The Irish standard., 1911-09-16

For, shambling along tho Ice, through
the thickening twilight, not 100 PAGES
away. was big bear. Roscoe was
tired of walrus meat. The thought of
bear steak made his mouth water.
Three years disuse. however, had
made his craftsmanship somewhat
uncertain. He fred too soon, and
though he did not miss, the only ef
feet his shot had was to make the
bear turn about and go shambling
down the glacier toward the beach,
with ungainly haste. Roscoe hurried
after him, and fired two more shots.
Whether they hit or not, he could not
tell. Certainly they did not serve to
check the bears flight The next mo-
ment he had rounded the corner of
the cliff and disappeared down the
beach in the direction of the hut.
Roscoe hesitated, but only for q
moment; then, with an oath, he set
out In pursuit. 1t was not 50 much
the protection which the rife afforded
him that was responsible for this new
courage as 1t was that the mere feel
of it in his hands brought him back
In touch once more with the every
day matter Of fact world, and made
his visions and Ghosts seem a little
unreal
1t was fully dark down here in the
shadow of the cliff The numbering yell
low shape Of the bear was indistin-
guishable against the icy besch. That
didn't matter, for he coulA follow
along we'll enough by the bloody
tracks the wounded beast had left.
The last OF the twilight was still in
the sky, and half his glances were
directed thither, looking for some
thing which he told himself could not
possibly exist. except in his own
fancy, yet fully expected to see never
theless, the shadow of Cayley's great
wings. And at last he saw it i'm
pending in the lower air, like brood
Ing spirit, Just above the tiny square
of light which marked the location Of
the hut
Roscoe abandoned his pursuit of the
bear; all thought of 1t, in fact, was
gone from his mind; but he did not.
as on former occasion. drop down
prone upon the ground. his face buried
in his arms; nor did he turn and fee
like one hug-ridden up the beach. He
faltered, 1t is true, and his knees
trembled beneath him, and yet, slow
ly and with many pauses he made his
way forward
He was horribly afraid all the time,
but curiosity WAS all the while over
towering fear He was not more than
200 yards away when Cayley alighted
beside the girl
At what he saw then. Roscoe
dropped his rife on the beach, with a
whispered oath, and rubbed his eyes.
The light which diffused itself from
the open window of the hut was not
much, but 1t WAS enough to reveal the
fact that this great man-bird, this
goldenwinged spirit which had kept
him In terror for his own sanity all
these months, was taking off his wings
md folding them up into bundle, in
az matter-of-fact way as II he were
furling an umbrella. He stood there
now, just an ordinary human figure
Of a man; the very man, in fact, that
he had seen before and would have
killed long ago had 1t not been for his
over-mastering terror Of the thing
with wings.
| He presented fair mark now, and
was In easy range, but Roscoe was too
thoroughly astonished to seize the op-
portunity, and in moment 1t was
gone again. The two figures shrank
into the shadow Of the hut, and the
next moment the light disappeared
For q moment, an accession of
rage against the two who had baf1led
him and enjoyed immunity from him