Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1911-01-14
CHAPTER XXI.

CHAPTER XXI.
In the Pilot House.
Cayiey had bssn right In assuming,
% he did in; his conversation With
Jeanne. upon The subject. that Roscoe
and the other people Of the WAlrus
had never noticed tho ice chimney, nor
suspected the existence Of the pilot
house upon the cliff-head. Also, he
had followed correctly the track Of
Roscoe's mind In the deduction that
the two latest csstawsys upon this
land-that II, Philip and Jeanne
must have persisted In the great storm
which began on the night when he
fred the hut, and continued for 80
many weeks that he, like them, lost
all trace OF reckoning.
During the storm he had lived In
the cave. much as Philip and Jeanne
had lived In the. pilot house on the
cliff: he had. that Il to say. in some
purely automatic fashion. kept On e.
listing. The mere momentum Of . ma
ture mans vitality makes It hard for
him to die. But when the storm
ebated and milder weather came, he
bestirred himself. Is Cayley did. and
set about digging a tunnel Of his own
through the great drift which had
blocked the entrance to his cave.
The next time the moon came up
after he had completed the tunnel
from the cave. he set out down the
beach toward tho ruins of the but.
1t was not nero curiosity which
attracted him, nor any lurking fear
but simply the hope Of making some
salvage from the wrsckage Of the hut
or possibly. from the bodies of his two
victims, in case he was lucky enough
to ind them. He had no doubt at all
that they were dead.
His pleasure over the quantity and
condition of the stores he found in
the ice cave compensated for his
disappointment over not finding the
bodies of his two latest victims.
Evidently they had not even at
tempted to use such shelter a. the ice
chamber afforded, for 1t showed no
mark of human habitation at all. The:
had probably wandered outside and
Gied in one Of the nearby drifts. Per
haps he would md them some day.
For the present, however. the stores
occupied his who, attention.
Very methodieally he set to work.
carrying them OF to his own cave.
working without fatigue and without
intermission-worki 20 long as the
moonlight lasted.
He was just setting out with his last
load when. .glancing skyward to see
how long the light would hold. he
caught glimpse Of Cayley on the
wing. Tho sight occasioned him no
return-not even momentary-ofr the
old terror. He cursed little because
he had not his rife with him; the sky
man soaring slowly and not very high.
presented mark he could almost GER
tainly have hit
It was surprising. Of course, to see
him alive, but Roscoe, in his present
state, never thought Of looking to su-
pernatural means to account for the
fact. Indeed. he was hardly moro than
Q moment in approximating the true ex-
PLANTATION. There might we'll be. he
supposed, up somewhere in the face
Of the cliff q cave. or shelter. of which
he knew nothing. and easily acces-
sibls 70 anyone who happened to DOS
ssss . Tying machine.
Shrting the clin and keeping we'll
In it, shadow, he made his way with
his last load, back to his cave. Here
he spent q few minutes cleaning his
rifle, mailing sure that the mechanism
Of the breech was working perfectly.
ana AlhnE it, magazine full Of car.
trilgss.
The moon was just setting. but the
sH was still bright enough to give
him good hope OF making out Cay.
ley's winged figure against It.
Roscoe squa.tsA down In the lee Of
the great hummock Of ice, surveyed
the heavens with Keen. practised eyes.
munching on . strip Of dried walrus-
meat which he had brought with him
and waited very contentedly.
He had not long to wait. Long be-
fore the moon twilight had gone out
Of the sky he saw in II silhouetted
against It, the sight from which
he had once Ned with such mad
tsrror:-the broad expanse Of the sky.
mans wings.
Instead Of firing. he scrambled up to
he top Of the nearest ice hummock
and from there watched Cayloy' Tight
to his landing place.
He laughed aloud when he saw that
It was not in the side Of the cliff. as he
had feared. but quite at the crest OF 1t
where It was rs accessible to man
who could climb . bit - to one with
wings.
He did not move from his attitude
4rained attention, on the summit
little ice hill, until he saw faint
Nv Of golden light dinusing itself
from the mouth of the tunnel that led
to the pilot house. Then. with that
queer stunning gait Of his, which was
neither walk nor run, he began max.
ing his way inshors. over the ice. To-
ward the foot of tho cliff.
Cayley's tunnel was not at right
angles % the crest, but bore OF dag.
onally westward. Roscoe had noted
this fast, and he Agursd It out from
the top Of the promontory, which
formed the western boundary Of their
atrin a beach. he should b able t.