Okolona messenger. (Okolona, Miss.) 1900-current, 1911-04-06

bergen, which has had a permanent
population of IL 5000 souls, lies 300
miles farther north than this n
charted coast which Philip Cayley saw
before him.
But the great ice cap which covers
the top of the world Is irregular in
shape, and just here, northward from
Alaska, it juts it's impenetrable bar
rier far down into the Arctic sea.
Rogers, Collinson and the Inflated De-
Long-they all had tried to penetrate
this barrier, and had been turned
back.
Cayley wheeled sharply up into the
wind, and scared aloft to a height of,
perhaps, a quarter Of a mile. Then,
with a long, flashing, shlmmering
sweep, he descended, in the arc Of a
great circle, and hung, poised, over
the land itself and behind the jutting
shoulder of the mountain.
Tho land was a narroW-necked PEI
~ninsulS. Mountain and cliff prevented
| him from seeing the immediate coast
on the other side Of it.; but out a little
way to sea he was amazed to discover
open water, and the smoke-like vapor
that he saw rising over the cliffhead
made It evident that the opening ex-
tended nearly, If not quite, to the
very lands edge. 1t was utterly I'm.
expected, for the side of the PENN
sula which he had approached was
ice-locked for miles.
He would have lowered again
above the rocky ridge which shut off
his view, and gone to investigate this
phenomenon at closer range, had
he not, Just then, got the shock Of an
other surprise, greater than the dis
covery Of land itself.
The little valley which he hung
poised above was sheltered by a second
ridge Of rocky, ice-capped hills to the
north, and, except for streaks, denot'
ing c~rev1ces, here and there, was quite
free from ice and snow. There were
bright patches of green upon it, eV'
identity some bit of towering northern
grass, and f. was fecked here and
there with bright bits Of color, yellow
poppy, he judged 1t to be, and saxi
frage. Huggirg the base of the noun
tain on the opposite side Of the valley
then notching the cliff and grinding
down to sea at the other side OF il
was a great white glacier, all the
whittier, and colder, and more dazzling
for its contrast with the brown noun
tain-side and the g~reen-clad valley.
Up above the glacier, on the farth
err side, we're great broad yellow
patches, which he would have though
were poppy field. but for the impos
sibility Of their growing In such
place. No vegetable growth was pos
sible, he would have thought, agatns
that clean-cut, almost vertical, rock,
face. And yet, what else could hav
!, given it that blazing yellow color
!. Some day he was TO learn the ansWe
! to that question.
, But the thing that caught his eY
| now, that made him start and draw
> a little involuntary gasp Of wonder
1 was the sight of a little clump c
e black dots moving slowly, almost In
4 perceptibly from this distance, acros
the face Of the glacier. He blinked hi
eyes, as II he suspected them Of pla!
z ing him false. Unless they had playe
him false, these tiny dots were men.
s All Of the party, but one man, wer
dressed exactly alike, in hooded bea
n skin shirts and breeches, and boot
of what he guessed was Walrus hid
They moved along with the peculis
9 wary shuttle of men accustomed, b
long habit, to the footing and to tt
d heavy combining garb they wore. S
J. far as he could see they were u
armed.
v The other man .was strlkingly d
If ferent. He appeared to be clad muC
a. as Cayley was himself, in leathe
rather than in Unframed hide, I
seemed slighter, sprightlier, and