Martinsburg statesman-democrat. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1906-1921, 1911-06-23
rz6ad come. apparently. to the end

&c nleasant, somehow. to think OF our
little pilot house, all showed in. up
there on the cliff-head, and of our in
side passage leading up to It,"
That's quite true" he said. Il sup
,osa its ell romantic nonsense, but it
does give one a certain feeling of Sc
secur;tv. However," he went
or we're not reduced as yet to any
,sirg as intangible as that as sub
iect for giving thanks. You haven't
seen the whole of my list yet. I've
saved the best till the last"
He turned the paper over in his
hand as he spoke. She did not attempt
10 read what he had written, but sat
tbere beside him. her hands clasped
ahout one knee, her eyes upon the
booted foot which was poised across
the other, and waited rather tensely
for him to tell her.
IT'S not so very much, but it will
mean an immense lot 70 us. What
paople die of in the arctic is not so
often disease or accident, or even, d.
rectly, cold or starvation. They die
more often of disgust and WEAKNESS
and exhaustion. Your father knew
that. and he set apart from his gem
eral stores some Injuries and delica-
cies. or things that would seem to be
such to men in their plight, to be used
against emergency. I'm sure that's
why he took them up there and hid
them away. Part of them are left
wish he could have known to whom
they were going to be of use. There's
a little cask with brandy in it, a good
sized pot nearly full of beef extract, a
jar of dried eggs, three tins of con-
densed milk, a big ten-pound box Of
Albert biscuit"
His voice broke off there sharply,
but without the downward infection
she would have expected had he
reached the end So she looked quick
ly and curiously up into his face. AS
quickly, her eyes sought the bit of pa
per which still lay open in his hand.
You didn't finish" she said. There
was something else"
81 thought too late. Oh! It's moth
ing, but it caught me-rather, and
thought would spare you the twinge
that finding it had given me. might
better have read 1t right out. 1t was
big plum pudding, in a tin, you
know-Cross & Blackwell's. But there
1t was, waiting, I suppose, to lend
some sort of an air of festivity to
their next Christmas"
The girl rose from her seat beside
him and going over to the window,
stood for while gazing up the
beach.
1t was just about the same time in
the afternoon that it had been yester-
day when he set out, awning, to find
her and had come flying down out of
the sky to drive away the sudden
nameless terror which had beset her.
That thought led him, now to visua-
lie some sticks of wood, rather too
large to carry, which had been lying
on the beach near where he had found
her. Thinking that 1t would be a
good time to get them and drag them
in. he got harpoon line, and it was
the girls question what he meant to
do with the rope, which caused him to
tell her what part of the beach he in
tended to visit He asked her then if
she cared to come with him, but, after
moments hesitation, she declined.
1t will be high time for supper be-
fore you can get back" she said, and
I'd better stay here and get it ready,
that is, unless l can help YOU"
So he set off alone.
For awhile the occupation Of setting
their disordered living room to rights
and getting the supper started were
sufficient to take the whole of the
girls attention. But later, when it was
question merely of waiting for the
pot to boil, and of not watching it so
That it would boil sooner, she moved
restlessly to the door and stood there,
before the hut, gazing down the beach
IN the direction Cayley had taken He
was already out of sight around the
headland.
She wished she had gone with
Philip, and she gazed with straining
eyes toward the narrow bit of slant
ing beach around the base of the head
land which was the place where he
must appear. He was not to be ex-
pected yet, not for long time. prob
aDly' for his progress, dragging those
great sticks he had set out to bring
nome, must be SLOW
And then. even as she looked, she
Ga" MIN, not moving slowly with his
oufaen, but running-running at his
'opmost speed, like man in fear Of
something
lnsunctively she moved forward to
meet him, and this move of hers en-
aoied him to see her. He slackened
MS pace instantly, and waved her
nack toward the hut She obeyed that
Imperative gesture Of his, without hes
I-dllon' but still remained in the door
way watching him as he rapidly drew
nearer.
"hen he had got near enough so
.ua' she could see his face and read,
lure or less, what she saw there, she