STEB
HASW.R09SER
COPYRIGHT" 1910 BY TMC CENTURY co
COPYRIGHT 1910 BY THE SUCCESS CO
12
SYNOPSIS.
Philip Cayley , accused of a crime of
not guilty , resigns from the
, /hich / he is
ermy in disgrace and his affection for
hlsfriend. Lieut. Perry Hunter , turns to
Ektred : Cayley seeks solitude , where he
perfects a Hying machine. While soaring
fever 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. JJe-
cendlng 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
king search ashore. After Cayley departs
Jeanne finds that ho 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
fian named Koscoe , had murdered Field
Ing 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
der witnessed by Cayley. Roscoe plans
to capture the yacht and escape with a
big load of gold. Jeanne tells Fanshaw ,
owner of the yacht , about the visit of the
Bky-maa and shows him the stick left by
Cayte ? . Fanahaw declares that It Is an
Es feno throwing-stlck , used to shoot
darts. Tom Fanshaw returns from the
eearching party with a sprained ankle.
Perry Hunter IE fesund murdered and
Cayley Sz accused of the crime but Jeanne
believes him innocent. A relief party goes
to find the searchers. Tom professes his
love for Jeanne. She rows ashore and
enters an abandoned hut , and there finds
her father's diary , which discloses the ex
plorer's suspicion of Roscoe. The ruf
fian returns to the hut and sees Jeanne.
He Is intent on murder , when the sky
man swoops down and the ruffian flees.
Jeanne gives Cayley her father's diary
to read. The yacht disappears and Ros-
coe's plans to capture It are revealed.
Jeanne's only hope is In Cayley. The
seriousness of their situation becomes ap
parent to Jeanne and the sky-man. Cay
ley kills a polar bear. Next he finds a
clue to the hiding place of the stores.
A cellar In the hut has a chimney-Ilk *
hole leading up through the ice to an ob
servatory where Captain Fielding had
hidden supplies.
CHAPTER XVI. Continued.
about , and Jeanne , it was no base
less terror , no product of the twilight
and the fact that you were far from
home. There was something there ,
slipping along from the shelter of one
boulder to that of another. I found
the tracks in the snow. They weren't
more than ten paces away from you
when I came down out of the sky. "
"Was it the bear ? " she asked. "That
was what you thought it might have
been , at the time. " But he could see
in her eyes that this was not the an-
Bwer she expected.
He shook his head ; that told her
enough.
As Roscoe fled along the beach on
the night Cayley descended upon , him
through the fog , there was no doubt
In his mind that he had seen the ghost
of the man he had murdered and
the shadow of a black avenging spirit
.hovering over his head.
When he found that his boat had
gone adrift and that his only means
of getting back to the Aurora had
gone with it , he dropped down upon
( beach , crawled up into the lee of a
great rock and had spent the night
there , his mind completely torpid with
fear.
fear.When
When the numbness of this terror
passed away , as gradually it did. he
bent all this thoughts upon the Aurora
and upon the possibility , not quite in
conceivable , that his crew had suc
ceeded in overpowering her people
and were now in possession of the
yacht. He tried to persuade himself
that this was so and that with the
coming of the dawn they would send
a boat ashore for him.
Of the strange figure he had seen
there in the hut , so like and yet so
terribly unlike the victim of his mur
derous lust four years ago of that ,
aud of the more terrible apparition he
had seen coming down out of the sky ,
he thought , or tried to think nothing
at all. It was only a nightmare , only
a delusion , natural enough when one
considered all the circumstances.
When the fog lifted with the approach
preach of dawn , he discovered what
Philip and Jeanne did not become
aware of until several hours later , that
the Aurora had drifted out to sea in
the gale. The clean line of the hori-
con was broken by nothing but the
plunging masses of the ice. There was
Just one chance , he thougnt , that she
might still be Comparatively near at
hand. Southward and eastward the
horizon was unbroken , but the jutting
mass of the promontory to the west
cut off his view in that direction. It
was possible that the gale which had
destroyed the floe that formed the
harbor , had also broken up the pack
Ice fct the other side of the peninsula ,
the cide from which Cayley , on the
"aping , had first approached this un-
xnoya land. The yacht might be
ther , > , riding safely In practically open
He got up from the snow nest he
ff fead made for s elf in the lee of the
rock , and cctrtSously flexed his stiffen
ed muscles , with the idea of setting
out at once down the beach and
around the headland to learn whether
this last hope of his was groundless.
Really , in his heart , he had no hope
at all , but that fact made It easy to
postpone for a little longer the putting
of this delusion of a nope ne haor to
tlie test of reality.
The excuse he made to himself was ,
iliat he was ravenously hungry , and
that his most sensible course would be
to go up the glacier to the cave and
himself .a breakfast before he did
elsa
* '
He was fully persuaded by that time
that what he had seen at the hut last
night during the storm had been noth
ing but a hallucination. None the less ,
he knew that It would be easier to
walk past that empty hut In full broad
day , than in this tricky , misty , uncer
tain light of dawn.
He carried out this plan at once ,
to the point , that Is , 'of going up the
glacier to the cave , building a fire
there and satisfying his sharp hunger
with an enormous meal. But he had
not slept at all the night before , and
now the warmth and the satisfaction
of his appetite made his nerveless
hand release the bone he was gnaw
ing , and caused him to roll over be
side the fire and to fall asleep.
He slept deeply for a number of
hours. Then , arming himself with a
throwing-stick and a numDer of darts ,
he stepped outside the cave , intent
upon his expedition to the other side
of the peninsula where there was a
possibility of finding the yacht.
The cave was situated some little
distance up the glacier , and the
shortest , though by far the more dif
ficult , way of reaching his destination
lay , not along the beach but up
through the interior valley and across
the precipitous coast range of hills.
It was not the natural way to go ,
but the fact that it was actually short
er gave him a sort of excuse for avoid
ing another visit , just now , to the
scene of his discomfiture of the night
before. He swore at himself , not so
much for taking this course as for the
reasons which his common sense al
leged against him.
His present route took him close
to the gold ledge , and the sight of the
Inexhaustible , precious , useless metal
that remained here brought upon him
for the first time , in full force , a
sense of his loss , a sense of what that
luckless trip ashore from the Aurora
in search of that rosewo'od box had
cost him.
At an Increased pace he descended
from the glacier , crossed the valley
and scaled the landward side of one
of the mountains of the coast range ,
to a notch where he could command
a view of the sea to the westward.
He saw there what , in tne bottom of
his mind , he had all along been sure
he would see nothing but another
barren , bleak horizon.
At that , for a while , his fortitude
broke down , and he raved and wept
and cursed like one demented. But at
last , spent , sobered , conscious once
more of a sharp hunger , he climbed a
little farther up the mountain to a
ledge , where , as his minute knowledge
of the country led him to expect , he
found a number of loons sitting. He
killed one of these birds with a dart ,
and then , Mke the brute he was , ate it
raw and warm.
By that tJme It was late in the aft
ernoon. Bravado , combined with a
more real beJief than ne had yet suc
ceeded In retaining , to the effect that
all his terror of the night before had
resulted from nothing more serious
than a nightmare , led him to decide to
go home by way of the beach , rather
than along the difficult interior trail
up which he had come.
The descent from.the cliff-head to
the beach was nothing to a man of his
inhuman strength and activity , though
an ordinary skilled mountaineer might
have hesitated before attempting it.
Nevertheless , two-thirds of the way
down he nearly fell but for luck he
would have fallen , for he caught a
glimpse of a lonely figure'a quarter of
a mile away , perhaps , seated upon a
ledge , bending forward , chin In nand ,
in an attitude which recalled , and
horribly echoed , that of the man he
long ago had murdered.
When he had steadied himself a lit
tle , he made his way cautiously down
to the level of the beach. His emotions
were divided about equally between
fear and anger , the anger existing be
cause of the fear.
With infinite caution he approached
that lonely , unsuspecting figure , slip
ping from the shelter of one rock to
that of one a little nearer.
Three times his left hand drew back
the throwing-stick , balanced and
aimed along a line that would send Its
thin ivory dart as swiftly and as sure
ly to that beautiful throat as the one
that had found and transfixed Perry
Hunter's ; and three times his mus
cles braced themselves for the effort
to propel it. But each time , with a
breathless oath , he lowered the
weapon again , and with the back of
his hairy hand wiped the sweat from
his forehead.
The act had none of the quality of
mercy in it ; it was simply the result
of a logical dilemma. If the thing he
saw before him were a ghost , the
ghost of the man he had already mur-
iered , his dart would do no harm. If
it were not a ghost ; if it were what it
looked more and more like as he drew
nearer , a living , breathing woman ho
licked his lips and wrung them with
iis hand If it were a woman , he did
not want to kill her. If he could be
sure , could only be sure , he would
drop his weapon and make one rush
and hold her helpless in those great
bands of his.
,
And with every five paces that'
lessened the distance between them ,
that certainty grew upon him. No ,
wag no immaterial scirit of a man
'long dead. She was alive ; warm. He
was near/jenough / now to make out the
soft curve of her throat , the retreat
ing and returning color which bathed
cheeks and forehead. He could see
the faint rise and fall of her breast
when she breathed. He laid the throw
ing-stick upon the ice , drew nerves
and muscles taut for his rush.
Then , just then , he saw the thing
that made Jeanne close her eyes , the
flashing sword-cut of that great gold
en wing , as the thing it bore turned
upon the other.
Roscoe dropped down , as If he had
been blasted by the sight of a sword-
ed archangel , in the shelter of his
rock. He lay there , prone , hugging
his head in his arms. He did not
rouse himself , did not succeed in forc
ing his treacherous nerves and mus
cles to obey his will nntU it was quite
dark. Then , without a glance behind
him , he arose and began scrambling
madly up the broken face of the talus ,
and , reaching the top of It , went on
and scaled the cliff itself. It was a
feat which even he could hardly have
accomplished except under the ex
tremity of terror.
For only BO long as was necessary
to regain his breath , he lay panting
upon the cliff-head. In the dark , rush
ing along as If the precipitous trail he
followed had been a well-worn thor
oughfare , he retraced his way down
the landward side of the mountain
and across the valley. He did not
pause until he found himself safe in
the cave again beside the glacier.
CHAPTER XVII.
A State of Siege.
Cayley's discovery of the tracks fur
nished the last element of the drama
which was to play itself out that win
ter upon this stage which had been
so strangely set for it. It was just
three days since , flying slowly north
ward before a mild southerly breeze ,
the ice pack below him , he caught his
first glimpse of the unknown land
where Captain Fielding had met his
tragic fate so many years before. Three
days since he had witnessed , from
aloft , the murder of a man he might
have saved , the man to whom , had
he saved him , he might have turned
for exoneration from a stain upon his
name which was now ineradicable.
Three days ago he had thought his
world was empty , swept clean of hu
man concern and human affection.
Three days ago he had not known that
Jeanne Fielding existed.
As for the identity of the monster
who had left the proof of his existence
in those tracks which Philip had dis
covered in the snow , they of course
had no certain knowledge ; neverthe
less , they entertained but little doubt
that he was Roscoe himself. The foot
prints were immense , Cayley said , and
their distance apart bespoke the stride
of a giant
If It were Roscoe who had been
crouching there behind the boulder ,
then it seemed to them unlikely that
he was here alone ; unlikely that he
had not at least two or three of his
crew with him.
That idea , when It first occurred to
them , brought little added terror with
it. The person of the monstrous mur
derous ruffian , who was the chief ,
dwarfed his subordinates to pygmies.
Yet when they came to think over the
situation , reasonably , this uncertainty
as to the number of their enemy
proved a vital element in it. It put
an unequivocal veto upon Cayley's
first plan , which was to start out at
once and take the aggressive against
their enemy , before he should have
time to move against them.
This bit of beach where the hut
stood was practically fortified. The
cliff behind it was absolutely sheer ,
and was capped with deep , perpetual
snow. Half a mile to the westward
was the promontory , and about half
a mile up the beach from the hut , to
the eastward , the glacier projected
its ice. masses in a long floe out to
seaward. This glacier provided the
only practicable means of entrance to
the Interior valley and the ledge
whrfre the gold was.
By means of a large scale map , Cay
ley pointed out to Jeanne this advan
tage of their position. "So long as
we stick to this bit of beach , " he said ,
"we can't be rushed nor surprised. No
one can attack us without either com
ing down the glacier at one end , or
around the promontory at the other.
From either direction they've got to
approach without cover. Of course
If there are a lot of them , we sna'n't
have any chance. But it may be
there's only one , and it's likely that
there are not more than three. "
"But at night , " said the girl , " at
night there'll be nothing to prevent
their coming as close as they
please. They may be out there , not
a dozen yards away. "
"They're not doing much if they are.
We're securely barracaded here , and
they can't attempt to break in with
out giving us fair warning. Unless
there are too many of them we should
beat them at that game. No ; the time
to look out for them Is when we're
outside the hut , out on the beach do
ing the things we'll have to do bring
ing in firewood , looking for more
game , and so on. "
"Shall we have to do that ? Can't
we just stay In here , safe ? "
"The daylight will answer that ques
tion for me , " he said. "We must make
the most of it A month from now
there'll be but little. We musn't make
prisoners of ourselves until the winter
does it for us. There is one thing ,
though , " he added thoughtfully after
a little silence , "one thing that I must
do at once , and that is to destroy
these sheds where they kept their
stores. They would furnish a cover
as good a cover as any enemy could
ask for. They hinder our view up the
beach. "
"How long do you suppose it will
last ? " she asked , in a voice that shook
a little. "How long can it last ? How
long can we live like that , even sup
posing that our watch is effective and
that they aren't able to surprise us ? "
She clasped her hands , with a shud
der , and gripped them between her
knees. "Oh , if it would only happen
soon , " she went on , "whatever it is ! "
"What I don't understand , " said
Cayley , "is why they haven't attacked
us already. Why have they waited
until we are fortified and secure ? Why
didn't they attack us yesterday mornIng -
Ing when they would have found us
helpless ? "
"Surely , " said Jeanne , "he couldn't
have hoped for a better opportunity to
attack me than he had when I was
alone there in the twilight , before you
came flying down'out ' of the sky ; and
you said he was quite near. Why do
you suppose he didn't ? Why do you
suppose he waited ? "
"And even after I came down , " said
Cayley , "I was helpless for a minute
while I was getting clear of my planes.
Yes , that was his chance , and yet he
waited. After we had gone , he ap
parently scaled the cliff , for his tracks
led right up to it , and then disap
peared. It's not quite so precipitously
steep there as it is here , but I would
hardly have dreamed that a human
being could climb it. "
"He's afraid , " said Jeanne after a
little thoughtful silence , "simply
afraid. But if he's the man we think
he is , it wouldn't be a human fear. It
must be superstitious In some way. It
wouldn't be wonderful if he felt that ,
after the two glimpses he had of you.
I remember how I felt at first when
you alighted on the floe beside me.
He's seen you twice , remember. The
first time at night in the fog ; the
second time in broad day , with the
sun on your wings. No , it isn't
strange if he thinks of you , not as a
man at all , but as a sort of terrible
angel keeping guard over me. When
[ go''very long without seeing you , or
when I see you in flight , I get to think
ing of you in that way myself. "
"If that's the way he thinks of me , "
said Cayley , "we'll try not to disabuse
him. A belief like that is an item on
our side of the ledger , certainly. And
we haven't any such balance in our
favor that we can afford to throw an
advantage away , even a small one. "
Really the balance of advantage be-
I * 1
"H 't Afraid * " SaidJwnne , Afttr a Llttl * Thoughtful Silence.
tween them and their enemy was
amazingly even. They had the hut ,
the enemy the stores. They had Cap
tain Fielding's journal , their enemy
the experience and practical knowl
edge of the country. They were two ,
with but a single weapon between
them. Their enemy , for aught they
knew , might be one or a half a dozen ;
and how armed , they did not know.
Fortunately , no prophetic vision en
abled them to anticipate , on that first
evening , the length of time that that
precarious life and death balance
would maintain itself. They had
agreed , Philip and Jeanne , that the
only thing to do was to wait and to
maintain an unwinking vigilance. But
both of them thought of the duration
of this wait In terms of hours , or , at
most , days. Had they foreseen that
it would stretch itself out Into weeku
and months , they might well have des
paired.
There were two things that kept
them from succumbing to despair.
The first was that they never really
permitted themselves to hope , to in
dulge in any thoughts of a summer's
day when their horizon should be cut
by the spars and funnels of a ship
bringing relief. They were simply
going to live one day at a time. For
every day that they could snatch out
of the hand of death , they would give
thanks. It was the only attitude pos
sible for people in their condition.
And the thing that helped them to
maintain it was the abundance of nec
essary routine occupation. They di
vided their day into watches. Cayley
slept from four o'clock in the after
noon until midnight and then kept
watch alone , as the girl had done , un
til eight. During that period they re
mained inside the hut. The day , from
eight until four , they spent out of
doors , when the condition of the
weather made this possible , either at
work or merely tramping up and down
for exercise.
At first there was a good deal of
work to do. Tearing down the sheds
which clustered about the hut , and
reducing their frames and planking
to fire-wood was an arduous task , but
he worked at it until It was done ,
Jeanne standing sentinel all the time.
When it was done , they were prac
tically secure against surprise , for
from their windows , with the aid of a
field-glass which Cayley had found
in the observatory , they were able to
sweep the whole beach absolutely
clean , in both directions.
And almost every day while the
light lasted , with Jeanne , armed with
the revolver , keeping watch before the
hut , Cayley took to his wings and
patrolled the beach , from the glacier
to the promontory , high up above the
level of the crest of the cliff. His
flight was always along the same
track. He never winged his way in
land nor out to sea.
There were two reasons for this.
He dared not go so far away from
Jeanne that a flash and a swoop would
not bring him to her side. The other
reason was , that if a superstitious fear
of this great man-bird were really
what deterred their enemy from at
tacking them , It was well to let him
believe that immunity from this portent
tent could be secured by keeping
away from this particular stretch of
beach.
As the shortening days sped by and
began to get themselves reckoned into
weeks , the conviction grew upon
Philip and Jeanne that their securest
protection lay in his wings , in the
terrorizing effect upon their invisible ,
silent enemy of the majestic winged
apparition which was so often seen
soaring in midsky above the hut and
the little stretch of beach surrounding
it. Something was protecting them
evidently. Almost every week brought
some evidence , not only of the exis
tence but the nearness of their enemy.
They never actually caught sight or
sound of him , but some times when
the wind blew from the right quarter
they could make out with their field-
glass , a wrack of brownish smoke ,
such as would be given off by burning
whale oil , drifting down from some
where along the glacier , and made
visible by the dazzling whiteness of
that background.
And sometimes they saw track in
the newly fallen snow , never coming
very near the hut , but trespassing a
little way , either down from the
glacier or up from the headland , upon
the stretch of beach they were de
fending. They never found the tracks
3f more than a single man , and these
were always the same. So that they
: ame to believe , although they could
not know , that they bad only one man
to deal with.
They sometimes speculated on the
luestion whether he was Roscoe or
some other member of the Walrus
: rew ; really , in fact , they found it
impossible to hope that it was any
ather than he.
They got proof of his identity , or
? /hat amounted to it , along toward the
*
md of October. Cayley's keen eyes
caught , one day , from up aloft where
le was soaring , the glint of something
m the beach near the foot of the
leadland. He circled down in a long
> weep , caught it up without alighting
ind mounted into the air , a trick of
lercnautics which made Jeanne , ac-
justomed as she was by now to see-
ng him in flight , catch her breath a
ittle. c
ittle.When s
When he descended and alighted
jeside her a few moments later , he
showed her a sheath knife , the haft of
srhich" was a rudely carved walrus c
: usk. The hand of the last user of it
lad had blood upon it and its imprint
ipon the surface of the ivory was
jlainly to be seen. The lines in thei
jalm were traceable and , lengthwise ,
Uong the side of the handle , the
jrint of an Immense thumb.
S
"Yon see , " said Cayley quietly , "he
vas using this knife left-handed. "
The girl paled a little as she handed
the weapon back to him , but she spofc *
quietly enough :
"It's good to know. " she said , "
most a relief. "
CHAPTER X.VIII. f
An Attack.
The fact that their enemy
alone and that he was Roscoe himself
was responsible for the conviction
that Cayley's wings were all that
stood between them and an attack.
No terror attributable to human
causes would have held back that
solitary and altogether desperate out
cast
The thing in the situation which
caused Cayley the most uneasiness
was the fear that some time or other
Roscoe would solve the mystery ,
would see him In the very act of
taking to the air. This fear suggested
an expedient to him one day as he
was flying along near the snow-crest
ed edge of the cliff.
"I don't know why I never thought
of It before , " he said to Jeanne as he
alighted beside her a moment or two
afterward ; "but I've got it now the
way to prevent Roscoe from every
"What Do We Do to Sentinels Who
\i
Go to Sleep ? "
solving the mystery of your guardian
angel. I thought of it when I saw the
mound up on the cliff-head that Is
formed by the observatory. It can't
be buried so very deep in the snow
because the mound isn't so very big.
I'm going up there now to dig it out
enough , at least , so that I can take
wing from there. "
"You never can dig out enough snow
to get a running start up there , " she
objected.
"I sha'n't have to. I'll just dive off
the cliff. "
"Philip , you sha'n't ! "
"Why not ? "
"You know what you told me your
self. That none of the big birds can
take to the air without a running
start ; and about taking pelicans and
birds like that up into high buildings
and throwing them out of windows ,
and how they were always killed. "
"That's because they've only got
instinct Instead of intelligence. None
of their family had ever been thrown
out of windows before , and they didn't
know what to do. But I can get my
start quite as safely that way as any
other. Oh , yes , I've done it. Do you
imagine , Jeanne dear , that I'd take an
unnecessary risk so long as my life
is the only possible protection there
is for yours ? "
He spent the rest of the day tun
nelling out from the observatory. He
did not dig in the snow ; he simply
packed it , gradually enlarging the
space from a section the size of the
pilot house door to a space at the
cliff's edge wide enough for the full
spread of his wings.
Jeanne was watching on the beach
when he made his first flight from
this aerie , and , In spite of her con
fidence In his powers , she endured a
horrible moment or two. For he came
hurtling down , head first at an angle
Df 60 degrees ; and he had traversed
two-thirds of the distance to the beach
before his line deflected outward and
began curving up toward the hori
zontal.
When she saw that he was safe ,
: hat he had really done the thing he
lad said he could , she dropped down
apon a bear-skin , which was spread
Defore the hut , and shut her eyes , for
vhat she had seen had turned her a
jit giddy.
That feeling passed in a moment
3he opened her eyes and lay , stretch-
Jd at full length , upon the bear-skin ,
vatching him as he wheeled and
lipped , then towered aloft again In
.hat fading violet sky , supremely
nasterful , majestically dominant of
; he unstable element he had con-
luered.
She sat up suddenly , erect , upon
he bear skin , with the realization that
t was nearly dark. Their hours of
[ aylight were getting very scanty
low. Today's allowance was gone , al-
hough it was not yet three in the aft
ernoon.
She looked aloft for Cayley , but
: ould not see him. Then , the next
aoment , she heard the whine of the
Jr through his rigging , and he sailed
[ own on a long slant and alighted be-
ide her.
He got clear of his planes with an
inaccountable air of haste , and held
iut both hands to help her rise.
"What do we do with sentinels who
o to sleep on duty ? " he questioned
rith a laugh.
"I wasn't asleep , " she said contrite- "
7 , "but it was just about as bad. I
, -as thinking " She paused there ,
hen added , "about you. Whaf s the
entence of the court ? "
Already he had his wings folded up
nd was handing them to hf-
CTO BS CONTINU ]
