The Mena weekly star., 1911-01-19

victim, the man in the leather coat,
must have been one. of the party from
the yacht; but 1t was impossible that
the little band of his marderers could
be. No one freshly landed from the
yacht would have been dressed as
they were, or would have been armed
with darts.
With no better look at them than
had been possible to him as he hung
above their heads, he had been con.
WINGED that they were white; certain
ly, the leather-coated man had been
talking to them, freely enough. in
English And yet. II white. they must
have been refugees-survivors, IL not
of Captain Fielding's Inflated expedi
ton. then of some other. tragic. unre-
ported ship wreck.
But II they were white men-refu.
gees. why had they fed from their
hut at sight of the yacht which came
bringing rescue? Why had they
driven that one luckless member of
the rescuing party who fell in with
thesa, into that carefully prepared am
bush, and then murdered him. silent
ly? Even Eskimos would not have
done thing like that.
His long silence had alarmed the
girl, and presently. perceiving that
this was so, he drew himself up with
don. | drifted of. thinking of some
thing else. Living in the sky doesn't
seem conducive to good manners No.
| don't believe there is anything to
worry about ANY way. as soon as
light comes back, which won't be
long now, can set at rest any fears
you may have. I'll go and find your
party, and III search the land, too
for anything else that may be there
And then I'll bring you word"
You are very good" she said with
little hesitation, but ! can't let
you
He interrupted her with laugh
Its nothing difficult that l am pro-
posing to do for you, you know"
That's true. had forgotten your
wings. The rocks, the ice. the steep
places. that mean so tragically much
to them, are nothing at ali to you But
what are you doing now? Even you
can't find them In the dark"
He had already begun unstrapping
the bundle he had made of his wings,
and seemed to be preparing for inn
mediate flight That was what caused
her question.
NO." he said; II shall walt for sun
rise"
But why not here, on the yacht?
We can give you comfortable bed
there; better, certainly. than that
sleeping bag of yours"
Il am afraid" he said, that what
you call comfortable bed in a yachts
cabin would be the surest instrument
that could be found for keeping me
awake all night No, | shall find a
sheltered hollow up at the top of that
headland yonder. where shall sleep
deeply enough. you may be sure"
She watched him, silently while he
slipped the steel-jointed rods into
place. drew the catgut bow strings
taut until they sang-until the fabric
Of his planes Skinned In the starlight
-quivered, as IL they were instinct
with a life of their own.
A sense of the unreality of II all
came yelling up strongly within her,
and touch of an almost forgotten
| fear of him.
Good night" she said, holding out
her hand-"goodby'
It'll morning" he answered.
A little breeze came blowing across
the Ice just then. He dropped her
hand quickly. slipped his arms into
their places in the frame, mounted the
ledge of ice, and then, with a short
run. sprang forward into the breeze
She saw his planes bend a little,
undulate. rather, with a sort of scull-
ing motion, as he flew forward. not
far above the level of her head He
dipped down again as soon as he had
open water beneath him, and almost
skinned the surface of it. Then.
gathering speed, he began mounting.
| She felt curiously alone now that he
was gone; and little frightened, like
| a child just waking out of dream
/ And she blew a small silver whistle
| that hung about her neck, for a signal
to the men on the yacht to send a
boat for her.
Then, while she waited, she dropped
down rather Imply on her pile Of
bear skins. fer hand found some
thing hard that had not been there be-
fore, and taking 1t up she found that
1t was curious blunt stick of wood,
rudely whitfield and aho,,t fan tnohos
long. 1t must have fallen from his
belt while he sat there talking to her.
She wondered what he used it for.
Continued next week.