The Tupelo journal. (Tupelo, Miss.) 1876-1924, 1912-01-26

father. We got news of him last win
ter, If you could call it news, for it
was four years old before 1t reached
u.s. A whaler in the arctic fleet
picked up floating bottle with mes
sage from him telling where he was.
So we have come here to find him
at least to find where he died, for I
suppose there is no hope-never SO
much as a grain Of hope Of anything
better"
Cayley could not contradict her.
and he saw there was little need Of
trying to do So She had spoken SIM
ply, and very gravely, but 1t was evi-
dent the years had not taken the sting
out of her grief.
He told you where he was?" he
asked.
"Oh, quite exactly" she told him:
"he gave us latitude and longitude,
and mapped the coast-line. So you
were wrong, you see, in what you said
about photographers. And he gave us
the route by which with reasonable
fortune. we might find open water.
We had good fortune and we got here
safely, but, of course, we were too
late. The hut on the shore there is
deserted. We have seen no signs Of
life at all. The men have gone ashore
to search, and there IL to be gun-fre
II they find anyone alive. But they
have been out all day and there has
been no sound. You will understand,
I think, though, why did not want to
sleep tonight In my cabin in the
yacht; why the ice and the dome OF
stars seemed better"
YES" he said, II understand"
Presently, after a moments musing,
he added, What seems strange to me,
incomprehensible altogether, is, that
men like your father, and so many
others, should risk and lose their lives
trying to reach the pole
you can't understand that" she
questioned surprised. you, man
with wings?"
Il suppose it's because of the
wings" he answered her. Il slept
there once, early this summec-slept,
and rested, and ate a meal"
There" she echoed incredulously.
Where do you mean?"
AT the pole, or within a half degree
of it won't guarantee my instru-
ments, nor my hit-and-miss observa-
tions any more accurately than that
and it seemed poor place to risk
ones life trying to reach. Just the
ice-pack-the eternal ice-pack moth
ing but that" Then his eyes lighted
a little But l should like to go there
some time, in the winter-should like
to fly straight ahead, for hours and
hours, through the long dark, until
could see the North Star squarely
above my head in the zenith, the CEN
ter of all the universe. That would
be a sight worth having, / should
think. Some day, perhaps, l shall try
for it. And then one could go straight
on across-a week or ten days would
do it all-from Dawson City, say, to
st. Petersburg"
Dawson City to St. Petersburg!
she repeated; "only a creature OF
wings could put those two cities IN
the same sentence, even In imagina-
ton And even with you 1t must be
imaginary. You couldn't do 1t. really
could your"
Yes" he said; II could do It,"
You're tireless, them" she asked.
"You would 60 on flying, flying, with.
out rest, for a week."
II don't fly" he told her, cor hardly
at all. The birds don't fly. not these
great sea birds that live on the wing.
They sail; SO do l."
But, then, don't you have to 60
with the wind"
he asked by way of answer. You put
up 4 sail to catch the breeze, and
then you make it force your boat right
up into it; make your boat 60 against
the wind, by the force Of the wind
itself. That was regarded as mir
acle once when men frst did It,"
"Of course" she admitted, but you
do that by tackknE"
That's the way l do itA-by lacking,
and the force of gravity is my heel"
How long have you lived like
this?" she asked abruptly.
Really lived? Only three months
or so. / spent the better part OF i've
years learning to fly"
"And you have flown all over the
world?"
"All over this most deserted patch
of it."
There was another silence. Then
she said: And what q contempt you
must have for us-for us, poor wing
less creatures, who cannot Cross lit
tie assure in a rock or bit Of open
water without such toilsome labor
Yes, that must be the feeling-con
tempt; It could hardly be pity"
III that's true" he rejoineds quickly
cts only poetic justice. I've only
achieved toward the world the feeling
which the world held for me-"
The words were spoken harshly
abruptly, as If his memory had just
tasted something intAerably bitter
The manner Of the words, no, less