The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1910-09-27

Continued rom esteruaS.'
II was a hard day for everybody
The news which Tom had brought
aboard lust after breakfast. of the
I strange, half-crazed creature VINO had
walked into the camp OF the search
ers and showed "a wish TO guide them
somewhere-the man whose language
consisted of two words. most sugges-
tive. most tantalizing in their mys-
terry. to those who clustered round
h,m--this. in itself. would have been
enough to awaken. among the peo-
t,le on the yacht. sense Of strange
uneasy expectation. and give a prom
,se Of further developments soon.
But the hours had worn away. ana
NOT another word had come back
from those who had followed this
strange guide And then there was
tha horror Of Donovans discovery. lie
had started TO accompany Tom bach
- the Yacht hat. lnding the TWO
sailors a sutf7c iept escort Tor him, had
fingered behind to make home eXplo-
rations OF his own. with that grim
result
Iast Of ali had come the most In
credible thing. suggested 10y the scene
which Cayley reported TO Jeanne. The
idea that there were ten or dozen
pxiles ON this remote, unknown land
who Instead OF greeting the rescue
which the yacht drought them, had
gone into hiding at the first sight oT
1T: had murdered one stray member
of the rescuing party who fell into
their path, and meant perhaps. TO
~. oh nnnnTfunNfN
afford
Though this strange story added to
the feeling Of uneasiness among the
people who remained on the yacht. 1t
was received with good deal Of in
creduiity. Tom Fanshsw openly
apowed his disbelief in every word Oh
III. and his father. though less out
spoken, was almost equally skepl-
cal. lie did not share Toms belief
that Cayley had deliberately hed. IT
order to cover his own guilt in Hun
ter,s murder, but he attributed the
strange scene he had reported ethel
TO some optical delusion or to tbs
Authorization Of insanity, The fellow
might VERY well be as mad as a hat
ter, he told Jeanne. His way OF lif'
pointed to II. Any sane man wht
had learned to fly would put his dis
covery to better use than Tapping hi
wings around the North Pole.
The captain Of the yaeht--his name
Was Warner--~was on shore In com
mand of the searching party, but th'
first officer. Mr.. Scales, remained OF
board His opinion coineided closely
with that of the elder FanshaW. H'
Is was in possession of all the data
though they had not told him th'
story of Philip cayley's old relation
with the murdered man.
ut stands to reason" he said. tina
the only party Of white men that couI
be here would he the survivors of tn
Fielding expedition. We know IRON
the news that young Mr. FanshaV
brought aboard that there is one sucl
survivor here. IL there were any con
siderable number of them left. able
bodied enough to walk across tn
glacier, we could be sure they'd b.
here on the shore waiting for us. w
could be certain they would nav
made some attempt to signal us a
soon as they sighted us.
ST they weren't white men but In
Chucotes--they'd have bee
quite as glad as white men to sc
chance to GO back with us az ia
AZ St MichaeFs. And in the thir
place, If they were not Chucotes. bu
some strange unknown, murderou
band OF aborigines. there wouldn
have been even one survivor OF IN
Fielding expedition
"Of course. that's not an ahsolut
ter-tight line OF reasoning but
seems to me there Ia a tremendou
probability that it's right, and thu
this flying man has lost his wits
Gradually everybody on board IN
yacht. with two exceptions cam
around TO Mr. Scales view of the al
fair. The only exceptions we're Jeann
and Tom Fanshaw. Jeanne scoute
the theory that Cayley was mad. q
Indignantly as she did Toms ide
that he was a malicious liar.
might be hard TO account for III
presence Of a party of white refu
gees on the shore, who didn't see,
to want TO be rescued. but IL Gayle
said they were there, then there the
vert, and a source Of great, thong
underlined, peril they must be to th
unsuspecting shore party. An
though che won no converts TO he
belief. still her earnestness added
good deal 10 the uneasy feeling whic
mounted steadily, aboard the zach
for the fate OF the party that ha
gone ashore
In this tineasiness Tom himself hq
manifested s. share. although he rt
sterated his belief that the only Twin
person ashore, besides the members c
their own party was the half-eraze
stranger who had come into camp Jus
as he had been leaving II.
For ali that he spent n good pal
Of the, day sweeping the land. or a
Dy~TY