Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-08-05
Copyright. 1909. 1910.
By the Success Company

head l could make out the blood stains on
his side. and he was leaving a track on
the ice.''
| Wounded in a fight with another
bear?''
| No. that's not likely
| She asked no further explanation. but
slipped into the hut. The next moment
she was back with the field glasses. :.
! While you're attending to the bear.
she said. In whisper. I'll just Keep
| watch up the beach for-for any one
| else
The past weeks had made one difference
IN her attitude toward Cayley which she
! was now aware Of. as she contrasted her
| out of the shelter of the hut to confront
| the bear, with those she had experienced
| when he had set out on similar errand
| once before. She knew him now and she
| had no fear for him. The feeling that
! thrilled her now was nearer akin to pride
| than anything else.
| Cayley fully justified her confidence.
| The course the bear was taking would
! have brought him within twenty yards of
their doorstep. When he first caught
| sight Of Cayley he stopped. In two minds.
apparently. whether to be hunted or to do
the hunting himself. Then, as Cayley
advanced upon him rather slowly, he de-
cided, Kissed at him venomously and
| reared up.
| He was already badly enough wounded
| to have taken all the fight out Of any
| other sort of animal, but half alive as he
| was he cost Cayley four cartridges.
| Three of those shots Cayley was reason
| ably sure must have entered a vital spot.
The first one took the bear between the
eyes as he was rising The second was
| fired into his open mouth. The third was
probably DETECTED by the massive fore
| paw which he was holding across his
body in the attitude of a boxer. The
| fourth shot however. penetrated his
| throat and probably smashed one Of the
| two first vertebrae, for it seemed to bring
the monster down all in heap. where
| he finally lay still. Cayley could have
| reached him with his foot.
Good shooting" said the girl, quietly
from the little vestibule.
| He reloaded the revolver. letting the
empty shells drop unheeded on the ice at
| his feet. He gave the weapon back to
| the girl and bent over the bear.
I'm less interested in what l did to
| him. he said, than in what he got from
| the enemy who first attacked him.
The light was almost gone, so that all
he could see were two or three irregular
dark stains upon the white fur. wound
| in the flank, which none of Cayleys
shots could have accounted for he ex-
plored with practiced hand.
| Watching him as he did SO the girl
could see that he had found something
unexpected. something which surprised
! him greatly. And there was more than
| surprise. There was alarmed urgency in
| MS voice Wnen ne spoke Io ueI' nc VI
| fered no explanation. Merely told her
| to go into the hut and make last the
| solid wooden shutters over the windows:
| He would come in and would tell her
what it was all about In moment.
| The girl had hardly finished the task
he had given her when he came in. In
!, his blood-stained hand he was holding out
something for her inspection.
| Conquering feeling Of repugnance she
| bent over the hand. cast one glance at
l = Att ,<otn n6 md fhop oh
up and gazed, wide-eyed, into his face
| "a bullet!' she said. "But-but we
| thought that Roscoe wasn't armed-not
with firearms. l mean"
! Cayley nodded But this seems to be
| pretty good evidence that he Is. That's
| why / sent you into the hut 1t occurred
| to me that he might be following the
bear. and that the lighted windows might
| give him a chance for shot at one OF
| u.s. No matter what superstitious fears
he has, he could hardly be too much
afraid to fire at us from a safe distance
if We happened to offer fair mark"
but we must have offered him that
| hundred times in the last weeks, that Is
If his rifle had anything like a modern
| range"
THAT bullet is certainly modern piece
| Of ordnance" said Cayley. It's SOFT
nosed and steel-jacketed.
| He laid it down on a shelf and went
into the storeroom to wash the stains Of
| the encounter from his hands.
| AFTER ALL he said, Its only one more
| mystery, and l don't know that one more
can make any great difference. Not in
| our way of life certainly.
and, for the present, to dismiss con-
| lecture upon the new topic from their
minds, but they did not succeed very
| we'll The idea that forced itself upon
| them, in spite Of their attempts to dis
credit it, was that Roscoe's acquisition OF
| modern long-range weapon with am
| munition to match did not date back to
the murder of Capt. Fielding, nor to the
disappearance of the Aurora, but that he
| had found the weapon by some strange
chance only very recently, perhaps within
| a day or two. 1t was disquieting
| thought at best
1t was time for Cayley to turn in and
| for Jeanne to begin her evening watch
alone, but before that happened they paid
| an extra amount of attention to the Sc
curity Of their doors and windows
During the first week or two after the
] establishment of this routine the girl had
| found this period of lonely watching diff
| cult and almost intolerable. She had
| started in terror at noises. some of them
imaginary and others Insignificant The
| timbers of the hut creaked in the frosty
air like an old wooden ship. The great
ice masses of foe and glacier were al
WAYS splitting off with reports that varied
in intensity from the sound of pistol
shot up to that of the explosion of heavy
| ordnance.
During the first ten days she had re-
peatedly reused Cayley on one false
alarm after another. but her lately &C
ouired knowledge and experience, together
with a better tuned set of nerves, mad
| conquered these fears SO completely that
she had almost forgotten them.
Consequently, she was 1rritated and
pretty thoroughly Disguised with herself
to find the whole pack of these forgotten
alarms besetting her again tonight. She
started at every sound she heard, and
sounds of one sort or another were almost
incessant. Half dozen tunes she was
on the point of waking Philip. but the
memory of those former useless invasions
of his much-needed repose checked her
1t was a little before IL o'clock when
Cavley came out of deep sleep to find
her bending over him. shaking him by
the shoulder and crying out his name
Get up quickly she said. when she
saw that he was awake. Philip. the
hut's on fire.
(To be continued tomorrow