Martinsburg statesman-democrat. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1906-1921, 1911-07-14
CHAPTER Xxx.
A Moonlit DAY.

A Moonlit Day.
The midday moon had changed the
somber purple of the snow to silver.
The snow lay everywhere, save upon
the vertical face of the cliff itself, an
unrent, immaculate mantle over all
this arctic world. The valley, the
hills, the beach and the frozen sea
all lay at peace beneath it, as if asleep
or dead
To Cayley, where he lay, suspended
in midsky, the moonlight cleaning
upon the sensitive fabric of his
planes, as it CLEANS upon the faint
ripples on a mill pond in the dead of
some June night-to Cayley this white,
sleeping, frozen world looked very
far away He was awning for the
first time since that eternity ago when
he had descended upon the beach be
side Jeanne to warn her of the ap
proach of the bear.
How long ago that was, by the
measure Of hours and days and weeks
he did not know. He had no data for
an estimate that would be better than
a guess, He remembered how des
perately they had worked that night,
saving what they could from the burn
ing hut and carrying it back into the
cave; remembered with what labor he
and Jeanne had climbed the ice chin
ney to the only shelter that now re-
manned to them, the little pilot house
observatory upon the cliff-head; re-
membered the unremittingl labor of
uncounted hours while they adjusted
their way of life to the conditions i'm
posed by the calamitous loss of the
hut
But after that there were lapses OF
time which memory did not cover.
During that time he knew the ut
most fury of the arctic winter had
been raging over them, without cessa-
ton. They had been sheltered from
1t down In the heart of the great drift
of snow which the storm had heaped
about them. But, even In this security
the shock of those successive parox-
ysms of natures titanic rage reached
down and benumbed them, body and
soul
But at last the rage of the storm
had spent itself and had become still,
The bitterness of the cold relaxed and
became milder. Cayley had felt the
blood stirring In his veins again, the
power of consecutive thought and the
ambition to live, coming once more
into his possession. He had gone to
work, feebly and drOwsily at first, but
with constantly increasing energy aud
strength, at the task Of opening up,
once more, the tunnel through the
drift which the great storm had
choked
When he had broken through the
outer crust of the drift, and the white
radiance of the midday moon shone
into the black tunnel where he had
been working, he stood for moment
drawing deep breaths and gazing over
the scene which lay beneath his eyes
He fastened back into the little pilot
house.
Jeanne was doing upon a heap OF
bear-skins. He reused her with some
difficulty; really waking up had been
a hard matter lately, almost as hard
as really getting off to sleep. she
was, still drowsy when he led her
along the tunnel to the clih-head,
Breathe deep" he told her. We
were half poisoned in there. This air
will bring you back to life again, 1t
and the moonlight"
He had been supporting her with
his arm about her waist, but now. as
she held herself little straighter and
he could feel her lungs expanding
with the pure air she breathed, he
withdrew the arm and let her stand
alone. Even the white moonlight re-