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Show . ' T Copyrighted 1910 by the Century Company r I CItT" TTo 1T1 " By Henry Ketchell Welister, Author (With EBI f. Copyrighted 1909-10 by the Success Company J.J. J lYA J.JL Samuel Merwin of "Calumet K" HI I . CHAPTER XII. K s CAYLEY' S PROMISE. 5W' ' For this small mercy Cayley thanked ttflr God. The girl did not understand. She 3K was rubbing those sleepy eyes of hers 5K and putting back. Into plucc. stray locki. 8tK of hair that were In the way. ,rJle jK ' must have gone to pieces." sho ald. and IK' they've drifted oft In the fog without knowing It. I suppose there s no ilt Mm when they'll be iiack; very likely uoi IK- for hours. Sm': Ho did not risk trying, to answer her. SK-V All his will power was directed to koep-Ing koep-Ing the real significance of the yachts IK disappearance from showing in his face. W She had turned to him quite casuall ImU for an answer, but not getting It, rc- fBk malncd looking intently into his ejes. Wat , "Mr Cayloyr she asked presently, were 2mS you telling me last night what you really ?JM thought was true, or were you Just cn- M-V conraglng me 1 mean about those men Imt who attacked the yacht? Are you afraid. JJ after all, that our people arc not In pos- Wlb- session of the Aurora, wherever she is.' !mti "I told you the truth last night. 1 Ml can't Imagine any possibility by which ( iMlP the men who came here on the Walrub jWf could set the Aurora away from your !Wk people, except by stealth." WC "But If our people beat thorn off. whj t didn't they come ashore? There aren t H; any of them around, arc there? W "Apparently not," said Cayley . The may have all been killed before thej A could get back to shore, or some of them ill may have been captured; No. I really Kmi don't think vou need worry about them. V' Of course she would have to Know some time. She must, know soon. In m "lCl- But Cayley prayed that she might I35l- remain Ignorant of the horrible, silent ll2fr menace that lay before her, until he hlm- j!B self should have had lime to look it in All the faco; to plumb the depth of its nor- jP r0r: to ecu if there were anything that MI could be built Into a hope, or into the JW mere illusion of a hope. !H, he knew, all too well, what those ,Mi great turning, tumbling masses of- cmer-aid cmer-aid and golden Ice there in the harbor Uv mcarit. The Aurora might be alive some--where far cut In that turbulent sen JBi might, possibly, still preserve her powers H' of locomotion, but her spars and funnels would never cut their horizon line again ImL . this horizon that lost Itself now before ;H Ills eyes In roso-drenched haze never. '. at least, until the morning of a now imtA cummer , 'PS" Ho must think, think what to do and 'Jmi-' how to tell her If only she would give IHr-'- him time. An hour was what, he was praying for an hour in which to gather : up his forcos for what he knew, lntui- 'fr tivolv, must be a greater battle than any his soul had ever waged. He did not Lm' know what form the struggle was going iMfr' to take. That was the thing which, In the next hour, he must try to foresee. ''Mm',1 He must go away by himself; he knew H" that. To stand there before her, looking r. at her. caused a singing in his veins and 'l In his hear,t. which In other clrcum- stances he would have called Joy. The singing made it hard to think. The re- S i fraln of the song was. so far as It was translatable Into words at all. that they t two possessed the world together; tha' t It had been emptied over night of all 'I ' save themselves- The blind-eyed sisters i had caught up two threads out of the fv- -warp of life and knotted them together. tM ' until ihnca miA t lir.--nlt: ivnrn ehuaroil (Hit across, they would He side by side. This was not a thought of his. It bore r about the same relation to thought that ' music docs to language. But his nerves . were tingling with It; his blood leaping i like a March brook, ill i- i. ne bad not bccn looking at him since . ic had answered her question. All he UM. could see of her faco was the rim of one 'B 1 of her perfect ears and a Hushed cheek, m veiled with that warm, misty bloom 'M ' which lasts a little while after slumber. -H and bearing, just perceptibly, the print of one of the creases In the hard pillow upon which she had slept. I t She becran to sneak without turning to I him. "Vou said something, last night HI about my faith. Well. I'm not going to I falsify it. not today, at any rate." Slic r turned and faced him. her eyes bright. SI; her color mounting even a little higher. HJ: "I'm going to believe that, they're safe , incle Jerry and Tom. and all the rest. Hf. I am not colng to be afraid for them, fv And so until they come back, we'll make 'Br tnls day a holiday. Aren't you glad Kfi" just a little glad that It's happened? Be- V cause I am. I'm afraid. That's selfish 1 H, know, because they'll be frightfully wor- ried about me, until thev come back and find me safe. They don't even know you're here, T suppose. And It was an t Inexcusable trick of mine, rowing ashore K. -without telling Tom where 1 was going, i But I'm not going to begin to repent until ft will Hrt Kfimehnrlv fsomn cood. Vou I don't deserve to be made miserable with She drew a long deep breath, flung out her nrms wide, nnd then stretched them v skyward. "What a day It Is! Was there ever such a day down there in that warm green world that people live In? Oh. I don't wonder that you love II. 1 wish I could fly as you do. But since I can't, for this one day you must stay down here upon the earth with mo." Her mention of his wings gavo him his first faint perception of the line the struggle strug-gle would take. Ills mlrid flashed for an Instant Into the position which her own would take -when she should know the truth. To her It would not seem that they were castaways together. He iv.it not marooned here on this shore. His ship was waltlncr to take him anywhere ' In the world. He was as free as the wind itself I "I hclieve living In the sky is what makes you do that," he heard her say. "makes vou drift off Into trances thai way. perfectly oblivious to the fact thai peonle are asking you questions." Ho met her smiling eves, nnd a smile came unbidden. Into -his own. "You've forclven me already I see." he said. "What was the question about?" "It -was about breakfast. Have you anvthlng lo eat In that bundle of yours?" He shook his head, and she drew down her Hps In mock dismay. "Is there anything to eat anywhere?" she questioned, sweeping her arm round In a half circle, landward. "Mustn't wn go huntlntr for a walrus or a snark or something?" Cavlev had to turn away from her hp she said that. The remorseless Irony of the sllnnllon was trettlntr bevond human 1 endumnco. The snlendor of the day. l the girl's holiday humor; her laushlne declaration that she would not permit him to fly awny; this last cay lest out Ut of the pages of "Alice In Wonderland" mjff about hunting for a walrus. UfpA "God!" ho whispered ns he turned HiSrS. away "Mv God!" If He had his revolver, and beside the six HjIF cartridges which the cylinder contained, HyL7 there were', perhaps, thirty In his belt. Urn, I-'or how many days, or weeks, would they avail to keep off starvation? But his face was componod again when he turned hack to her. "There are two things that come before breakfast." he mm said "fire and water. There- Is a line of driftwood down ihe beach to the wesl- ward, there at the foot of the talus. When we get a lire golnc " he stopped mm himself short. "I was going lo sny that mMl -we could melt some ice for drinking wn- ter. but until we have jomc sort of cook-mm cook-mm Inc utensil to melt It in, It won't do much mt good. There must be something of thr wmf sort In the hut here." mm' She shook her head. "They ro com- mM pletely abandoned " she told him. "Our jRB; shore parly searched them first of nil and afterward undo Jerry and I searched them through again. There Is notpinu there at all. but some heaps of rubbish "1 think I'll take a look myself,-' salii he. "Rubbish Is a relative term. What seemed no bolter than that yesterday afternoon aft-ernoon while the yacht was In the harbor may take on a different meaning thli morning. He disappeared throuch the doorway, and two minutes later she saw him com Ing hick with a big battered-looking blscul: tin. "Unless this Teaks too fast," he said. "It will serve our purpose admirably." He observed, without reflecting whal the observation meant, that a bountiful supply of fuel was lying In creat drifts along the lower slope of the talus. Joanne accompanied him upon his quc,st of It. and with small loss of time and no trouble trou-ble at all they collected an armful They laid their lire upon n great flat stone In front of the hut. for the outdoor day wa too ilne to abandon for the dark and damp In tha Interior, nnd soon they had the fire blazing cheerfully. For a while they sat, side by side, upon his great sheepskin, warming their lingers and watching the drip of the melting Ice In the biscuit tin. But presently Cayley. got to his feet. "Broakrast!" he said. "Is there to be anything besides a good big drink of water apiece? If there Isn't, I'd rather not think about it until the yacht comos back." "Unless I'm mistaken, there's an excellent ex-cellent breakfast waiting for us not far from where we got the Urewood. But I'll go and make sure before I raise your expectations any higher." Ho walked away a half dozen paces without waiting for any reply; then, thinking suddenly of something else, ho came swiftly back again. "Do you know anything about firearms?" fire-arms?" he asked. "If you re accustomed to shooting, I'll leave my revolver with you. No," ho went on, answering the question which she had not spoken, "no, I don't foresee any danger to you. It's Just on general principles." "I'm a pretty good shot. But If you're going on a hunting expedition for our breakfast and there Isn't any foreseeable danger to mc In being left alone. It seems reasonable that you should take the gun." He took the revolver from his belt, however, and held It out to her. "Our breakfast doesn't have to be shot. And as a concession to my feelings no, It's nothing more than that I'd rather you took It." She did as he asked without further demur, and ho went away. When she was loft alone, the girl added fresh sticks to the lire, and then. In dciault of any more active occupation, took up the red-bound red-bound book which lay beside her and began once more to peruse its pages. She had by no means exhausted them. In her reading of the nlglit before she had skipped the pages of scientific description descrip-tion for those parts of the Journal which were most purely personal. Even now the whole pages of carefully tabulated data concerning the winds, currents, temperature and magnetic variations got scant attention. In her present mood the homeliest little adventure, the Idlest diversion of a winter's day meant more to her than all her father's discoveries put together. When sho saw Cayley coming com-ing back toward her across the Ice, she put the down half reluctantly. Evidently his quest for brcaKfast had not been in vain; he had a big black and white bird In his hand. "Do you suppose sup-pose It's lit to eat?" she called out to him. "And how In the world did you manage to kill it without the revolver?" revol-ver?" "FIL to cat! It's a duck. What's more, It's nn elder, which means that her coat Is worth saving." "But how did you contrive to kill her?" "I didn't. She killed herself. Sho -was flying too low last night. I suppose going down the gale, nnd In the fog she went smack Into the side of the cliff and broke her nock. That was a very destructive storm for the birds. There must be fifty of them, of one kind and another, lying dead there nlong tho top of tho talus, at tho foot of tho cliff." "And that's what might have happened, oh, so easily, to you. Yes. it might. I've been realizing thai. And I shan't forgot." for-got." Her eyes had brightened and sho pressed her hands to them for just one moment; then she straightened up briskly. brisk-ly. "Anyway. I'll not make a scene about it now." sho said. "I'll show a little practical sense and help you with the breakfast." "No, we're camping out today, and on such occasions the men always do the cooicing. uo uacit to your book wnwe i skin this fowl and dress it" Then as she still hesitated, ho went on. "The most beautiful garment I ever saw, anywhere, any-where, was on a Chucotte Indian girl. It was made of nothing but tho breasts of these elders. Bui tho process Isn't pretty. I'd much rather you went back to your book." Seeing that ho meant it. she did as he asked. A single half page of what was written upon those closely ruled pages was enough to absorb her again completely. Tho power It had over her seemed to grow, rather than to lessen. When Cayley came up with tho big bird which was to serve for their breakfast, Impaled upon a sharp stick ready lo be roasted over the lire, sho had no more than looked up at him, with a smile very friendly, but half-apologctlc. and then went on with her reading. Ho croucheu down near by her, built a little rramo-work rramo-work of sticks above tho flro and began be-gan his cooking. It was, perhaps, ten minutes after that when he saw the book crop suddenly from her hands. When ho glanced up at her, she was looking seaward out over those miles of plunging, heaving ice. Ana under his eyes, her faco turned white as marble. Her bloodless lips were parted. part-ed. They did not move at all and they looked as If they were frozen. Ho could not see that she was breathing Her eyes were turned away from him and ho was glad of that. For another an-other moment more, at least, he need not read the look In them. For now, at last, he was suie she understood. He himself him-self fixed his eyes upon the nrc ana waited. Since his own look seaward this morning morn-ing he had had tho hour he prayed for. Ho hod not spent II. In thinking; In devising de-vising phrases of consolation or futllo illusions of hope Anything like consecutive con-secutive thought had been Impossible to him; and not only Impossible, unnecessary. unneces-sary. He had spent the hour to holler purpose, although ho could have presented pre-sented no tangible evidence that this was so. But now at the end of It he felt himself ready All through It he had been silently mastering his forces. His power of will, his courage, his Intuition, his Intelligence they were all there, keyed to their highest tension; ready to do their part. Without looking at the girl he was aware that sho had turned and was gazing gaz-ing Intently Into his face. Ho supported her look without meeting it. She would And nothing there now he would not wish her to sec. He even stretched out a hand, a steady hand over tne fire and twlrlod the spit with It. "There's something here. sho whispered, whis-pered, "hero In this book of father's that that I want you to read." It was still open at the pnge she had been reading when she had dropped it. With his first glance at what was written writ-ten there ho saw how she nua come, so suddenly, to understand, "September ISth. Field ice came Into the bnv last night. Just as it has come at about this season in the two preceding preced-ing years a dense fog and a whole gale blowing from the cast. To me Its coming com-ing is a relief. It Is. In a way. the official of-ficial beginning of winter. The tantalizing tanta-lizing hope of a rescue Is npw put away on tho shelf to wait for another summer. sum-mer. After all, to men In our condition condi-tion a temporary hopelessness is much more comfortable than hope itself. The long winter night gives an opportunity to revive our belief that with another season of open water rescue will come. "I have been very busy lately stocking stock-ing our larder for the next six months. Fortunately. I have succeeded In killing boars and walruses enough to keep us supplied. I wish I could feel as easy about our fuel- We have swept the beach clear of driftwood, but shall have barely enough to get through the winter win-ter with. For myself, who have no real hope at all- It doesn't greatly matter. X greet tho dawn of each of these Interminable Intermi-nable Arctic days with Intense weariness. And I never bid farewell to the sun for another winter without an Involuntary In manus Tuas." Cayley read the entry through slowly. "I'm glad it. happened this way," he said when he finished, "glad It was your father who told you. All this past hour Fvo been wondering how I could tell you, how I could make you understand." The girl had been half reclining upon tho great sheepskin, her weight supported support-ed bv one hand. While Cayley read, this support failed her. and sho sank down, rather slowlv, until her head was burlca In the arms which were stretched out as If in blind supplication. She was shuddering all over. As 'Cavlev snoke. ho covered those clasped, outstretched hands with one of his own. Tho touch and tne sound or his voice steadied her a little. "You've known all, then, from th first?" The words came brokenly, halt-voiced, halt-voiced, muffled. Ho bent down over her to hear them. "Yes. I knew from the first." He said no more than that just then, but remained as he was, his nand covering cover-ing her two, holding them tight, his body bending over hers protccllngly. After a little while she ceased shuddering, shud-dering, and answered tho pressure of his hand with a sudden clasp 01 ncr two, then drew them away a gam and sat erect, , , , Her eves, when they rose to his face, were still wide with fear a deeper-seated fear, really, than her first momentary panic. But now she had 11 In control and spoke steadily enough. "There Is no chance at all, do you think?" "For the Aurora to come back? No, not this season, at least; no possible chance." "And how much ammunition have you. Mr. Cayley?" "Thirty-one cartridges, besides the one& In the revolver." He would have said something moro, but with a little gesture she prevented him. "You've been thinking it out." she said. "You know what it means now, and I feel that I don't. T can'L quite realize It yet. You must give me a mue nine to 'think, too." He had to assent to that, though he knew, In advance, the direction her thoughts must take, and foresaw the dreadful conclusion of them. And the answer he had to make lo that conclusion? conclu-sion? Well, he had It ready. How long that sllc-nco lasted, neither of thorn knew. Ho sat there beside her, and yet even his eyes allowed her per-foct per-foct solitude. He mended the fire and attended at-tended to his cooking as quietly as before, be-fore, when the clrl was reading. Finally a little move of hers, preparatory prepara-tory to speech, gave him leave to look at her. In those silent minutes, however long they were, her face had changed. It was grave now. Intensely thoughtful, but the color had come back Inlo 11. It was alive again. "When I asked you a while ago if thero were any chance, you asked me If I meant a chance for the return of the Aurora, and said there wus none. That was what 1 meant then, but It's not what I mean now. Is there any chance at all? I haven't been able to see any myself, and I've been over it all pretty carefully. Do you see any? You you must toll me the truth, please." "I haven't been trying to assess the chances. I spent my hour thinking about something else, and I can t answer your question really with a yes or a no." "Not with a yes, but can't you answer It wllh a no? Aren't you perfectly sure, In your heart, that there's no chance at all?" "Not yet," he answered. "Thero may be a chance, and If there Is, we can meet it half way." Then he stretched out his hand. "That red-bound book there Is our bible now. Do you remember what your father said? 'We can live like Christians, Chris-tians, and wo can always hope.' He thought, when ho put thai bottle, which contained his message, Into tho sea, that Lherc was hardly one chance In a million mil-lion of Its resulting In an effectual relief. re-lief. Yet he went on living as a brave man lives, a day at a time. And when he died, he died without fear. Doing that, ho not only helped himself, but he helps us In a way that ho couldn't pos sibly have foreseen." Her eyes filled suddenly with tears, arui a smile, of a divine sad tenderness, touched for an Instant, her mouth. "Bui thai isn't our case, you know. Ours Isn't ns simple as that." "What makes tho difference?" But he knew the answer. "Your wings." She said It hardly abovr a whisper, .and as she said it sho turncl a little paler and her brave lips trembled. Bui In an Instant her will had taken command again. "I am sure you see. It'3 quite plain," sho went on steadily. "If you will spread them, those great wings of yours, and take to the air with them, and fly away, as you are free to do, and loavo mo here alone, as I really am alone, the only person marooned hero If you'll do that, then I'll follow my father's gospel. But you won't go away. Vou can't not a man like you, and I know that, I know 1 mustn't even suggest sug-gest It." Her voice sank again and grew unsteady. un-steady. "While I am starving, you will be starving, too. And while I am freezing, freez-ing, you will froezo." Sho stopped there with a shudder and a deep, gasping sob; then, "Won't you go?" she cried. "You said once that one of us might be dreaming, dream-ing, but that one was not I. Can't you believe It's o? Can't you wake up from tho dream that Is turning into a night-mare, night-mare, and fly away? No, you can't! You can't! There Is only one way out of It!" Thero was the conclusion he had foreseen, fore-seen, had foreseen long before he could formulate It tho Inevitable conclusion that had led him to pray for an hour. And now he thanked God that the answer was ready. But heforo he could speak, sho turned to him with a sudden transition of mood, which left him gasping. The facu she turned upon him now was radiant, flushed with life, fearless. She held out both hands to him. "Come," she said; "that's over. You're to forget It ever happened, and you're to do something for mo that I want. Will you? I want this for a holiday, Just as I set out to make It when I saw the yacht wns gone. The day's as bright as It was then, and we can make the hours pure gold. It all depends de-pends on us. Come, will you do that for me?" Giving him hor hands, sho had meant him to assist hor to rise, but he disregarded disre-garded the Intention and knelt on one knee beside her. "Jeanne," he said. Hor color fluttered llko a flag at that, and sho caught her breath. "Thank you Philip." "We'll have our holiday, Jeanne, but we must have a bolter understanding first" "Nol No mora! I can't!" But ho went steadily on: "You said there was only one way out, and 1 know what you meant, It Is a way out a way that I cun't deny your tight to take, If we're talking of rights. During tho live years that I spent at Sandoval I always regarded It ns a right that I could exer-dlHu exer-dlHu when I chose. Perhaps that Is one of tho reasons I never exercised It. But, Jeanne, If you elect to take that away. I shall take it with you." Sho strugglod away from him. turned and faced him with horror-stricken eyes. "You must not say that! You've no right to threaten mc with thai! No right!" Then clutching at his hands again, "Vou must promise." Again she pulled her hands away and covered her face with them. Sho was trembling uncontrollably. "It was not a threat." he said steadily. "It was a promise, a promise I have a right to make. I make It again, now Jeanne a solemn promise before God Whether It's living or dying. I shall go beside you." "Not right " she repeated In a whisper. whis-per. "What possible right could you have to make a piomlse like that a threat that calls Itself a promise?" "I hnvo tho only right there is. Listen. Last night, when you were lying there asleep, I sat thinking, thinking about you, about tho love I had for you; about the change which that love had made In mo and would go on making after I had lost- you. For I faced losing you. 1 knew that when they sent a boat ashore for you, I should have to let you go without with-out a word. If 1 could have heard a prophecy then, that today I should be telling you I loved you, telling It with a clear heart and conscience, I should have gone half-mad for Joy. It seemed as If tho thing could never happen. I am a man with a stain upon me, and yesterday yester-day that stain made It Impossible to say anything to you but good bye. 1 meant to say It, and take my way through the air again and live out the rest of my life on what, from your bounty, boun-ty, you had already given me. "But the coming of a new day has changed all that. It has given me the right to loll you what I have told you, and It gives me the right to make that promise. Isn't that quite plain? Don't you understand?" She had listened breathless while he talked to her. Now for the space of two deep Inhalations she was silent- "It can I be true," she said faintly, "not all that. Not so soon. It was only yesterday yester-day " "You know truer than that," he interrupted. in-terrupted. "You know that hours and days have nothing to do with the thing I'm talking about. Try to remember what I was when I came down out of tho air upon that Ice-floe. A man who, for five years, had been 'drugging his soul to doath. trylntr to cast all the hu manity oiit of It. Think what you did for me. Think what you gave me out of yourself. I don't tell you that I love you better than my soul, because because my soul Is yours your warmth, your faith, your fragrance. Why, do you know whal my feeling has been this morning, the feeling I have tried to fight back out of my heart? Joy, Jeanne! Joy that I was to suffer what you suffered, and 11 vo what you lived, whether It was to be for an hour or a clay or a month! Whatever It was to bring us, you and I were to share tho world together. Do you understand, un-derstand, now, Jeanne, my right to make that promise? Do you see now that It was a promise and not a threat?" She could not at first make him any answer. The thing his words had rc-1ealed rc-1ealed to her, coming as it had come, upon the heels of that other revelation, loft hor mind half dazed. Sho was not without an answer, but It lay not In her mind nor was It translatablo Into words. There was a. cliord there, vibrating In response to the music It had heard, but It could find no expression through her lips. "I must think," sho gasped. "You must lot me think." "No." he said. "I have not asked for an answer. There Is nothing that you have to tell me. Nothing that I'm wait. Ing to hear. No decision that you must make. You understand what I said and you know It's true. Tho supreme fact in my universe Is Just you. That gives mo the right lo follow you wherever you go. But you are still free. You can stay hero, where fato has put you, and let me stay here, too, being sure that all the happiness In the world there Is for me Is to be found hero at your side, in helping you. And then If the torture of privation, loneliness and despair become too hard " She lurned to him then and Interrupted. Interrupt-ed. Hor words came quietly, unaccompanied unaccom-panied by any gesture of her expressive hands. Sho spoke with the utmost simplicity. sim-plicity. "They won't be too hard, I think neither tho privation nor the loneliness. There won't be any despair not with you, my frlond. And and we will follow my father's gospel." She saw the blood go ebbing out of his face, and then come back with a surge. He drew In two or three groat breaths of the. keen, wlnellko air. Then, In a strangely matter-of-fact fashion, he seated himself beside her. "That gospel begins with breakfast," he said. CHAPTER XIII. CAPTAIN FIELDING'S GOSPEL. Side by side, upon that great sheepskin, sheep-skin, they sat. thoso two peoplo, In the very lap of death. A reasonable estimate of their chances would give them, perhaps, per-haps, a week to Hvo. With exceptional fortune, that week might stretch Itself inlo a month. Tho great Dlue spirit or the Arctic would darken to purple, and to black. Tho Icy hand of the savage polar winter would got Its clutch upon them. They had nothing to resist It with. No stores of ammunition or of food. No clothing, except what they wore. No fuel, save what they could contrive con-trive to gather along the talus before the winter gales would make further search Impossible. Neither Jeanne nor Cayley was of a sort to face the prospect of that death with resignation. They were young. Intensely In-tensely alive, and with Jeanne, at least, the best and biggest part of II fo lay, or had lain until yesterday, In a broad open road before her But a prospect like the one that lay before them brings Its own anesthetic with It. It wns so utterly hopeless tnat it oecame unreal, 'mo laco of tho future. Into which sho had cast Just one horrified glance, was so hideous that to tho girl, at least, it was llko some monster mask of carnival too grotesquely gro-tesquely horrible to be taken seriously. That Is partly tho reason why she succeeded suc-ceeded In surprising Cayley by sitting down to breakfast with him In the same mood and spirit which she had shown boforo when she did not know. "I'm about holf famished," she said, as they began their meal; "at least that duck smells perfectly irresistible. It's done to a turn, I think. In a way, It's rather a Joke that wo should begin our Arctic privations with a roast duck." "Yes, he said; "It tastes good, oven without salt. The man who would complain com-plain of the absence of currant Jelly " "If we were only tho 'Swiss Family Robinson' now," sho Interrupted, " a little lit-tle Jar of It. In perfectly good condition, would come washing ashore." He had carved the duck doxtrously enough with his sheath knife, but for eating It, there was nothing, of course, hut their fingers. "If vou'll treat tho revelation as confidential." confi-dential." said the girl. "I'll admit that I always like to oat like this, especially when I'm hungry- If anything looks good. I want to take It up in my fingers and pop It Into my mouth, without wait- Ing to have It put decorously before me on a plate 1 suppose, though." sho added. add-ed. "I shall be entirely reconciled to forks heforo 1 get n chance lo cat with another. Shall you make mo one out of a walrus tusk, or an old tin can or something? Why. what arc '-on thinking about?" "There's something queer about that hut." he replied, "something that sets queerer the more I Ihink about it Why do you suppose the Walrus people abandoned aban-doned It? Or. rather, do you suppose thev did abandon It?" "I don't see exactly what you mean. Of course It Is abandoned utterly. We know that." He shook his head. "I'm not sure. But put the question the other way. Why did they? What possible reason could there have been for such a move?" "They might have found It unhealthful or unsafe." The girl answered absently, for half of her mind was exploring the drift of Cay-ley's, Cay-ley's, and did not find It. "Your father lived here for years," he went on, "and tho WalniK people must have continued living here for a good while afterwards. For certainly the place hasn't been abandoned very long." "Perhaps." she hazarded, "they had given up hope of a rescue, and so didn't care to stay on the beach. They might have found some more convenient place in the Interior." "That's what I supposed," he said, "but the theory won't work for Just this reason; rea-son; They couldn't have built another house without dismantling this one. Tliero are no trees on this land to furnish timber, and there certainly Isn't any hardware store where they could have bought nails, bolts and hinges. But those doors swung on hinges last night and the bolt worked, and, more or less, the walls and roof kept out the gale. For this style of architecture It's In pretty good repair." The girl wns only half convinced. "That great heap of stones In there." she began, "doesn't look like good repair or recent naonaiion.- "No. It doesn't," he rejoined. "It's been made to look as little that way as possible It wouldn't have got Into that condition otherwise In a hundred years. Come, let's have a look. It's something to hope for, nt any rate." She followed him a Httlo perplexed. "To hope for?" she repeated, qucsilon-lngly. qucsilon-lngly. Tie had already entered the hut, and did not at once volunteer any further explanation, but from the shine of excitement ex-citement she could see In his eyes, it was evident that ho contemplated something better than merely holding death at arms length for a little while. To the girl's eyes there was little about the Interior of the hut to accounl for such a hope, even though she saw that all of tho things ho had said about It were true. The flimsy Inner doors were still hinged lo their irames, and were provided with a miscellaneous assortment of catches. It was marine hardware, all of It. evidently from hor father's ship, tho Phoenix. The bunks and shelves which lined ihe walls looked perfectly solid nnd well built. But tho general appearance of the room presented a look of disrepair. It was absolutely unfurnished. unfur-nished. The t;reat heap of smoke-blackened stones, of various sizes and shapes, nnd the hole in the roof above them, attested at-tested that they had once been a fire place. From the forlorn aspect of the room the girl gladly turned her eyes away, and stood looking at Cayley Instead. Ho had been sweeping the walls, roof and floor In a general survey. Now. abruptly, ho went over to the heap of stones, picked up one of them, rubbed his thumb over It and scrutinized, with an air of considerable consid-erable Interest, the black smear it loft "That would account for tho driftwood," drift-wood," he snld, absently. At that ho might have seen In the girl's face a look of half-amused Impatience, Impa-tience, but his abstraction was too deep for him to notice It. He walked over to ono of the side walls, pulled open what proved to he a big solid shutter, revealing -a glazed window, win-dow, and, for a long while, stood there, unconscious of the look the girl had turned upon him, unconscious of his present pres-ent surroundings. "Yes. something to hope for. certain-Iv certain-Iv " Ho turned away from the window a"s he said it, and smiled at hor. "A good hope a good lighting hope thnt when the relief comes back next summer sum-mer they'll find you here alive." "If vou say so. I'll believe it," said the girl, "becauso you told me the truth before. be-fore. But do you mind telling me why?' "I should have thought of it sooner. I should have noticed It last night- My guess was right, that's all. This Is not an abandoned hut. Don't you sec Its In almost perfect repair? The hinges on this shutter work, although If you look closely you can see that someone gave a tug at them not long ngo In. an at-lompt at-lompt to pull them out. And lhat patch cn the wall was put on within a month. The men who wrecked this place worked hastily and showed no great degree or Imagination. Thoy hadn't much time, you sec. because they couldn't have bo- gun until they caught their first glimpse of the yacht. They had finished the job before thev could send a party ashore- "But why in tho world should they do such a thing?" tho girl protested. He shook his head. "I haven t worked lhat out vet. not fully, at any rale. After Af-ter all, it's not the question that concerns con-cerns us." , "I'm still in a maze about it. what did you mean about tho drift wood? "Whv. the soot on theso stones showed mc that. They haven't been burning drift wood In this fireplace. They ve been burning coal or oil. perhaps. I hadn t thought of that. That's why tho dr t wood collected again out thero on the talus. You remember your father speaks of having used It all? Thero have boon a dozen men living here ever since, and they didn't need It. So they must have hud some other sort of fuel." "You mean they've got a supply somewhere some-where hidden?" , , , He nodded. "Not only a supply of fuel, but of food. too. You remember your father also speaks of having his larder completely stocked for the winter at this time. Well, theso fellows weren t expecting ex-pecting any relief. They must have stocked their larder, too. Oi course, ho Wont On a mumum ....... vaguely all along that there must be stores somewhere hero on tho land because be-cause mon wero living hero, but on the theory that they had abandoned the beach and were living in so:r. undiscovered undis-covered part of the mainland, our chance of finding those stores was almost nothing noth-ing at all. Finding them would bo like trying to find Point Barrow In a fog. But you see. If they kept them hero In those hut. and then hid them when they caught sight of the yacht, while they may he well hidden, they can't be far awt There wouldn't have been time to move them far; certainly not os-or tho slaclcV and Into the interior there. It must a 1 be hidden somewhere, hero on tho coas . When we find that hiding place, we shall probably find all the stores wo need for tho winter." "Then. I suppose, the next thing for us to do Is to go out and find H- "Not quite the next thing. Unless we havo exceptional luck, we can hardly hope to find It for several days; it ma take- a fortnight, and we must have some temporary security first. In tho meantime mean-time thero Is no telling what sort of weather wo will havo. It's rather lato Tor those beautiful, mild days. I fancy. No the first thing to do Is to rebuild this nreplico And bring In a lot of drift wood and all those birds thot wore killed last nlKht by flying against tho cliff. When we have made this nut naoiiau e .ibu .n. a snell of forty below zero weather, such as we're llkclv to havo at any time, and haw accumulated stores of fuel and food for a few days, then we'll begin pur search. And If you'll forego the holiday I promised you. 1 think I had better get t0ShorcofolrcdCsuddenly. nnd spoko with a blunt decisiveness that took him rather aback" though It ploasod rilrr, the some time. "Please don't talk that way nor take that attitude. The convention that a woman can't bo asked to do anything for herself Is all right at a ball, but not here. I want you to give mo credit for behiK an adult human person, fairly strong, and I capable of work. We'rO two castaways here. I am at least, and you ro nrotcndlng you arc no. 1 II take that Back. You Tiro just nr. much as I am. That's the hypothesis wo'n; working on. And vou'ro captain because you know the most. You're to tell me what to do. and I'll obey orders. But I expect you to work mo Just as hard aa you work yourself." "You're quite right." he assented, holding hold-ing out his hand. "That's agreed upon. I think I can rebuild this fire-placo myself. my-self. Will you go and begin carrying In lire wood, and ns many of thoso ducks and geese and loons as you can (find there 'along the talus?" She nooded. and turned to leave the nut. "Take the revolver with you," he called after hor. At that she halted abruptly In tho doorway. door-way. "Why should 1 havo It any more than you?" Then, answering his smile wllh one of her own, she added. "I suppose sup-pose a well-trained crew doesn't demand reasons for the captain's orders only "There's a perfectly good reason. I m working In the shelter, and you In the open. Besides that. I'm stronger and 1 have my shealh knife. If I were attacked at-tacked by anything. I could give a better bet-ter account of r.iysclf than you could. You'd better take belt and holslcr and all. and buckle It right around your waist.'' It was late in the afternoon before Philip completed his task. Rebuilding the fireplace was a more complicated Job than he had Imagined It would be Burled beneath the stones ho had found an Iron oven and a fire-box. besides a badly battered bat-tered Iron hood and an Iron pipe, about three Inches In diameter. Tho stones were evidently to bo built up Into a table about four foot long, and. roughly, half as hlsh and broad. Incasing both tho oven and the fire-box. The fire-box was open at the top, and directly above It must hang tho hood, much like that over a blacksmith's forge, only In this case, of course, it was Intended to radiate as much heat as possible, Instead of as little All the iron had been badly bent and otherwise damaged in tho process of tearing It down, and it had cost him a long, laborious hour, or more, pounding It between unhandily shaped stones, to get It Into condition to be put up aaln Meanwhile, Jeanne had spent tne nours bringing In wood and accumulating, also, a great feathered heap of the victims o last nlght'8 fog. At first sho had not been able to pick up ono of them ttjthout the thought that Philip himself might have been lying here this morning, some-whore some-whore alonsr the talus, at the foot of the cliff Just as these birds were. But the steady routine of the Job he had assigned her was an efficacious remedy rem-edy against undesirable thoughts. Thoso two heaps outside the hut must grow- must be big enough when ho completed that Job of his Indoors to bring. If possible, pos-sible, an exclamation of surprlso and pleasure from him. , Incidentally she kept their morning fire burning all day. It would not do to waste a single match out of their scanty store, to light a now one in the hut when Philip's fireplace should bo ready for It. At some time along the middle of tne dav thoy had knocked oft for long enough lo 'finish the duck. He had said he did not want to stop for a regular meal until tho fireplace was done, and she. In tne enthusiasm of tho first real manual labor she had ever done in her life, was as unwilling to rest as he. Since luncheon, or what had passed for It tne had hardly exchanged a dozen words. Sho had sometimes stood for a moment In the doorway of the hut, on her return ... . , i f ..,y.A,i .nrl rlvmi mm Willi a iresn iouu ui uwu, ...... o. - ------ a nod of encouragement, and then immediately imme-diately sot out again. He had told hor at luncheon time that he rolled on her to slop working before sho had over-fatigued herself. As the afternoon wore along a feeling that if she paused at all she would find s ho was tired enough to qull work altogether for tho day. drove her on to work a little fasler and moro continuously. When Philip finally had his nroplace rebuilt. In a temporary fashion which he thou hi would serve till greater leisure should allow him to perfect It. ho stepped outside the hut and looked, first . down am' ihen up tho shore In search for her. ,",s dlsappolnvcd at finding her Ua- ,,WYU. afternoon was well advanced, and the plti'.ess. bllncUrg white light of midday mid-day -w us i already submitting w refraction refrac-tion by the Ice crystals which filled the lower strata of tho atmosphere. Into the amazlrg nobauch of colors which marks an Arctic evening. The sun had dipped holow U.c crest of coast hills and cliff. Their -ecSltous sides In tho shadow lcwed with the blue pure sapphire the lev s-inns of tho beach, slop ng gradun y oft the sea. with the lighter, slightly s rlated. bluish-green of tho tuniuolse. On behind the cliff head. d,t horizon was lost In golden vapor. The 1 eo was KOldon. and the little lanes of troubled water between Its heaving mnSPhlUpUcoulfl0have caught sight of Jeanne anywhere in Ute Picture he vvouM have r-niovell the glory of It as a iramo anuaclXund toierseir: hut s nee she wa? no', there either to enjoy 11 witn nim nor to ma te part of his enjoyment of It. it struck him only as a good effect of M?Jl.rrJBfi V hosido the !adr b"oug t in i om "thS talus meant more o hC as the mute evidence of her m,nve In the T partnership, and gave him a thrilf oi ? keener emotion than all tho sunsets sun-sets In Ihe world. Sha must be dreadfully tired, he ,houIht.niand with that though t jecMed to set out to find her. I-list, npev er. he transferred the remnants of the fire from ti c llat stone bofore the hut to his n owl v constructed hearth, heaped on more wood and noted, with satisfaction that his makeshift chimney drew well and did not smoke intolerably. He had discovered an empty cask under a heap of rubbish In the store-room, and I thl? he filled wllh chunks of Ice and set by the fire to melt. , , , . Five minutes later he was just a wheel -intr cllntlng, sun-bathed speck In the amber air. the ihrllllng. prlngllng, wine-like wine-like nir. He had taken to his wings, upon leaving the hut. simply because the offered him the quickest, easiest way of finding Jeanne. But the, aubst tutlon ol the delightful, easy exercise of his powor of fiight for tho grubby toll at which hi-had hi-had spent the day. the change from the damp, the durk. tho confinement of the hut to the full glow of the sunshine nnd the freedom of tho sky's wldo spaces half Intoxicated him. It was an Impulse, not a controlled ln-lontlon. ln-lontlon. that took him aloft, higher and higher, and then higher still. In that sharp spiral, until he lay. panting wlf the exertion, rocking gently upon his golden wings, a quarter of a mile up tin SUYes. It was a potont drug, that strange anesthetic of tho upper air. His surface sur-face faculties wero not dulled by It. Sight and hearlnc attuned themselves a higher pitch than normal. The whole )k periphery of his body was more acutely m allvo to every passing sensation; but the (jK depth of him. ihe lnnei self, the soul u flHL'' recently awakened and thrilled to lite i Hb a girl's faith, her courage, her tragedy, 'HIL sank back, under the Influence ot tho old drug, to sleep again. Wm The old round earth, In Its shroud of B golden vapor down below, became once j3 more, for him. a remote thing In which jjHB he had no part. There It spun. In 11.-4 JglS endless, futile way, no more to him. with t J? Jill Its load of souls, of griefs and Ju. . atr nnd hopes, than a top Just freed by w N j rk snap 01 a boy's string, tafiRi' So he lay there, breathing deep, keep- r Ing his place in the unstable sky, with i-m; hardly more motion than a skilled sxvlm- lE mer needs to keep afloat. ( .K Suddenly he was flying downward, as ,yJ fast as gravity and his great wings could j f.m take hlin. Drenched with the sweat of j a sudden terror, cleaving the air so fast J imM that the sound of its whining rose to a ijr n scream through his taut rigging. fJu 3 m ho slanted, souward a little, past the end j 5' m of the great headland. Then, with the JE W sudden exertion of nil his strength, upon J j m one lowered wing, the other flashing hlgn . fa S like the stroke of a scimitar. In the curi- f 3 of the shortest possible arc, he shot land- 1 ' m ward, pounced, checked, and alighted nol l 2 far from the girl. Z 1 She had been seated upon a broken ledge of rock when he had first caught 12 8 sight of her. She was In the act of get- PS ting to her feet when he alighted, not a ffll "ffl hall dozen paces away. INK I She had neen pale, but hor color had 1 come hack now In a sudden surge. She 1 was breathing unsteadily and her hands H ' J wore clasped against her breast. "You K jiJN you mustn't lly like thai," she said. "If B.I H you had been an eagle, the way you SB lira wheeled and came rushing down out of H lW the sky would have terrified me. 1 shut ;tf my eyes in order not to see you killed." H rim He did not answer her at once, and Hiifzf she, looking Intently into his face, went Kvlaf on. ''You Know it was dangerous. Vou HlpV thought yourself that you were going to HveS be killed. 1 can see tne horror of It In fag your eyes. .fl Then he got his breath. '"You're safe? H'f'il ' he questioned unsteadily. "You were In m'lm danger, sudden danger, and In terror a. Ill It. That wns what frightened me, that V sudden knowledge. I came down, fearing BJ'S 1 should be too late." Klif "I had a flight." she admitted; "but l Hll don't see how you could know. I'm very Riff sure I didn't cry out." pill "No, I heard nothing, no sound al nil. lfrI-5 I Just knew, and so 1 catnu to you as KlP fast as 1 could. What was It that fright- Blh.J' ened you?" IK "Nothing at all, I Imagine. I was sit- mwfi ting here on the ledge, looking at that wonderful ky, and all at once 1 found (Hi 1 was growing afraid. I didn't know IHfr what It was about, at all. I suppose it IHa was Just because 1 was a little tired and mx had begun to realize thnt 1 was a long IH? way from from home. I had uomu VJ- around the headland,' not really to look IH& for more firewood, but In the hope that l IHS might happen to find a clue 10 where Ihe stores are hidden; and. as 1 snld, HI suddenly it seemed a long way back ana HM I began to find myself afraid. And then, ! being afraid, I well, I thought I saw something moving up theie behind the Hfi rucks, something big, bigger than u man, - nnd whltlsh-ycllow." IB His eyes followed the direction in which she had pointed, but could make out IS .1 nothing In tho deep, vibrant blue shad- "That's likely enough." he told her. "It Wm i was probably a bear. If It was, we're B 'Jl In luck. I'll come back by and by and IBh go gunning for him. But first, I'm go- IS ing to take you home." HiXlN She had used the word before, but In UE what sense he was not entirely sure; ftBK and she had undoubtedly u?ed It not Vm more than half consciously. At any rate, Hi when lie said It now she flushed a littlo. fWr nnd so did he, and their eyes, meeting, H ' brightened suddenly. KWS? . Silently ho turned away from her and MB began furling up his wings, and she iflMf helped him, ns she had helped him that yBi other time when he had tried to convlnco JKf. her that he was not a dream- JSms When it was done, thoy set out slowly, RES In the deepening twilight, for the hut. IS"? "It's very good of you to walk down Vmr here with mc." she said, "you who could B; (To Bo Continued. 1 mth |