The Irish standard., 1911-08-26

consuming tuat would make Tom see
the falsity of it as clearly as do"
No." he said; that was never DOE.
sible. It's less possible than ever
now"
That involuntary admission told her
much. If the thing she suggested
were less possible now than it had been
before, then, somehow or other, the
vlndicatlon must have rested in Perry
hunters hands. But the finality Of
his voice and the dumb agony she saw
In his face, as he paced back and
forth beside her, prevented her from
following up the admission, or urging
him any further.
He pulled himself up sharply and
i looked at his watch. 1T will be dav.
light in two hours now" he said,
When 1t comes We'll signal to the
yacht and they'll send for you and
take you away-you and this precious
ind you've made. In the meantime,
you must go to sleep. You hardly
slept at all while was reading"
Il hardly dare go to sleep-nor
really deep asleep. If I did I'm afraid
you'd turn out to be all a dream, and
Id find myself back in my stateroom
on the yacht" She was speaking hall
IN mockery, but there was an under.
! tone of seriousness in her voice.
Think how unlikely 1t Is that all this
can have happened" she went on
"You said this morning you we're go.
ing to leave us, and 1 watched you
so.-How can it be anything but a
dream that you were hanging aloft
there In the sky, above the fog, ready
to come plunging down when 1 cried
out for help?"
II told you once" he said not very
steadily, that one of us might be
dreaming, but that one was not YOU
! "You will promise, them" she asked
that If l go to sleep, I'll wake ur
here and not on the yacht, and that
you won't have disappeared?
I, Il promise" he said seriously.
He seated himself once more at he,
/ feet, switched off the fading light
from the bull's-eye and drew the
sleeves Of her coat across his Shout
ders. Good night" he said.
! She answered drowsily.
Warmed a little, and oppressed by
complete exhaustion, he fell asleeI
! himself. He knew, at least, that he
/ must have done so, when, rousine
/ with start and springing to his feet
he saw ray of sunshine splashed
golden upon the opposite wall of the
| hut. 1t must have been light fol
hours.
Very silently, very cautiously he un
barred the door and pulled it open. Be
fore opening the outer door, he drew
his revolver and spun its cylinder un
derneath his thumb-nail. If the re
pulsed party from the Walrus were
camped near by, it would be we'll tt
be cautious before accommodating.
He pulled the outer door little way
open and glance slantwise up thu
beach. The brilliant light dazzled hin
and made 1t hard to see; but appar
entity there was no one there. Step
ping outside, he turned his gaze in
land, along the foot of the cliff. Hi
mind was entirely preoccupied will
the danger of a sudden rush of enc
mics from near at hand.
| That is how it happened that, 70,
quite minute after he opened tn
door and stepped outside, he did no
cast a single glance seaward. He
did not look in that direction, unit
he saw that Jeanne, awakened by the
daylight In the hut, was standing ir
the doorway. Her own eyes, puzzled
incredulous, only half awake, were
gazing out to sea. The expression he
! saw in her face made him turn, sud
| denly, and look.
+; The scene before his eyes was beau
tiful, with that stupendous beauty that
only the arctic can attain. The har
Dor and beyond it, far out to sea-
clear to the horizon, was filled with
great plunging, churning masses Of
ice, all drenched in color by the low
hanging arctic sun-violet, rose, pure
! golden-yellow and emerald-green, and
a white whose incandescence fairly
z! stabbed the eye. And as those
! great moving masses ground together
they flung, high into the air, broad
shimmering wells of rose-colored
spray.
OF the foe, which they had consid
cred stable as the land itself, there
! was no longer any sign. There wat
nothing there, nothing at all to greet
their eyes, to seward, but the savage
+, beauty of the ice.
The yacht had disappeared.