, 1911-02-02

ousiy. He was dressed exactly like
the others. but seemed very much
D'gser; seemed to walk with less Of
a siouch, and had, ven to Cayley's
united view Of him, an air of authorE
ty. Cayley was surprised at his not
being armed with q bow, for he knew
OF no other way In which . Hart could
nave beer propelled with
enough. even at close range, to have
transfixed q mans throat. The assas-
sins only weapon. except for a CULVER.
iui OF extra darts. seemed to be .
short blunt stick. rudsly Whitfield,
perhaps ten inches Iong.
obedient, apparently, 10 the order
OF the new arrival. the party changed
lts direction, leaving what was evil
IDENTITY a well-known path to them. for
a seemingly more direct but rougher
route. And they moved now with an
appearance Of haste. Presently they
scrambled over . p%recipitous ledge of
Ice and. In . moment, were lost to
Cayley's view.
The world was suddenly empty
again. as II NO living foot had ever
trodden it; and Cayley. lowering
there, a little above the level of the
Ice. rubbed his eyes and wondered
whether the singular. silent tragedy
ne had Just Witnessed were real, or .
trick the mysterious arctic light had
played upon his tired eyes But there
remained upon that vacant scene two
material reminders Of the tragedy to
which II had afforded q setting. One
was smudge Of crimson on the snow;
the other. a little distance of. Just
this side Of the 10y ridge over which
the last Of the party had gone scram-
bling a moment before. was the
strange looking blunt stick which he
had seen in the assassin's hand.
Cayley flew q little lower, his wings
almost skimming the ice. Finally,
reaching the spot where the thing had
fallen, he alighted n picked It up
Whether its possessor had valued it,
or not, whether or not he might be
expected to return for It. Cayley did
not know, and did not much care.
He o for some time turning the
thing over in his hands. puzzling over
1t. trying to make out how it could
have been used as the instrument of
propulsion to that deadly ivory dart.
here was a groove on one side OF 1t,
with a small ivory plug at the end.
The other end was %curiously shaped,
misshapen. rather. for. though It was
obviously the end held. Cayley
could not make 1t At his hand. what
ever position he held 1t in.
Giving up the problem at fast, Re
>lx- 49, zI - "a L-I -
his arm through the strap in the
framework Of his %aeroplane and pre-
pared for flight. He had a little dim
Guilty getting up. owing to the absence
of a breeze at this point. Finally ne
was obliged to climb. with a good deal
OF labor. the 10y ridge up which he
had watched the little party of muir
derers scrambling.
At the crest he cast q glance
around, looking for them, but saw no
signs Of them. Then, getting a favor
again into the element he now called
his own.
Five years before Philip Cayley
would rave passed for a good exam
pie Of that type Of clean-limbed. clean
minded. likable young man which the
best of u civilization seems to be
Towering into. Physically. 1t would
have been hard to suggest an improve
mept in him. he approached SO near
the ideal standards. He was fine
grained. supple. slender. smalLjointed.
thoroughbred from head to heel.
Intellectually. he had been good
enough to go through the academy at
West Point with credit. and to grad
uats high enough in his GLASS to be
assigned to service in the cavalry. His
standards Of conduct. his IDEAS of hon
or and morality had been about he
zane as those Of the best third Of his
classmates. II his fellow officers in
The Philippines, during the year or
two he spent In the service. had been
asked to pick q faw in him, which
they would have said that he seemed
to them q bit too thin-skinned and
rather f%astidious; that was what his
ohum and only intimate friend, Perry
Hunter. said about him at any rate.
But he could afford to be fastidi-
GUS, for he had about all q man could
want. n would think. For three
generations they had taken wealth
for granted in the Cayley family. and
with It had come breeding. security
Of social position. simplicity and ease
in making friends. both among men
and women. In short, there could be
no doubt at all that up to his twenty
ninth year Fate had been ironically
kind to Philip Cayiey. She had given
him no hint. no preparation for the
stunning blow that was to fall upoa
him. suddenly. out Of 20 clear q sky.
When It did fall. II cut his life
clean across; 30 that when he thought
back to that time now. II seemed to
him that the Lieutenant Cayley of the
United States army had died owe
there in the Philippines. and that he,