, 1911-06-08
Observation-Disclosures
CHAS w ROssED
SoPYa,oaT 1910 eY rng cesrusy eo
- ~eoefRiGhT 1910 eY TIVE success e.


.,ye his soul a wrench that brought
II back into the world again. They
had lost their reckoning of time, and,
tr anything he knew. this might be
Christmas day. Perhaps those stars
we're caroling their Christmas chimes.
Perhaps, down In the world Of men,
the windows were hung with holly and
doorways with mistietoe.
Before his thoughts had advanced
as far as that he was flying down to-
ward the clif-head. He could only
suess at the length of time that had
elapsed since he left Jeanne, on her
heap Of skins, there in the mouth of
the snow tunnel. It must have been
an hour or more, for the moon had
been shining when he started, and
now almost the last Of its twilight had
died on the horizon.
A sharp n Of his W delin-
quency in having left her to her own
resources for SO long, when she had
80 few resources to draw upon, in
creased to a sudden alarm for her
safety, when he made out the black
mouth of the tunnel and saw that
there was no light at the farther end
Of 1t. She couldn't have been waiting
all this time. out in the cold; and yet
bis eyes, as he lowered, seeking the
exact spot to slight, certainly made
out n dark object lying there upon
the snow. His heart felt like lead as
he dropped close beside 1t, and scraw
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 SO
irantically were inert. but not rigid;
and, as he drew her up in his arms
and pressed his head down against
her breast, he could heal, 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 thai
out Of doors. but 1t was no longer ex
hausted and poisonous.
He laid her down for long enough
to light the lamp, to throw off his stifr
leather jacket and to get q little
brandy out Of the key. This he mixed
with a little water and, with the aid
of a small ivory spoon. he succeeded
in getting a little of 1t between her
lips.
He took OF her heavy seal coat, and
the wooden Jacket she wore under 1t.
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
body into hers.
She was not fully unconscious now,
the next time he offered her
she swallowed 1t. Her eyelids
luttering a little, too, and pres
entity she sighed.
He vas thrilling all over with a
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.
"Don't-bring me back-Philip. It's
so much-easier to go-this way"
His only reply to that was to hold
her a 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 1t,
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 60 now. safely
enough. And yet he held her fast.
"T thought you were dead when l
saw you lying there on the snow" he
said at last, not very steadily. IF
you had been, It would have been my
own doing"
She c%ontradicted him with q sharp
negative gesture.
You left me well enough wrapped
up to have resisted the cold for any
length of time. Besides, II I'd wanted
to | could have come back In here.
But-but, Philip Oh. 1t seems q
dreadful thing to confess. now you
are here with mel didn't want to. l
Just lay down on the snow, thinking
! could 60 to sleep and-and that
would be the end-such an easy end!"
She felt him shudder all over as
ihe said 1t, and she clasped his shout
ders and held them tight, in q desire
to reassure and comfort him.
Did you mean to do that {.
Was that why you asked me to ny
away for q whilef"
No! No! 1t was something ] saw
While you were gone, something that