Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1911-11-17

tween them aud their enemy was
amazingly even. They had the hut,
the enemy the gtorez- They had Cap
tain F1elding's journal. their enemy
the experience and practical krovl
edge Of the country. They were two,
with but a single weapon between
them Their enemy, for suzht they
knew, might be one or half DOZEN
and how armed, they did not know
Fortunately. no prophetic vision En-
/ abled them to anticipate, OF that frst
evening. the length OF time that that
( precautions life and death balance
would maintain ftzeIf They had
only thing to do was to watt and to
maintain an unwfnkng vigilance. But
both OF them thought OF the duration
of this wait In terms Of hours. OF. al
most. days Had they foreseen that
( It would stretch itself out into weeks
and months. they might well have dss-
paired
There were two things that kept
them from succumbing to despair
The first was that they never really
permitted themselves to hope, to In
dulge in any thoughts of a summers
day when their horizon should be cut
by the spars and tunnels OF a ship
bringing relief They were simply
going to live one day al g time For
OF the hand OF death. they would give
thanks. Il was the only attitude pos
sibIe for people in their condition
And the thing that helped them to
maintain It was the abundance Of nee
essary routine occupation They d.
Tided their day into watches Cayiey
slept from four o'clock in the after
noon until midnight and then kept
watch alone. as the girl had done. IN
I'll eight During that period they re-
manned inside the hut The day, from
eight until four. they spent out OF
doors, when the condition OF the
weather made this possible, either at
work or merely tramping up and down
for exercise
At first there was a good deal of
work TO do. Tearing down the sheds
which clustered about the hut, and
reducing their frames and planking
TO fre-wood was an arduous task, but
he worked at It until f. was done. |
Jeanne standing sentinel all the time
When It was done. they we're prac-
ticalIy secure against surprise, for
from their windows. with the aid Of
field-giass which CayIey had found
in the observatory. they were able to
sweep the whole beach absolutely
clean. in both directions
And almost every day zhile the
light lasted. with Jeanne, armed with |
the revolver, keeping watch before the
hut, Cayley took to his wings and
patroIled the beach, ffbm the glacier
TO the promontory, high up above the
level OF the crest OF the cliff His !
fight was always along the same I
track He never winged his way in
land nor out 10 sea
There were two reasons for this
He dared not go so far away from
Jeanne that a fash and a swoop would
not bring him 70 her side The other
reason was. that If a supersIitious fear
of this great man-bird were really 1
what deferred their enemy from at
lacking them. It was well 10 let him |
believe that immunity from this por- /
tent could be secured by keeping |
away from this particular stretch of /
beach
AS the shortening days sped by and !
began to get themselves reckoued into
weeks, the conviction grew upon 4
Philip and Jeanne that their securest
protection lay IN his wings, in the Il
terrorizing effect upon their invisible.
silent enemy Of the majestic winged
apparition which was so often seen
soaring in midsky above the hut and
the little stretch OF beach surrounding
II Something was protecting them
evidently Almost every week brought
some evidence. not only OF the exis-
tence but the nearness OF their enemy
They never actually caught sight or
sound OF him. but some times when
the wind blew from the right quarter
they could make out. with their field
glass. a wrack OF brownish smoke,
such as would be given on by burning
whale oil. drifting down from some
where along the glacier. and made
visible by the dazzling wilderness OF
that background
And sometimes they saw track III
the newly fallen snow. never coming
very near the hut. but trespassiag 8
little way. either down from the
glacier or up from the headland. upon
the stretch Of beach they were de-
tending. They never found the tracks
OF more than single man. and these
we're always the same So that they
came 10 believe. although they could
cot know. that they had only one man
to deal with
They sometimes specuiated on the
question whether he was Roscoe or
some other member OF the Wslrus
rev; really. In fact. they found il
TO hope that ii was any
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