Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-07-31
THE SKY-MAN
BY
Henry Kitche1l Webster.

Copyright, 1909. 1910.
By the Success Company

| Tie Hdheu TOck OIL the CHI, out the looI
and ceiling solid ice
Despite the fact that the girls excite
ment over the discovery of the cave had,
for moment, carried Cayley along with
it, he was not greatly surprised. and not
at all cast down when, at the end of five
minutes of hasty exploration. it was
made evident to them that the ample
I supply of stores which they sought was
Y not to be found here.
| Jeanne herself would not. perhaps have
entertained SO high a hope had she
| learned of the reference to the other cave
which Cayley found in the journal be-
fore she herself had CHANGED upon the
mouth of this one. AS it was, his theory
| that the stores were to be found in a
cave vaguely situated along the glacier,
made little impression upon her, she was
so sure that they had them right here,
under their hands.
| When their investigation made it clear
that whether he was right or not, GER
tainly she was wrong, she was bitterly
disappointed. Cayley was aware of that,
even as they stood there side by side,
with no light to see her face by. She
said nothing, very little, but he knew.
nevertheless, that for just this moment
all the life and courage had gone out Of
her; knew that the slight figure there. SO
close beside him, was dropping, trembling
a little.
He laid a steady hand upon her Shout
der. Almost instantly, under his touch,
she turned to him, caught with both
hands at the unbuttoned edges of the
rough wooden jacket he wore, and, Sob
bling a little now and then. but otherwise
in silence, simply chung to him.
| He did not offer. with his arms, to
draw her any closer. to turn what was a
mere instructive appeal to the protection
of his strength and courage, into an en-
brace. He kept hand on each of her
shoulders, more by way of support than
anything else. and waited a moment be-
fore he spoke.
"Aftar all ba said of Joct we'yo
got here is just so much clear gain. and
! 1T will be immensely valuable to us,
though it isn't what we expected. The
fact that it is their superfluity the things
| they hadn't any particular or immediate
| use for, doesn't make what we've found
here any the less valuable to us. That
pile Of bear skins there will supply what
is. at this moment, the most vital of our
feathers; and those walrus tusks will
serve any number of purposes-fo:ks and
spoons. for one thing. AS to that great
lump Of spermaceti, it will keep us sup
piled with candles all through the winter.
I can't imagine why they didn't use it
themselves, except on the theory that the
longer they lived here. the more they
grew like beasts: the more content with
the beasts habit of life. and the more
inert about taking the trouble to provide
themselves with such of the comforts and
decencies of life as they might have had.
So you see we may find among the things
they had no use for the Very ones that
will help US most
! He was talking more to avoid the emo
tional tension of silence than anything
else. The thing. which was restoring the
girl her courage and self-command was
| the grip of his firm, live hands the mere
physical feel Of that magnificent, mag
netic, perfectly tuned body of his.
| Presently she Strengthened up and drew
away from him. You're very good to
me- she said. 'I'll-I'H try not to do
things like that very often
His only comment upon her apology
was to keep one hand for a moment long
err resting on her shoulder. Then. in
sufficiently matter-of-fact fashion, he
spoke: We haven't exhausted the secret
of this treasure house yet. Shall we go
little further?''
The cutting in the ice did not 10 very
far back in the assure, and they were
soon at the end of it, and without having
made any new discovery of import ance,
either. There was a little Of cast-off ar
| ticles of various sorts, chiefly clothing
which future prvation might make useful
to them. There was a great frozen lump
, of brownishg green vegetation, which they
afterward identified as the edible scurvy
grass to which Capt. Fielding had re-
ferred to in his journal.
| That was ALL or they thought it was.
but just as they We're about to retrace
their steps to the hut Cayley happened
| to glance up. The roof of the cave was
not very much higher than it had to be
to permit him to stand erect in it, some
| thing under seven feet; but here at the
ney-like hole, about two feet in diameter,
leading straight upward through the solid
! ice in the fissure
| TO be continued tomorrow