Adventure Magazine Cover, October 1911 — page 76: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

1022 yourself had anything to do with the affair. You are quite welcome, as my father said, to any treasure’’—she accented the word scornfully—‘‘that may be found and unless you doubt his word I see no reason for your maneuvering in this way to keep the others behind and to prevent my glancing at the plan of the place!” There was a moment of tense silence. Healy, who took “‘no interest in any sweet- heartin’ except his own,” had wandered a little distance away. Then the paper flut- tered from Stuart’s fingers to the ground and without heeding it, he bore down upon her, his eyes blazing with a cold fire. His hands closed upon hers and held them mercilessly. She shrank involuntarily but unavailingly backward. ‘“‘How dare you!” he said in a low voice, his face frowning furiously down into her own. ‘How dare you continually insult me! If no oneelse has ever taught you the courtesies of life, then, by heaven, I'll begin!” He turned suddenly and walked away from her again, his heart pounding in his ears. Already he regretted the outburst, yet he had been unable to control it. He walked quite a little distance in the snow and then turned and came back again. Berwind and Mr. Lee were only a few paces away and Captain Healy, with his coil of rope, had drawn near to Nora again. As Stuart reluctantly joined them, his cheeks still blazing with his recent choler, Captain Healy turned to him. “I was just saying to Miss Lee, sir, that you dropped a bit of paper here that I tried to get for you. But a puff of wind caught it and carried it off to leeward and before I could say Jack Robinson it was gone.” Stuart, for the moment diverted, looked about him at the sky and sea. There had not been a breath of wind all day. He looked at Captain Healy and smiled agree- ably. ‘‘How extremely interesting,” he said. Nora Lee had gone to meet her father. Dr. Berwind came on alone. The invalid and his daughter stood together talking and looking down on the tiny toy far below them that was their yacht. “Well, Stuart,”’ said Berwind, “have you located the place? Where is that tracing from the bell?” ‘The paper blew away, so Captain Healy tells me,” Stuart said indifferently. ‘Our Adventure way lies just along this ledge of rock. We will secure the rope, Berwind,.one end to you and one to me. Captain Healy will be good enough, I am sure, to stay with Mr. Lee and Miss Nora.” He took one end of the rope from the Captain and, carrying it to the Doctor, fas- tened it about his waist. “It will keep him out of the way, at all events,” he said in an undertone. He grinned cheerfully. ‘‘That gentleman is all my fancy painted him, Ber- wind. And he has got the tracing of that bell in his pocket now.” ‘“Much good may it do him,” said Ber- wind in a growl. “‘Come on, are you ready?” “Good luck to you!” cried Mr. Lee cheer- fully. Stuart glanced back, nodded and smiled. Nora Lee was standing motionless, looking down into the fiord. “T hope to heaven,” Mark said to him- self, with a boyishly imaginative resent- ment, ‘‘I hope the cave is full of diamonds and that she will have to take them all!” P] THE ledge was wide enough for a man of steady nerves to walk along without much difficulty, but the brittle lava had a distressing way of break- ing off in great lumps beneath their weight and pitching giddily downward into the waters of the bay. After a few rods of this sort of thing, the beach of the fiord showed white and far away below them and then, a little farther on, the narrow moraine of the glacier rose sharply almost to the level of the ledge on which they stopped. Above the moraine the glacier ascended continu- ously. After twenty minutes’ walk the sur- face of ice had risen to a matter of some few feet below them. ~ “Tsay,” called Stuart, ‘we could go along here on the glacier. If we had only known our exploration would lead us around this way we could have spared ourselves that climb over Sigurda and come straight up the moraine instead.”’ He sat down upon the shelf where they were standing and swung himself down to the surface of the snow-covered ice beneath them. Berwind followed suit. Once on the surface of the glacier their walk became infinitely easier. They made their way forward, talking but little, until at last Stuart stopped and flung up his head. ‘‘Since we are now face to face with the CO MICLOOKS C©