Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1911-06-30
CHAPTER Xxx.
A Mooniit Day.


The midday moon had changed the
scMber purple of the snow to silver
The snow lay everywhere. save. upon
the vertical face of the cliff itself, ar
unreHt immaculate mantle over all
this arctic world. The valley, the
hills, the beach and the frozen sea
all lag at peace beneath it. as if asleep
! or dea,s
To C;ayley, where he lay, suspended
in micsky. the moonlight cleaning
upon tie sensitive fabric of his
planes, VS. it CLEANS upon the faint
! ripples Oh mill pond in the dead Of
some June night-to Cayley this white.
| sleeping frozen world locked very
| far away He was a-w;ng for tho
! first time s.nco that eternity ago when
i he had descended upon the beach be-
side JEANNE, to warn her of the aD-
proach of TIE bear
How long ego that was, by t:te
; measure Of Eours and days and weeks,
he did not ka ow He had 10 data Tor
j an estimate t at would be better than
guess. He remembered how des.
>erately they had worked that night.
-ay:-g what ttay could from the burn
iTg hut ard carrying it back into the
cave: remembered with what labor he
and Jeanne haG climbed the ice cfim-
rey to the onl, shelter that now re-
NAMED to them. the little pilot house
observatory upC the cliH-hea6; re-
mcmbered the Gnremitting 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
it down in the heart Of the great drift
of snow which the 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 mad
been working, he stood for moment
drawing deep breaths and gazing over
the scene which lay beneath his eyes.
He FASTENED back into the little pilot
house
Jeanne was doing upon a heap OF
bear-skins. He reused her with some
difficulty; really waking up had been
| hard matter lately, almost as hard
as really getting off to sleep. She
was still drowsy when he led her
along the tunnel to the cliff-head
Breathe Deep he told her. we
were half poisoned in there. This air
will bring you back to life again, II
and the moonlight"
| He had been supporting her with
| his arm about her waist, but now as
| she held herself little straighter ana
he could feel her lungs expanding
with the pure air she breathed, ne
withdrew the arm and let her stand
alone Even the white moonlight re-
vealed the color that was coming
back into her cheeks.
| For a while she did not speak az
all; then, as if replying to a 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 is alive enough
| TO make your blood dance. It's dong
/ that now"
| He tried to persuade her to take q
| little exercise along the length OF no
| tunnel. but she demurred to that. IN
| stead, she asked him to bring out
some bear-skins and let her sit there
/ at the cliff-head looking out.
/ And" she supplemented, III you
/ want to know what / should like most
| of all, it would be to have you bring
| your wings so that / can see you ny
ing again, and field-glass that can
| watch you through"
/ He felt some hesitation. partly ous
of fear of leaving her and party
i from a 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 tightenea
and tested it, and at last, with noo
of farewell to the girl. dived Off tbs
cliff-head.
Any doubt he may have had coz
/ corninr his strength disappeared az