The Mena weekly star. (Mena, Ark.) 1904-1977, 1911-05-04
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IN IRE, was a rife and around NJ,
middle belt full OF cartridges
Inc next instant Roscoe was hama
ing over the body. jerking savagely
az the frozen buckles which reslsteS
ms impatient fingers But they were
not to be denied. If they were clum
sy, the hands were strong
II was not FIVE minutes later wh.r
roscoe, rife and ammunition belt In
MS hands, was hurrying on toward his
cave once more. The body Law ius,
wnere his desecrating hands had Ieft
IT. "u iei'
The rife was uninjured, that he hsd
seen at glance, though , of course.
all the mechanism OF its breech was
frozen fast But a half hours hard
work with cleaning rod and rags az
what once had been a shirt snt,cea
TO put 1t into commission again
Then, with the rifle over his shout.
der, he staggered out of the cave.
With his first glance abroad. he
started. His devil was being kind ia
him today. There could be no douht
OF that. Only, was he being too kindf
Roscoe wondered q little uneasslx
For, stumbling along the ice through
the thickening twilight, not 100 PAGES
away, was a big bear. Roscoe was
tared of walrus meat. The thought of
bear steak made his mouth water
Three years disuse, however. had
made his craftsmanship somewhat
uncertain. He fired too soon, and
though he did not miss, the only eff
feet his shot had was to make the
bear turn about and go shambling
down the glacier toward the beach,
with ungainly haste. Roscoe hurried
after him, and fired two more shots.
Whether they hit or not, he could not
tell. Certainly they did not serve to
check the bears fight. The next mo-
ment he had rounded the corner of
the cliff and disappeared down the
beach in the direction of the hut.
Roscoe hesitated. but only for
moment; then. with an oath, he set
out in pursuit. 1t was not so much
the protection which the rife afforded
him that was responsible for this new
courage as 1t was that the mere feel
OF it in his hands brought him back
In touch once more with the every
day matter Of fact world. and made
his visions and ghosts seem little
unreal
1t was fully dark down here in the
shadow of the cliff. The numbering yell
low shape OF the bear was indistin-
guishable against the icy beach. That
didn't matter, for be could follow
along we'll enough by the bloody
tracks the wounded beast had left.
The last OF the twilight was still in
the sky, and half his glances were
directed thither, looking for some
thing which he told himself could not
possibly exist, except in his own
fancy, yet fully expected to see never
theless, the shadow OF Cayley's great
wings. And at last he saw It i'm
pending in the lower air. like brood
Ing spirit, just above the tiny square
Of light which marked the location OF
the hut.
Roscoe abandoned his pursuit of the
bear; all thought of II, in fact, was
gone from his mind; but he did not.
as on former occasion, drop down
prone upon the ground. his face buried
In his arms; nor did he turn and fee
like one hag-ridden up the beach. He
faltered, 1t is true, and his knees
trembled beneath him, and yet, SLOW
ly and with many pauses he made his
way forward.
He was horribly afraid all the time,
but curiosity was all the while over
towering fear He was not more than
200 yards away when Cayley alighted
beside the girl
At what he saw then, Roscoe
dropped his rife on the beach, with
whispered oath, and rubbed his eyes.
The light which diffused itself from
the open window OF the hut was not
much, but it was enough to reveal the
fact that this great man-bird, this
golden-winged spirit which had kept
him in terror for his own sanity all
these r,onths, was taking off his wings
and folding them up into a bundle IN
as matter-of-fact way as II ne were
furling an umbrella. He stood there
now. Just an ordinary human figure
of a man, the very man, In fact that
he had seen before and would nave
killed long ago had it not been for MS
over-mastering terror OF the thing
with wings.
He presented fair mark now, ana
was in easy range. but Roscoe was TOO
thoroughly astonished to seize the OPP
portunity. and in q moment II was
gone again. The two figures shrank
into the shadow OF the hut and the
next moment the light disappeared
For moment. an accession OF
rage against the two who had banned
him and enjoyed immunity from MN