Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1911-06-29
CHAPTER Xxx.
A Moonlit Day.

A Mooniit Day.
The midday moon had changed the
somber purple of the snow to silver.
The snow lay everywhere, say upon
the vertical face of the cliff itself, an
unrent, immaculate mantle over all
this arctic world. The valley. the
hills, the beach and the frozen sea
all lay at peace beneath 1t, as If asleep
or dead.
To Cayley, where he lay, suspended
in midsky, the moonlight cleaning
upon the sensitive fabric of his
planes, as It CLEANS upon the faint
ripples on a mill pond in the dead Of
some June night-to Cayley this white,
sleeping, frozen world looked very
far away. He was awning for the
first time since that eternity ago when
he had descended upon the beach be-
| side Jeanne to war; her Of the ap-
proach Of the bear.
How long ago that was, by the
measure of hours and days and weeks,
he did not know. He had no data for
an estimate that would be better than
a guess. He remembered how des-
perately they had worked that night,
| saving what they could from the burn
ing hut and carrying 1t back into the
| cave; remembered with what labor he
and Jeanne had climbed the Ice chin
ney to the only shelter that now re-
NAMED to them, the little pilot house
| observatory upon the cliff-head; re-
membered the unremitting labor of
uncounted hours while they adjusted
their way of life to the conditions i'm
posed by the calamitous loss of the
hut.
But after that there were lapses Of
time which memory did not cover.
During that time he knew the ut
most fury of the arctic winter had
been raging over them, without cessa4
ton. They had been sheltered from
it down in the heart Of the great drift
Of snow which the storm had heaped
about them. But, wen in this security
the shock of those successive parox-
ysms of natures titanic rage reached
down and benumbed them, body and
soul.
But at last the rage Of the storm
had spent itself and had become still
The bitterness of the cold relaxed and
became milder. Cayley had felt the
blood stirring in his veins again, the
power of consecutive thought and the
ambition to live, coming once more
into his possession. He had gone tt
work. feebly and drowsily at first, bu
with constantly increasing energy am
strength, at the task Of opening Ut
once more, the tunnel through tn
drift which. the great storm ha
choked.
When he had broken through tn
outer crust of the drift, and the whit
radiance of the midday moon shon'
into the black tunnel where he hat
been working, he stood for a momen
drawing deep breaths and gazing owe
the scene which lay beneath his eyes
He fastened back into the little pilo
house.
Jeanne was doing upon a heap o
bear-skins. He reused her with som
difficulty; really waking up had bee
a hard matter lately, almost as har'
as really getting off to sleep. sh
was still drowsy when he led ne
along the tunnel to the cliff-head.,
Breathe deep" he told her. wv
were half poisoned in there. This al
will bring you back to life again,
and the moonlight"
He had been supporting her wit
his arm about her waist, but now, a
she held herself a little straighter an
he could feel her lungs expandln
with the pure air she b%reathed, h
withdrew the arm and let her stan
alone. Even the white moonlight n
vealed the color that was comm
back into her cheeks.
For a while she did not speak
all; then, as If replying to a con
' ment of his, she said:
Eyes, it's beautiful. . . +. Bu
Philip, it's dead. Dead"
mot this air that has ozone spa
o king all through 1t, 1t is alive enoug
to make your blood dance. It's doin
L that now"
He tried to persuade her to take
9 little exercise along the length of tt
. tunnel. but she demurred to that. Il
l. stead, she asked him to bring OF
Il some bear-sklns and let her sit thel
Il at the cliff-head looking out.
y "And," she supplemented, If yo
x want to know what l should like mo
n Of all. it would be to have You brir
3 your wings so that / can see you fl
ing again, and a ~1eld-glass that ca
II watch you through"
pr He felt some hesitation, partly o.
IS of a fear of leaving her and part
from a doubt concerning his cv
I strength; but neither Of these rearol
e was one he cared to avow. So he u
furled the bundle that had lain d
., used SO long, spread and tightaas
O. and tested 1t, and at last, with q NJ
70 Of farewell to the girl. dived of Il
10 cliff-head.
. Any doubt he may have had CO
10 corning his strength disappeared
10 once. The mere touch Of those gre
wings Of his seemed to bring 1t 9
g back, and hope and JOY And ccnfidsn'
along with It.
10 fra BM c~ccTT1NsuEpS
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