Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1911-06-22

ulBnI curing JHe StOTm laQ D6eu HULL
ing but a hallucination. None the less,
he knew that it would be easier to
walk past that empty hut In full broad
day, than In this tricky, misty, uncer-
tain light Of dawn.
He carried out this plan at once,
to the point, that is, of going up the
glacier to the cave, building a fire
there and satisfying his sharp hunger
not slept at all the night before, and
now the warmth and the satisfaction
Of his appetite made his ~nerveless
hand release the bone he was gnaw-
ing, and caused him to roll over be-
side the fire and to fall asleep.
He slept deeply for a number Of
hours. Then, arming himself with a
throwing-stick and a NUMBER of darts,
he stepped outside the cave, intent
upon his expedition to- the other side
Of the peninsula where there was a
possibility of finding the yacht.
The cave was situated some little
distance up the glacier, and the
shortest, though by far the more diff
ficult, way of reaching his destination
lay, not along the beach but up
through the interior valley and across
the p%recipitous coast range of hills.
1t was not the natural way to go,
but the fact that 1t was actually short
er gave him a sort of excuse for avoid
ing another visit, Just now, to the
scene of his discontinue Of the night
before. He swore at himself, not so
much for taking this course as for the
reasons which his common sense al
legged against him.
His present route took him close
to the gold ledge, and the sight Of the
inexhaustible, precious, useless metal
that remained here brought upon him
for the first time, in full force, a
sense of his loss, a Of what that
luckless trip ashore from the Aurora
in search Of that rosewood box had
cost him.
At an increased pace he descended
from the glacier, crossed the valley
and scaled the landward side Of one
of the mountains of the coast range
to a notch where he could command
a view of the sea to the westward.
He saw there what, in the bottom Of
his mind, he had all along been sure
he would see-nothing but another
barren, bleak horizon.
At that, for a while, his fortitude
broke down, and he raved and wep1
and cursed like one demented. But al
last, spent, sobered, conscious once
more of a sharp hunger, he climbed 6
little farther up the mountain to {
ledge, where, as his minute knowledge
Of the country led him to expect, hi
found a number Of looms sitting. HI
killed one of these birds with a dart
and then, like the brute he was, ate !
raw and warm.
BY that time 1t was late in the aft
ernoon. Bravado, combined with
more real belief than ne had yet sue
ceeded In retaining, to the effect tina
all his terror Of the night before hat
resulted from nothing more serious
than a nightmare, led him to decide t.
go home by way Of the beach, rattle
than along the difficult interior trai
up which he had come.
The descent from the cliff-head t
the beach was nothing to a man of hi
inhuman strength and activity, thougl
an ordinary skilled ~mountaineer nigh
have hesitated before attempting II
Nevertheless, two-thirds Of the wa
down he nearly fell-but for luck h
would have fallen, for he caught
glimpse of a lonely figure, a quarter 9
a mile away, perhaps, seated upon
ledge, bending forward, chin in nant
in an attitude which recalled, an
horribly echoed, that of the man b
long ago had murdered.
|, When he had steadied himself a II
tie, he made his way cautiously dow
to the level of the beach. His emotion
! were divided about equally betwee
, fear and anger, the anger existing b,
cause Of the fear.
| With infinite caution he a~pproache
that lonely, unsuspecting figure, sill
ping from the shelter Of n rock I
J that Of one a little nearer.
Three times his left hand drew bac
the throwing-stick, balanced an
aimed along a line that would send Il
thin ivory dart as swiftly and as sur,
/ " to that beautiful throat as the on
that had found and transfixed PER-
Hunters; and three times his mu
Giles braced themselves for the effol
to propel 1t. But each time, with
!, breathless oath, he lowered th
weapon again, and with the back /
! his hairy hand wiped the sweat frol
his forehead.
The act had none Of the quality (
mercy in 1t; 1t was simply the resu
Of a logical dilemma. n the thing b
saw before him were a ghost, tn
: ghost Of tho man he had already mu
dered, his dart would do no harm.
! it were not a ghost; II 1t were what
looked more and more like as he DIRE
. nearer, a living, breathing woman--t
> licked his lips and wrung them wit
D his hand-if It were a woman, he d
not want to kill her. If he could |
sure, could only be sure. he woul
drop his weapon and make one rus
/. and hold her helpless in those gre,
! hands Of his.
And with every i've PAGES til;
4 lessened the distance between Their
1 that certainty grew upon him. N
sha was no tmmaterial shirt of o ma