The Julesburg grit-advocate., 1911-04-20

beoe of our civilization seems TO b
eovsring into. Physically. 1t would
hsvs been hard to suggest an improve
nsst In him. he approached 20 near
tho ideal standards. He was nne
0afnsd. supple. slender. alljointed.
thseough bred from head to heel.
intellectually. he had been good
enough to 90 through the academy At
West Point with credit. and to grad
uato high enough in his class to b
esstGnsd to service in the cavalry. His
Standards Of conduct. his ideas of hon
- and morality had bsen about The
same ~ those of the best third Of his
classmates. II his fellow omeers In
the Philippines. during the year or
two he spent In the service. had bssn
asked to pick . daw in him. which
thsy would have been reluctant TO do.
they would have said that he seemed
to them bit too thin-skinnsd and
rather fastidious: that was what his
chum and only Intimate friend, Perry
Hunter. said about him at any rate
But he could afford to be fastidi-
ous. for be had about all man could
Waat, one would think. For three
generations they had taken wealth
for granted in the Cayley family. and
with It had come breeding. security
Of social position. simplicity and ease
In making friends. both among men
and women. In short. there could be
no doubt At all that up to his twenty
ninth year Fsts had been ironically
kind to Philip Cayley. She had given
him no hint no preparation for the
stunning blow that was to fall upon
him. suddenly. out of 80 clear . sky.
When 1t did fall. 1t cut his life
clean across; 80 that when he thought
back to that time now, 1t seemed to
him that the Lieutenant Cayley Of the
United States army had died over
there in the Philippines, and that he,
the man who was now soaring In those
great circles through the arctic sky,
was a chance inheritor Of his name
and OF his memory.
He had set out one day at the head
Of q small scouting party. the best
liked man In the regiment, secure in
the respect. in the almost fatherly re-
gard. OF his colonel, proudly conscious
of the almost idolatrous admiration
Of his men and the younger oficers.
He had gone out believing that no
ono ever had truer friend than he
possessed in Perry Hunter, his class
mate at West Point his fellow officer
in the regiment. the confdant of all
his hopes and ideals
He had come back. after q fort
nights absence, to find his name
smeared with disgrace, himself Judged
and condemned, unheard. in the opin-
ion Of the mess. And that was not
the worst Of It, The same blow which
had deprived him of the regard OF the
only people in the world who matter
ed to him, destroyed. also, root and
branch. his affection for the one man
Of whom he had made an intimate.
The only feeling that 1t would be pos
sible for him to entertain for Perry
Hunter again must be a Multiplying.
halfincredulous contempt. And II
that was his feeling for the man he
had trusted most and loved the most
deeply, what must be it for the rest Of
humankind? What did 1t matter what
they thought of him or what they did
to him? All he wanted Of human So
ciety was to escape from It.
He fell to wondering, as he hung,
suspended. over that rosy expanse Of
fleecy fog. whether, were the thing to
do over again, he would act as he had
acted i've years ago: whether he
would content himself with single
disdainful denial of the monstrous
thing they charged him with; whether
he would resign again. under fire, and
go away, leaving his tarnished name
for the DAVIS to peck at.
Heretofore he had always answered
that question with fierce affirma-
tive. Today 1t left him wondering.
Had he stayed, had he paid the price
that would have been necessary to
clear himself, he would never have
found' his wings, so much was clear.
He would never have spent those
four years in the wilderness. working,
experimenting. taking his life in his
hands. day after day. while he master
ed the art that no man had ever mas
tered before.
He had set himself this task because
1t was the only one he knew that Did
not involve contact with his fellow
beings. He must have something that
he could work at alone. Work and
solitude were two things that he had
felt an overmastering craving for And
the possibility he had faced with a
light heart every morning-the possi-
bility Of sudden and violent death
before night, had been no more to
him than an agreeable spice to the
days work
1t was not until he had actually
learned to ny. had literally shaken the
dust Of the earth from his feet and
taken to the sky as his abode. that his
wound had healed. The three months
that he had spent in this upper arctic
air a-winI for 16 houra ont Of - had