, 1911-05-25
CHAPTER XIX.
Roscoe.

Roscoe.
Roscoe had never been able to clear
up his doubt As to Jeanne's Identity,
nor to solve the mystery of Cayley's
appearance IN the air. The doubt
and the mystery tormented hin worse
than any final conviction couId have
done. When he thought, as he some
times did. that the cause OF all his
terror, the thing which kept him
penned up here in the cave and de-
MED him access to more than the fur.
tive edges Of the beach. might be Just
q rather defenseless human couple q
man and a woman, and the woman
beautiful. young. alluring-when he
thought of all that he would go on
Into transports of rage. which left
even his gigantic body limp and eI-
hausted. II that were the situation,
he might have killed the man weeks
g and taken possession Of the
m
The thing that kept him a was,
In itself. a species of insanity, the pas
sion for gold which had led him to
murder Captain Fielding. Every day
he tramped up the glacier to the gold
ledge and there. while the light lasted,
he worked, cutting the precious metal
out of the rock, and with infinite labor
beating 1t pure.
AS the weeks n months dragged
along, this UNMARRIED routine more than
compensated for The solitude and the
terrors his superstition thrust upon
him, and gradually restored him to his
old normal fnrrridohIA hryta1 aalf
On the day when he made the discovery
that was to terminate the long series
of golden days which Jeanne and
Philip had been enjoying. he was
again. the very man who. during those
long years of exile. had dominated
crew and captain of the Walrus and
bent them to his will.
He was returning from the ledge
along the crown of the glacier, when,
on the day Of this discovery. he found
h a his accustomed path was inter.
rupted by a new fissure in the ice: II
had occurred since he had come that
way in the morning. and was too
broad to leap across. So he was forced
to descend by the rougher and more
difficult track which lay along the
moraine.
Before he had gone three PAGES
along this track his eye made out
something. Just of his patch and q lit
tie below 1t, which caused him at first
to utter a snarl Of anger. but led him
the next moment to give a wild bias
phemous yell Of Joy.
The great assure which had opened
in the Ice had done, In an instant,
what the party from the Aurora had
failed to do after hours of hard labor
it had yielded up th>sbody Of Perry
Hunter. which. during all these
months. 1t had kept imprisoned.
Strapped across the dead mans
shoulders, Just where he had carried
It In life. was q rife and around his
middle a belt fun Of cartridges.
The nex instant Roscoe was bend
ing over the body. jerking savagely
at the frosen buckles which resisted
his impatient fingers. But they we're
not to be denied. II they were clum-
~, the hands were strong.
II was not Eve minutes later when
Roscoe, rife and ammunition belt in
his hands, was hurrying on toward his
ScNS ohSc hoiO iho bouy ny JUDI
where his desecrating hands had left
It.
The rife was ~unin1ured: that he had
seen at a glance, though OF course.
all the mechanism Of its breech was
frozen fast But a half hours hard
work with cleaning rod and 1gs Of
what once had been q shirt, sufacsA
to put It into commission again.
Then, with the rife over his shout
der. he staggered out Of the cave.
With his first glance abroad. he
started. His devil was being kinA to
him today. There could be NO doubt
Of that. Only. was he being too kindf
Roscoe wondered . little uneastlR
For, stumbling along the ice. through
the thickening twilight, not 100 PAGES
away, was a big bear. Roscoe was
tired of walrus meat. The thought Of
q bear steak made his mouth water.
Three years disuse. however, had
made his craftsmanship somewhat
uncertain. He fred too soon, and
though he did not miss, the only eff
feet his shot had was to make the
bear turn about and go shambling
down the glacier toward TINS pehcn,
with ungainly haste. Roscoe hurried
after him. and fired two more shots.
Whether they hit or not. he could not
tell. Certainly they did not serve to
check the bears flight. The next mo-
ment he had rounded the corner of
the cliff and disappeared down the
beach in the direction Of the hut.
Roscoe hesitated, but only for q
moment: then. with an oath, he set
out in pursuit. It was not SO much
the protection which the rife afforded
him that was responsible for this new
courage as it was that the mere fee
Of 1t in his hands brought him bach
in ouch once more with the every
day matter Of fact world. and made
his YiRiona and Rhoats aeem q Nttl(