The Irish standard., 1911-07-29


the others. but seemed very much
bigger; seemed to, walk with less of
q sloNch, and had, even to Cayley's
limited view of him, an air of authori-
ty. Cayley was surprised at his not
being armed with bow, for he knew
OF no other way in which dart could
have been propelled with power
enough. even at close range, to have
transf1xed mans throat The assas-
sins only weapon, except for a CULVER
full of extra darts, seemed to be
short blunt stick, rudely whitfield.
perhaps ten inches long.
Obedient, apparently, to the order
OF the new arrival, the party changed
its direction. leaving what was evi-
IDENTITY a well-known path to them, for
a seemingly more direct but rougher
route. And they moved now with an
appearance of haste. Presently they
scrambled over precipitous ledge of
Ice and, in moment, were lost to
Cayley's view.
The world was suddenly empty
again, as If no living foot had ever
trodden 1t; and Cayley, lowering
there, little above the level of the
ice, rubbed his eyes and wondered
whether the singular, silent tragedy
he had just witnessed were real, or
trick the mysterious arctic light had
played upon his tired eyes, But there
remained upon that vacant scene two
material reminders of the tragedy to
which it had afforded setting. One
was smudge of crimson on the snow;
the other, little distance off, just
this side of the icy ridge over which
the last Of the party had gone scram.
bling a moment before, was the
strange looking blunt stick which he
had seen in the assassin's hand.
Cayley flew little lower, his wings
almost skimming the ice. Finally.
reaching the spot where the thing had
fallen, he alighted and picked it up.
Whether it's possessor had valued it,
or not whether or, not he might be
expected to return for it, Cayley did
not know, and did not much care.
He stood for some time turning the
thing over in his hands, puzzling over
1t, trying to make out how it could
have been used as the instrument Of
propulsion to that deadly ivory dart.
There was groove on one side of it,
with a small ivory plug at the end.
The other end was curiously shaped,
misshapen, rather, for, though 1t was
obviously the end one held, Cayley
could not make 1t fit his hand, what
ever position he held it in.
Giving up the problem at fast, re
tucked the stick into his belt, slipped
his arm through tine strap in the
framework of his aeroplane and pre-
pared for flight. He had little diff
Guilty getting up, owing to the absence
of breeze at this point. Finally ne
was obliged to climb, with good deal
Of labor, the icy ridge up which he
had watched the little party Of MUIR
derers scrambling.
At the crest he cast glance
around, looking for them, but saw no
signs of them. =. Then getting a favor
able slant Of the wind, he mounted
again into the element he now called
his own.
Five years before Philip Cayley
would have passed for a good exam
pie of that type Of clean-limbed, clean
minded. likable young man which the
best Of our civilization seems to be-
Towering into. Physically, it would
have been hard to suggest an improve
ment in him, he approached SO near
the ideal standards. He was fine
grained, supple, slender, small-jointed,
thoroughbred from head to heel.
intellectually, he had been good
enough to go through the academy at
West Point with credit, and to grad
uate high enough In his class to be
assigned to service in the cavalry. His
standards Of conduct, his ideas of hon
or and morality had been about The
same as those Of the best third Of his
classmates. II his fellow officers in
the Philippines, during the year or
two he spent In the service, had been
asked to pick flaw in him, which
they would have been reluctant to do,
they would have said that he seemed
u tuSM VII LOO Lulu-Shlun6O ana
rather fastidious; that was what his
chum and only intimate friend, Perry
Hunter, said about him at any rate.
But he could afford to be fastidi-
GUS, for he had about all man could
want, one would think. For three
generations they had taken wealth
for granted in the Cayley family, and
with it had come breeding, security
Of social position, simplicity and ease
in making friends, both among men
and women. In short, there could be
no doubt at all that up to his twenty
ninth year Fate had been ironically
kind to Philip Cayley. She had given
him no hint, no preparation for the
stunning blow that was to fall upon
him, suddenly. out Of 80 clear sky.
When it did fail, 1t cut his life
clean across; SO that when he thought
back to that time now, 1t seemed to
him that the Lieutenant Cayley Of the
United States army had died over
there in the Philippines, and that he,
- l. A.