Cayley Wheeled Sharply Up Into the Wind.
CHAPTER I. .
The Man With Wings.
For many hours Cayley was toi
touch of i god today to bother witl
.the exact number of them he hac
jbeen flying slowly northward down i
jrnild southerly breeze. Hundreds o :
feet below him was the dazzling , ter
rible expanse of the polar ice pad
which shrouds the northern limits 01
the Arctic -ocean In its Impenetrable
Tell of mystery.
A compass , a sextant , a bottle o ]
milk and a revolver comprised , with
the clothes he wore , and with th
shimmering silken wings of his areo
plane , his whole equipment His near
est base of supplies , if you could call
it that , was a 20-pound tin of pemml-
can , hidden under a stone on the
north east extremity of Herald island ,
800 miles away. The United States
rescue station at Point Barrow , the
extreme northerly point of Alaska ,
, the place which he had called home
jfor the past three months , was pos
sibly , half as far 'again away , some
where off to the southeast.
: But for these past weeks of un-
jbrokon arctic sunshine , he had fairly
illved a-wing. The earth had no ob-
itructions and the air no perils. To-
Iday , with his great broad fan-tail
drawn up arc-wise beneath him , his
iplanes pitched slightly forward at the
jprocise and perilous angle that only
gust did not send him plunging , head-
'flrst , down upon the sullen masses of
| lce below , he lay there , prone , upon
.the sheep-skin sleeping bag which
padded the frame-work supporting his
two wings , as secure as the great ful-
znar petrel which drew curiously near ,
and then , with a wheel and a plunge ,
.fled away , squawking.
For all practical purposes Cayley
had learned to fly. The great fan-
'driven air ship , 100 feet from tip to
tip , which had long lain idle on his
ranch at Sandoval , would probably
never leave its house 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
the practise which had given him t.he
air for his natural element. He had
outgrown It He had no more need
of motors or whirling fans. The force
of gravity , the force of the breeze and
the perfectly co-ordinated muscles of
his own body gave him all the power
he needed now.
, Perhaps the succeeding generations
of humankind may develop an eye
which can see ahead when the body
Is lying prone , as a bird lies in its
flight Cayley had remedied this de
ficiency with a little silver mirror ,
slightly concave , screwed fast to the
crossbrace which supported his shoul
ders. Instead of bending back his
head , or trying to see out through his
eyebrows , he simply cast a backward
glance into this mirror whenever he
wanted to look on ahead. It had been
a little perplexing at first , but he
could see better in it now than with
his unaided eyes.
And now , a minute or two , perhaps ,
after that fulmar had gone squawking
away , he glanced down into his mir-
row , and his olympian calm was
shaken with the shock of surprise.
For what he saw , clearly reflected in
his little reducing glass , was land.
There was a mountain , and a long
dark line that must bea clifflike
coast
And it was land that never had
been marked on any chart In abso
lute degrees of latitude he was not ,
from the arctic explorer's view , very
Car north. Over on the other side of
the world they run excursion steam
rs every summer nearer to the pole
ho was At this moment. Spits
bergen , which has had a permanent
population of 15,000 souls , lies 30C
miles farther north than this un
charted coast which Philip Cayley saw
before him.
But the great Ice cap which covers
the top of the world is irregular in
shape , and just here , northward from
Alaska , it juts its impenetrable bar
rier far down Into the Arctic ' sea.
Rogers , Collinson and the ill-fated De-
Long they all had tried to penetrate
this barrier , and had 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
sweep , he descended , in the arc of a
great circle , and hung , poised , over
the land itself arid behind the jutting
shoulder of the mountain.
The land was a narrow-necked pe
ninsula. Mountain and cliff prevented
him from seeing the immediate coast
on the other side of It ; but out a little
way to sea he was amazed to discover
open water , and the smoke-like vapor
that he saw rising over the cliffhead
made it evident that the opening ex
tended nearly , If not quite , to the
very land's edee. It waa utterly un
expected , for the side of the penin
sula which he had approached was
ice-locked for miles.
He would have towered again
above the rocky ridge which shut off
his view , and gone to investigate this
phenomenon at closer range , had
he not , just then , got the shock of an
other surprise , greater than the dis
covery of land itself.
The little valley which he hung
poised above was sheltered by a second
ridge of rocky , ice-capped hills to the
north , and , except for streaks , denot
ing crevices , here and there , was quite
free from ice and 'snow. There were
bright patches of green upon it , ev
idently some bit of flowering northern
grass , and it was flecked here and
there with bright bits of .color , yellow
poppy , he judged it to be , and saxi
frage. Hugging the base of the moun
tain on the opposite side of the valley ,
then notching the cliff and grinding
down to sea at the other side of it
was a great white glacier , all the
whiter , and colder , and more dazzling
for its contrast with the brown mountainside
tain-side and the green-clad valley.
Up above the glacier , on the farth
er side , , were great broad yellow
patches , which he would have thought
were poppy field , but for the impos
sibility of their growing in such a
place. No vegetable growth was pos
sible , he would have thought , against
that clean-cut , almost vertical , rocky
face. And yet , what else could have
given It that blazing yellow color ?
Some day he was to learn the answer
to that question.
But the thing that caught his eye
now , that made him start and draw in
a little involuntary gasp of wonder ,
was the sight of a little clump of
black dots moving slowly , almost im
perceptibly from this distance , across
the face of the glacier. He blinked his
eyes , as if he .suspected them of play
ing 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 bear
skin shirts and breeches , and boots
of wh..t he guessed was walrus hide.
They moved along with the peculiar
wary shuflle of men accustomed , by
long habit , to the footing and to the
heavy confining garb they wore. So
far as he could see they were un
armed.
The other man was strikingly dif
ferent. He appeared to be clad much
as Cayley was himself , in leather ,
rather than in untanned hide. He
seemed slighter , sprightlier , and in
BSTER
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every way to convey the impressioi
of having come more recently fron
the civilized , habitable portion of th <
world than his companions. He car
ried a rifle slung by a strap over his
shoulder , evidently foreseeing no im
mediate use for it , and a flask.
Cayley was too far aloft for theii
conversation to be audible to him , bul
he could hear that they were talking
The leather-clad man appeared to be
doing the most of it , and , from the
inflection of his voice , he seemed tc
be speaking in English.
Presently he noticed that the leath
er-clad man had forged a little ahead
of his companions , or , rather like a
flajsh this idea occurred to Cayley
"that "the other's were purposely lag
ging a littlebehind. .
And then , before that sinister idea
could formulate itself into a definite
suspicion , his eyes widened with
amazement , and the cry he would
have uttered died in his throat ; for
this man , who had so innocently al
lowed the others to fall behind him ,
suddenly staggered , clutched at some
thing it looked like a thin ivory dart
that had transfixed his throat ,
tugged it out in a sudden flood of
crimson , reeled a little and then went
backwards over the glassy edge of a
fissure in the ice , which lay just to
the left of the path where he had
been walking.
From the instant when Cayley had
noticed the others dropping behind , to
the last vglimpse he had of the body
of the murdered man could hardly
have been five seconds.
The instant the murdered man dis
appeared , another , who had not previ
ously been with the party , it seemed ,
appeared from behind a hummock of
ice. There could be no doubt either
that he was the assassin , or that he
was the commander of the little group
of skin-clad figures that remained.
The ambush appeared to have been
perfectly deliberate. There had been ,
no outcry , not even a gesture of sur
prise or of remonstrance.
Cayley looked at the assassin curi
ously. He was dressed exactly like
the others , but seemed very much
bigger ; seemed to walk with less of
a slouch , and had , even to Cayley'a
limited view of him. an air of authori
ty. Cayley was surprised at his not
being armed with a bow , for he knew
of no other way in which a dart could
have been propelled with power
enough , even at close range , to have
transfixed a man's throat. The assas
sin's only weapon , except for a quiver
ful of extra darts , seemed to be a
short blunt stick , rudely whittled ,
perhaps ten inches long.
Obedient , apparently , to the order
of the new arrival , the party changed
its direction , leaving what was evi
dently a well-known path to them , for
a seemingly more direct but rougher
route And they moved now with an
appearance of haste. Presently they
scrambled over a precipitous ledge of
ice and , in a moment , were lost to
Cayley's view.
The world was suddenly empty
again , as if no living foot had ever
trodden it ; and Cayley , hovering
there , a little above the level of the
ice , rubbed his eyes and wondered
whether the singular , silent tragedy
he had just witnessed were real , or a
trick the mysterious arctic light had
played upon his tired ey es. But there
remained upon that vacant scene two
material reminders of the tragedy to
which it had afforded a setting. One
was smudge of crimson on the snow ;
the other , a little distance off , just
this side of the icy ridge over which
the last of the party had gone scram
bling a moment before , was the
strange looking blunt stick which he
had seen in the assassin's hand.
Cayley flew a little lower , his wings
almost skimming the ice. Finally ,
reaching the spot where the thing had
fallen , he alighted and picked it up.
Whether its possessor had valued it ,
or not , whether or not he might be
expected to return for it , Cayley did
not know , and did not much care.
He stood for some time turning the
thing over in his hands , puzzling over
it , trying to make out how it could
have been used as the instrument of
propulsion to that deadly ivory dart.
There was a groove on one side of it ,
with a small ivory plug at the end.
The other end was curiously shaped ,
misshapen , rather , for , though it was
obviously thec end one held , Cayley
could not make It fit his hand , what
ever position he held it in.
Giving up the problem at last , he
tucked the stick into his belt , slipped
Ills arm through the strap in the
frame-work of his aeroplane and pre
pared for flight. He had a little diffi-
julty getting up , owing to the absence
Df a breeze at this point. Finally he
ivas obliged to climb , with a'good ' deal
3f labor , the icy ridge up which he
iad watched the little party of inur-
Jerers scrambling.
At the crest he cast a glance
iround , looking for them , but saw no
signs of them. Then , getting a favor-
ible slant of the wind , he mounted
igain into the element he now called
lis own.
Five years before Philip Cayley
vould have passed for a good exam-
ile of that type of clean-limbed , clean-
ninded , likable young man which th
best of our civilization seems to b
flowering Into. Physically , it woul <
have been hard to suggest an Improve
inent in him , he approached so nea
the ideal standards.- was fiiu
grained , supple , slender , small-jointed
thorough-bred from head to heel.
Intellectually , he had been goot
enough to go through the academy a
West Pointwith credit , and to grad
uate high enough in his class to b <
assigned to service in the cavalry. His
standards of conduct , his ideas of hon
or and morality had been about lh (
same as those of the best third of hit
classmates. If his fellow officers ir
the Philippines , during the year 01
two he spent in the service , had beer
asked to pick a flaw in him , whict
they would have been reluctant'to do
they would have said that he seemed
to them a bit too thin-skinned and
rather fastidious ; that was what his
chum and only intimate friend , Perry
Hunter , said about him at any rate.
But he could afford to be fastidi
ous , for he had about all a man could
want , one would think. For three
generations they had taken wealth
for granted in the Cayley family , and
with it had come breeding , security
of social position , simplicity and ease
in making friends , both among men
and women. In short , there could be
no doubt at all that up to his twenty-
ninth year Fate had been ironically
kind to Philip Cayley. She had given
him no hint , no preparation for the
stunning blow that was to fall upon
him , suddenly , out of so clear a sky.
When it did fall , It cut his life
clean across ; so that when he thought
back to that time now , it seemed to
him that the Lieutenant Cayley of the
United States army had died over
there in the Philippines , and that he ,
the man who was now soaring in those
great circles through the arctic sky ,
was a chance inheritor of his name
and of his memory.
, He had set out one day at the head
of a small scouting party , the best-
liked man in the regiment , secure in
the respect , In the almost fatherly re
gard , of his colonel , proudly conscious
of the almost idolatrous admiration
of his men and the younger officers.
He had gone out believing that no
one ever had a truer friend than he
possessed in Perry Hunter , his class
mate at West Point , his fellow officer
in the regiment , the confidant of all
his hopes and ideals.
He had come back , after a fort-
aight's absence , to find his name
smeared with disgrace , himself judged
md condemned , unheard , In the opin
ion of the mess. And that was not
the worst of it. The same blow which
aad deprived him of the regard of the
inly people in the world who matter-
id to him , destroyed , also , root and
jranch , his'affection for the one man
> f whom he had made an intimate.
The only feeling that It would be pos
sible for" him to entertain for Perry
rlunter again must be a half-pitying ,
lalf-incredulous contempt. And if
; hat was his feeling for the man he
lad trusted most and loved the most
leeply , what must be it for the rest of
lumankind ? What did it matter what
hey thought of him or what they did
o him ? All he wanted of human so-
: iety was to escape from it.
He fell to wondering , as he hung ,
iuspended , over that rosy expanse of
leecy fog , whether , were the thing to
lo over again , he would act as he had
icted five years ago ; whether he
yould content himself with a single
lisdainful denial of the monstrous
hing they charged him with ; whether
ie would resign again , under fire , and
; o away , leaving his tarnished name
or the daws to peck at.
Heretofore he had always answered
bat question with a fierce affirma-
Ive. Today It left him wondering ,
lad he stayed , had he paid the price
hat would have been necessary to
lear himself , he would never have
ound his wings , so much was clear.
Ee would never have spent those
Dur years In the wilderness , working ,
xperimenting , taking his life in his
ands , day after day , while he master-
d the art that no man had ever mas-
sred before.
He had set himself this task because
; was the only one he knew that did
ot involve contact with his fellow-
eings. He must have something that
e could work at alone. Work and
olitude were two things that he 'had
jit an overmastering craving for. And
ie possibility he had faced with a
ght heart every morning the possi-
llity of a sudden and violent death
efore night , had been no more to
im than an agreeable spice to the
ay's work.
It was not until he had actually
larned to fly , had literally shaken the
ust of the earth from his feet and
iken to the sky as his abode , that his
ound had healed. The three months
lat he had spent in this upper arctic
ir , a-wing for 16 hours out of 24 , had
ilmed him , put his nerves in tune
; ain ; given him for men and their
ffairs a quiet indifference , in place
: the smarting contempt he had been
Jgging to his breast before. Three
onths ago , at sight of those little
timan dots crossing the glacier , he
ould have wheeled aloft and gone
tiling away. Even a month ago he
ould hardly have hung , soaring
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.
The month was August , and the
long arctic day had already begun to
know its diurnal twilight. A fort
night ago the sun had 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
up into a great violet-colored cloud ,
leaving the earth , the ice , the sea un
veiled 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 the ship , tied
to an ice-floe in the shelter of the
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 mid
night and he saw no signs of life any
where. He would drop down for a
nearer look.
He descended , with a sudden hawk
like pounce , which was one of his
more recent achievements in the navi
gation of the air , checked himself
again at about the level of the mast
head , 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 Ice
floe just opposite the ship.
As he did so , he heard a little sur
prised cry , half of fear , half of aston
ishment. It was a girl's voice.
CHAPTER II.
The Girl on the Ice Floe.
She stood there on the floe confront
ing 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 speech-
.ess.
.ess.She
She was clad , down to the knees , in
sealskin , and below its edge he could
; ee the tops of her small fur-trimmed
joots. Upon her head she wore a
Ittle turban-like cap of seal. The
smartly tailored lines of the coat em-
> hasized her young slenderness. Her
> ootmaker must have had a reputa-
ion upon some metropolitan boule-
rard , and her head-gear came clearly
mder the 'category of what Is known
is modes. Her eyes were very blue
md her hair was golden , warmed , he
bought , as she stood there in the
range twilight , with a glint of red.
Cayley gasped again , as he took in
he details of this vision. Then col-
ected himself. "I beg your pardon , "
ie stammered. "I don't mean to be
udcly inquisitive , but what , In the
rorld , is a person like you doing in
his part of it that is , if you are real
it all ? This Is latitude 76 , and no
artographer who ever lived has put
hat coast-line yonder into his maps ,
ret here , in this nameless bay , I find
, yacht , and on this ice floe , in the
wilight , you. "
She shook her head a little Impa-
iently , and blinked her eyes , as If to
lear them of a vision. "Of course , "
he said , "I know I've fallen asleep
nd this is a dream of mine , but even
or a dream , aren't you a little un-
easonable ? Yachts are a natural
lode of conveyance across the ocean ,
'ou flad them in many bays some-
imes in nameless ones and they al-
ays have people on them. But you
-you come wheeling down , out of a
ight sky. like some great nocturnal' '
ird , and alight here on the floe be-
ide me. And then you change your
self into a man and look at me in sur
prise , and ask me , In English , what
V
In the world I am doing here I had
the yacht ; and ask me If I'm real. "
There was a moment of silence aft
er 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 this summer are
over on Point Barrow. "
"I'm not dreaming , then ? " she csked
dubiously.
"No , " he said ; "if either of us is
dreaming , it's not you. May I furl up
my wings and talk to you for awhile ? "
Her eyes were on the broad-spread ,
shimmering planes which lay on th
ice behind him. She seemed hardly
to have heard his question , though
she answered it with an almost voice
less "yes. " Then she approached-
half fearfully , the thing he called his
"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 fish glue. And folding it up is
rather an ungainly 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'a just
like a fishing rod. "
She did as he asked , and her smile
convinced him that she had at least
half-guessed his purpose In asking the
service of her. The next moment her
words confirmed it
"You wanted me to make suna , I
suppose , that It would not turn into a.
great roc when I touched It and fly
away with me to the Valley of Dia
monds. " She patted the furled wing
gently with both hands. "I suppose , "
she continued , "one could dream as
vividly as this , although I never have
unless , of course , this is a dream.
But " and now she held out her hand
to him , "but I hope I am awake. And
my name Is Jeanne Fielding. "
He had the hand In his , and noticed
how live and strong and warm It wasr
before she pronounced her name. At
the sound of it , he glanced at her curi
ously ; but all he said just then was ,
"Thank you , " and busied himself im
mediately with completing the process
of furling his wings.
When he had finished , he tossed the
sheep-skin down in a little hollow In
the floe , and with a gesture invited
her to be seated. '
"Oh , I've a great pile of bear skins
Dut here , " she said , "quite a ridiculous
pile of them , considering it is not a
cold night ; and we can make our
selves comfortable here , or go aboard
th'e yacht , just as you please. "
They were seated side by side la
: he little nest she had made for her
self , before he reverted to the idea
which had sprung up in his mind
ipon hearing her name. "There was
i 'Captain Fielding * once , " he said
slowly , "who set out from San Fran-
: isco half a dozen years ago , in the
lope of discovering the pole by the
* ray of Behrlng strait His ship was
lever seen again , nor was any word
eceived from. him. Finding you here
md hearing your name , I wondered *
"Yes , " she said gravely , "he was my
ather. We got news of him last win-
er , if you could call It news , for It
ras four yeara old before it reached
is. A whaler in the arctic fleet
licked up a floating bottle with a mes-
age from him telling where he was.
io we have come herd to find Tiim *
t least to find where he died , for 1
uppose there is no hope never so
auch as a grain of hope of anything
etter. "
( TO BE CONTINUED - * ' -
- _ _ , I
