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About Valentine Democrat. (Valentine, Neb.) 1900-1930 | View Entire Issue (May 25, 1911)
SYNOPSIS. Philip Cayley , accused of a crime of which he Is not guilty , resigns from the army In disgrace and his affection for his friend , Lieut. Perry Hunter , turns to hatred. Cayley seeks solitude , where he perfects a flying machine. While soaring over the Arctic regions , he picks up a curiously shaped stick he had seen In the assassin's hand. Mounting again , he dis covers a yacht anchored in the bay. De scending near the steamer , he meets a girl on an Ice floe. He learns that the girl's name is Jeanne Fielding and that the yacht has come north to seek signs of her father , Captain Fielding , an arctic explorer. A party from the yacht Is ma lting search ashore. After Cayley departs Jeanne finds that he had dropped a cu riously-shaped stick. Captain Planck and the surviving crew of his wrecked whaler are In hiding on the coast. A giant ruf- man namedLRoscoe , had murdered Fielding and his two companions , after the ex plorer had revealed the location of an enormous ledge of pure gold. Roscoe then took command of the party. It develops that the ruffian had committed the mur- 3er witnessed by Cayley. CHAPTER III. Continued. For a long time Roscoe walked steadily on , until the two had come far up the glacier. Finally , when he did stop , he whirled quite around and stood confronting Planck , squarely in the middle of a narrow path between two deep fissures in the ice. His eyes were glittering malevolently. "Do you know any reason , " he asked in a thick voice , "why I don't pick you up and drop you down one of those cracks there , or why I don't serve you as I served that fellow yes terday ? " Planck thought he meant to do it "but , with the fatalism that marks the men of his profession , he stood fast and eyed his big opponent. "You're strong enough to , " he said. "And I'll do it if I want to ; you Iraow that , " Roscoe supplemented. "Yes , I know that" The big man nodded curtly. "Well , I'm not going to now , be cause I choose not to. Listen. If you 'had ' the chance , could you navigate that solid mahogany , hand-painted ship down there ? " Planck cleared his throat , as if something were stifling him. "With a crew , yes , " he answered. "Could Schwartz run those nickel- plated engines he'll find in her , do you think ? " MYes. " "Well , within two days I'll give you a chance to make good. Now , I'm going to tell you my plan , not be cause you asked me , but because I want you to know. I'd run the whole thing alone if I could , but I want you / with me. We're going to take that yacht and we're going off alone in her we of the Whaler , alone. Do you understand that ? " "They're better armed than we , " said Planck reflectively ; "better fed , "better everything. And man for man , 'bar ' you , they're just as good , and they're three to one of us. It will want some pretty good planning. " "You needn't worry about that , " an swered Roscoe. "I didn't expect you to make the plans ; I knew you couldn't I've made them myself ; they're working right now. Can you keep your tongue in your head and listen ? " Planck nodded. "That searching party didn't go ( back to the yacht last night. They're all camped together about 20 of them down in the Little Bear valley. There aren't above half a dozen fire arms In the bunch ; none of the sail ors from the yacht have any , and they've got about two days' rations. They're all there together , except the one man we accounted for yesterday. " "I see , " said Planck ; "and you think we can capture the yacht now while jhey're ashore. " "Don't try to think , I tell you , " Ros coe growled. "I'm doing the thinklag. There are probably ten able-bodied men left on. the yacht. That's not good enough odds , considering the way they're armed. But about an hour ago I sent Miguel down to the shore party to be their guide. He isn't going to say anything much to them , but what he says will be enough , I reckon. He's to pretend he's dotty and can't understand what they eay to him. " Planck's eyes widened a little and he did not ask his next question very steadily. "Where is he going to take them ? " "Can't you guess that ? He's going to lead them into Fog lake , of course. " The thought of It made Planck's teeth chatter. Fog lake was , perhaps , the most curious natural phenomenon upon that strange arctic land a little cup-shaped valley , from which the fog never lifted had never lifted once in all the four years they had lived there. 'On days whenthe rest of the land Was clear , the fog hung there , half way up the side of the hills , so that from the ridges surrounding it it real ly looked like a strange vapory sea. They had explored the edges of it fearsomely , at times , but had never penetrated far enough to learn the lecret of its mystery , if It had one. "And then ? " Planck asked. "Why , they'll send out a relief party from the yacht , of course. The yacht's people know what rations the search ing party took with them , and when they don't come back in two days , they'll probably set out from the yacht , with every able-bodied man on board , and try to find the first party pad bring It in. As soon as they are well out of hearing , we take the yacht. We may not find a living soul aboard her ; and we certainly can't leave one there. But we'll steam up and take our gold aboard all our gold. And then , well there's where you'll come in. " "But what then , man ? My God ! what then ? Do you suppose we can go steaming into San Francisco , or any other port in the world , with all that gold in our hull and another cap tain's log and papers ? We might just as well hang ourselves from our own crow-jack yard. " "I hope your wits will improve when you get a deck under your feet , " Ros coe growled. "On land here you're about as much good as a pelican in a foot race. No , your sailing orders won't be San Francisco , nor any oth er port that has such a thing as a revenue officer about. But you ought "o know the north coast line over here as far east as McKenzie bay. You must know some harbor there vhere we can lie up for the winter ind not be bothered. " "Yes , " said Planck , "I could take ' 10 yacht to such a place as that. There's a very good harbor in behind 'lirshel island. But what will we do .vhen we get there ? " "After that , it's my affair , " Haid have read the thought that lay at the bottom of Roscoe's mind. The gold hunter was not much of a sailor , but he felt confident that on the broad stretches of the Yukon he could navi gate a raft alone. CHAPTER IV. The Throwlng-Stick. "Oh , I suppose , " said Jeanne , "there's no use worrying. " Across the table from where she sat at breakfast in the snug , warm , lux urious little dining room on the yacht , old Mr. Fanshaw methodically laid his coffee spoon in the saucer beside his cup , and looked up at her with his slow , deliberate smile. "My dear , " he said , "remember that Tom is in the party. Unless they find everything that , by the utmost stretch of hope , they could find , he would in sist on keeping up the search as long as the light lasted , and when the light failed , there would be no more light to come home by. Don't think of wor rying ; I don't. We'll hear nothing of them for hours. " "It won't be as long as that , " she predicted confidently. "My sky-man will probably bring me news before then. " Old Mr. Fanshaw halted his coffee His Eyes Were Glittering Maleolent ly. Roscoe. "We'll winter on the yacht. Then when the weather begins to IOOSMI up a bit , but before the spring thaws , we'll land our gold and our stores ; cache all the gold ? except what we can carry over the trail , say , about 500 pounds of it , and we'll leave .he yacht's seacocks open , so that vhen the ice goes out , she'll scuttle : erseif. We shall probably find hedges , and perhaps a pony or two , on the yacht. If we do , it will be easy. Ii's only a short hike to one of the tributaries of the Porcupine river. Once we reach the Porcupine , ii will be easy , for it flows into the Yukon , and that's as good as a rail way line. We'll make a raft and float all the way down to Saint Michaels with no trouble at all. The gold we have with us will be enough to take us down to Vancouver , and there we can charter a ship. You take command of her , and we go north through the straits again that very summer next summer that will be , of course. We go back to the harbor where we left the yacht You can figure out the rest for yourself , I guess. " "Yes , " said Planck. "It's all very well only won't there be a good many to trust that sort of secret to ? " Roscoe looked at him with a savage sort of grin. "Come , you're improving. But that hike across the mountains to the upper tributaries of the Porcupine is a hard trail. There aren't likely.to be many of us .left by the time we get started floating down open water. When we get to the Yukon it won't be surprising if there isn't anybody left at all , but you and me. " Planck caught his meaning quickly 'enough , indeed , a duller man could have read it in Roscoe's savage light blue eyes ; and the thought made his teeth chatter. He would have felt a deadlier terror , perhaps , could he - * * * ot ? R afiri9ic 'e9''TME CENTURY co CO > * YP GHT i9io'er THt success co cup half way to his lips , "Your what ? " he questioned. "Oh , I under stand. " And then he laughed. But his face grew suddenly serious , and he looked intently , curiously , into hers. "My child ! " he cried ; "it can't be that you are taking that dream of yours seriously. If I thought that , I would have to believe that this queer arctic climate was doing strange things with those nimble , wits of yours. A man alighting on the ice floe , out of mid air , and telling you that he had just dropped in from Point Barrow ; it's like the flight from the moon of Cyrano de Bergerac. " She pressed her finger tips thought fully against her eyelids. "I know , " she said , "it's perfectly Incredible , "Un cle Jerry , but it's perfectly true for all that. " "Nonsense ! Nonsense ! " he said explosively. "Don't carry a joke too far. my dear. " "It's anything but a joke , " she said slowly , "and if it was a dream If the sky-man , was nothing but a vision , he certainly left me a material souve nir of his visit. " Then , with a nod to ward the buffet , she spoke to Mr. Fanshaw's big negro valet who was serving their breakfast : "Hand Mr. Fanshaw that queer looking stick , Sam , the one on the buffet. Why why , what's the matter ? " For she had lifted her eyes to the man's face as she finished speaking. It was wooden with fright , and the whites showed all around the pupils of his eyes. "No , Miss Jeanne , " he said , "Scuse me. I wouldn't touch dat stick , not for all de gol1 and jewels in de world ; not even to oblige him. " "What's that ? " Fanshaw exclaimed , whirling upon him. "What do you mean ? What the devil are you talk ing about ? " "I seen him , Mr. Fanshaw ; I seen him myself , coming * down out of de sky las' night. I was out on deck , sun. " Fanshaw looked quickly from the negro's face to the girls as if he sus pected a hoax , but the terror in one face and the mystification in the other were obviously genuine. Then he rose and went over to the buffet , returning to the table with the oddly-shaped , rudely-whittled stick. "Do you mean to say , " he demanded , looking up at the girl with a puzzled frown "do you mean to say that he , the man you dreamed about , made you a present of this stick ? " She laughed. "If that seems a rea sonable way of putting it , yes ; at least it slipped out of his belt and I found it where he had been sitting. But can you imagine what he used it for ? " "Oh , I know what it is , but that only makes the puzzle all the deeper. It's an Eskimo throwing-stick. They use it to shoot darts with. It lies in the palm of the hand , so , and the dart is put in that groove , though the butt of this one seems curiously mis shapen ; I can't make it fit my hand. But I can't figure out how the thing got aboard the yacht ; it wasn't here yesterday. " "Of course not , " she said ; "my sky man brought it. " He ran his fingers through his bushy gray hair perplexedly. Then he laid the thing down and seated him self at the table. "At any rate , " he said , "we needn't let even a mystery spoil our breakfast. Come , my dear , you've eaten almost nothing. That omelet deserves better treatment" Obediently she took up her fork , but almost immediately laid it down again , and he saw her eyes brighten with tears. "Of course , If there'd been any news , if there'd been anything to find , we'd have heard. " Silently he reached across the table and patted the hand that lay there on the white cloth. "Oh , I know I oughtn't to cry , " she said , "and I won't ; it's your goodness and kindness to me as much as any thing else. Ever since he went away you've been like a father to me , and Tom , dear old Tom , like a brother. The moment Mr. Fanshaw and Jeanne emerged upon the deck they heard the sound of oars beneath them , and looking over the rail saw one of the boats in which the shore party had set out , pulling up alongside the accommodation ladder. Three men were In it , two of the craw and Tom Fanshaw. "What news , Tom ? " his father called out anxiously enough to belie his former tranquil manner. "Have you found anything ? I hope there's nothing wrong. " The , younger man looked up. He saw his father , but not the girl. "Nothing wrong , " he growled , "except this infernal ankle of mine. I've sprained it again , and I did it just when " He broke the sentence off short there , his eye falling at that moment upon Jeanne. She paled a little , for she had been quick to perceive that something he had been about to tell would not be told now , or must be told differently. But she waited until his father , to gether with the two sailors , had got the disabled man up onto the deck and safely installed in an easy chair. Then gravely , but steadily , "Just as what , Tom ? What clue had they found just as you had to come away ? " "It was very wonderful , " he said ; "quite inexplicable. Just as we were about breaking camp this morning we saw a man coming toward us across the ice. We thought at first that it was Hunter , and we were mightly glad to see him , because he had stray ed off somewhere and hadn't camped with us. But we soon saw it wasn't he , wasn't a man anything like him. He was a queer , slouching , shuffling creature , dressed in skins , and he came up in a hesitating way , as if he was afraid of us. He couldn't talk English , nor understand it , apparent ly. He looked to me like a Portu guese , and I tried him In Spanish good Filipino Spanish on the chance. I thought it startled him a little , and he pricked up his ears at it , but he couldn't understand that either. He just kept beckoning and repeating two words " "What words , Tom ? Out with it ! " " 1 Can't Make It Fit My Hand. " And then building this ship and com ing up here yourself , facing the dan gers yourself and letting Tom face them , all for such an impossible , hope less hope as that message the sea brought to us. " Her voice faltered there , and she bent down abruptly and kissed the hand that was still caressing her own. "My child , " he said , "your father and I were like brothers nearer to each other than most brothers. He went away , knowing that if his ven ture failed , if it ended fatally for him , as it probably did , I should regard you as my daughter as just as much a child of mine as Tom is. If you hadn't been in the case at all , we'd have built this ship and come up here to find Tom Fielding just the same. There , don't cry. Put on that big fur coat of yours and come out with me on deck. " This from the old gentleman , who had controlled his patience 'with dif ficulty during the little silence. But the younger man hesitated and looked into the girl's face , mutely , half-ques- tioningly , before he spoke. "The words , " he said , "seemed to1 be your father's name 'Captain Field ing ; ' it sounded like that. " She went quite white , and reeled a little. Then clutched at the shrouds for support The old gentleman was at her side In an instant , his strong , steadying arm across her shoulders. Tom himself half rose from his chair , only to drop back into It again with a grimace of pain and a little dew of perspiration on his forehead. He looked rather white himself under the tan. tan."I "I suppose" the girl said almost voicelessly. "I sunnose I mustn't dare even let myself begin to hope yet , must I. not yet ? " "I don't know , " said Tom. "The fel low seemed half-crazed ; seemed , al most , to have lost the power of speech from long disuse of it But he meant to take us somewhere , that was clear enough from his gestures. If I could only have seen you before I began to blurt the thing out I'd have spared you the suspense until there was some thing to tell. I'm sorry , Jeanne. " "Its queer , " she said , at the end of a rather long silence. "I'm sure there was no Portugues'e in father's expedi tion. Except for two or three Swede * and Norwegians , they were all Amer icans. I know the name of every man who sailed in his ship. " "He might have taken some one o at St. Michaels , " suggested the elder Fanshaw. "Yes , " she said a little dubiously , " much of south * "only he never thought ern Europeans as sea-faring men. " There was another silence afte that She rose presently and began sweeping the shore line with a pris matic binocular which was slung across across her shoulderw. The two men exchanged glances behind her , the elder , one of inquiry , his son. a reluctant negative. No , it would clearly be insane to build any hope on the incident At last she let the glasn Tall from her listless hand and turned to them , her face haggard with the torture of impossible hope. "I wish my sky man would come" she tmlfi forlornly , "come whirling down out Of the air , \ with news of them. " "Your sky-man ? " said Tom Fanshaw questioningly. Here was something to talk about at last , and the old gentleman seized the chance it afforded. "Yes , we've another myotery , " fie said. "See what you can do toward solving it" With that for an Introduc tion , he plunged into a humorous ac count of Jeanne's report of her ad venture of the night before , of the man who had dropped down from the sky , In the middle of the night , and talked to her awhile , and then flown away again. "She was really out on the Ice floe , " he said ; "so much I concede ; but when I assure her that she dreamed * the rest , she is skeptical about my ex planation. " "But even you can't explain , " she protested , "how I could dreara about an Eskimo throwing-stick , aad then bring it back to the yacht xith me when I was wide-awake , and Show it to you at the breakfast table this morning. " "I'll have to admit , " said the old gentleman , "that my explanation doesn't adequately account for that" The expression of the younger man's face was perplexed rather than incredulous. "But , my boy , " cried the elder mag , "think of it ! He comes down out o the sky and says he just dropped in from Point Barrow ; and that's 500 miles away. That's just as impossible as it would be to materialize an Eski mo throwing-stick out of a dream , jvery bit" "No , hardly that , " nald Tom judici ally. "What was his aeroplane like ? What was it made of ? Did you notice it particularly ? " "Yes , " she said ; "I helped Him fold it up. It was made of bladders and bamboo and catgut , he said. " I "And his motor ? " cried Tois , "What was his motor like ? " "There was no motor at all , " sbs said ; "just wings. " "There you see , Tom , " interrupted his father , "absolute moonshine. " But still the younger man shook a doubtful head. "No , " hef said , "the things' not impossible not inconceiv able , at least The big birds can fly that far , and thick nothiag of it" The old man snorted : "They're built that way. Think of the immense strength of their wing muscles. " "Not so enormous , " flaid the young- r man. "I dissected Che wing of an albatross once to see. It's not by main strength they keep afloat in the air ; it's by catching the trick of it. " "That's what he said. " the girl cried eagerly. "He told mo he could fly across the north pole , from Dawson City to St. Petersburg , and when I asked him if he could keep flying , fly ing all the time like that , he said the- 3iggest birds didn't fly ; they sailed , ind he said he sailed , too , and the force of gravity was his keel. " Her story was making" its impres sion on the younger man , at least , jven if his father was as impervious : o It as he still seemed. "Well , if you dreamed that , " said rom , "it wag a mighty intelligent iream. I'll say that for it * * "But it wasn't a dream at all , " she : ried. "Didn't I help him take the ; hlng apart and fold it up into a bun- lie ? And didn't he say that he waa i tax payer , and that his name wai Philip Cayley ? " ( TO BE CONTINUED. ) By Way of Variety. "How did you enjoy the vaudeville > erformance ? " "It was good. They lad performing cats , a baseball play- \ ; r , a champion pugilist , a trained sockatoo , and , I give you myword. . hey even had * n actor doing a ttmi. * -LoulBvlll Courier-Journal ,
