Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1911-06-30
CHAPTER ll.-Continued.

Cayley could not contradict her,
and he saw there was little need of
trying to do so. She had spoken sim
ply, and very gravely, but 1t was evi
dent the years had no. taken the sting
out of her grief.
He told you where he was?" he
asked.
"Oh, quite exactly" she told him.
"he gave us latitude and longitude,
and mapped the coast-line. So you
were wrong, you see, in what you said
about photographers. And he gave us
the route by which with reasonable
fortune, we might find open water.
We had good fortune and we got here
safely, but of course, we were too
late. The hut on the shore there is
deserted. We have seen no signs OF
life at all. The men have gone ashore
to search, and there Is to be gun-fire
II they find anyone alive. But they
have been out all day and there has
been no sound. You will understand
think, though. why l did not want to
sleep tonight in my cabin in the
yacht; why the Ice and the dome of
stars seemed better"
Yes" he said, 81 underst and"
Presently, after a moments musing,
he added, What seems strange to me,
incomprehensible altogether, is, that
men like your father, and so many
others. should risk and lose their lives
trying to reach the pole"
"You can't understand that" she
questioned surprised, you. man
with wings?"
II suppose it's because of the
Wings" he answered her. 81 slept
there once. early this summer-slept,
and rested. and ate meal"
There" she echoed incredulously.
Where do you mean?"
"At the pole, or within a half degree
OF it-I won't guarantee my instru-
ments, nor my hit-and-miss observa-
tions any more accurately than that
and 1t seemed a poor place to risk
ones life trying to reach. Just the
ice-pack-the eternal ice-pack; moth
Ing but that" Then his eyes lighted
a little. But should like to go there
some time, in the winter-should like
to fly straight ahead, for hours and
hours through the long dark, until /
could see the North Star squarely
above my head in the zenith, the cen
ter of all the universe. That would
be sight worth having, l should
think. Some day. perhaps, shall try
for it. And then one could go straight
on across-a week or ten days would
do it all-from Dawson City, say, tc
st. Petersburg"
anowcon Citv to Datarcb,,ruf'
she repeated; only a creature OF
wings could put those two cities In
the same sentence, even in imagina
ton. And even with you it must be
imaginary You couldn't do it. really
could you?"
yes" he said 81 could do it,
You're tireless, then?" she asked
You would go on flying, flying, with
out rest for a week?"
81 don't fly" he told her, "or hardl!
at all. The birds don't fly, not thes
great sea birds that live on the wing
They sail; so do l."
But, then, don't you have to g
with the wind?"
you've sailed a boat, haven't you?
he asked by way of answer. You pu
up a sail to catch the breeze, an,
then you make it force your boat righ
up into it; make your boat go agains
the wind, by the force of the vim
Itself That was regarded as a mil
acle once when men first did It."
"Of course" she admitted, but yo
do that by tacking"
That's the way do it-by tackins
and the force of gravity is my heel"
How long have you lived lik
this?" she asked abruptly.
Really lived? Only three month
or so. l spent the better part of fiv
years learning to fly"
And you have flown all over tn
world?"
All over this most deserted pate
Of It,"
There was another silence. The
she said: And what a contempt yo
must have for us-for us. poor win
less creatures, who cannot cross a II
tie assure In a rock or a bit of ope
water without such toilsome labo
Yes, that must be the feeling-co
tempt; 1t could hardly be pity"
I'll mats true" he reJoined quickl
II . OIiy poetiC JuslicS' We ou
achieved toward the world the feeliI
which the world held for me-"
The words were spoken harshl
abruptly as II his memory had ju
tasted something intolerably bite
The manner of the words, no le
than the sense of them startled he
and she checked movement to tu
and look into his face. Instead, 81
tried TO recall 1t as 1t had look
when she had first stood confrontil
him. before the twilight had faded.