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Show i ' ,.-4-- -o- J 11 1 ; ' I.1 1 'nil. - VrStaMMIIlillT "Did You Ever a Know Man Named Philip Cayley, Tom?" f .j-wxy w- .. veye swer. "There wasn't much room for . alighting on the deck or I could have f spared you llm trouble." 1 Joanne stole a glance Into Tom Fan- - shaw'a stern, set face, wondering if - the tone and tho Inflection of that voire would Impress him as It had her. - "Don't you flud It hard to believe that ho could have done such a thing?" i she asked; "a niau w ith a voice like - that?" 1 "I only wish 1 found It possible to ' believe he hasn't. Not every villain In this world looks inul talk like a I thug If they did. life would be aim-0 aim-0 pier." He paused a moment, then J added: "And we know he did the other thing out there In the Philippine." Her face paled a little at that, atlf-0 atlf-0 fened, somehow, and she did not an- 0 swer. They sat silent, listening to ' the receding oars of the dinghy as It made for the Ice floe. Suddenly the h girl saw an expression of perplexity II come Into Tom Fanshaw'a face. "When you talked with him, Jeanne, P lam night, did you tell him our name? 8 Mine and father's. I mean? Did you . give him any hint who we were, or that we were people who might know i hlra?" 9 "No, only my own; and who father was. He asked me about that." "Ah," he said. "Then that accounts r for his coming back." e She had hoped that In some way or other the trend of her answer n might bo in the sky man's favor, and nun disappointed at seeing that the t reverse was true. She had to repress a sudden Impulse . of flight when they heard the returning return-ing dinghy scrape alongside the ac-t ac-t coinmodatlon ladder. And even 1 though she resisted It, she shrank r back, nevertheless, Into a corner be hind Tom Panshaw's chair. The old gentleman was waiting tit the head of tho ladder, blocking, with the bulk ol his body, the new-comer's view of th" deck niiil those who were wattlim there until he should have fairly come aboard "Mr. Philip Cayley?" he inquired stiffly. "My name Is Fanshaw, sir; and I think my son, who sits yon der " he stepped aside and Ihcllnei his head a little In Tom s dlrectlon-"Ih. dlrectlon-"Ih. or was once, an acquaintance o yours." From her place In the back ground, Jeanne saw a look of perplex lty nothing more than that, she fel sure come Into Philip Cayley's fa The old gentleman's manner was eel talnly an extraordinary one In whlc to greet a total stranger, 600 mile away from human habitation. Cayle seemed to be wondering whether I represented anything more than th Individual eccentricity of the old gen tleman, or not Evidently he recognised Tom Fan shaw at once, and, after an almost Itn perceptible hesitation, seemed to maki up his mind to overlook the singular! ty of his welcome. "I remember IJeu tenant Fanshaw well," he ssld, smll Ing and speaking pleasantly enough though the gtrl thought she heard at underlying note of hardness In hli voice. "You were at the Point while 1 was there, weren't you? Hut It'i msny years since I've seen you." At that he crossed the deck tt where young Fanshaw was sitting, am held out his hand. Tom Fanshaw'i hands remained clasped tightly on tin two arms of his chair, and the steri lines of his face never relaxed, thougl he was looking straight Into Cayley'i eyes. "I remember you at the I'oin very well," he said, "but, unfortunate 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 stain la that discolors It You know where we found that dart. You're only surprised that It was ever found at all - it and tho body of the man It slew." "Kverj thing you say Is perfectly true," said Cayley. very quietly. "I am surprised that the body of the man was ever recovered. I'm a III tie surprised, also, that you should think, because this stick fell from my belt last night, and this dart, which you found transfixing trans-fixing a man's throat this morning" Tom Fanshaw Interrupted him. Ills eyes were blazing with excitement "It was not from us that you learned thut that dart transfixed the murdered mini's throat!" he cried. "1 knew It, nevertheless." said Cayley Cay-ley In that quiet voice, not looking toward to-ward the man he answered, but still keeping his eyes on old Mr. Fanshaw. "And also a little surprised," bo went on, as If ho had not been Interrupted, "that you should think, because this stick ami this dart fit together, that 1 am, necessarily, a murderer." "You have admitted it now, at alt events," Mr. Fanshaw replied. Ills voice grew quieter, loo, as tho Intensity In-tensity of his purpose steadied It "1 supposo that Is because, upon this 'No-Man's ljnd,' you are outside the pale of law and statute beyond the jurisdiction of any court. I tell you this: 1 think we would be justified In giving you a trial and hanging you from that yard time. We will not do It. We will not even take you back to the states to prison. You may live outlaw hero ami enjoy, undisturbed, your freedom, such as It Is, and your thoughts and your conscience, such as they must be. Hut If ever you try to return to the world of men" Cayley Interrupted the threut before It. was spoken: "I have no wish to return re-turn to the world of men," bo said. "1 wish the world were empty of men, as this part of It Is, or as I thought It w as. I abandoned mankind once be-. be-. fore, but yesterday when 1 saw men . here, I felt a stirring of the blood the call of what waa In my own veins. J Last night when I took to the air again, after the hour I had spent on t that Ice-floe yonder, I thought 1 want-. want-. ed to come back to my own kind; i wanted, in spite of the past, to be one i of thrm again. Perhaps It la well that , I should be rid of that delusion so quickly. 1 am rid of It, and I am rid of you bloody, sodden, stupid, blind. "Yet, with all my horror of you, my disdain of you, I should not expect on of you to do murder, without some sort of motive, some paltry hope of gain, upon the body of a stranger. It Is of that that you accuse me " "A strsnger!" 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! Why try to make us believe that Perry Hunter was a stranger to you?" The girl's wide eyes had never left Cayley's face since the moment of her , return to the deck with the throwing-stick. throwing-stick. Through it all through Fan-shaw's Fan-shaw's hot accusation, and his own reply through those last words of , Tom's, It had never changed. There had been contempt and anger In It, subdued by an Iron self -control; no other emotions than those two, until the very end. I'ntll the mention of, that name "Perry Huuter." i Hut at the sound of that name just then, the girl saw his face g blixKlleNS, not all at once, slowly, rath-er. rath-er. And then after a little while h i uttered a great sob; not of grief, but such a sob as both the Panshaws had heard before, when. In battle or skirmish, skir-mish, a soft nosed bullet smashes Its way through some great, knotted nerve center. Ills hands went out in a convulsive con-vulsive gesture, both the stick and the dart which he held, falling from them, the stick at the girl's feet the ' dart at his own. Then leaning back against the rail for support, be cover-; cover-; ed his faro with his hands. At last. wblle they waited silently, he drew i himself up straight and looked dazedly dazed-ly Into her face. Suddenly, to the amaxement of the other two men, she crossed the deck to where he stood "I'm perfectly sure, for my part, that you dldD't do) i It. thst you are not the murderer of Mr. Ilun'er. Won't you shake hands'" He made no move to take hers, and i though his eyes were turned upon her, h" seemed to bo looking through, rather than at her, so Intense wss his I preoccupation. Feeing (hat this was mo, she laM i her hand upon his forearm. "Yotl didn't do It." she related, "but yon know sorut thing shout It. don't you? You sa It el'ine, from a long ay olt paw the murder, without knowli.g wtv Its victim whs " ,T' l!K i 'ST! NCKti i SYNOPSIS. Flilllp Csyli'y. accused of a rrlms of which he Is not guilty, resluns from the riny In disgrace s-nd his alTeutlun fur his friend. I.IbuI. perry Hunter, turns to hatred. Csyley seeks solitude, where he r feels liylns; iiiu' hlim. WIiIIm susrliiK over Die Aretlo reruns, he picks up a curiously shaped stick lie hud m-cti In the asaaesln's hand. MuuntlriK hkiiIii. hu discovers dis-covers a yacht anchored In the liny. !e-scendln !e-scendln near the steamer, ho meets a girl on an Ice ttue. He learns that the Slrl's name Is Jeanne Fielding and thai (lis yacht has come north to seek signs of her father, ('apliilii Fielding, an aretlo explorer. A party from the yacht Is making ma-king search aahure. After I'uylev departs Jeanne finds that he had dropped a cu-rluusly-shaped stick. ('Hptaln I'lam k and ths surviving crew of his wrecked whaler ars In hiding on the coast. A giant ni?-man ni?-man named Hoseoe, liHd murdered h h-ldltig and tils two companions, after the explorer ex-plorer had revealed the location of an enormous ledge of pure rold. Itoscoe then took command of the party It develops that the ruffian had committed tho murder mur-der witnessed by Cayley. Itoscoe plans to capture the yacht and ecap" with a big load of gold. Jeanne tells Fanshaw, owner of the yacht, shout the visit of the sky-man ami shows him the stick left hy Cayley. Fanshaw declares that it Is an Ksklmo throwing stick, used to shoot darts Tom Fanshaw returns from the searching party with a sprained ankle. CHAPTER IV Continued. She was addressing the elder man as she spoke, and as she mentioned the name It was the first time she had mentioned It to any one she saw him shoot a startled, Inquiring glance at his son. Following It, she met Tom Fanshaw's eyes staring at her In utter amazement. "Cayley," he said, half under his breath;; "Philip Cayley" "That was the name," she answered an-swered "And yet, I'd bo willing to swear," he said. "I've never mentioned that name to you In my life." "No," she said. "Why should you? 1 know you didn't. I knew I had never heard It before whi n he told mo it was his." She hesitated a moment; then: "Did you ever know a man named Philip Cayley, Tom?" He let the question go by, unheeded, and, for a long time, gazed silently out over the land. "I suppose," he said at last, "that a coincidence like this, any coincidence. If only It be strange enough, will bring a touch of upersitous fear to anybody. I never had even a touch of It before, In all my life; and 1 always had a little feel. Ing of contempt for the men who showed It But now well, well, 1 wish, poor old Hunter hadn't strayed away last night. I wasn't alarmed about him before, and I've no rational ground for alarm about him now. Only" He did not go on until she prompted him with a question. "And has the sky-man, rhllip Cayley, anything to do with the coincidence?" Still It waa a little while before he spoke. "I suppose I'd better tell you the story a part of It, at least; I couldn't tell it all to you." He turned to hla father. "You, I think, already know It." Then with evident reluctance, reluc-tance, he began telling the story to Jeanne. "There was a man named Philip Cayley." he said, "in Hunter's class at the Point, three classes ahead of me, that was. He and Hunter were chums, the 'David and Jonathan." you know, of their class. I remember what a stroke of luck for them everybody thought It was when they were as signed to service in the same regl ment. It seems to me, as I think back to our days at the Point of course my memory may be playing me i trick but It seems to me that ever then Cayley was Interested In th navigation of the air. Somebody kepi a scrap-book of all that the newspa pers and magazines reported on th subject, any way; I remember seeltu It. I think It was Cayley. I lost sight of him and Huntei when they went to the Philippines. I is only justice to Hunter to say tha 1 never heard a word of tho thing tha happened out there from film. Hi never seemed to want to talk to nn about it. and. of course. I never foreei him. Well. 1 can make a short storj of It, any way, though It has to be t assty one. "A rosn came Into the post one day the head man of one of tho neighbor log villages out there, a man wltl white blood In him Spanish blood They carried him In, for he couldn' walk. He was In horrible condition He had been tortured-I won't go int. the details of that -and flogged nearl; to death. He said that Cayley ha done It. He had remonstrated wltl Cayley, he said, because he feare. for his daughter's safety she was pretty girl, whiter than her father-and father-and it seems that the man's fears ha some Justification. It appears tha Cayley lad come out there. b!in drunk, wlih a couple of trooMts, h des-rted thst same right, and mar r.andled the old man. The girl J dned 1 aer fathers accusation, at bast h didn't deny at.) thing. -Cayit y was aay on scout duty s the tl.ne when th- man arne In th thing had happened i-otiie days ri" Just before he started out. it cam like a thui.derbolt out of a fbar sK: , for everybody l.ked Cayl. y aa thought him an ptlonally d. en tl-an sort of chap, though he an Hunter bcth were drinking a good del lust then Poor Hunter was a brok. n tip about it. Kverybody b t.evJ tint he really knew some I criminating facts against Cayley, but hu never would speak. "As for Cayley himself, he made no defense whatever. He denied he did It, and that was all. There wasn't any real corroborative evidence against him, so the court-martial dismissed dis-missed the case aa not proved. Hut ho wouldn't testify himself, nor have a single witness called In his behalf, and he resigned from the service then and there, and disappeared, so far as I know, from the world. I heard he had a ranch down somewhere In New Mexico, near Sandoval, 1 think the plaeis was." Ills father saw a quick tightening In the girl's horror-stricken eyes at tho sound of the name, which evidently, In some way, helped corroborate the story to her, hut he did not question her about It. There was n silence after that, whllo the three out there on the Aurora's Au-rora's deck lixiked blankly Into each other's faces. Tho silence was broken at last, by none of them, but by a hall from the shore. "Ahoy, Aurora!" cried Ihe voice. Mr. Fanshaw answered with a wave of his arm. "That's Donovan," he said to the others; then, "Yes; what Is It?" he cried. "Will you send a dinghy for me, please?" The boat was dispatched at once, and while they waited, Mr. Fanshaw borrowed Jeanne's field glasses for a look at the man who had hailed them, "llo's In a hurry," said the old gentleman. gentle-man. "He looks if ho had news of one sort or another." They all had felt It In tho mere timber of his voice-something voice-something urgent; something otnln ous. It seemed an Interminable whllo before be-fore the returning boat came along sldo the foot tif tho accommodation ladder. When the new-comer appear ed at the head of It, his face had plainly written on it the story ol some tragedy. "What Is It?" Jeanne asked, tiol very steadily. "Oh, please don't try tc break It to me! Tell me, Just as yoi do the others." "It's nothing concerning you, miss not especially, I mean; nothing to d with your father." Then he turned t Mr. Fanshaw, "I found Mr. Hunter sir." "Dead?" The tone In which Dono van had spoken made the questlor hardly necessary. "Yes, sir. His body Is lodged decj down In one of the Ice fissures In th , glacier. I could see It perfectly , though I couldn't get down to it." Tom Fanshaw covered his face wltl , his hands for a moment. Then h looked up and asked, steadily: "lit slipped. I suppose?" At the same moment his fathei asked: "Do you think we shall b . able to recover the body?" i Donovan answered this quistlor first. i "We can try. sir, though I've no much hope of our succeeding." , Then, after a moment's hesitation , he turned to the son. , "No, sir, he didn't fall: at least 1 i wasn't the fall that killed him. found this in a cleft In the Ice nea by. It must have been driven cleai through his throat, sir." t He held out, in a shsklng hand, i , long, slim Ivory dart, sharp almost a i steel could be, and stained browi i with blood. "He was murdered, sir, j Ismovan concluded simply. I "Give me the dart," the old gentU - man demanded. As he examined It ) his fine old face hardened. "Do yo' see?" he asked, holding it nut to hi son. "There Is no notch In the n r for a bowstring, but It will lie ver t truly In the groove of that throwlnp t s'.lck that Jeanne brought aboard th t yacht this morning" 9 Then lie turned to the girl, "l'r 9 afraid your visitor last night was n I vision, my dear, after all." r Hut the girl was looking and poln i Ing skyward CHAPTER V. The Dsrt. I. High, high up In the clear opalln t air was a broad, golden gleam. .', i. er It came, and broader It grew, an i) as It grew, and as It caught more fu y ly the slanting beams of tho low hani il Ing arctic nun. It shone with prlsmath ti Iridescent color among the gold, lik d an archangel's wings. The shlnln a thing towered at last right above th - mast head, but high, high up In th d sky t Then the four watchers uttered. I d one breath, a horror frozen cry, fo o as a falcon does. It dropped, hurtlim i- put not to the destruction they for n j hhw ; once more It darted forward, cl cled half round the ai lit, so close 1 her rail tta' they heard tho whfnlri it k ream of the air as those might e wit.gj rU-ft through It. And then, r, on 'l.e n eht before, his plans n e stal ding hita'ght. ( aley le.iped bac r. uar.!. clear of them, and alighted c d t'.e th-e be!d the yac ht t. old Mr. Fanshaw walked quirk d .-.round the deckhouse and hailed tt il ' t.e arrival. "Won't you come aboar II .ir?" Jeanne heard him call. "I'll ser - ti e dinghy for you" .i "Thank you," they heard V,m a ly, there are some stories of your subsequent sub-sequent career which 1 remember altogether al-together too wrll." The girl did not need the sudden look of Incandescent anger she saw In Pl lllp Cayley's face to turn the sudden sud-den tide of her sympathy toward him. It was not for this old wrong of his that they had summoned him. as to a bur of Justice, to the Aurora's deck, but to meet tho accusation of tho murder mur-der of Perry Hunter. Whether he was kutltv of that murder, or not. this Hiking up of an old, unproved offense was a piece of unnecessary brutality. She could not understand how kind-hearted kind-hearted old Tom could havo done such a thing. Thinking It over afterward, she was able to understand a little better. From behind Tom's chair she could see bow heavily this blow be dealt had told For one Instant Philip Cayley's Cay-ley's sensitive face had shown It look of unspeakable pain. Then It stiffened stiffen-ed Into a mere mask -Icy; disdainful. I was a moment before he spoke. When he did, It was to her. "I don't know why this gentleman presumes to keep his seat," he said. "If it Is as a precaution against a blow, perhaps, ho need not let his prudence Interfere with his courtesy." "lie has Just met with an accident." she said quickly. "He can't stand No, Tom. Sit hi 111." and her hands upon his shoulders enforced the command. com-mand. 1 Cayley bowed ever so slightly. "I suppose," he continued, "that since Inst night you also have heard the story which this gentleman protests he remembers so much too well?" : "Yes," she said. At that, he turned to old Mr. Fan shaw: "Will you tell me, sir," ho I limited, "for what purpose I was In viled to come aboard this yacht?" Tom spoke before his father could I answer spoke with a short, ugly . laugh. "You weren't Invited. You f were, as the police say, 'wanted.'" "He quiet. Tom!" his father com- . mantled. "That's not the way to talk t to anylsidy." , Cayley's lips framed a faint, sallr--! leal smile; and again he bowt-d slow-h slow-h ly. Hut he said nothing, and stood t waiting for the old gentleman U y go on. t This Mr. Fanshaw seemed to find II rather difficult to do. At last, bow ever, he appeared to find the words be wanted. "When Miss Melding gave us an account, this morning, of tha strange visitor she had received last night, we were I was, at least In-' In-' ellned to think she had been dreaming dream-ing It without knowing It. To convince con-vince me that you were real and not a vision, she showed ma a material ' and highly Interesting souvenir of your call. It was an Ksklmo throwing-1 throwing-1 stick. Mr. Cayley, such aa the Alaskan 1 and Siberian Indians use to throw 1 darts and harpoons with. It happens that I re had a gisid deal of exper-' exper-' lence amng those people, and that I I know bow deadly an implement It Is." He made a little pause there, and then looked up suddenly Into Cayley's 1 face. "And 1 imagine," be continued very slowly, "that you know that as well as 1 do." Cayley made no answer at all, but ' If Mr. Fanshaw hoped to find with those shrewd eyes of his, any look of guilt or consternation In the pale face that confronted him, be was disappointed dis-appointed Suddenly, he turned to his son: "Where Is that thing that lamovsn brought aboard with him Just now?" be asked. The blood stained dsrt lay on the deck beside Tom's chair. He picked It up and held It out toward his father, fa-ther, but the elder man. with a gesture. ges-ture. Indicated to Cayley that he was to take It In his hand; then: "Jeanne, my clear," he asked, "will you fetch out from the cabin the stick which dropped from Mr. Cayley s belt last night?" When she had departed on the errand, er-rand, he spoke to Cayley: "You will obsere thst the butt of this dart Is not notched, ss It would have to be if It wero shot from a bow " Ho did not look at Cayley's face as lie spoke, but st bis hands. Could It l,e possible, ho wondered, that those hands could hold the thtng with that sinister brown stain upon It-the stain of Perry Hunters blood without trembling' They were steady enough, though, so far as he- could see. When Je-anne came out with the Ht. k. he handed tha' to Cayley also You sill notice." be said, "that that dart on I the groove- in this stick ere evide ntly made for si h other. Mr f 'syl'-y " The pupils c.f Jeinne's eyes dilated bH nhe watched the aerusid man fit I hem together, and the n balanc e th Mie-k in his hand, ss If trying to dis cover how It could be put to so dead' ly a use as Mr. Fanshaw had ludl-ea'cd ludl-ea'cd Ho s etn d preoc c upied by nothing more than a purely Intel !ectu.-il i urtoMty Ills resiitiess seemed to anger Mr Fanshaw. as It had forme rly angere d his son For a moment li-'s sudden anger of t!s rendered him almost In artlculste Then: "We don't wan t a demonstration!' came like the explosions of a quick Cre gun. "And you have no need foi n Ml , Ml a s rj !'tl 1 t t Was a Moment Before He Spoke." |
