The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1911-09-23
COPYRIGHT, mp, by The Century Co.
C0pyEi4ht, l4lA. Hy Cha Sr1cnasa ~

osa5zisht iifs. y The Success. g &.
drift which the great storm had
choked.
When no 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 q 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 of to sleep. She
was still drowsy when he led her
along the tunnel to the cliff-head.
Breathe Deep" he told her. 1--WE
were half poisoned in there. This air
will bring you back to life again, it
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-
vealed the color that was coming
back into her cheeks.
For a while she did not speak at
all; then. as if replying to a COM
ment of his, she said:
Yes, it's beautiful. But,
Philip. it's dead. Dead"
mot this air that has ozone spar
king all through It, It is alive enough
to make your blood dance. It's doing
that now"
He tried to persuade her to take a
little exercise along the length of the
tunnel but she demurred to that In
stead, she asked him to bring out
some bear-shns and let her sit there
at the olif-head looking out.
"And,' she supplemented, III you
want to know what should like most
Of all, 1t would be to have you bring
your wings 30 that can see your fly
ing again, and field-glass that I can
watch you through"
He felt some hesitation, partly out
Of \ fear of leaving her and partly
from doubt concerning his own
strength; but neither of these reasons
was one he cared to avow So he I'M
furled the bundle that had lain dis
used SO long. spread and frightened
and tested 1t, and at last, with a nod
of farewell to the girl, dived of the
clitf-head.
Any doubt he may have had con-
corning his strength disappeared at
once. The mere touch of those great
wings of his. seemed to bring it all
back, and hope and Joy and confidence
along with it.
He made his dive as shallow as pos
sible, and in the sheer exuberance of
delight at being once more awning, he
beat his way aloft again by main
strength, towering like falcon. All
his old power was here unImpa,red,
yet every sensation it brought him
was heightened and make thrilling by
long disuse. By means Of those great,
obedient wings of his he played upon
the capricious, vagrant air with the
superb insolence of mastery. Every
trick of flight was at his command,
the flashing dive Of the piratical frig-
gate bird, the corkscrew spiral Of the
tern, the plummet-like pounce of the
hawk, and, at last, the majestic, soar
ing drift Of the king of them all, the
albatross.
So he hung there in midsky, and the
world, white, frozen, immaculate
looked far away. The old, god-like
serenity, untroubled. untrammeled, un-
afraid, came back to him. The soul
opened its gates, up there, lost its
boundaries, and all the spirit of the
sky came in, immense, cold, clear as
the all-pervading ether. This was
Nirvana, though the old Buddhist
adopts who had philosophical about 1t
had never conquered the sky, had
never bathed in 1t as Cayey on his
wings was bathing now. ... a.. .
The declining moon sank lower, till
tho refracting ice crystals that filled
the air caught It's light slantwise and
danced with it SO that it flickered like
q will.o' -the-wisp. The sky deepened
from it's bright steel-blue to purple.
The silver light upon the snow faded,
through lavender and lilac, to a pur-
pie of its own, only less deep than that
of the sky itself But the stars burned
brighter and brighter, until it almost
seemed they sang:
''Harping in loud and solemn choir
With inexpensive notes.
The words projected themselves
quite unsought into his mind. He
spent moment or two, wondering
where they came from, and then 1t
came to him. It was part Of two
lines from the "Hymn on the Ma
tivity."
Somehow, the thought of Christmas
gave his soul a wrench that brought
It back into the world again. They
had lost their reckoning of time, and,
for anything he knew. this might be