Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1911-04-13
CHAPTER Il.-contlnued.

nxplorer.
CHAPTER Il-contlnued.
Cayley could not contradict her,
and he saw there was little need Of
trying to do so. She had spoken sim
ply, and very grayely, but 1t was evt-
dent the years had not taken the sting
out of her grief.
"He told you where he was?" he
asked.
"Oh, quite exactly" she told him;
che gave us latitude and longitude,
and mapped the coastline. So you
were wrong, o see, in what you said
about photographers. And he gave us
the route by which with reasonable
fortune, we might find open water.
We had good fortune and we got here
safely, but, of course, we were too
late. The hut on the shore there Ii
deserted. We have seen no signs Of
life at all. The men have gone ashore
to search, and there is to be a gun-fre
AZ they find anyone alive. But they
have been out all day and there has
been no sound. You will understand,
think, though, why | did not want to
sleep tonight in my cabin in the
yacht; why the ice and the dome of
stars seemed better"
YES" he said, IT understand"
Presently, after a moments musing,
he added, what seems strange to me
incomprehensible altogether, is, that
men like your father, and SO man.
others, should risk and lose their lives
trying to reach the pole"
"You can't understand that" she
questioned surprised, you, q man
with wings?"
Il suppose it's because Of the
WINGS" he answered her. II slept
there once, early this summer-slept,
and rested, and ate a meal"
There" she echoed incredulously.
~Where do you mean?"
cat the pole, or within a half degree
of til won't guarantee my instru-
ments, nor my hit-and-miss observa-
tions any more accurately than that
and it seemed a poor place to risk
ones life trying to reach. Just the
ice-pack-the eternal ice-pack; moth
ing but that" Then his eyes lighted
q little. But I should like to go there
some time, In the winter-should like
to fly straight ahead, for hours and
hours, through the long dark, until
could see the North Star squarely
nhoHyA ~ hnnH In t6a 0onifh Tho nan.
ter Of all the universe. That would
be a sight worth having, / should
think. Some day, perhaps, l shall try
for it. And then n could go straight
on across-a week or ten days would
do it all-from Dawson City. say, to
st, Petersburg"
Dawson City to St. Petersburgi"
she repeated; "only a creature of
wings could put those two cities in
the same sentence, even in imagina'
ton. And even with you 1t must be
Imaginary. You couldn't do it, really
could your"
EYES," he said; IT could do it."
You're tireless, them" she asked
~You would go on flying, flying, with
out rest. for a week?"
Il don't fly" he told her, "or hardly
ut all. The birds don't fly, not these
great sea birds that live on the wing
They sail; so do l."
But, then, don't you have to &c
with the wind?"
You've sailed a boat, haven't your
he asked by way Of answer. "You pu'
up a sail to catch the breeze, ant
then you make 1t force your boat righ'
up into it; make your boat go agains'
the wind, by the force of the wint
itself. That was regarded as a mir
acle once when mep first did It."
"Of course" she admitted, "but 20,
do that by lacking"
That's the way I do it-by lacking
and the force of gravity is my heel"
How long have you lived like
this?" she asked abruptly.
Really lived? Only three month";
or so. l spent the better part of iv'
years learning to fly"
sand you have flown all over tn
.world?"
"All over this most deserted patel
Of It"
There was another silence. Thel
she said: "And what a contempt yo,
must have for us-for us, poor wing
less creatures, who cannot cross a III
tie assure in a rock or a bit Of opel
water without such toilsome labor
Yes, that must be the feeling-cor
tempt; 1t could hardly be pity"
"If that's true" he rejoined quickly
"it's only poetic justice. I've onl;
achieved toward the world the feelini
which the world held for me"
The words were spoken harshlJ
abruptly, as If his memory had JUS
tasted something intolerably bitter
The manner Of the words, no les
than the sense of them startled hel
and she checked a movement to tur.
and look into his face. Instead. sh
tried % recall It as 1t had locke
when she had first stood c~onfrontin
him, bafaps the twilight had faded