The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1910-09-04
CHAPTER XVII.
THE BEAST.

AS Roscoe fled along the beach on the
night Cayley descended upon him throug n
| the fog, there was no doubt In his mind
that ne had seen the ghost OF the man
he had murdered and the shadow Of a
black aveneing spirit lowering 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 the beach, crawled
up into the lee Of a great rock and @ had
spent the night there, his mind COM
pletely torpid with fear.
When the numbness Of this terror
passed away. as gradually II did. ne bent
upon the possibility, not quite inconceiv-
able. that his crew had succeeded in
overpowering her people, and were now
persuade himself that this was so and
that with the coming Of the dawn they
would send boat ashore for him.
or the strange figure he had seen there
In the hut, so like and yet so terribly un-
like the victim OF his murderous lust four
years ago-of that, and of the more ter
out OF the sky. he thought. or tried to
think nothing at all. II was only night
mare, only a deluslon, natural enough
when one considered all the circum-
stances,
When the fog lifted with the approach
OF dawn. he discovered what Philip and
Jeanne did not become aware OF until
several hours later, that the Aurora had
drifted out 10 sea in the gale. The clean
line OF the horizon was broken by moth
ing but the plunging masses of the Ice
that she might still be comparatively
near at hand, Southwark and eastward
the horizon was unbroken, but the jut-
ting mass OF the promontory to the west
cut off his view in that direction. 1t was
possible thar the gale which had de-
stroyed the foe that formed the harbor
had also broken up the pack Ice 1s at the the
which Cayley. on the wing. had first ap-
preached this unknown land. The yacht
might be there. riding safely in prac-
He got up from the snow nest he had
made for himself in the lee OF the rock
and cautiously flexed his stiffened mus
cles. with the idea OF setting out at once
down the beach and around the headland
10 learn whether this last hope of his
was groundless. r ally, In his heart, he
II easy 20 postpone for, little longer
the putting OF this delusion Of hope he
had TO the test of reality.
The excuse he made 10 himself was,
that he was ravenousy hungry and that
his most sensible course would be to go
up the glacier to the cave and cook HIM
self breakfast before he did anything
else
He was fully persuaded by that time
what he had seen at the hut last night
during the storm had been nothing but n
halluclnation, None the less, he knew
that IL would be easier to walk past that
empty hut In full broad day. than In this
tricky, misty. uncertain 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 salts
flying 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
gnawing, and caused him to roll over be-
side the FIR and TO fall asleep.
He slept deeply for q number Of hours.
Then, arming himself. with a throwing
outside the cave. intent upon his expe-
dltion to the other side of the peninsula
where there was possibility of finding
| the yacht.
The cave was situated some little dis
tance up the glacier. and the shortest,
though by far the more difficult, way Of
reaching his destination lay; not along
valley and across the precipitous coast
range of hills.
1t was not the natural way to go, but
| the fact that 1t was actually shorter gave
him a sort of excuse for avoiding an
other visit just now, to the scene of his
| discontinue of the night before. He
swore at himself. not so much for taking
| this course as for the reasons which his
common sense alleged against him.
| His present route took him close to the
| haustible. precious. useless metal that re-
manned here brought upon him for the
first time In fun force; a sense of his
ashore from the Aurora in search OF that
| rosewood 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. 10 notch
wherc he could command view OF the
| sea to the westward,
He saw there what. in the bottom of
| his mind, he had all along been sure he
would see-nothing but another barren.
| bleak horizon.
| At that, for n 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 little farther up
the mountain 90 ledge. where. as his
minute knowledge OF the country led him
| 10 expect. he found n number OF looms
| sitting. He killed one of these birds
| with dart. and then, like the brute he
| was. ate II raw and warm.
BY that time II was late In the after
noon, Bravado, combined with n more
| real belief than he had yet succeeded In
retaining, TO the effect that all his terror
| Of the night before had resulted from