Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-07-31
CHAPTER XV-Continued.
Copyright. 1910.
BY the Century Company

"Why, I found an unmistakable refer
wasn't given. it was plain that three or
four hours exploring by daylight would
enable us to find it. But even if l hadn't
minded leaving you asleep here, unpro-
tected, in the hut, 1 doubt very much if
could have found 1t at night But what's
the mystery you were about to reveal to
me?'
No" she said; tell me more about
your discovery first What was the ref
erence in the journal"
He rose and took down from the shelf
the big leather-bound volume which was
proving itself, with every hour. their
greatest treasure.
Its over here, toward the end he
said, 'in that last winter when the Wal
rus came-oh, here we are
He seated himself on the bunk beside
her, and began to read.
March 1Oth-We have just spent an
| arduous and fearful week upon the task
of unloading the wreck Of the Whaler.
The weather has been Severe-bitterly
cold (-10' Fahrenheit being the midesD
and three-quarters Of a gale blowing most
of the time. The men are inclined to be
rebelious over my driving them out to
work in such weather. but l dared not
wait for 1t to moderate.
When the ice opens round the whaler
she will go down like plummet: and If
that event should have happened before
we unloaded her of her stores, our plight
would have been utterly desperate. OF
stores in the ordinarily accepted sense
she had but scanty supply, and those
of a miserably inferior description: but
in barrels. which now that they are land
ed will settle the problem of fuel for us
as long as the last survivor of our COM
pany can hope to remain alive. And fuel
| is, after all, the only necessity which
this land itself does not supply us with.
| OF course we shall have to fOrego the de-
| lights of bear steak when our ammuni-
ton gives out, but walruses We can Kill
with harpoOns. And with these and
scurvy-grass, which we gather in the
| valley every summer, there is no danger
| of actual starvation.
I'VE hoisted the barrels Of blubber out
of the whaler's hold with a hand tackle.
sledged them ashore along the foe and
the crown Of the glacier to Moseley's
cave. which seemed to be the most con-
venient place to store them temporarily"
| Cayley laid down the hook and turned
to the girl
That's the place: I'm perfectly sure
| he said ut evidently faces the glacier,
but it must be very near the beach, for
they wouldn't have hauled those barrels
any further than necessary.
| that all ne says duOuC
Its all he says directly, but there's a
reference just a little further along which
made me all the surer / was right.
Let's see.'
He opened the book again and ran his
eye down the page. "A hundredweight
or SO Of sperlnaceti and two barrels of
sperm Oil we took directly to the hut
here. this is what l was looking for.
The knowledge We get by experience
often comes too late to be of any great
1 do v,atcf aha "
stripping the Phoenix which l should not
repeat now. For instance, carrying her
pilot house, with infinite labor, up to the
cliff-head for an observatory. 1t is thor
oughly impracticable for this purpose. |
| doubt if l have visited it three times since
Mr.. Moseley's death"
He was the astronomer and botanist
Of fathers expedition" said the girl
Cayley read on: " But now that l have
learned my lesson, l have but little to
apply the knowledge to- The Walrus is.
| believe, the most utterly wretched hulk
that ever sailed the seas-ill-found, de-
testably dirty and literally rotting to
pieces. We shall. however, get enough
| shed or two near the hut, for the more
convenient storage Of our supplies.
! Again he closed the book. That's what
| was looking for he said. You see
they brought that stuff down from the
cave to these sheds: so the cave would
| be almost inevitably the first hiding place
they would think of when the sight OF
the Aurora drove them to hustle every
thing out Of sight"
"Whereabout on the cliff is the obServa-
tory. Philip
| II was wondering about that. I've
flown across the cliff a number Of times,
but have never seen anything of it. He
may have wrecked it: taken 1t down and
used it for some other purpose
No" she said: he'd hardly have had
time for that. There weren't many more
pages to write in the journal when he
made that entry.
She fell then into little distracted
silence, which the man did not know how
| to break. But presently she reused her.
self and came fully back to the present,
| back to him.
'.Did YOU succeed in accounting for the
thing you asked me about last night, the
mark on the map right here where they
built the hut afterward?'
II didn't find anything about it in the
fast, when 1 went outside the hut. one
glance at the face Of the cliff accounted
for it fully. The cliff is split right here.
from top to bottom. by deep. narrow
l suppose hasn't melted for a thousand
years No summer that they could have
| in a high latitude like this would ever
melt it, certainly
| The girl laughed and rose from her
place at the rude table.
WELL she asked. ARE you ready for
| my discovery now?
She took down his pocket electric bulls
eve from the shelf behind her, held out
a hand to him and, on tip-toe, led him.
with a burlesque exaggeration OF mys-
terry, out into the storeroom. AS COM
pletely mystifed in reality as she play
| fully pretended to want him to be, Cayley
| followed.
She went straight across the storeroom
| to the rear wall of the hut, the wall that
backed squarely against the sheer sur
face of the cliff, flashed on the bull's-eye
for a second, apparently to make sure
that she had chosen the right point in
the wall, then, letting go his hand, she
stopped and picked up stick of fire
wood which lay at her feet. With this
she struck pretty hard upon the plank
ing The sound which the blow gave
forth was as hollow as a drum
Cayley started. "A caVe!' he exclaimed.
"A cave here!-Oh. / see. It's a cold eel
lar they made by cutting hole in the ice
that filled the assure. And why do you
suppose they boarded ii up?'
The girl laughed delightedly. Evidently
she had not, as yet, developed the whole
of her discovery. She flashed on the
light again.
Il ook. she commanded.
In the center of little circle of wall
which the bull's-eye now Illuminated Cay
ley saw the barrel Of a rusty hinge.
You see," she went on, Its door,
and they only nailed 1t up the other day.
There's a nail-head somewhere here that's
quite bright. 1 caught the CLINT of it
while l was rummaging before break
fast and that was what made me look