The Tupelo journal., 1912-05-17

"Thls Air viii Bring You Back to
Life"
vealed the color that was coming
back into her cheeks.
For a while she did not speak at
all; then, as if replying to q com
ment of his, she said:
Yes, it's beautiful. But,
Philip. it's dead. Dead"
Not this air that has ozone spar
king all through IL. 1t Is alive enough
to make your blood dance. It's doing
that now"
He tried to persuade her to take a
little exercise along the length OF the
tunnel, but she demurred to that. In
stead, she asked him to bring. out
some bear-skins and lot her sit there
ut the ciif-head looking out.
And" she supplemented. III you
want to know what ] SHOULD like most
of all, it would be to have you bring
your wings SO that l can see you fly
ing again, and a f1eld-glass that l can
watch o through"
He felt some hesitation, partly out
of q fear of leaving her and partly
from a doubt concerning his own
strength; but neither of these reasons
was one he cared to avow. So he I'M
furled the bundle that had lain dis
used so long, spread and frightened
and tested it, and at last, with a nod
of farewell to the girl, dived off the
clif-head.
Any doubt he may have had con
corning his strength disappeared at
once. The mere touch of those great
wings of his seemed to bring it all
back, and hope and joy and confidence
along with 1t.
He made his dive as shallow rs pos
sible, and in the sheer exuberance OF
delight at being once more awning, he
beat his way aloft again by main
strength, towering like q falcon. All
his old power was here unimpaired,
yet every sensation It brought him
was heightened and make thrilling BY
long disuse. BY NEAR Of those great,
obedient wings Of his he played upon
the %capricious, vagrant air with the
superb insolence of mastery. Every
trick of flight vas at his command,
the flashing dive Of the piratical frig-
gate bird, the corkscrew spiral OF the
tern, the plummet-like pounce of the
hawk, and, at last, the majestic, soar
ing drift of the king Of them all, the
albatross.
So he hung there in midsky, and the
world, white, frozen, immaculate
looked far away. The old. god-like
serenity, untroubled, untrammeled. un-
afraid, came back to him. The. soul
opened its gates, up there, lost its
boundaries, and all the spirit Of the
sky came in, immense, cold, clear as
the all-pervading ether. This was
Nirvana, though the old Buddhist
adopts who had philosophical about it
had never conquered the sky, had
never bathed in it as Cayley on his
wings was bathing now.
The declining 0 sank lower, till
the refracting ice crystals that filled
the air caught it's light slantwise and
danced with it SO that it fiickered like
a will-o.the-wisp. The sky deepened
from it's bright steel-blue to purple.
The silver light upon the snow faded,
through lavender and lilac, to a pur-
pie of it's own, only less deep than that
of the sky itself. But the stars burned
brighter and brighter, until 1t almost
seemed they sang:
"Harping in loud and solemn choir
With inexpensive notes.
The words projected themselves
quite unsought into his mind. He
spent q moment or two, wondering
where they came from, and then 1t
came to him. It was q part Of two
lines from the Hymn on the Ma
tivity."
Somehow, the thought Of Christmas
gave his soul q wrench that brought
1t back into the world again. They
had lost their reckoning of time, and.
for anything he knew, this might be
Christmas day. Perhaps those starr
we're caroling their Christmas chimes.
Perhaps, down In the world OF men.
the windows were hung with holly q
doorways with mietletoe.
Before his thoughts had advanced
a. far as that he xas Tying down to-
ward the clif-head. He could only
guess at the length Of time that had
elapsed since he left Jeanne, on her
heap of skins, there In the mouth OF
the snow tunnel. It must have been
an hour or more. for the DOE had
been shining when he started, and
now almost the last Of it, twilight had
died on tho horison.
(CoNTIkULD NEXT WEEK.