Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1911-06-08

The sight of her made It hard for
him to stick to his maps. But present
ly he looked up with a sudden CUES
ton. do you happen to find any
thing" he began, and then broke on
shortly.
From her face. half-shaded as 1t
was, he could see that what she had
been reading Just then was no mere
description of this land upon which
they had been cast away, but some
thing far more personal to the father
she had lost here.
There's something perfectly terri
flying" she said, "about fathers de-
scription of this man Roscoe. Over
here near the end, before the sun
came back to them, he tells of going
out for a walk by himself and of dis
covering that Roscoe vas stalking
him, in the hope, he thought, of dis
covering. in advance Of the others,
where the gold ledge was. In the twt-
light, father says, he looked, in his
white bearskins, perfectly enormous
and incredible. And Philip"
She closed the book, holding 1t tight
in both hands, and leaning forward a
little as she went on, "and Philip, his
description sounds-oh, / suppose it's
silly, but 1t sounds like the thing ]
thought l saw today when l was alone
there on the beach, before you came
flying down out of the sky. 1t didn't
look like a bear. 1t wouldn't have
been so dreadful If 1t had"
Its possible" he said gravely, at
may have been he whom l frightened
off when I came down last night. Ger
tainly there vas somebody, and that
somebody may still be here on shore
though l supposed he had gone out te
join In the attack on the yacht. But
it's very strange, If there is any one
that we could have passed q whole
day without encountering him."
. The girl shivered; then, with
/ shake of her head as If dismissing th'
uncanny thought from her mind, said
, you started to ask me about some
, thing else, and l Interrupted"
2 1t took him a moment to collect hi
thoughts. "Oh, yes. There's some
4 thing marked here on this map whicl
q l took at first for the location Of tn
: hut, but it appears now that 1t wa
q marked before they built it. wonde
, If, in the early pages Of the journa.
a there was a description of any natura
! formation about here like q cave
Or"
She made as II to open the bool
/ then, suddenly, changed her intentio
and held 1t out to him, instead.
4 II haven't been playing fair" sh
said. Il wasn't really looking for an!
: thing. / was just reading stories an
dreaming over them. It's his ham
writing, I think, that makes 1t so har
a to be good. It's-well, almost lk
hearing his voice. Won't you wor
10 the book and the maps and give m
a something to do-with my hands,
{. mean?-oh, l know I'm tired, but tn;
doesn't matter"
n Cayrey-s first impulse was to refus
"a but it needed only N thoughtful loo
into her face to convince him that Il
ia kindest, as we'll as the wisest, thir
,. was to do as she asked. An uncanr
IN horror of the monstrous Roscoe al
a. the appalling idea that he, and pc
% haps others of his gang, might
sharing the solitude of this froz'
Ia coast with them vas plainly to
I'D read in her eyes, and her own pl
ID s~cription for dispelling it was pre-
ably the best that could be thought
~ With q nod of assent, he rose a
went into the storeroom, returning t
az next moment with an armful OF hea
rope.
SIN the old days Of wooden ship
~ he said, when they wanted to dis
ha pine a sailor, they set him to picki
N oakum. Next to pounding rust off t
anchor. it's the dullest job In
world. But we need some for calki
IA up the cracks in u walls. Do y
To mind?"