Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1911-06-23
He was fully nersuadad hv that

ne knew That 1t would be easier to
walk past that empty hut in full broad
| day, than in this tricky misty. uncer-
tain light Of dawn
| He carried out this plan at cuce,
| to the point, that is, of going up the
| glacier to the cave, building a fire
| there and satisfying his sharp hunger
with an enormous meal But he had
not slept at all the night before, and
now the warmth and the satisfaction
| of his appetite made his nerveless
hand release the bone he was gnaw-
| ing, and caused him to roll over be-
| side the fire and to fall asleep.
He slept deeply for a number of
| hours Then, arming himself with
throwing-stick and number of darts,
he stepped outside the cave intent
upon his expedition to the other side
Of the peninsula where there was
| possibility of finding the yacht.
The cave was situated some little
| distance up the glacier. and the
; shortest, though by far the more diff
ficult, way of reaching his destination
| lay, not along the beach but up
through the interior valley and across
the PERCEPTIONS coast range of hills.
1t was not the natural way to go,
but the fact that it was actually short
| er gave him sort of excuse for avoid
ing another visit, just now, to the
scene OF his discontinue Of the night
before. He swore at himself. not so
/ much for taking this course as for the
| reasons which his common sense al
legged against him.
! His present route took him close
to the gold ledge, and the sight of the
inextaustible, precious, useless metal
t!s1t remained here brought upon him
! for the first time, in full force,
sense Of his loss, sense Of what that
! luckless trip ashore from the Aurora
| in search of that rosewood box had
cost aim.
At an increased pace he descended
from the glacier, crossed the valley
and scaled the landWard side Of one
Of the mountains Of the coast range,
| to a notch where he could command
a view Of the sea to the westward
He saw there what, III the bottom Of
his mind he had all along been sure
! he would see-nothirg but another
barren, bleak horizon.
At that for a While, his forlituGe
| broke down, and he raved ard wept
and cursed like one demented. But at
| last, spent, sobered, conscious once
more Of sharp hunger. he climbed a
little farther Up the mountain to a
! ledge, where, as his minute knowledge
of the country led him to expect, he
found number of looms sitting. He
/ killed one of these birds with dart,
and then, like the brute he was, ate it
raw and warm.
BY that tine it was late in the aft
ernoon B-avado, combined with a
mere real belief th;.a ne had YET sue
cceded in retaining, to the effect that
all his terror of tie nig,t before had
resulted from nothing more serious
than nightmare, led him to decide 20
go home by way of the beach, rather
than along the difficult interior trail
up which he had come.
The descent from the clif-he2d to
| the beach was nothing TO man of his
inhuman strength and activity, though
an ordinary skilled mountaineer might
have hesitated before attempting It..
/ Nevertheless, two-thirds Of the way
down he nearly fell-but for luck he
would have fallen, for be caught a
glimpse Of a lonely figure, quarter OF
a mile away, perhaps, seated upon
/ ledge. bending forward, chin In nand,
| in an attitude which recalled, and
| horribly echoed, that of the man he
| long ago had murdered.
/ When he had steadied himself lit
tie, he made his way cautiously down
to the level of the beach. His emotions
were divided about equally between
fear and anger. the anger existing be-
cause of the fear
| With infinite caution he approached
that lonely, unsuspecting figure, slip
ping from the shelter of one rock to
| that of one little nearer.
/ Three times his left hand drew back
| the throwing-stick, balanced and
aimed along line that would senG its
! thin ivory dart as swiftly and as sure
" to that beautiful throat as the one
/ that laQ IOuuO dUu lIdASAASu L SAA
Hunters; and three times his mus
cles braced themselves for the effort
to propel 1t. But each time, with
! breathless oath. he lowered the
weapon again, and with the back of
his hairy hand wiped the sweat from
| his forehead.
The act had none of the quality of
mercy in it; it was simply the result
of a logical dilemma If he thing he
saw before him were ghost, the
ghost of the man he had already muir
dered. his dart would do no harm. If
/ it we're not a ghost; if it were what it
looked more and more like as he drew
nearer, q living, breathing woman-he
licked his lips and wrung them with
his hand-if 1t were woman, he did
! not want to kill her. If he could be
sure could only be sure. he would
drop his weapon and make one rush
and hold her helpless in those great
| hands of his.
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