The Washington times., 1911-08-09
THE TIMES DAILY SERIAL STORY
MISS JACK, OF TIBET
By CHARLES WILLING BEALE
Author OF The Onyx Ear" Etc.
Copyright. The Frank A. Munsey Company.

! the varying attitudes between here ant
Tad-sa-fuh. Buff II doesn't get AM
worse-we can probably hold out fol
day or two longer at a slow rate o.
progress-and---"
But If it should get worse"
Don't know that il will matter, fol
the simple reason that we couldn
breathe it,"
We now wore our skin jackets con
tinuously. Even during the warmes
part of the day we were barely comfort
able, while throughout the hours oI
darkness the bags were necessary.
sound We had heard in the night. II
was only another of the perplexitie:
that had been forced upon us:
DO you mean the roaring|'
| l nodded.
! Gwynne thrust his long fingers into
his curly locks. It,Ntoo. had been trou-
oling him.
Can't tell I've been thinking about
it, he said. Might have been water
fall. the melted show pouring over tha
glaciers. WHO can teli?"
The suggestion was not entirely salts
factory, and said so.
Echoes, then!" returned Gwynne
| moodily.
| Waterfalls, maybe. All that snow
and ice must get away somehow. Ihe
| highest point in the Hinalayas finds It's
way to the sea at last
1T doesn't matter, we've left 1t. Let's
| think of what's ahead
Jack and Jill, suppose
IF you like"
though without the usual sociability.
Presently l got up and walked away.
thinking 1t best to leave GWynne alone.
| shook the ashes from my pipe. put
1t in my pocket and looked around. A
more desolate spot could not be imag-
ined. Snow and ice to skyward. Huge
CHATS of gravel. Black rock-cavern-
Gus, split, gullied-heaped in monstrous
forms above and around us. No scrap
Of vegetation was visible; no prospect
of better things to come The little bed
of gravel, where we had anchored, was
the only available landing ground IT
sight. The situation gave me the hor-
rors. l couldh't stand it there alone,
was still sitting.
Il suppose we might as well take an
other dig in the direction of Tad-sa-
fun" This from me, trying to be cheer
full
The direction, Yes-if we knew
what the direction was. confess /
don't know whether the place we're
after is north, south. east, or west OF
here. St.l, we may as we'll have
another try while the Juice holds out"
! could feel that she rose more heavily
than before. Perhaps Gwynne didn't
give her as much head. l couldn't tell.
All that afternoon we .Crept slowly
forward. 1t was evident that Gwynne
did not wish to exhaust our resources
Immediately. Beyond this. II often re-
Quired extreme care and the most &C
curate Judgment in rounding the head
lands. Sometimes I was allowed to
help in this, but generally Gwynne was
afraid to trust me. 1t was more difficult
than steering a yacht through He'll Gate
or any other gate, l thought
At last settled back among the
cushions to look on while Gwynne ala did
couldn't find 1t. remembered dis
,inctly having put ii in the great sheep
skin pocket of my jacket, but II was
gone. I examined the lining, and shook
pipe. but when a man wants a special
one. he might as well have wooden
tam when he's hungry. for all the good
it will do him. 1 don't know why this
Is so, but its fact
cause it possessed that peculiar quality
of goodness that comes from use; sec
ondly, because l had many associations
with it. and we had grown up together.
so to speak. IntrinsicaIly il was prob
ably worth shilling; TO newell. the
way I felt just then about it. l would
hardly have given II for the air-ship.
Gwynne sympathized with the loss,
and, as soon as possible, he made fast
Ills lines anu ItNtiS anu IiClptb IIit lOph
But it was useless. The thing had dis
appeared as if by magic. l was really
out of temper, and refused to smoke
anything else. After all. the incident
was lucky, as it gave us something. else
to worry about, and our silerce for the
rest of the afternoon was not entirely
due TO the dangers that threatened to
destroy us.
We touched earth long before DARK.
Gwynne not wishing to run the risk of
Cd ,,,, Yra
was difficult to tell how far, or in
what direction, we were sailing, owing
to the nature of the country. We were
traversing a network of valleys, or
gorges, that split up the mountains
and ran into one another. We general
ly followed the main Sulch, or thought
we did, though sometimes II was hard
to choose.
One thing comforted> us; we were no
higher than at our last resting-place,
though the region was equally forbid
ding. AS we looked down through the
cloudmist IT appeared as II thousands
of vast cones had been thrust upward
from a bottomless pit-some higher.
some lower-but all with the same am
bition of reaching to the great blue
vault above them.
1t was steering in and out of these
that taxed Roedler's nerve. and filed
him with constant anxiety. We lowered
above the lesser sugarloaves; the high
er ones we threaded.
It was difficult landing In the drift.
We were literally obliged to feel our
way to the ground, but we did it-rath-
er, Gwynne did IT with my poor assist
ance-and we crept over the vessels
side.
The sun had set, and it was impossible
to see through the fog for more than a
dozen yards ahead-perhaps not so far.
There was no indication of fuel. SO we
got out a spirit lamp, and heated UP
some timed meats and vegetables. 1t
was very cherries. Desolation of desc
lations! 1t was as Gwynne had pre-
dicted-we were lost in the sky!
A Continuation of This Story VIII
BE Found In TomOrrows Il