Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1911-09-22


bled clear of his wings.
It was Jeanne; and for a moment
he thought she was dead. She
seemed as white and cold as the snow
itself. And yet she was not dead; not
even frozen. The hands he chafed 30
frantically were inert, but not rigid;
and. as he drew her up In his arms
and pressed his head down against
her breast, he could hear,very family
and slowly, the beating of her heart.
He picked her UP in his arms and
carried her into the pilot house. The
air here was still warmer than that
out of doors, but it was no longer ex-
hausted and poisonous.
He laid her down for long enough
| to light the lamp, to throw off his stif
leather jacket and to get little
brandy out of the keg. This he mixed
with little water and, with the aid
of small ivory spoon. he succeeded
In getting little of 1t between her
lips.
He took off her heavy seal coat. and
the woolen jacket she wore under it.
and, as well as he could, loosened the
other clothing about her waist. Last
of all, he gathered her up in his arms
again, wrapped the great sheep-skin
bag about them both and, with the
brandy and water within arms reach,
settled down to attempt to get some
Of the warmth and vitality of his own
body into hers.
She was not fully unconscious now,
for the next time he offered her
brandy she swallowed 1t. Her eyelids
were fiuttering little, too, and pres
emily she sighed.
He was thrilling all over with a
tremendous sense Of power He felt
he could have brought her back from
the very dead. His arteries seemed to
be running with electricity, not blood.
Her lips were moving now and he
bent close to catch the whisper that
barely succeeded in passing them.
"Dont-bring me back-Philip. It's
so much--easier to go--this way"
His only reply to that was to hold
her little closer.
She did not resist when he held
the drink to her lips again; but, after
she had taken two or three sips of it,
she said:
Il sha'n't need any more. I'm get
ting quite beautifully warm again"
He knew it was true. She no longer
felt lifeless in his arms, though she
still lay there quite relaxed. He
knew he could let her go now, safely
enough. And yet he held her fast.
81 thought you were dead when
saw you lying there on the snow" he
said at last, not very steadily. 'Ii
you had been, it would have been my
own doing"
She contradicted him with a SHARP
negative gesture.
You left me we'll enough wrapped
up to have resisted the cold for any
length of time. Besides, il I'd wanted
to l could have come back in here
But-but, Philip oh, it seems q
dreadful thing to confess, now you
are here with mel didn't want to.
just lay down on the snow, thinking
could go to sleep and-and that
would be the end-such an easy endl'
She felt him shudder all over as
she said it, and she clasped his shoul
ders and held them tight, in desire
to reassure and comfort him.
'Did you mean to do that.
away for a while?"
mo! No! 1t was something l saw
while you were gone something tina
terrified me. Philip, do you remem
ber how many Of the people of thu
) Phoenix died of what father calle<
the Ice madness?
! He nodded gravely.
well, what I saw made me thinl
that was going that way, too. Philip
was watching the moon go down
and gradually 1t spread out into three
quite far apart, and then they change'
into strange colors. and strange
shapes, and began to dance lik
witches"
He laughed, but the laugh had some
: thing very like sob mixed up In 1t.
"You poor child! No wonder
8 frightened you. But that's the orthc
dox way for the moon to set In tn
y arctic. It's part Of the same refrat
b tien that plays such strange trick
Will lne udyll6uI COiOTb. No, you
long way from fee madness, JeaI
D. ne."
!, But that wasn't all / saw, Philil
It wasn't the worst. ! saw shi
against the moon, only II seemed to
d high above the horizon, somehow
D That's the crowning impossibility. An
y then the moons began to dance, thf
d wicked, witch-like dance of mocker.
II So lay down in the snow and hid m
II face in my arms to to go
n sleep. 1t seemed 80 easy and, som
d how, seemed right, too; not wicke
d any way"
d She felt him shuddering again, ar
his clasping arms strained her 6
n- close they almost hurt.
n THANK God. came In time!" 81
ID heard him whisper.
n "But you did come IN time." she r
ar | mindad him for she could atiIl fa