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Show WEBSTER V yr' W.KOSSEK nCtUSvnr IIlUSTRYpQNS . i. mar man f ev cruTURVCO wio copy COPYRIGHT llO UY THt SUCCESS CO every way to convey the Impression test of our civilization seems to be of having come more recently from flowering Into. Physically, It would the civilized, habitable portion ot the have been hard to suggest an improveworld than his companions. He car-rle-d ment in him, he approached so near a rifle slung by a strap over his the Ideal standards. He was flue shoulder, evidently foreseeing no im- grained, supple, slender, small Jointed, mediate use for it and a flask. (thorough bred from head to heel. Cayley was too far aloft for their r Intellectually, he had been good conversation to be audible to him, but enough to go through the academy at he could hear that they were talking. West Point with credit and to gradThe leather-claman appeared to be uate high enough lu his class to be doing the most of it and, from the assigned to service in the cavalry. His Inflection ot his voice, he seemed to standards of conduct, hi Ideas of bon- be speaking In English. and morality bad been about the Presently he noticed tbat the leather-c- same as those of the best third of his lad man had forged a little ahead classmates. If his fellow officers In of his companions, or, rather like a tbe Philippines, during the year or flash, this Idea occurred to Cayley-fvo be spent In the service, had been tbat tbe others were purposely log- asked to pick a flaw In hltn, which would have been reluctant to do, ging a little behind. And then, before that sinister Idea Sey would have said that he seemed could formulate Itself Into a definite to them a bit too and suspicion, his eyes widened with rather fastidious; that was what his amazement, and the cry be would chum and only Intimate friend, Perry have uttered died In his throat; for Hunter, said about him at any rate. But he could afford to be fastidithis man, who had so Innocently allowed the others to fall behind him, ous, for he had about all a man could For three suddenly staggered, clutched at som- want one would think. ethingit looked like a thin ivory dart generations they had taken wealth that had transfixed his throat for granted in the Cayley family, and tugged it out In a sudden flood offwih it had come breeding, security crimson, reeled a little and then went of social position, simplicity and eau backwards over the glassy edge of a (n making friends, both among men fissure In the Ice, which lay just to and women. In short, there could be tbe left of the path where he had ftp doubt at all that up to his twenty-nint- h been walking. year Fate had been Ironically From tbe Instant when Cayley had kind to Philip. Cayley. She had given noticed the others dropping behind, to bim no hint, no preparation for the tbe last glimpse be bad of tbe body stunning blow that was to fall upon ot tbe murdered man could hardly blra. suddenly, out of so clear a sky. have been five seconds. When it did fall, it cut his life The instant the murdered man dls- across; so tbat when he thought appeared, another, who had not previ back to that time now. It seemed to ously been with the party, it seemed, him that the Lieutenant Cayley of tbe appeared from behind a hummock of United States army had died over Ice. There could be no doubt either there In the Philippines, and tbat he, that he was tbe assassin, or that he the man who was now soaring in those was the commander of tbe little group great circles through the arctic sky, of skin-clafigures that remained. was a chance inheritor of his name The ambush appeared to have been JrRfflTof bis memory. He had set out one day at tbe head perfectly deliberate. There had been no outcry, not even a gesture of sur- of a small scouting party, the best-like- d man in the regiment secure In prise or of remonstrance. Cayley looked at the assassin curi- the respect In the almost fatherly reously. He was dressed exactly like gard, of his colonel, proudly conscious the others, but seemed very much of the almost Idolatrous admiration bigger; seemed to walk with less of of bis men and the younger officers. a slouch, and bad, even to Cayley's He bad gone out believing that no limited view ot him. an air ot authori- one ever bad a truer friend than he ty. Cayley was surprised at his not possessed in Perry Hunter, his classbeing armed with a bow, for he knew mate at West Point his fellow officer of no other way In which a dart could In the regiment the confidant of all have been' propelled with power hla hopes and ideals. He had come back, after a fortenough, even at close range, to have transfixed a man's throat. The assas- night's absence, to find bis name sin's only weapon, except for a quiver- smeared with disgrace, himself Judged ful of extra darts, seemed to be a and condemned, unheard, in the opinshort blunt stick, rudely whittled, ion of tbe mess. And that was not the worst of It. The same blow which perhaps ten Inches long. Obedient, apparently, to the order had deprived him of the regard of tbe of the new arrival, the party changed only people in the world who matterits direction, leaving what was evi- ed to him, destroyed, also, rodt and dently a path to them, for branch, his affection for the one man a seemingly more direct but rougher of whom be had made an intimate. route. And they moved now with an The only feeling that It would be posappearance of baste. Presently they sible for him to entertain for Perry scrambled over a precipitous ledge of Hunter again must be a And if Ice and, In a moment, were lost to contempt. tbat was bis feeling for the man he Cayley's view. The world was suddenly empty had trusted most and loved the most again, as if no living foot had ever deeply, what must be it for the rest of trodden It; and Cayley, hovering humankind? What did It matter what there, a little above the level ot the they thought of him or what they did Ice, rubbed bis eyes and wondered to him? All be wanted of human sowhether tbe singular, silent tragedy ciety was to escape from It lie fell to wondering, as be hung, he had just witnessed were real, or a trick the mysterious arctic light hud suspended, over that rosy expanse of played upon his tired eyes. But there fleecy fog, whether, were the thing to remained upon that vacant scene two do over again, he would act as he had material reminders of the tragedy to acted Ave years ago; whether he which it had afforded a setting. One would content himself with a single was smudge of crimson on the snow; disdainful denial of the monstrous the other, a little distance off. Just thing they charged bim with; whether this side of the Icy ridge over which he would resign again, under fire, and the last of the party had gone scram- go away, leaving his tarnished name bling a moment before, was the 'for the daws to peck at ' Heretofore he had always answered strange looking blunt stick which be that question with a fierce affirmahad seen in the assassin's hand. Cayley flew a little lower, his wings tive. Today it left him wondering. almost skimming the Ice. Finally, Had be stayed, had he paid the price reaching the spot where the thing had that would have been necessary to fallen, he alighted and picked It up. clear himself, he would never have Whether its possessor hsd valued It, found his wings, so much was clear. or not whether or not he might be He would never, have spent those expected to return for it Cayley did four years In the wilderness, working, not know, and did not much care. experimenting, taking his life in his He stood for some time turning the hands, day after day, while he masterthing over in his bands, puzzling over ed the art that no man bad ever masIt, trying to make out how it could tered before. He had set himself this task because have been used as the Instrument of propulsion to that deadly Ivory dart. it wim the only one be knew that did There was a groove on one side of it, not Involve contact with his fellow-beingHe must have something that with a small Ivory plug at the end. Tbe other end was curiously shaped, he could work at alone. Work and misshapen, rather, for, though it was solitude were two things that he had overmastering craving for. And obviously the end one held, Cayley felt could not make it fit his hand, what- the possibility he had faced with a ever position he held It In. light heart every morning the possiGiving up the problem at last, he bility of a sudden and violent death turked the stick Into his belt, slipped before night, bad been no more to bis arm through the strap In the him than an agreeable spice to the frsme-worof his aeroplane and pre- day's work. ' It was not until he had actually pared for flight. He had a little diffi absence to the to fly, had literally shaken tbe learned owing up, culty getting of a breeze at this point. Finally he dust of the earth from his feet and was obliged to climb, with a good deal taken to the sky as his abodo, that his of labor, the icy ridge up which be wound had healed. The three months had watched the little party of mur- that he had spent in this upper arctic derers scrambling. air, a wing for 16 hours out of 24, had At the crest he cast a glance calmed htm, put his nerves In tune around, looking for them, but saw no- again; given him for men and their signs of them. Then, getting a favor- affairs a quiet indifference, In place able slant of tbe wind, he moun'.ea of the smarting contempt he had been again Into the element he now called hugging to his breast before. Three months ago, at sight of those little bis own. dots crossing the glacier, he human Cayley before Philip Five years would have wheeled aloft and gone would have passed for a good examclean-limbesailing away. Even a month ago he ple of that type of likable young man which the would hardly have hung, soaring d ir " thin-skinne- Cayley Wheeled Sharply Up Into the Wind. CHAPTER I. The Man With Wings. For many hours Cayley waa too jniuch of a god today to bother with jtbe exact number of thein he had been flying slowly northward down a mild southerly breeze. Hundreds of feet below him was the dazzling, terrible expanse of the polar Ice pack thlch shrouds the northern limits of Arctic ocean in its' Impenetrable ell of mystery. A compass, 'a sextant, a bottle of Ilk and a revolver comprised, with tie clothes he wore, and with the hlmmerlng silken wings of his areo- II I I bergen, which has had a permanent population of 15,000 souls, lies 300 miles farther north than this ' uncharted coast which Philip Cayley saw before bim. But the great ice cap which covers the top of the wclld Is Irregular in shape, and just here, northward from Alaska, it Juts Its Impenetrable barrier far down into the Arctic sea. Rogers, Colllnson and the they all had tried to penetrate this barrier, and bad been turned back. Cayley wheeled sharply up Into the wind, and soared aloft to a height of, perhaps, a quarter of a mile. Then, with a long, flashing, shimmering , in the' arc of a sweep, he great circle, and bung, poised, over the land Itself and behind the Jutting shoulder of the mountain. The land was a narrow-neckepe ninsula. Mountain and cliff prevented him from seeing the Immediate coast on the other side of It; but out a little way to sea be was amazed to discover open water, and the smoke-likvapor that he saw rising over the cliffhead made it evident that the opening 'extended nearly. If not quite, to the very land's edge. It was utterly unexpected, for the side of the peninsula which be had approached was for miles. He would have towered again above the rocky ridge which shut off ills view, and gone to investigate this phenomenon at closer range, had be not, Just then, got the shock of and De-Lon- g debt-ended- st base of supplies. If you could call t that, was a tin of pemml- . d It. north east extremity of Herald Island, 200 miles away. The United States rescue station at Point Barrow, the extreme northerly point of Alaska, the place which he had called home Tor the past three months, was pos- half as far again away, tlbly, off to the southeast. But for these past weeks of un- Jliroken arctic sunshine, he had fairly Dived The earth had no obstructions and the air no perils. To-l broad lay, with his great fan-tai- e beneath him, his lrawu up planes pitched slightly forward at the precise and perilous 'angle that only iust did not send him plunging, head first, down upon the sullen masses of ice below, he lay there, prone, upon the sheep-skisleeping bag which padded the frame-worsupporting bis two wings, as secure as the great fulmar petrel which drew curiously near, and then, with a wheel and a plunge, fled away, squawking. For all practical purposes Cayley bad learned to fly. The great air ship, 100 feet from tip to tip, which had long lain Idle on his ranch at Sandoval, would probably never leave Its bouse again. It had done yeoman service. Without its powerful propellers, for the last re source, Cayley would never have been able to try the experiments and get tbe practise which had given him the air for his natural element He had outgrown It " He Jiad no more need of motors or whirling fans. The force of gravity, the force of the breeze and 'tie perfectly muscles 01 bis own body gave him all the power be needed now. Perhaps the succeeding generations of humankind may develop an eye which can see ahead when the body lying prone, as a bird lies In its flight. Cayley had remedied this deficiency with a little silver mirror, slightly concave, screwed fast to the crossbrace which supported his shoulders. Instead of bending back his '".-or trying to see out through his J. eyebrows, he simply cast a backward glance Into this mirror whenever he wanted to look on ahead. It had been little perplexing at first, but be could see better In It now than with his unaided eyes. And now, a minute or two, perhaps, ft that fulmar had gone squawking 4way, he glanced down into his mlr-rwas and his olympian calm shaken with the shock of surprise, for what he saw, clearly reflected In h'a little reducing glass, was land. There was a mountain, and a lone d"k line that must be a clifflike arc-wis- n k fan-drive- n . -- coast. And it was land been marked on that never had any chart. In absolute degrees of latitude he was not from the arctic explorer's view, very far north. Over on the other side of tn world they run excursion steamer' every summer nearer to the pole than he was at this moment Spits d e d other surprise, greater than the dis- covery of land itself. The little valley which he hung poised above was sheltered by a second bills to the ridge of rocky, north, and, except for streaks, denoting crevices, here and there, was quite free from Ice and snow. There were bright patches of green upon it. evidently some bit of flowering northern grass, aud It was flecked here and there with bright bits of color, yellow poppy, he judged It to be, and saxifrage. Hugging the base of the mountain cn tbe opposite side of tbe valley, then notching tbe cliff and grinding down to sea at tbe other side of it was a great white glacier, all tbe whiter, and colder, and more dazzling for its contrast .with tbe browa mountain-side and the green-clavalley. . up above the glacier, on the farther side were great broad yellow patches, which be would have thought were poppy field, but for tbe impossibility of their growing in such a place. No vegetable growth waa possible, be would have thought, against almost vertical, rocky that clean-cut- , face. And yet, what else could have given It that blazing yellow color? Some day he was to learn tbe answer to that question. But the thing that caught his eye now, tbat made bim start and draw In a little Involuntary gasp of wonder, was the sight of a little clump of black dots moving slowly, almost Imperceptibly from this distance, across tbe face of the glacier. He blinked his eyes, as if he suspected them of playing him false. Unless they had played him false, these tiny dots were men. All of the party, but one man, were dressed exactly alike, In hooded bearskin Bhlrts and breeches, and boots of what he guessed was walrus hide. They moved along with the peculiar wary shuffle of men accustomed, by to the long habit to the footing and wore. So they garb confining heavy unfar as he cjould see they were armed. The other man was strikingly different He appeared to be clad much as Cayley was himself. In leather, rather than In ontanned hide. He seemed sllgntsr, prlht"'. M w d d d well-know- n half-pltyln- r-- . k clean-minde- He Heard a Little Surprised Cry. there, above the fog, waiting for it to lift again the veil of mystery which It had drawn across the tragic scene he had Just witnessed. Tbe month was August and the long arctic day had already begun to know Its diurnal twilight. A fortnight ago tbe sun bad dipped, for the first time, below the horizon. By now there were four or five hours, out of every 25. that would pass for night. The sun set while he hung there In the air, and as It did so, with a new slant of the breeze the fog rolled Itself cloud, up Into a great leaving the earth, the Ice, tbe sea unveiled below him. And there, in the open water of the little bay, he saw a ship, and on the shore a cluster of ' .'. .. rude huts.." It struck him, even from the height at which he soared, that tbe ship, tied In the shelter of the to an great headland, did not look like a whaler, nor like the sort of craft which an arctic explorer would have selected for his purposes. It had more the trim smartness of a yacht. They were probably all asleep down there, he reflected. It was nearly midnight and he saw no signs of life anywhere. He would drop down for a ' e , nearer look. He descended, with a sudden hawklike pounce, which was one of his more recent achievements In the navigation of the air, checked himself again at about the level of .the masthead, with a flashing, forward swoop, like a man diving in shallow water; then, with a sudden effort, brought himself up standing, his planes nearly vertical, and, with a backward spring, alighted, clear of his wings, on the Ire. floe just opposite the ship. . As he did so, he heard a little surprised cry, half of fear, half of astonishment. It was a girl's voice. violet-colore- d Ice-flo- e CHAPTER II. self Into a man and look at me In surprise, and ask me. In English, what In tbe world I am doing here 1 had tbe yacht; and ask me If I'm real." There was a moment of silence after that. ' Unconsciously they drew a little nearer together. Then Cayley spoke. "I'm real, at any rate," he said; "at least I'm a tax payer, and I weigh 160 pounds, and I have a name and address. It's Philip Cayley, if that will make me seem more natural, and my headquarters tbts summer are over on Toint Barrow." "I'm not dreaming, then?" she asked dubiously. "No." he said; "If either of us Is dreaming, It's not you. May 1 furl up my wings and talk to you for awhile?" Her eyes were on the broad-spread- , shimmering planes which lay on the Ice behind him. She seemed hardly to have heard his question, though she answered It with an almost voiceless "yes." Then she approached, half fearfully, tbe thing he called bis "wings." "It Is made of quite commonplace materials," he said with a smile "split bamboo and carbon and catgut and a fabric of bladders, cemented with flBh glue. And folding It up Is rather an nngainly job. The birds still have the advantage of me there. In a strong wind It's not very easy to do without damaging something. Would you mind slipping that Joint for me that one right by your hand? It's Just like a flHhing rod." She did as he asked, and her smile convinced him that she bad at least half guessed bis purpose In asking b service of her. The next moment her words confirmed it "You wanted me to make sure, I suppose, that It would not turn Into a great roc when I touched It and fly away with me to the Valley of Diamonds." She patted the furled wing gently with both hands. "1 suppose," she continued, "one could dream as vividly as this, although I never have unless, of course, this Is a dream. she held out ber hand But" and now to him, "but 1 hope I am awake. And my name Is Jeanne Fielding." He had the band In his. and noticed how live and strong and warm It was, before she pronounced her name. At the sound of It he glanced at ber curiously; but all he said just then was. "Thank you," and busied himself Immediately with completing the process of furling his. wings. When he had finished, he tossed the sheep-skidown In a little hollow In the floe, and with a gesture Invited her to be seated. "Ob, I've a great pile of bear skins out here," she said, "quite a ridiculous pile of them, considering it Is not a cold night; and we can make ourselves comfortable here, or go aboard the yacht JuRt as yoti please." ",. They were seated side by, side in the little nest she had made for herself, before be reverted to the Idea which had sprung up In his mind upon hearing her name. "There was " a 'Captain Fielding once," he said klowly. "who set out from Sun Francisco half a dozen years ago, in tbe hope of discovering the pole by the way of Behrlng strait Ills ship was never seen again, nor was any word received from him. Finding you here and hearing your name, I wondered " "Yes," she said gravely, "he was my father. We got news of him last winter, If you could call It news, for It was four years old before It reached A whaler In the arctic us. fleet picked up a floating bottle with a message from him telling where be was. So we have come here to find him at least to find where he died, for 1 suppose there Is no hope never bo much as a grala of hope of anything, The Girl on the Ice Floe. She stood there on the floe confronting him, not ten feet away, and at sight of her Philip Cayley's eyes widened. "What in the world!" he gasped. Then stared at her speechless. She was clad, down to the knees, In sealskin, and below Its edge be could see tbe tops ot her small boots. Upon ber bead she wore a little turban-like- ' cap of seat The smartly tailored lines of the coat emphasized her young slenderness. Her bootmaker must have had' a reputation upon some metropolitan boulevard, and her head gear came clearly under the category of what Is known as modes. Her eyes were very blue and her hair was golden, warmed, he thought as she stood there In the orange twilight, with a glint of red. Cayley gasped again, as he took In the details of this vision. Thrn collected himself. "I beg your pardon." he stammered. "I don't mean to be rudely inquisitive, but what, In the world, Is a person like you doing in this part of it that is, if you are real at all? This Is latitude 76, and no cartographer ho ever lived has put that coast-linyonder Into his maps. Yet here, In this nameless bay, I find a yacht, and on this Ice floe, In the twilight, you." She shook her head a little impatiently, and blinked her eyes, as If to clear them of a vision. "Of course," she said, "I know I've fallen asleep dream of mine, but even and this for a dream, aren't you a little unYachts are a natural reasonable? mode of conveyance across the ocean. You find them In many bays some-time- s In nameless ones and they always have people on them. But you you come wheeling down, out of a night sky. like some great nocturnal bird, and alight here on the floe be- better." side me. And then you change your (TO BE CONTINUED.) n e is, |