The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1910-10-24
CHAPTER XVI.
ls1ArAtrI1plNITE


Nature had nothing to do with the
formation OF it, 50 much Was clear
enourh, II had been cut ont bZ hand.
and evidently with infinite labor.
Flashing his bulle-eye over IL alo
not enable him to see the emu % H.
hut il did reveal series Of notches
running straight up the Two opposite
surfaces. The only purpose they eouia
serve would he to make possible the
ascent OF the chimney,
Jeanne followed his gaze and then ]
tn. two looked at each other. com +
pletely puzzled.
SEINE one must have made ii, d
she said, and II must have pe"n
frigntfuiIy hard To mako tunnel
right up through the Ice like mat
Eut what in the world can tne$ nave
made it for 2"
i've no Idea" he confessed. but 1t
goes some here, and | mean to find
out where
Don't follow IL too far she eau
i toned Ill would only need one foot
slip off one Of those Icy notehes to
bring about dreadfuiiy ugly fall.
zone couldn't fall far down "A tube
/ eli that diameter, unless ne had COM
pletely lost his nerve. for there's al
ways chance to catch ones self.
to falling. No, I'll he as safe up
there as | would on a turnpike, 49, J es,
really"
With that and a nod Of reinsurance,
he scrambled up into the mouth OF
fhe long chimney. He had taken his
buli's-eye with him. the girl was
left in the dark. She dropped down
on the heap OF bear skins to wait for
him.
"a yttt,s
the time, and 1T seemed a perfectly
fnterminable while before she heard
tCayley returning down the ice CHM
ney, Had she known how long it
really was she would have been jus
tilted In feeling seriously worried
about rim. but not knowing, she at
trlbuted the seeming duration Of his
delay to the tedium of sitting In the
dark. with nothing to do. Even at
} that, she was conscious of feeling
of relief when She heard him call out
to her once more. cheerfully. albeit
somewhat holloway from the Chin
ney's mouth;
Jeanne. where are you -
Here. just where YOU left me"
Here, All the while. You must be
half frozen I've been gone the better
part of an hour.
Il didn't know how tong 1t was.
any minute. But where in the
world have you BEEN?
by the time she asked that ques-
ton they had CROPPED. their way back
! into the store-room and thence into
: the living room of the hut. and by
now she was looking at him in the
: full light Of day.
He dropped down. with rather ex-
piosive sigh, upon one Of the hunks,
al l.. ~. -.
and shoulders as If they were numb
with fatigue.
II think by reasonable estimate
he said that chimney js FIVE miles
. high. | kept going and going and
going. till | began to believe there
: wasn't any end to it. or that, by some
magic or other. | slipped down a yard
, as often as ] went up one But !
did get to the end at last: and III
, give you thousand guesses as 10
: what | found there"
The observatory. she hazarded
"Oh, but not really | did not mean
that for an honest guess at all. I,
was Just the first thing that came
into my head,-But how could they
pull the pilot-house of the Phoenix
T up through that little hole in the
. ice ~
!, Well. to tell, the truth, don't be-
iieye they ana, he answered. with
a hooking seriousness ITS more like
! ~ that they took II to pieces and Their
. rugged a boom ~and tackle up at the
!, cliff head and hauled il up outside
i. But when they got 1t up there they
/ put II together again right across the
assure. and then tunneled down, oi
up. the whole depth Of the elf. Il
I must have taken them weeks to do
! il and when IL WAS done they had al
inside connection between ii and the
, hut, SO that they were 'Hliite indie
pendent of the weather And it mus
have been a great place to make OBJ
+ scrvations from"
> tTo be continued