Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-08-03
CHAPTER XVIII.
A State of Siege.


which was to play itself out that winter
upon this stage which had been sc
strangely set for it. 1t was just three
days since. flying slowly northward be-
fore a mild southerly breeze, the ice pack
below him, he had caught his first glimpse
of the unknown land where Capt. Field
ing had met his tragic fate so many years
before. Three days since he had wit
messed. from aloft. the murder of man
he might have saved, the man to whom
had he saved him, he might have turned
for generation from a stain upon his
name which was now ineradicable.
Three days ago he had thought his
world was empty, swept clean of human
concern and human affection. Three days
ago he had not known that Jeanne Field
ing existed.
During those three days there had been
hardly an hour which had not produced a
revolutionary situation of one sort or an
other. Even since the disappearance of
the yacht, the hours that Cayley and
Jeanne had spent together had been a pro-
cesSion of poignant and highly diverse
emotions. Happiness and love and dread
and despair had alternated with each
other. as one revelation after another
had changed the face of the world for
them.
But this discovery of Cayley's was the
last. They did not instantly take in the
full meaning of it, indeed. it was not I'M
til they had talked out half the night
that they comprehended fully what their
situation was. And even then, there
were mysteries, questions, to which the
only answers they could make were
strangely fantastic surmises
But this elemental fact was clear. They
had to reckon, not only with cold and
hunger and privation and despair. not
alone with the savage tenacity of black
arctic winter, but with human hatred
and malice and cruelty as well. Whether
their enemy was one or dozen. they did
not know. Yesterday the solitude of this
icy land had been once of its terrors, but
today that solitude had given place to a
more active terror.
AS for the identity of the monster who
had left the proof of his existence in
in the snow, they of course had no GER
tain knowledge; nevertheless, they enter
tanned but little doubt that he was Ros-
coe himself. The footprints were i'm
mense. Cayley said. and their distance
apart bespoke the stride of giant
If it were Roscoe who had been crouch
ing 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 1t.
The person of the monstrous murderous
ruffian, who was the chief, dwarfed his
subordinates to pygmies. Yet when they
came to think over their situation, rea-
sonably, this uncertainty as to the num-
Der of their enemy proved vital element
in it, 1t 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.
There was no question, of course. of
,ino
seen put down in black and white in Capt.
Fielding's journal was enough to render
an idea like that perfectly fatuous. They
must live in mortal peril so long IS sin
gle member of the Walrus crew remained
alive to share their frozen solitude.
But this doubt about the number of
their enemy made Cayley's plan for an
aggressive campaign impracticable. They
had only one weapon between them,
namely, Cayleys revolver; it was clear
that they could not separate without leav-
ing one of them defenseless. Even though
the sky-man, with the advantage of his
wings, might be able to discover the
whereabouts of the enemy who had lurked
behind the boulder upon the beach that
day he would not dare go in pursuit of
him for fear of what his possible confed-
crates might do to Jeanne in his absence
Reluctantly he came to the conclusion
that the only thing for them to do was to
remain strictly upon the defensive. Jeanne
agreed in the conclusion, but she accepted
it much less reluctantly. In spite of all
thew knew of Roscoe, the practical GER
tainty that he had murdered her father.
his indubitable murder of Perry Hunter
and the diabolical plot he had all but
succeeded in carrying out against the
Aurora's people-in spite of all that the
idea of deliberately seeking him out and
killing him in cold blood. before he had
made an overt move against them, was
highly repugnant to her.
Cavley had no such feeling. To him
Roscoe was simply a more dangerous sort
Of wild beast. To him. at first glance,
the idea of merely waiting for their
enemy to attack them at his leisure was
we'll nigh intolerable and seemed hope
less into the bargain. But when he saw
that it was the only thing thew could do,
when he began really to study out the
strategic possibilities of the position they
held. the outlook frightened considerably.
Tn the first place. this bit Of beach
where the hut stood was practically forti-
fed The cliff behind 1t was absolutely
sheer, and was capped with deep, perpet-
nal snow. Half mile to the westward
was the promontory, and about half mile
nm the beach from the hut to the east
ward, the glacier projected it's ice masses
in a long foe. out to seaward. This
glacier provided the only practicable
means of entrance to the interior valley
and the ledge where the gold was
By means OF a large scale map. Cayley
pointed out to Jeanne this advantage Of
their position. 80 long as we stick TO