The Julesburg grit-advocate., 1911-07-13
chAPYER Xxx.
A MoonIit Day.

CNAprkW AZ.
| A MoonIit Day.
| The midday moon had changed The
somber purpls Of the snow to silver.
The snow lay everywhere. save upoa
the vertical face Of the cli6 itself. a
this arctic world. The valley. the
hills. the beach and the frossn go
all lay at peace beneath II. - II asleep
or dead.
To Cayley. where he lay. suspended
In midsky. the moonlight cleaning
upon the sensitive fabric Of hio
planes. ~ It CLEANS upoa the faint
ripples on . mill pond in the dead OF
some June night-to Cayley this white.
sleeping. frozen world looked very
far away. He was a-wing for the
first time since that eternity ago whea
he had descended upon the beach BE-
side Jeanne to warn her Of the ap
proach Of the bear.
How long ago that was. BY the
measure Of hours and days and weeks.
no did not know. He had no data for
an estimate that would bs better thaA
guess. He remembered how des-
perately they had worked that night,
saving what they could from the burn
ing hut and carrying It back into the
cave; remembered with what labor he
and Jeanne had climbed the ice Chin
ney to the only shelter that now ~
mained to them. the little pilot house
observatory upon the cli6-head; r..
membered tho unremitting labor Of
uncounted hours while they adjusted
their way OF life to the conditions i'm.
posed by the calamitous loss of the
hut
But after that there were lapses Of
time which memory did not cover.
During that time he knew the ut.
most fury of the arctic winter had
been raging over them, without cessa-
ton. They had been sheltered from
1t down in the heart Of the great drift
of snow which tho storm had heaped
about them But, even in this security
the shock of those successive parox.
ysms of natures titanic rage reached
down and benumbed them. body and
soul.
| But at last the rage Of the storm
had spent itself and had become still.
The bitterness Of the cold relaxed and
became milder. Cayley had felt the
blood stirring in his veins again. the
power Of consecutive thought and the
ambition to live. coming once more
into his possession. He had gone to
work, feebly and drowsily at first but
with constantly increasing energy and
strength, at the task of opening up.
once more. the tunnel through the
drift which the great storm had
choked.
When he 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 hastened back into the little pilot
house.
Jeanne was doing upon . heap OF
bearskins He reused her with some
dificulty; really waking up had been
a hard matter lately. almost ~ 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. I'VE
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. a.
she held herself little straighter and
|
with the pure air she brsathed. he
withdrew the arm and let her stand
alone. Even the white moonlight 70
yealed the color that was coming
back into her cheeks.
| For a while she did not speak At
all; then, as II replying to = com
ment Of his. she said:
Yes, it's beautiful. But
Philip. it's dead. Dead"
Not this air that has ozone spar
king all through It. It IL alive enough
to make your blood dance. It's doing
that now"
He tried to persuade her to take .
little e1recise along the length OF the
tunnel. but she demurred to that In
stead, she asked him to bring out
some bear-skins and lot her Sit there
at the clifi-head looking out.
And" she supplemented. "if you
want to know what should like most
of all, 1t would be to have you bring
your wings so that can see you ny-
ing again, and neld-glass that can
watch you through"
He felt some hesitation. partly out
Of a fear OF leaving her and partly
from q doubt concerning his own
strength; but neither Of these reasons
was one he cared to avow. SO he un-
furled the bundle that had lain dis.
used so long, spread and tightened
and tested 1t, and at last. with nod
of farewell to the girl. dived OF the
cliff-head.
Any doubt he may have had con
cerning his strength disappeared At
once. The mere touch Of those great