, 1911-05-11

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Cayley started. "A cave!" he q
claimed. "A cave here!-Oh, see
It's a cold cellar they made by cuttins
, hole in the ice that filled the assure
And why do you suppose they boarded
1t up?"
The girl laughed delightedly. Eyi.
GENTLY she had not. as yet. developed
the whole Of her discovery. She
Mashed on the light again.
Look" she commanded.
In the center Of a little circle of
wall which the bull's-eye now illum.
mated Cayley saw the barrel Of .
rusty hinge.
You see" she went on, its q door,
and they oaly nailed it UP the other
day. There's q nail-head somewhere
here that's quite bright. | caught the
CLINT Of 1t while l was rummaging be-
fore breakfast, and that was what
made me look"
Cayley darted back into the living
room, returning almost instantly With
the broken-handled pick.
In less than a minute, with a pro
testing squawk. the rude door swung
open. and they saw before them just
what Cayley had predicted. A rather
high. but narrow cavity. the sides of
which were the naked rock of the
cliff. but the floor and ceiling solid
Ice.
Despite the fact that the girls ex-
element over the discovery of the
cave had, for a moment, carried Cay
ley along with 1t. he was not greatly
surprised, and not at all cast down
when. at the end OF five minutes of
hasty exploration. 1t was made evil
dent to them that the ample supply Of
stores which they sought was not to
be found here.
Jeanne herself would not. perhaps,
have entertained SC high a hope had
she learned Of the reference to the
other cave which Cayley found in the
journal before she herself had CHANGED
upon the mouth Of this one. As It
was, his theory that the stores were
to be found in q ave vaguely situated
along the glacier, made little impress
sion upon her, she was so sure that
they had been right here. under their
hands.
When their investigation made 1t
clear that whether he was right or
not. certainly she was wrong. she was
bitterly disappointed. Cayley was
aware OF that, even as they stood
here, side by side, with no light to see
her face by. She said nothing, or
very little, but he knew, nevertheless.
that for just this m all the life
and courage had gone out of her:
knew that the slight figure there, SO
close beside him, was dropping. trem-
bling a little.
He laid a steady hand upon her
shoulder. Almost instantly, under his
touch, she turned to him. caught with
both hands at the unbottoned edges OF
the rough wooden jacket he wore. and.
sobbing a little now and then, but 9TH
erwise in silence, simply elung to him.
He did not offer, with his arms. to
draw her any closer. to turn what was
mere instructive appeal to the protec-
ton of his strength and courage, n
an embrace. He kept a hand on each
Of her shoulders. more by way of sup
port than anything else. and waited
a moment before he spoke.
After ALL" he said at last. what
we've got here is just 30 much clear
gain. and It will be immensely valu-
able to US, though 1t isn't what we ex-
pected. The fact that it is their super
nuity, the things they hadn't any par
ucular or immediate use for, doesn't
make what we've found here any the
less valuable to us. That pile OF bear
skins there will supply what Is, at this
moment, the most vital OF our wants.
That big sack appears to contain
feathers; and those walrus tusks will
serve any number Of purposes-forks
and spoons for one thing. As to that
great lump OF spermaceti, 1t will keep
US supplied with candles all through
the winter. l can't imagine why hey
didn't use 1t themselves, except on
the theory that the longer they lived
here. the more they grew X beasts;
the more content with the beasts
habit of life, and the more inert about
taking the trouble to provide them
selves with such of the comforts and
dscenciss of life as they might have
had. So you see, w may find among
the things they had no use for the
very ones that will help us most
TIE cutting In the ice did not go
very far back in the assure. and they
We're soon at the end of 1t, and with
out having made any new discovery
Of Importance, either. There was q
little OF east-off articles OF various
sorts, chiefly clothing which future
privations might make useful TO them.
There was a great frozen lump Of
Srownish-green vegetation, which they
afterwsrd identified as the edible
seurvy grass to which Captain Field
iny had referred in his journal.
That was all, or they thought 1t was.
but Just as they were about to re-
uace their steps to the hut, Cayley
hAppened tn glance I'm. The roof OF