The Irish standard., 1911-09-02

He had already entered the hut and
did not at once volunteer any further
explanation, but from the shine of ex-
element she could see in his eyes, it
was evident that he contemplated
something better than merely hold
ing death at arms length for
little while.
To the girls eyes there was but lit
tie about the interior Of the hut to &C.
count for such a hope, even though
she saw that all Of the things he had
said about 1t were true. The flimsy
inner doors were still hinged to their
frames, and were provided with
miscellaneous assortment of catches.
1t was marine hardware, all of it, evi-
IDENTIFY from her fathers ship, the
Phoenix. The hunks and shelves which
lined the walls looked perfectly solid
and we'll built. But the general ap-
pearance Of the room presented look
of disrepair. It was absolutely I'm.
furnished. The great heap of smoke
blackened stones. Of various sizes and
shapes. and the hole in the roof above
them, attested that they had once
been fireplace.
From the forlorn aspect OF the room
the girl gladly turned her eyes away
and stood looking at Cayley instead.
lie had been sweeping the walls, roof
and floor In a general survey. Now,
abruptly, he went over to tho heap Of
stones, picked up one of them, rubbed
his thumb over 1t and scrutinized,
with an air Of considerable interest,
the black smear 1t left.
THAT would account for the drift
wood" he said absently.
At that he might have seen in the
girls face a look of half-amused i'm
patience, but his abstraction was too
deep for him to notice it.
He walked over to one Of the side
walls. pulled open what proved to
be big solid shutter, revealing q
glazed window, and, for q long while,
stood there, unconscious Of the look
the girl had turned upon him, uncon-
scious of his present surroundings.
Eyes, something to hope for, certain
IT," He turned away from the win
dow as he said it, and smiled at her.
"A good hope-a good fighting hope
that when the relief comes back next
summer they'll find you here alive"
IF you say so, I'll believe it." said
the girl. because you told me the
truth before. But do you mind telling
me why?"
II should have thought of it soon
er. should have noticed 1t last
night My guess was right, that's all.
This Is not an abandoned hut. Don't
you see, it's in almost perfect repairf
The hinges on this shutter work, al
though If you look closely you can see
that some one gave tug at them not
long ago in an attempt to pull them
out: And that patch On the wall was
put on within a. month. The men
who wrecked this placed worked hasti-
~ and showed no great degree of mag
nation. They hadn't much time, you
see, because they couldn't have begun
until they caught their first glimpse
Of the yacht. They had finished the
Job before they could send party
ashore.
But why in the world should they
do such thing?" the girl protested.
He shook his head. IT haven't
worked that out yet, not fully, at any
rate. After all. it's not the question
that concerns U.S."
''1m still in a maze about it. What
did you mean about the drift wood ?"
'Why, the SCOT on these stones
showed me that. They haven't been
burning drift wood in this fire-p place.
They've been burning coal-or oil, per-
haps. I hadn't thought of that. That's
why the drift wood collected again out
there on the talus. You remember
your father speaks Of having used 1t
all? There have been a dozen men
living here ever since, and they didn't
need 1t. So they must have had some
other sort of fuel"
"You mean they've got supply
Observation-Disclosures"
He nodded. Not only supply of
fuel, but Of food, too. You remember
your father also speaks Of having his
larder completely stocked for the win
t0A 1I LAAS IAuAo! well, Cu0S0 l0AlOWS
weren't expecting any relief. They
must have stocked their larder, too
OF course" he went on a moment
later, ~ realized vaguely all along
that there must be stores somewhere
here on the land because men were
living here, but on the theory that
they had abandoned the beach and
we're living in some undiscovered part
of the mainland. our chance Of finding
those stores was almost nothing at ALL
Finding them would be like trying to
find Point Barrow in fog. But you
see, II they kept them here in these
huts, and then hid them when they
caught sight Of the yacht, while they
may be we'll hidden, they can't be far
away. There wouldn't have been time
to move them far; certainly not over
the glacier and into the interior there.
(; It must all be hidden somewhere here