The Mena weekly star. (Mena, Ark.) 1904-1977, 1911-01-12

Il
played upon his tired eyes, But there
remained upon that vacant scene two
material reminders Of the tragedy to
which II had afforded a setting. One
was smudge of crimson on the snow |;
the other. a little distance of, Just
this side of the icy ridge over which
the last OF the party had gone scram-
! bling a moment before. was the
strange looking blunt stick which he
had seen in the assassins hand.
Ceyley few little lower. his wings
almost skimming the ice. Finally,
reaching the spot where the thing had
fallen, he alighted and picked 1t up.
Whether its possessor had valued IL,
or not. whether or not he might be
expected to return for 1t, Cayley did
not know. and did not much care.
lie stood for some time turning the
thing over in his hands, pulling over
II. trying to make out how 1t could
have been used as the instrument OF
| propulsion to that deadly ivory dart.
There was groove on one side of It,
with small ivory plug at the end
80 0SASA OhA vas Cul AONriJ ouAHCQs
misshapen. rather. for. though It was
| obviously the end one held, Cayley
could not make 1t fit his hand, what
ever position he held 1t in.
Giving up the problem at fast, re
tucked the stick into his belt, slipped
his arm through the strap In the
framework of his aeroplane and pre-
pared for flight. He had little diff
Guilty getting up, owing to the absence
of breeze at this point Finally he
was obliged to climb, with a good deal
OF labor. the icy ridge up which he
had watched the little party OF muir
derers scrambling.
At the crest he cast a glance
around, looking for them, but saw no
signs of them. Then. getting favor
able slant of the wind. he mounted
again into the element he now called
his own.
Five years before Philip Cayley
would have passed for a good exam
pie Of that type of clean-limbed, clean
minded. likable young man which the
best OF our civilization seems to be-
Towering into. Physically. 1t would
have been hard to suggest an improve
ment in him. he approached SO near
the ideal standards. He was fine
grained. supple, slender, smalljointed.
thoroughbred from head to heel.
Intellectually. he had been good
enough to go through the academy at
West Point with credit, and to grad
uate high enough in his class to be
assigned to service in the cavalry. His
standards of conduct. his ideas of hon.
or and morality had been about The
same as those Of the best third OF his
classmates. II his fellow officers in
the Philippines. during the year or
two he spent in the service, had been
asked to pick a flaw in him. which
they would have been reluctant to do,
they would have said that he seemed
to them bit too thin-skinned 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-
GUS, for he had about all man could
want. one would think. For three
generations they had taken wealth
for granted in the Cayley family and
with 1t 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 Fate 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 so clear a sky.
When 1t did fall, 1t cut his life
clean across; so that when he thought
back to that time now, it 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 small scouting party, the best
liked man in the regiment secure in
the respect, in the almost fatherly re-
Bal ~ VI hio Soaohct, PiOuul1 CODbClOuS
of the almost idolatrous admiration
of his men and the younger officers.
He had gone out believing that no
one ever had a truer friend than he
possessed in Perry Hunter. his class
mate ct West Point. his fellow officer
In the regiment. the conddant of all
his hopes and ideals.
He had come back, after a 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 1t. The same blow which
had q rived him of the regard of tho
only + ople in the world who matter
I'd 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 half-pitying.
half-incredulous contempt And IL
that was his feeling for the man hei
had trusted most and loved the most
deeply. what must be it for the rest OF
humankind? What did it 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,