Martinsburg statesman-democrat. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1906-1921, 1911-07-21

Cave.
make sure that he could not be sur
prised in the act of getting clear OF
his wings, and moment later came
down soundlessly, except with faint
slither of his planes. upon the ice.
He bounded almost instantly to his
feet, slipped his knife out OF his belt
and held the heft of it between his
teeth while he furled his planes. That
done, he deposited the bundle in the
angle OF projecting rock, and stealth
lily made his way toward the cave
mouth.
At the very edge of the shelter af-
forded by the rock he paused for an
instant; then, with every nerve tuned
to the highest pitch-with every mus
Gle in a state of supple relaxation, yet
instantly ready for any demand that
might be made upon THE stepped
round the corner and into the mouth
of the cave.
Probably no apparition of the mon
ster he expected to find there-no
sight of him towering expectant,
armed, anticipating all that Cayley
hoped to do, and ready to Illustrate it,
could have been so terrifying to Philip
as the thing he actually saw, which
was-nothing At least, SO far as
first glance into the cave would re-
veal his enemy was not there.
Cayley shuddered, not with fear,
and yet with a sensation stronger
than disgust. 1t was as If leopard
had been standing over the deserted
lair of a hyena. A wild beasts lair
it was and not human habitation.
The floor was Uttered with feathers
and half-gnawed bones. The rocky
walls dripped with oil SCOT of his hor-
rible cooking The foul air of the
place was actually iridescent. But
the real horror of it lay in the fact
that Roscoe was not there.
Cayley's reasoning faculties attack
ed that blind, irrational horror with
all their force. From the condition OF
the fire it was evident that Roscoe
had been gone several hours. 1t was
almost certain that he would return
soon. Cayley's arrival in his absence
really gave him an immense advant-
age. A man always comes unwar1iy
into the place he calls home. III Kos
coe came back now he would have no
chance at all against Cayley's quick
spring and the fash of the long knife
blade.
Certainly it was reasonable to ex-
pect that Roscoe would wait for an
other moonrise before setting out on
any serious sort of expedition, and, II
that assumption we're correct, ne
might be returning to the cave at any
moment.
| He strobe abruptly back to the cave
mouth. AS he did so, however, his
eye alighted on something that made
him pause-something so strangely
out of keeping with its surroundings
! that it caused him-or he thought that
was the reason-a sense of recogni'
| ton, almost of familiarity.
The thing which so evidently did
not belong to Roscoe that 1t seemed
| almost to belong TO Phlllp hlnsell'
was a gold locket 1t lay on a nat Dit
Of rock, which seemed to serve RIOS
GOES purpose as table. The objects
which surrounded tan irregular
piece of raw walrus hide, an over
turned bottle of whale oil, with a
smudgy wick In 1t, a sailmakef S
needle and some Rawlings OF canvas
together with some scraps OF tood-ai
spoke SO loud of Roscoe and mace sucL
a contrast with this bit of ieweiry ina
Cayley's action in STOPPING to PICK Il
! up was automatic,
He held it in his hand moment d
If he did not know quite what TO az
with it, then put it in his pocket ano
went out of the cave, Only during
the moment when it had first caugn'
his eye had it really commanded hi'
attention at all By the time ne so'
outside of the cave he had forgottel
[ it.
Two or three -breaths Of the-c-ea'