The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1910-10-28
Continued frory, Yesterday
CHAPTER XVIII.
A state of Siege

Ca.leys discovery OF the tracks FUR
nisned tho last element OF the drama
which was to play itself out that Win
ter upon this stage which had been so
strangely set tor II. 1t was just three
Gays since, tying slowly northward
before a mild soutnerly breeze. the
ice pack below him, he had caught
his hist glimpse of the unknown land
where Captain Fielding had met his
tragic rate so many years before.
Three days since he had witnessed.
from aloit, the murder Of man he
might have saved. the man TO whom,
had he saved him. he might have
turned Tor exonerat1on from q stain
upon his name which was now in
eradica bile.
Three days ago he had thought his
world was empty, swept clean OF
human eano3rn and human affee-
tton Three days ago ne had not
known that Jeanne FIELDING existed.
During those three days there had
hesn hardy an hour which had not
produced a revolutionary situation of
one sort ur another Even SINCE the
disappearance OF the yacht, the hours
that cayles and Jeanne had spent to-
gether had been a procession or poig-
nant and highly diverse emotions.
Happiness and love and dread and
despair had altefnated with each
other, az one eyeiation after another
had changed the face VI the world
Tor them.
But this discovery Of Cayley's was
the last. They did not instantly take
: i'll the luli meaning of il, inueeJ, II
was no. unNl they mad talked out halt
the night that they comprehenaed
tnll4 VIVA; their situation was. And
even then. there were mysteries.
questions. 10 Which the only answers
tnvy could make were strangely fan
taStic surfnises.
But this elemental fact was clear
They hal 10 reckon. not only with
cola and hunger ana pfiTatien and
despair, not atone WITH the savage
tenatit$ OF II black Arctic winter, l8ut
Mtth human hatred and instfce and
cruelty AZ well. Whether their
enemy WAS one or dozen. they 93
not know. Yesterday the solitude ct
this lev land had been one of its ter
rors, bt!t to-day ts.at saiituee mad
given place. u a more active terror,
AS Ter the identity o. the monster
who had let the proat AT his exis-
tence In those tracks which rntiip
had discovered in the snow they Of
course had no certain knowledge /:
nevertheless. they entertained hut TT
tie doubt that he Wa Roscoe ha-
self The footprints wer~ immense,
Cayley said. ana their distance apart
bespoke the stride of giant.
IL II WAS Rascpe who had tssen
crouching there behind the boulder.
then ii seemed II them unlikely thas
he was here alone, unlikely that H.
had aof al least t@o ur three of his
crew with him
That idea. when II FIRST oeturred 10
them. brought little added terreg
with it. The pen son OF the MON
strous nturderous ru'iian. who was
the chief. dwart.a nus ssibordinaies
10 pygnies. Yst when they ranac
to think over their situation. reason
ably. this uncertainty as TO tne num-
her III their enemy proved Il Vital ele-
ment III 1t. II pat an unequiyeeal
veto npon Gayiey's tirst plan. which
Was ,o start out at once and tax.
the aggressive against their enemy.
before he should have time te move
against them.
There WAS no question, af course.
o. anything like truce What they
had seen put down in bIaek and
white In Captain Fisidlng's journal
WAS enough to render an idea like
that perfectly fatuous. They must
live in mortal perm SO long as a single
member NJ the Walrus crew remained
But this doubt about the number of
their enemy made ,.aNiey's plan for
mn aggressive campaign ilnpraoticable.
They had only one weapon hetwee1
them. namely, cayiry's revolver: II
was clear that they could not sep
arate without leaving one ~ them de
fenseiess. Even though the sky
man, with the advantage of his
wings might he able 10 discover the
whereabouts Of the enemy Who had
lurked behind the boulder upon the
beach Mat day, he would not dare
go In pursuit OF him for fear of what
his possible eonfederates might do to
Jeanne in his absence
Reluctantly he came u the con-
ciusion that the only thing for them
to do was to remain strictly upon the
defensive Jeanne agreed in the can-
CfHsion, but she accepted II much less
reluctantly. In spite of all they knew
~ isoscoc. the practical certainty
that he had murdered her father, his
,ndubitable murder OF Perry Hunter
and the diaboiical plot he had all but
succeeded In carrying out against the
Auorra's people--in spite OF all that.