The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1910-10-02
The Sky Man

| TO avow. So he unfurled tho bundle that
| ilad lain disuscd 40 long. spread and
tiGhlcDed and tested it, and at last with
q nod OF farewell to the Girl, dived off
| the cliff-hc
Any doubt he may have had concern
| ing his strength disappeared at once. The
mere touch of those great wings Of his
seemed to bring ii all back and hope
ana JOY and confidence along with it,
lie made his dive as shallow MS possi-
| bic. and in the sheer cNubcrnnce OF de-
lleht nL being once moro awning. he
beat his way aloft again by main strength
| towering like falcon. All his old power
was here uniInpaircd. Yet every sensation
IL brought him was heightened and. made
those great. obcdicnt wings of his he
played upon the capric'ous. yaErant air
with the superb iusolencc OF mastery.
Every trick of flight was AT his com.
mand. the flashing dive OF the piratical
frigate bird tho cork9crcw spiral Of the
tern, the plummet-lkc pounce of the
hawk, and, at last, the majestic. soaring
drift OF the King Of them all. the alba
tross
SO he hung there in d-sky. and the
world, white. frozen. immaculatc-lookcd
troubled untrammeled, unafraid, came
back TO him. The soul opened it's gates.
IN here, lost its boundaries, and all The
spirit of tho SKY came in. immense, cold,
clear as the all-perVadng ether. This
was Nirvana. though the old Buddhist
adopts who had philosophical about ii
had never conquered the sky, had never
bathed in Il as Coyley on his wings was
bathing now
The declining moon sank lower, til the
refracting ice crystals that filled the air
caught its light slantwisc and danced
with it so that il flickercd like a will-o-
the wisp. The sky decpcned from its
bright steel-blue 10 purple. The silver
light upon the snow faded, through Law
ender, and lilac; to a purple OF Its 9 OWL
But the stars burned brighter and
brighter, until it almost seemed they
sang:
'IIarping in loud and solemn choir
With INEXPENSIVE notes.
The words projected themselves quite
unsought into his mind He spent mo-
ment or two. wondering where they came
from, and then IL came TO him II was
a part OF TWO lines from the Hymn on
the Nativity.
Somehow. the thought of Christmas
gave his soul a wrench that brought !,
back into the world again. They had
lost their reckoning OF time. and. Tor any
thing he knew. this might be ChTlsliTn,as
day. Perhaps those stars were carolinS
their Christmas chimes. Perhaps, down
la the world OF men. the windows were
hung with holly and doorways Win mis-
tletoe.
far as that he was flying down toward
the cliff-head He could only guess at
the length of time that had elapsed since
he left Jeanne. or her heap OF skins,
there in the mouth OF the snow tunnel.
1t must have been an hour or more ior
the moon had been shining when ne
started. and now almost the last OF It's
twilight had died on the horizon.
A sharp sense OF his own delinquency
in having left her TO her own resources
for so long. when she had so rev re-
sources 10 draw upon. increased TO a
sudden alarm for her safety, when he
made out the black mouth of the tunnel
and saw that there was no lght at tne
farther end of it, She couldn't have been
waiting ali this time. out in the cold;
and yet his eyes. as he hovered. seeking
the exact spot to alisht. certainly made
out a dark object lying there upon the
snow His heart felt like lead as he
dropped close beside it, and scrambled
clear of his wings.
II was Jeanne; and Tor moment he
thought she was dead. She seemed as