The Tupelo journal. (Tupelo, Miss.) 1876-1924, 1912-04-19

Again he closed the DOCK Tnats
what was looking for" he said. You
see they brought that stuff down from
the cave to these sheds; so the cave
would be almost inevitably the first
hiding place they would think OF
when the sight Of the Aurora drove
them to hustle everything out of
sight"
"Whereabout on the cliff Is the OBJ
servatory, Philip"
II was wondering about that. I've
flown across the cliff number of
times, but have never seen anything
of 1t. He may have wrecked 1t; taken
it down and used 1t for some other
purpose
no" she said; he'd hardly have
had time for that. There weren't
many more pages to write in the jour-
nal when he made that entry"
She fell then into little distracted
silence. which the man did not know
how to break. But presently she reused
herself and came fully back to the pres
ent, back to him.
did you succeed in accounting for
the thing you asked me about last
night, the mark on the map right here
where they built the hut afterward ?"
II didn't find anything about 1t in
the journal, but this morning, before
breakfast, when l went outside the
hut, one glance at the fact of the cliff
accounted for it fully. The cliff is
split right here, from top to bottom.
by a deep, narrow fissure. The assure
is full of ice, which l suppose hasn't
melted for thousand years. No sum-
mer that they could have in high lat
itude like this would ever melt it, GER
tainly.'
The girl laughed and rose from her
place at the rude table.
WELL" she asked, ARE you ready
for my discovery now?
She took down his pocket electric
bulrs-eye from the shelf behind her.
held out a hand to him and. on tip
toe, led him, with a burlesque exag-
geration of mystery, out into the store
room. AS completely mystif1ed in
reality as she playfully pretended to
want him to be, Cayley followed.
She went straight across the store
room to the rear wall Of the hut, the
wall that backed squarely against the
sheer surface of the cliff, flashed ON
the bulfseye for a second, apparently
to make sure that she had chosen the
right point in the wall, then, letting
20 his hand, she stopped and picked
up stick Of fire wood which lay at
her feet With this she struck pretty
hard upon the planking. The sound
which the blow gave forth was as
hollow as a drum.
Cayley started. "A cave!' he ex-
claimed "A cave here!-Oh, l see.
It's a cold cellar they made by cutting
a hole in the ice that filled the assure.
And why do you suppose they boarded
it up?'
The girl laughed delightedly. Evil
IDENTIFY she had not, as yet, developed
the whcla of her discovery. She
flashed on the light again.
Look" she commanded,
In the center of little circle of
wall which the bulps-eye now dllum-
mated Cayley saw the barrel Of q
rusty hinge.
You see," she went on its Q door.
and they only nailed it up the other
day. There's a nail-head somewhere
here that's quite bright. caught the
CLINT of it while l was rummaging be-
fore breakfast. and that was what
made me look"
Cayley darted back into the living
room, returning almost instantly with
the brokenhandled pick.
In less than a minute, with q pro
testing squawk. the rude door swung
open, and they saw before them just
what Cayley had predicted A rather
high, but narrow cavity, the sides OF
which were the naked rock Of the
cliff, but the floor and ceiling solid
ice.
Despite the fact that the girls ex-
element over the discovery of the
cave had, for a moment, carried Cay
Icy tlIOAS Will IL, bo was uOt 81 ScbIly
surprised, and not at all cast down
when, at the end of five minutes OF
hasty exploration, it was made evil
dent to them that the ample supply Of
stores which they sought was not to
be found here.
Jeanne herself would not, perhaps.
have entertained 50 high hope had
she learned Of the reference to the
other cave which Cayley found in the
journal before she herself had CHANGED
upon the mouth of this one. AS 1t
was, his theory that the stores were
to be found tn a cave vaguely situated
along the glacier, made little impress
sion upon her, she was so sure that
they had been right here, under their
hands.
When their investigation made 1t
clear that whether he was right or
not, certainly she was wrong, she was
bitterly disappointed. Cayley was
aware Of that, even as they stood
here, side by side, with no light to see
her face by. She said nothing, or
very little, but he knew, nevertheless,
that for just this moment all the life
and courage had gone out Of her;
Ill