotf-i deadly an implement Jt Is. ; IJC nnde a little pKiise thero. and K then looked up suddenly Into Cayley ? BT face. "And I Imagine." he continued iBj very slowlv "lhat you 'know that a? vK well as I cro." 1 1 Cayley made no answer at all, but If Mr. Fanshaw hoped to find, with those shrewd eyes' or his, any look of guilt or consternation In the pale face that confronted him, ho was disappointed. Suddenly, he turned to his son, "Where Is that thing that Donovan brought aboard with him Just now?" ho asked. The blood-stained dart lay on the deck beside Tom's chair. He picked it up and held it out toward his father, but the elder man. with a gesture, ges-ture, indicated to Cayley that he was to tako It In his hand; then, "Jeanne, my dear," he asked, "will you fetch out from the cabin the stick which dropped from Mr. Cayloy's belt last night?" When she had departed on the errand, he spoke to Cayley, "You will observe that the butt of this dart Is not notched, as it would have to be If It were shot from a bow." He did not look at Cayley's face at he spoke, but at his hands. Could It bo possible, he wondered, that those hands could hold the thing with that sinister brown slain upon It the stain of Perry Hunter's blood without trembling? They were steady enough,; though, so far as he could see. When Jeanno came out with tho stick, he handed that to Cayley also. "You will notice." he said, "lhat that dart and the groove in this stick were evidently evident-ly niHde for each other, Mr. Cayley." The pupils of Jeanne's eyes dilated as she waichcd the accused man fit them together, and then balance the stick In his hand, us if trying to discover how It could be put to so deudly a use as Mr. Fanshaw hnd Indicated. He seemed preoccupied pre-occupied by nothing more than a purely Intellectual curiosity. His coolness seemed to anger Mr. Fanshaw, Fan-shaw, as It had formerly angered his son. For a moment this sudden anger of his rendered him almost Inarticulate. Then: "We don't want a demonstration!" came like tho explosions of a quick-fire gun. "And you have no need for trying experiments. You knew how nicely that dart would fit In the groove that was cut for It. You know, altogether too well, what the slain Is that discolors It. You know where we found that dart. You're only surprised that it was ever found at all It and the body of the man it slew." "13verything you say Is perfectly true." said Cayley, very quickly. "I am surprised sur-prised that the body of lhat man was ever recovered. I'm a little surprised, also, that vou should think, because this stick fell from my belt last night, and thfs dart, which you found transfixing a man's throat this morning " Tom Fanshaw interrupted him. His eyes were blading with excitement. "It was not from us that you learned that that dart transfixed the murdered man's throat!" he cried. "I knew il, nevertheless," said Cayley in that quiet voice, not looking toward the man he answered, but still keeping his eyes on old Mr. Fanshaw. "And also a Utile surprised," he wont on, as if he had not been interrupted, "that you should think, because this stick and this dart lit together, that I am, necessarily, a murderer." "You have admitted IL now. at all events," Mr. Fanshaw replied. His voice grow quieter, too, as tho Intensity of his purpose steadied It. "I suppose that Is because, upon this 'Xo-Mun's-Land,' you are outside the paDc of law and statute beyond the jurisdiction of any court. I tell you this: I thlnjs v.'c would be justified justi-fied In giving you a trial und hanging you from that yard there. We will not do it. We will not even take you back to the stales to prison. You may live outlaw here and enjoy, undisturbed, your freedom, such as It Is, and your thoughts and your conscience, such as they must be. But If evor you try to return to the world of men " Cayley Interrupted the thrcal before It was spoken: "I have no wish to return to the world of men," he said. "I wish the world wore empty of men, as this part of it is, or as I thought It was. I abandoned mankind once before, but yds-tcrday yds-tcrday when I saw men here. I felt a stirring of the blood the call of whai was in my own veins. Last night when I took to the air again, after the hour J had spent on that ice-lloe yonder. 1 thought I wanted to come back to my own kind; wanted, in spite of the past, to be one of them again. Perhaps It Is well thai I should be rid of thai delusion so quickly. I am rid of II. and I am rid of you bloody, sodden, stupid, blind. "Vol. with all my horror of you, my disdain of you, 1 should not expect one of you to do murder, without sonio sort of motive, some naltrv hone of caln. unon 10 body of a stranger. It Is of that that you accuse me " "A stranger!" Tom Fanshaw echoed. "Why. when you confess to so much, do you try to lie at the end? You can't think we don't know that the man you murdered was once your friend or thought he was. God help him! vMiy try to make us believe that Perry Hunter was a stranger to you?" The girl's wide eyes had never left Cayloy's face since the moment of her return to the deck with the throwlng-stlck. throwlng-stlck. Through II all. through Fanshaw's hot accusation, und his own reply through those lost words of Tom's. It had never changed. There had been contempt con-tempt and anger in it, subdued by an Iron self-control; no other emotions than those two, until tho very end. Until tin-mention tin-mention of thai name "Perry Hunter" But at the sound of that name just then, the girl saw his face go bloodless, not all at once, slowly, rather, And then after a little whllo he uttered a groat sob; not of grief, but such a sob as both the Fanshaws had heard before, when. In battle or skirmish, a soft-nosed bullet smashes Us way throurrh some irrcal. knotted nerve center. His hands went out In a convulsive gesture, both the stick and the dart which ho hold, falling from them, tho stick at the girl's feet, the dart at his own. Then leaning back against the rail for support, he covered his face with his hands. At last, whllo I hey walled silently, he drew himself up straight and looked dazedly Into her face. Suddenly, to tho amazement of the other two men, she crossed the deck to where he stood. ' I'm perfectly sure, for my part, that you didn't do It": that you are not the murderer of Mr. Hunter. Won't you shake hands?" He made no move to take hers and though his eyes wo.ro turned upon her. ho Hccmcd to be looking through, rather than at her, so intense was his preoccupation. preoccu-pation. Seeing that this was so, she laid hor hand upon his forearm. "You didn't do it." she repeated, "but. you know something some-thing about It. don't you? You saw It done, from a long way off saw the murder, mur-der, without knowing who Its victim was." "T might have- saved him," he murmured mur-mured brokenly, "If 1 had not hung aloft there too long. Just out of curiosity: If they had been men to me Instead of puppets. pup-pets. But when I guessed what their Intent In-tent was, guessed that It was something sinister, It wns done before I could ln: terforo. I saw him colnxr backwards over the brink of a fissure In tho Ice. nigging at a dart that was In his throat. Vm'd when thoy had gone his murderers " "They?'' she cried. "Was there more than one?" "Yes." he' said, "there was a party. There must have been ton or twclvo at least. When they had gone I flow down and picked up that stick which one of thorn had drooped. And to think I might have saved him!" I lor hand still rested on his arm. "Tm glad you told me." she said. She felt the arm stiffen suddenly at the sound of Tom Fanshaw's voice, "Joanne, take your hand away! Can you touch a man llko that? Can you believe be-lieve tho lies " but there, with a peremptory gesture, his father silenced him. , , . But even he exclaimed at the girl's next action, for she stooped, picked up tho blood-stalnod dart which lay at Philip Cavlov's foot, and handed It to him. "Throw It away, pleaan," she said, "overboard, "over-board, and as far as you can." Even before tho other man crlnd out at his doing the thing she had asked him to, he hcsltatod and looked a.t hor in some surprise. ' "Do It. please. she commanded; "I ask it seriously." Tom Fanshaw Rtartod out of his chair: then, as an Intolerable twinge from his nnltlo stopped him, ho droppod back again. His father moved quickly forward, for-ward, too, but checked himself, tho surprise sur-prise In his face giving way to curiosity. ; 1 1 As a gcnoral thing. Jeanne Fielding knew1 what she was about. Philip Cayley took the dart and threw It far out Into tho water. Thero was one more surprise In store for tho two Fanshaws. When Cayley. without a glance toward clthor of them, wallcc.l out on the upper landing of the accommodation ladder, the girl accompanied accom-panied him. and. side by aide with him, descended the llltlo stairway, at whose foot the dinghy walled. "You are still determined on that resolution reso-lution of yours, are you. to abandon us all for the second time all humankind. 1 mean? This later accusation against you was so easily disproved." "Disproved?" ho question. "That beautiful beau-tiful faith of yours can't be called proof." "I meant just what I said disproved. The-' shall admit It when I go back on deck. Won't you won't you glvo us a chance to dlsbolleve tho old atory, too?" "I can never explain that now." he said; "can never lay that phantom, never In the world." "1 am sorry," she said holdlmr out her hand to him. "I wish you'd glvo us a chance. Goodbye." This lime he took the hand, bowed over It and pressed It lightly to his lips. Then, without any other farewell than that, he dropped down to tho dinghy and was rowed back to the floe back to his wings. When she returned to the deck she found that Mr. Fanshaw had gone around to the other side of It to sco the skyman sky-man take to the air. But Tom sat, rigid, where he was. For the first time that she could, remember, he was regarding her with open anger. "I knew," he said, "that you never liked Hunter, though I never could see why you should dislike him; and It didn't take two minutes to soc that this man Cayley. with his wings and his romance, had fascinated you. But in spite of that, I thought, you had a better sonse of justice jus-tice than you showed just now." She flushed a Utile. "My sense of justice jus-tice scem.'i to bo bottor than yours this morning, Tom," she answered quietly. Then sho unslung her binoculars again and, turning her back upon him, gazed out shoreward. I am getting worried about our shore party," she remarked, as If by way of discontinuing the -quarrel, 'li thero are ten or twelve men living there, in hiding hid-ing from us, waiting to do unprovoked murder, when they can with Impunity Impu-nity " "So you believed that part of the story, too. did you?" Tom Interrupted. She did not answer his question at all. but turned her attention shoreward again. A moment later she closed her binoculars binocu-lars with a snap, and walked around to the other side of tho deck, where Mr. Fanshaw, leaning his elbows on tho rail, was looking out across the Ico-floo. "Well," he asked briskly, as she came up and laid an affectlonalo arm across his shoulder, "1 suppose you've been telling Tom why you did It why you made Cayley throw that dart away, I mean; but you'll have to tell me, too. I can't figure It out. You had something In mind, I'm sure." "I haven't been telling Tom," she said. "Ho doesnt seem in a very reasonable rea-sonable mood this morning. But I did have something in mind. I was proving that Mr. Cayley couldn't possibly be the man who had committed the murder." "I suspected IL was that," he said. "It's the stick that proves II, really," she said. "You remember how puzzled you wcro because the end of It which you held It by wouldn't fit your hand? I discovered why that was when you sent me In to get It a short while ago. It's a left-handed stick. IL fits Ihe palm of your left hand perfectly. You'll find that that Is so when you try It. And Mr. Cayley Is zlght-handed." The old man nodded rather dubiously. "Cayley may be ambldextcrouit, for anything any-thing you know," he objected. She had her rejoinder ready. "But this stick, Uncle Jerry, dear, was made for a man who couldn't throw with his right hand, and Mr. Cayley can. He did It perfectly easy, and without suspecting at all why I wanted him to. Don't you see? Isn't It clear?" "It's quite clear that the brains of this expedition arc in that pretty head of yours," he said. "Yes, I think you're right." Then, after a pause, ho added, with an enigmatical look at her. "Don't be too hard on Tom, my dear, because you see the circumstances are hard enough on him already " She mode a little gesture of impatience. They ro not half as hard on him as they are on Miv Caley." "Oh, I don't know," the old gentleman gentle-man answered. "Take It by and large. I should say that Cayley was playing In luck." chapter! VI. TOM'S CONFESSION. At . intervals during the day those enigmatical words of Mr. Fanshaw's recurred re-curred to tho girl with the rcllectlon that they wanted serious thinking over, at tho first convenient opportunity. But the day wore away and tho opportunity did not appear. II was a hard day for everybody. Tho news which Tom had brought aboard just after breakfast, of tho strange, half-crazed half-crazed creature who had walked Into the camp of tho searchers and showed a wish to guide them somewhere the man whose language consisted of two words, most suggestive, most tantalizing in their mystery, to those who clustered round him this, In Itself, would have been enough lo awaken, among the people peo-ple on the yacht, a sense of strange, uneasy un-easy expectation, and glvo a promise of further developments soon. But the hours had worn away, and not another word had come back from those who had followed this strange guide. And then there wus the horror of Donovan's Dono-van's discovery. He hud started to ac company jLom j.j. uk to me yacni, inu, finding the two sailors a sufficient escort for him, had lingered behind lo make some exploration of his own, with that grim result. I,ast of all had come the most Incredible Incred-ible thing, suggested by the scene which Cayley reported to Jeanne. Tho Idea thut theie were ten or a dozen exiles on this remote, unknown land, who. Instead of greeting tho roscuo which the yacht brought them, had gone Into hiding at the first sight of It; had murdered one stray member of the rescuing party who fclj Into their path, and meant, perhaps, to murder the rest should opportunity afford. Though this s'raijgc story added lo the feeling of unoaslnuss among the people peo-ple who remained on tho yacht, It way received with a good deal of Incredulity. Incredu-lity. Tom Fanshaw openly avowed his disbelief In every word of It, and his father, though less outspoken, was almost al-most equally skeptical. Ho did not sharo Tom's belief lhat Cayley had deliberately deliberate-ly Hod. In order to cover his own guilt in Hunter's murder, but lie attributed the strange scone he had reported cither lo some optical delusion or to the hallucination hallu-cination of Insanity. Tho follow might very well he as mad as a bailor, ho told Jeanno, His way of life pointed to It. Any sane man who had learned to ily would put his dlncovery to hotter use than flapping his wings around the North Polo. Tho captain of tho yachL his namo was Warner was on shore In command of the searching party, but the first, officer. offi-cer. Mr. Scales, remained on hoard. His opinion coincided closoly with that of the older Fanshaw. Ho was In possession posses-sion of all tho data, though thoy had not told him tho story of Philip Cayloy's old relation with the murdered man. "It stands to reason," ho said, "that the only party of whlt,e men that could be bore would bo tho survivors of tho Fielding expedition. Wo know from tho news lhat young Mr. Fanshaw brought aboard that there Is one such survivor here. If then were any considerable number of thoni loft, able-bodied onougu to walk across tho glacier, wc could ho sure they'd be here on the shore waiting wait-ing for us. Wo could bo certain they would have modo some attempt to signal sig-nal us as soon as thoy sighted us. 1'If they weren't whlto. men. but In-dlHns In-dlHns Chucotos they'd havo been qulto as glad as white men to get a chance to go back with us as far as St. Michaels. And In the third place. If they wcro not Chucoles, but some strange, unknown, murderous "band of aborigines, there wouldn't have been even one survivor ot tho Fielding expedition. "Of course that's not an absolute water-tight line of reasoning, but It scenia to mo there Is a tremendous probability that, it's right, and lhat this fiylng man has lost his wits." Gradually everybody on board the yacht, with two exceptions, came around to Mr. Scale's view of the affair. Tho only exceptions wcro Jeanne and Tom Fanshaw. Jeanne scouted the theory that Cayley was mad, as indignantly a she did Tom's idea that he was a malicious ma-licious liar. It might be hard to account, ac-count, for the presence of a party ot whlto refugees on the shore, who didn't seem to want to be rescued, but if Cay-lay Cay-lay said thoy were there, then thero they were, and a source of great, though undefined, un-defined, peril they must he to the unsuspecting un-suspecting shoro party. And though she won no converts to hor belief, still her earnestness added a good deal to the uneasy feeling which mounted steadily, aboard the yacht, for the fato of the party that had gone ashore. In this uneasiness Tom himself had manifested a sharo, although ho reiterated reiter-ated his belief that tho only living person per-son ashore, besides tho members of their own party, was tho half-crazed stranger who had come Into camp Just as he haa been leaving It. For all that, lie spent a good part of the day swooping the land, or as much of It as ho could see, with a powerful glass. But for all ho saw, or any one else, during the long hours of that day, there might not have boon a human being, except those on tho yacht, nearer than Point Barrow. There wa3 neither sight nor sound; there was not even a glint of Cayley's bright wings high up the cloudless Arctic sky. So utterly desorcd did the land appear, ap-pear, so impossible was it to believe lhat any danger could lurk there, that, after their unsuccessful attempt to recover re-cover tho body of Hunter, old Mr. Fanshaw Fan-shaw and Scales, the first officer, took Jeanne ashoro In one of the boats for an exploration of the beach and of tho cluster of empty, half-burled huts that stood Just back of it. They wero gone from the yacht about an hour. By 4 o'clock, however, they had decided that, whether or not tho sky-man's story might be true, it was high time to send a relief party ashore lo find the lost ones. There was a good deal of necessary neces-sary consultation about who should go. Clearly It would bo folly to send a party of three or four on such a mission. They must carry, In tho first place, rations sufficient not only for themselves, but for those they expected to Und. They must be strong enough, In tho second place, to overcome this mysterious, unknown un-known band of refugees, supposing such a band to exist. To form such a party would take practically every able-bodied man remaining on the yacht, and tliore was, naturally, some demur to this. But Tom settled tho matter. I can t go ashore on account of this confounded ankle, and Jeanne, of course, will stuy here. too. But everybody else can go. Jeanne and I arc good enough to defend the yacht. Even supposing there was a party of twclvo murderous ruffians ashore thero, armed with darts and throwing sticks, they can't get aboard the yacht without putting oft In boats. She's as good a shot as I am. wo 11 keep a brisk lookout, and If we see any piratical expedition setting out to capture cap-ture us, wc will be able to account for the whole lot of them before they can hope to reach the Aurora's side." "That's all right while tho light holds out," his father assented somewhat dubiously, du-biously, "but suppose we don't got back until after dark It's likely enough we Vt"Wcll, we'vo a searchlight, haven't we?" said Tom. "Besides, nobody but Joanne has tho slightest Idea that there's any one within 500 miles of us who wishes us harm. There arc only ton to go If wo two stay here, and considering tho amount of rations you will have to carry to be of any service as a relief party, it will bo an absurdity to go out with less than ten. Trust us. Wo II deliver the yacht, intact, when you got. back with them." At 5 o'clock, accordingly, tho relief expedition ex-pedition went ashore, and Tom Fanshaw and tho girl wero left alono on the yacht. Two hours later, perhaps, after they 1 , .-1... il... .. .1.1. Tiinmin lirwl I1UU CUICU IUO SiUl'JfVl nmwi uv.n,...v- ....v. concocted in the galley, they sat, sldo by side. In their comfortable deck chairs, gazing but across the lco-iloe. The evening even-ing was unusually mild, the thermometer showing only a degree or two below freezing (and here In tho lee of the deck house they hardly needed their furs. Thoy had sat there In silence a long while. Tom's promise that they would keep a brisk lookout against a -possibly attuck on the yacht, hud passed utterly utter-ly rrom both their minds. It was so still so dead still; the world about them was so utterly empty as to make any thought of such an attack seem preposterous. prepos-terous. Finally the girl scorned to r6usc herself from tho train of thought that had pro-occupied pro-occupied hor mind, straightened up a Httlo and turned for a look Into her companion's face. But this lltllo movement move-ment of her body failed to rouse him. His eyes did not turn lo moot hers, but remained fixed on the faj horizon. A moment later she stretched out a hand and explored for his beneath tho great whlto bear skin that covered him, found It and Interlocked her fingers with his. At lhat, ho pulled himself up. with a start, and abruptly withdrew his own from tho contact. Sho colored a little, and her hrows knitted In perplexity "What an old bear vou aro, Tom," sho sa'd "What's the matter today? It's not a nil llko you to sulk just nec.uisc wo disagree about something. Wo dlsagroe all the time, but you've never been llko this to mo beforo." "I always told you I wis a sullen brute whon things went wiong with mo, although you never would believe It," ho said. "I'm sory." "T ,inn'fr want vou to bo sorrv. sho told him. "I Just want you to bo a few ihn'.cF more cheerful.' He seemed not to bo able to glvo her what sho wlshod, however,' for ho lapsod again Into his moody abstraction. But after a few minutes more of sllenco, he turned upon her with a question that astonished her. "What did you do that Tor, Just now?" ... At first sho wns in doubt ns to what act of hers he referred to. "Do you moan mv hand? ' she nsked. aflor looking at him In puzzled curiosity for a moment. mo-ment. He nodded. ;Vhy because T was feeling a little lonesome, I suppose, and sort of tenderhearted, tender-hearted, and we'd been about half quarreling quar-reling all day, and I didn't feol quarrelsome quar-relsome any more, and I thought my big brother's hnnd would feci well grateful and comforting, you know." . Sho wa3 curious as lo why he wanted the explanation, but sho gave It to him unhesitatingly, without tho faintest touch of coquetry or ombarrassment. "I can't remember back to tho tlmo," she continued, "when I didn't do things llko that to you, just as you did to mo, and neither of us ever wanted an explanation ex-planation before. Aro you trying to make up your mind to disown mc, or something?" some-thing?" He dropped back moodily into his chair without answering hor. After a Httlo perplexed silence, sho spoke again. "I didn't, know things were going wrong with you. I didn't oven suspect it until this morning, whon undo Jerry said" "What!" Tom Interrupted, "What does tho governor know about It? what did he say?" "Why, nothing, but that you wore play, Ing In rather hard luck, he thought, and that I. was lo be nice to you Is the world going badly really badly really badly?" "Yes." That curt monosyllabic was evidently all tho answer ho meant to make. At that sho gave up all attempt to console him, dropped back In her chair and cuddled a llltlo deeper down under lu-r bear skin, hor face, three-quarters away from him, turned toward that part of tho sky that was already,- becoming glorious with the tints of sunset. "You'vo never had any doubt at all, have you, that I really deserved the job of being your big brother; that I was that qulto ns genuinely as if I had been born that way?" "No," she said; "of course not, Tom, dear. What put such an idea Into your head?" He paled a Httlo, and It was a minute or ' two before he could command the words he wanted, to his lips. "Because of my hopes, I suppose," he said unsteadily, un-steadily, "because 1 had hoped, absurdly enough, for the other answer. You asked as a Joke a while back If I meant to disown dis-own you. Well, I do, from that relationship relation-ship because, I'm not fit for the job; because because I've come to love you In the other way." She looked at him In perfectly blank astonishment. He would not meet her oyes, his own, their pupll3 almost parallel, par-allel, gazed out, unseeing, beyond her. "Bui, Tom," she cried, "you can't mean that! Oh yes, I know you mean It, but It's only a lomporary aberration, It can't be more than that! We've known each other from the tlmo when we were quite small kids yes, I was a kid as much as you; no politer torm would describe us. "We've nlways loved each each other, and played together, and spatted and plagued each other, and mado up again, and relied on each other to sou us through each other's scraps, and pointed out each other's faults and gloated over each other's whippings. We'vo got moro civilized, of course, now that we've grown up. but the relation Is really the same. There can't be any romance about It; no mystery about me for vou. You can't possibly love mo like that!" "Can.'t I?" lie said. "Can't I? Will you give mc the chance and see If I can't? Love you? I love you so much that the touch of a stray lock of your hair drives me half mad! so that tho sound of your step aiakcs my heart stop beating; so that the sight of little commonplace objects ob-jects that happen to have an association with you things that I don't realize are associated with you at all until they bring up with them a picture that has you In It makes a lump come In my throat! And when you caress mc with your hands !" He flung out his own with an Impulsive gesture that finished the sentence; and then clutched them tightly together, 'for they were trembling. tremb-ling. Slowly her color mounted until she felt her whole face burning. "I didn't know," she said. "You shouldn't have let mo go on thinking " "I dldn.'t know, myself, until today," he lnterrnpled her stormlly; "I didn't know I knew, that Is. But when I saw j'ou put your hands on that villain Cayley. Cay-ley. I wanted to kill him, and In the same flash I knew why I wanted to." Turning suddenly lo look at her. he saw that she had burled her face in her face In. her hands and was crying forlornly. for-lornly. "Oh, I am a brute," he concluded," con-cluded," to havo told you about It In this way." "What does the way matter? That's not what makes It hard. It's loving you so much, the way I do, and having to hurt you. It's having to lose my brother tho only brother I evor hod." There wus a long, miserable silence after that. Finally" he said: "Jeanne, if you do lovo me as much as that the way you do, not the way 1 love you, but love me any way could you could you marry me just the same? I'd never have any thought In the world but of making you happy. And I'd always be thero; you could count on me, you know." "Don't!" she Interrupted curtly. "Don't talk like that, Tom." She shivered, shiv-ered, and drew away from him with a little movement somewhero near akin to disgust. He winced at It, and reddened. Then, in a voice that sounded curiously thick to her. curiously unlike his own, ho asked a question; "If I had told you all this a month ago told you how I felt toward to-ward vou, and asked you, loving mo the way you do, to marry me just the same, would you? Oh, I suppose you would have refused. But would you have shuddered shud-dered and shrunk away from me like that?" "Did I shudder ancj shrink away?" she asked. "I didn't know It. I wasn't angry; I am not now. But but that was a horrible thing you asked of me." "Would IL have strucic you as horrible," horri-ble," he persisted, "If I had asked It a month ago?" i-ernaps not, sue answered tnougnt-fully. tnougnt-fully. "I've changed a good d.cal In tho last month since we sailed away from San Francisco nnd left tho world behind be-hind us our world and came out Into this great empty one. I don't know why that Is." "I knnw." He was speaking with a sorL of brutal Intensity that startled her. "I know. It's not In the last month vou'vo changed: It's within the last tweny-four hours; It's since you saw and fell In love with that murderous, lying brute of a Cuyley." "I don't know," she said very quletlv, whether you're trying to kill the love I have for you the old lovo or not, Tom, but unless you're very careful, you'll succeed In doing it, I don't, think I want lo talk to you any more now, not even sit here beside you. I'm going to tako a little walk." He held himself rigidly still till she had disappeared round the end of the dcekhouso. dcek-houso. Then ho bent over and burled his face In his hands! What tho thing was that rousod him to his present surroundings, ho never knew. He was conscious of no sound, hut, suddenly, sud-denly, ho sat erect and stared about him in amazement. It had grown quite dark. It must be two or throo hours since Jeanne had loft tho chair beside him and announced that sho was going to take a little walk. He spoke her name, not loudly at first, for ho thought sho must be close by. But tho Infinite silent spaces seemed lo absorb the sound of his voice. Thoro was no sign that any sentient thing, except his very self, had heard tho words he uttered. Then he called louder. II was not until ho ralsod hlmsolf, stiffly and clumsily, from his chair that ho realized that It was moro than dark; that the atmosphere about him was opaque with fos. He groped for a heavy walking stick which leaned against tho arm of his chair and, with Its aid, hobbled slowly along the deck. His damaged anklo was held rigid In a plaster bandage. Though tho pain In It was less, he found locomotion locomo-tion difficult. As he opened the door at tho head of tho companlonwuy. ho called tho girl's namo again: and this time tho absence of any answer frightened him a Utile, though ho tried to reason hlmsolf out of his fears. She had gone bolow, no doubt, to her own slate-room, and with tho door shut, would hardly hear him. But he had no thought of accepting that explanation ex-planation without Investigating further. Even If she were thoro and qulto sao. he did nol want to lot another quarter hour go by without finding her and asking ask-ing her forgiveness. Whatever olse might happen In this world Jeanne Fielding Field-ing must not bo made unhappy. If only he could have porcolved thut cardinal fact In tho universe a little sooner! The steps wore rather difficult to negotiate, ne-gotiate, but by using both hands to supplement sup-plement his one good foot, ho succeeded In creeping down thorn, and then In making mak-ing his way along the corridor to the girl's door. He knocked faintly at first; then louder, loud-er, and finally crlod out her namo again, this time In genuine alarm. He tried iho door, found that It was not locked, and .opening It and switching on n light, perceived that tho slate-room wns empty. Standing there, utterly perplexed, unable un-able either to guoss at tho girl's pos-slblo pos-slblo whereabouts, or to construct ony plan for finding her, he felt a sudden rush of relief on hoarlng the soft scrape of a boat against the accommodation ladder lad-der outside, IL might be Jeanno. If It were not she. It was somoono from the Bhore party. In which case a search for her could bo begun In oarnost by thoso whose powers of getting about wero .unimpaired. .un-impaired. lie heard footsteps crossing tho deck overhead. No. that could not bo Joanne; it was a heavy tread, a curious, shuffling trend. He closed the door behind him. Then he limped slowly down the corridor toward to-ward the foot of the companlonwny. The heavy tread was already descending the stairs. He turned the corner, stopped short and gasped. Ana that was all. Thero was no time even for a cry. Tlo had caught one gllmpso of a monstrous figure clad In skins, huge In bulk; hairy-faced like a gorilla. And then, the man or beast had, with beastlike quickness, lifted his arm and struck. And Tom Fnnshaw droppod down at his feet, senseless. CHAPTER VII. THE EOSEWOOD BOX. On tho girl, Tom fanshaw's passionate, stormy avowal had the effect of a sort of moral earthquake. It left the ground beneath be-neath her feet suddenly unstable and treacherous; It threatened to bring down about her ears tho whole structure of her. life. The very thing she had relied upon for shelter and security against outside out-side troubles and dangers, was, on the instant, fraught with a greater danger than any of thorn. Her Instinct, when she left him, was simply ono of escape. As she had said, tho relation between them -had always been taken for granted; had always been matter-of-fact. Long, before her father's departure on that last voyage of his, ever since sho could remember. In fact, she had taken her association with Tom, hor affection for him nnd his for her, completely com-pletely ns a matter of course. They could not have felt any differently toward each other If they had, Indeed, been brother and sister. She wns three or four years younger than ho, but her girlish precocity had gone far to bridge tho disparity In their ages, and now that both had grown to maturity, IL had completely ceased to exist. ex-ist. Indeed, sinco the time when her first party had given her the status of an undeniable grown-up, sho had felt like an elder sister of his, rather than' a younger one. She had stayed at home, for one thing, while Tom had been away at school, and thero. in the Intimacy of comradeship to which her father had admitted ad-mitted her, her mind had matured unusually un-usually rapidly. She had a wider acquaintance ac-quaintance with the world of Ideas, at least, at twenty-two than Tom had at twenty-six. Sho had teased him out of his youth-.ful youth-.ful absurdities, been proud of him, laughed at him, quarreled with him, only to make up the quarrel with some cool little, fugitive caress, without one single self-conscious moment regarding him; without a misgiving whether, nfter all, this relationship, that seemed so firmly established, might prove Impossible as a permanent one. i'or the first few moments after his avowal she had felt no emotion other than that of astonishment and Incredulity. Even when ho asked her if she could not marry him, anyway, though the question revolted her. she told tho truth In saying that sho was not angry. Tho answer came later, but It burned Into a flame that was all tho hotter for Its tardiness in kindling. It must have an outlet somewhere, and as such, the promenade up and down the other side of the deck was altogether Insufficient. The sight of a small boat at the foot of the accommodation ladder sedmed to offer something better. So, pulling on a pulr of fur gauntlets, she dropped" Into It. cast oft the painter, shipped tho pair of light oars It contained, and rowed away without any thought of her destination of any destination whatever; without, even, a very clear Idea of what sho was doing. She, must do something; that was all she knew. Certainly she pulled awap from the yacht's side with no Idea that sho was running into any possible danger. She had believed Cayley's story. She was tho only person on tho yacht who had believed It fully. Yet the belief did not translate itself Into any bar to her actions. Profound as was the Impression Cayley had made upon her. sho hnd not, as yet, articulated him at all Into her real world. He was very vivid, very thrilling; he sot hbr Imagination on fire when sho saw him and heard his voice. But when he took wing again, he left a strange feeling feel-ing of unreality behind him. That sense of unroallty was all tho stronger now that almost tho realcst thing In her universe uni-verse namely, her relation with Tom Fanshaw was absorbing the full power both of her mind and of her emotions. It was half a mile, porhaps, from the yacht to tho particular bit of shelving beach toward which sho unconsciously propelled the boat. Sho rowed steadily, without so much as a glance over her shoulder, until she felt the grate of the shingle benoath tho bow. She became aware, not only that she had unconsciously como ashore, but also that tho yacht was nowhere to be seen. A bank of fog had come rolling in from the eastward, so hoayy as to render an object one hundred paces away totally Invisible. Tho clump of empty buildings here on the beach could hardly be half that distance, ns she remembered, yet looking round from her scat in the row boat, she could make out no more than their blurred masses against the white Ice and sand which surrounded them. She shivered at first with an Instinctive, half-formed fear. This was solitude. Indeed, In-deed, Bui she braced herself and dismissed dis-missed her fear. Solitude was what she had loft tho yacht for; and, then, It wns a condition she could terminate at will Through the still air and across that quiet water her volco would carry easily to Tom's cars. She had only to hall and she would near his voice In answer.. For a moment she thought she would do St. Then sho decided tho other way. If Tom should miss hor, he would certainly cer-tainly call aloud, and she could answer, and use his voice to guide her back to the yacht. It was, of course, impracticable impracti-cable to attempt to row back without somo such assistance. Sho had only a vague Idea In what quarter Ihe yacht lay, and the chance of missing It' and getting really lost, Indeed, was too groat to be taken. Sho scrambled out of tho "boat and nulled It high up on tho beach. The fog made tho air seem cold, though for the arctic It was a mild night. Two of the abandoned buildings on the bench behind her were mere sheds, wlnilowless. absolutely abso-lutely bare, never having served, evidently, evi-dently, any other purpose than that. of storage. But tho third, and largest, as sho remcmberod It, offered a shelter that wns becoming attractive. Thero were some rude bunks in it where she could rest comfortably enough; and. unless she was mistaken. Scales had loft In the hut a half-burned candle which they had used In exploring Its dark Interior. She had a box of wax vestas In her pocket. She could go In thero and make herself at homo, and at the samo time keep an alert car for a hall from the yacht. Sho found the candle in tho placo where she remembered Scales had lnld It down, struck a light and wedged the candle can-dle Into a knot-hole. Sho turned toward ono of the bunks with the Idea of stretching stretch-ing out. there, and by relaxing hero muscles, mus-cles, "persuade, perhaps, her overstrung nerves lo relax, too. She had taken a step toward It. Indeed, bofore she saw. through tho murk and candle smoke, tho thing that lay right before her eyes a rather largo, brass-bound brass-bound rosewood box or chest. It had not heen bore In the nftornoon when they had entered the plnce, for they had searched Its bare interior thoroughly In the hope that there might bo something which previous Investigators had overlooked. over-looked. This box six Inches high and a fool. long, or more, could not have been hero then. It was standing now In the most conspicuous place In tho room In the very middle of tho bunk. The sight of It might well havo caused astonishment or alarm In the girl's mind. But It was neither alarm nor astonishment astonish-ment thnt her next act expressed. She dropped down on hor knees beside tho rule wooden bunk, drew the chest up oioso In tho tight cmbrnco of her young arms, laid her cheek acalnst the cold polished surface of Its blackened wood, and criod. Everv question that might havo asked Itself how tho thing could hnvo come thoro, nnd what Us coming might portend por-tend to herself or to the other of. the Aurora's people was swept away in a sudden rush of filial affection and regret which the sight of It Instantly awoke. Tt hnd reached hor with that sudden poignant poig-nant stab oflftncmory which innnlmato objects, familiar by Ions assoclutlonJseem to be more potent to call up than the very persons of the friends with whom IBBJ them are associated. Tho sight of her BjBJ father himself could hardly have had so BB Instantaneous and overwhelming an of- BB feci upon her as tho sight of this old BBJ chest, wtiich wus one of the earliest of IBH her associations with him. . BBJ It had always stood, until he had taken BB It with him on that last voyago of his, BBJ upon a certain farther corner or his desk IBH in tho old library. It wus one of those BBJ objects of a claBs that children always BBJ love smooth, polished, beautiful; beau- BBJ tifut and, at the same time, defying cu- BBJ rlosity. BBJ It was quttc a masterpiece-of cabinet BBJ work. No hinges were visible-, and the BBJ cover fitted so closely upon the box itself BH that the line which separated them was BBJ ham lo discover. And there was no trace BBJ of keyhole or lock. To those uninitiated BBJ Into Its secret, It defied every attempt to BBJ open BH Somewhere in her mind now. In a com- parallvely quiet eddy, sheltered from the. BBJ torrent of memory that Jfeas sweeping BH through it, was a half-amused recollection BBJ of what had been, for a long time, her BH chief ground of superiority over Tom IBH Fanshaw. Her father had taught her the BBJ secret of the box. If Tom would turn his BBJ back and shut his eyes, she could open BH It for him in a moment. But the boy, BH with all his Ingenuity, never was able IBH to solve tho secret for himself. He had BBJ spent whole days over It long, precious BH holidays but always in vain. BH .-.10 remembered, too, the day when her BH father had shown her the mystery, had BH done it by way of consolation for some ter- BB rlblc childish disappointment she had sus- IBBJ talned. He had opened It for her, and BH then had sat watching her efforts to re- BH peat the operation; correcting her mis- BH takes, pointing with a long, bronze letter- BH I opener, but never touching the box itself BH nor her own clumsy fingers. BBJ He never had exacted a promise from BH her that she should guard this mystery; BBJ had never even instructed her that sho BH was not to tell. But she remembered. Bfl and nl ihe memory she kissed the unre- BH sponslvo surface of the cover with her BH cold llp3. remcmberod Just the half-grave, BBJ half-amused tone in which he had said. BBJ "There Is a secret. Jeanne, that we have BH from all the world you and I." BBJ Presently she seated herself on the BH bunk, took the little chest on her knees BBJ and set about opening It. Between the IBI cold and her excitement she found this BH rather a difficult thing to do, though her BBJ mind never, never hesitated over tho Bfl slightest detail of the necessary formula Bl of procedure. &"ho knew In just what BBJ order you pressed in those innocent look- Bl ing Utile ornamental tacks In the brass B binding; remembered the right moment lo BH turn the box up on Its end to let the Just BBJ released steel ball roll down its channel BBJ to the pocket, where It must Ho beforo Bl the last pressure upon the last spring BH would prove effective. She no moro fal- BH tcred over it than she would have fal- BBJ tercd over her. alphabet. Bfl And at last,, when her numbed fingers BH had completed their task, the counter- BBl weighted lid rose- slowly bv Uself, just a3 BH It had used to, and revealed to her swim- BBJ mlng eyes the contents of the interior. BBJ Up to that moment she had not real- BH Ized what tho finding of the dispatch box BBJ meant. It had not occurred to her that BH a full account of. her father's expedition, Bfl a narrative which would reach, perhaps. BB to the morning of tho last day of all, was Bfl lying here, right undor her eyes. BB But now when the cover opened and BB she saw beneath It a thick volume, bound IBBJ In red morocco, she realized that here, Bh under her hand, wns the very object, In BH search of which the Aurora had set out BH upon her perilous voyage. BH With the first realization of what tho contents of that book must be, a tragedy, BH and the central figure of it her own BH father, the man she had loved best In all BBJ the world, she found It almost Impossible BBJ to open the book. She took It out of the 1 BBJ dispatch box' and for a little while sat, Bl dry-eyed, hugging tho precious, poignant' BH thing up tight against her breast. BH But at last she put the dispatch boxj BH to one side, brought the candle nearer, so BB that its light would servo to read by, and ' BH began turning the pages of the book. BH The first sight of hor father's clear. BBJ erect, precise handwriting warmed her' BH witn a sudden courage. He had not set BH out upon his voyage of discovery without BH weighing and expecting the possibilities BH of failure and death. Well, ho had died,. BBJ but he had not failed. He had added a BBJ new coast lino to the map of the world. BH And she knew knew as clearly as if his BB own spirit had stood there beside her tell- SBbJ ing to her in his old, dearly remembered jflBl voice, that next to coming home alive, liBH bringing the fruits of his discovery with- BH nlm. his last wish In the world must have BB been that that should happen which had jBH happened now that she, his daughter. BH should hold that very book in hor hands iBI and read tho story, and know that ho had BH not died in vain, SH But even this new Inspiration of cour- BBJ age did noL make her strong enough to BBl turn back and read the last entry in lhat 'Bl tragic Journal first. She tried to do It Bfl but the will failed hor So she began at BBJ the beginning. Once she had plunged Into BH tho fascinating narrative, the wholo of tho BB outside world faded away for her. Sho BH was oblivious to tho fact that the dark- BBJ ncss outside was no longer the mere dark- BH ness of the fog: obvious to the rising wind BH that poured Its icy stream through tint BH leaky walls of the hut and made tho BH caudle dicker; oblivious, even, to the very Bfl sound which she had meant to wait for BH tho sound of Tom's voice calling out to BH her from the yacht, and the -sound of BH other, more alarming, nearer voices. BH Thoy all fell on deaf cars as she turned :B page after page of that precious record .Bfl of her father's life, It was written, In BH the main, In the scientific, observant, un- B Impassioned temper which sho knew so BH well. Ho chronicled those days of peril, BH when their ship, crushed In the Ice, und BBJ only kept from sln-klng by that very Ice BH which had just destroyed her. was drift- BH ing nlong In the pack, to what seemed 'BH certain destruction, ns quietly and as cx- BH Illicitly as he did tho uneventful voyage BBJ through Bearing strait. Tho man's cour- BBJ age was so deeply elemental in him thnt BB he could not ho self-conscious about It. BH He told of the laud, the strango un- BH charled shore, whose discovery offered BH them a respite, at least, from that do- Bb1 st ruction; told how he got his rcmainJng IBH stores ashoro and built the hut, where, BH In all human probability, he and his com- BH panions were to spend the rest of their iBv :BBJ Finally sho reached the record of tho BH day when ho had consigned to the sea IBH Iho bottle containing the chart of tho BBJ coast and the account of his plight, to- BB guihcr with the course which the relief BB ship must tako, should such a relief ship IBH be sent out, to have any hope at all of BI reaching them. tBJl "I suppose," his narrative for this day 'BB concluded, "there Is hardly one chance in BBJ ten thousand lhat my message will ever IBH be picked up, and certainly not ono in a BB million that It will be found in tlmo to 'BB bring an effective relief. However, It BB helps to keep tho others cheerful, and jBJJ that is the main thln-g." BBJ At the close of the day's entry was BB a single line which contracted her heart BB with a sharp spasm of pain. "This Is BH Jcanno's birthday." it said. '. BB She resumed, her reading presently, and IBH en mo to the point where tho Walrus BB people entered Into the narrative; their BB plight, their roscuo and their welcome by BBJ the throe men. who by now were tho only BH survivors of the original expedition. BBJ She was reading faster now, with none BB of those little meditative pauses that had BJl marked her progress through tho earllor BBJ pages of ihe Journal, for the sinister tor- BH mlnatlon of tho narrative began to fore- ' BH shadow Itself darkly, from the moment BH the first moment of tho appearance of the ; BBJ Walrus people on the scene. Her father's BH description of the man Hoscoc, of the cx- BH presslon lhat hnd been plain, to rend In ' BBJ his face as ho had listened to the account ' BB of the gold-bunring ledge across tho ' BBJ glncler, gave her a shuddering premonl- BB Hon; apparently, her father had experi- t BB enced the same feeling himself. Day BB after day Hoscov's name appeared, always r BB accompanied by somo little phraso of mis- ; BB giving. I BBJ . For Just ono day this dread seemed ta BBJ have been lifted from Captain Fleldlng'a BBJ spirit. That was tho day the sun cams BB back to them, putting un end lo thuh , BBJ long Arctic night. "It has been a hard 1 BBJ winter," he wrote, "and I am glad It it ' BBJ over. Tho hardest, thintr about It has : BBJ been our sleeplessness, troin which wo , BBl Continued on Following Pago,, ) 0BJ THE SKY MAN Continued From Preceding Pnge. have aJl suffered. Today wo have enjoyed a change, having taken a walk along the beach. Uvcn Hoscoo seems humanized a little by a return of the frank sunshine, an1 mav, porhapa, develop Into a tolerable tolera-ble companion. Tomorrow I have promised, prom-ised, lf It Is line, to guldo them across the glacfer to the gold ledge." It was the next to the last entry In the Journal. She turned the page, paled and pressed hor Hps tiKht togothor when the array of blank pages before her told her that she bad reached the ond. Then sho road tho last words her father had ever written, "Took the Walrus peoplo to tho ledgo today. Havo no henrt to describe the sceno that thoy enacted there. Tho man Roficoe certainly means to kill me. If It were not for my conviction that tho dangor from him 1h largely porsonal to mysolf. that he means me and no other, probably, for his victim, I think I should nave him shot as a measure of Justifiable prevention. Ho Is not a man. but a great sinister brute literally sinister, for he is left-handed. I shall walk warily, and hopo the crisis may soon, bo over." Evidently that part of hla wish had come true. Tho book slipped out of the girPs hnnds, and she sat with horror-widened eyes, staring at the candle, until it guttered and went out. Slowly, the outside world began to taJco Its place again around her. She knew that she was shivering, half-frozen, half-frozen, tliat tho Icy wind was whining through the cracks In. her rudo shelter. She thought sho heard some one moving about outside, and that thought brought her quickly to her feet. She made her way to the door of tho hut, called out: waited a breathless Instant and cried aloud In sudden terror. To be Continued. |