The Blue Envelope

Marian had found shelter. Such a storm at this season of the ye

ttle supply of food, and hoping for something to turn up when the storm wa

e. Lucile was the first to throw open the door. As it came back with

ped to p

e exclaimed. "A ke

amined it

n it bel

eck, pe

oba

a steward'

hey save it for?

et out to the

we can't

Lucile's eyes we

" gasped Marian,

ith foam, but at the horizon gleaming whiter than burnished

that

e tra

to a chair. Marian be

last, "I can paint it. It w

er, seeming to evolve out of nothing, showed a native dressed in furs, shading his eyes to scan the dark, tossing ocean. And

g of the W

ht her eye. It was one corner of the blue

e months unless I miss my guess. I wish I hadn't kept my promise to the c

amations to their lips. In a single night the world appeared to have been transformed. The "white line" was gone. So, too, was the ocean. Before them, as far as the eye could reach, lay

nly, "we can go out to th

tically. "Perhaps there's some sort

g the ice-piles which were already solidly attachi

where ice-cakes, some small as a kitchen floor, some l

laimed Lucile, as she leaped

led her companion. "Just wa

e-pan, now skirting a dark pool, now clambering over a pile of ice

d Marian, stopping

Lucile, her voice

oe, a grinding, rushing, creaking, moaning sound that i

sea, a giant tidal wave was sweeping through the ice-floe. Marian had seen it. The mountain of ice which it bore on its crest seemed as high as the solid ridge of rock behind them on the

gle, then dropped from beneath it. Marian's heart stopped beating as she felt the downward rush of the avalanche of ice. The next instant she fel

like a log into the dark pool of water which appeared where the cake had parted. That object was Lucile. Dead or alive? Marian

was quiet. The tidal wave had s

he dark pool, she strained her eyes for sight of a floating bit of cloth, a waving hand. There was none. Despair gripped he

Very conscious she was, too, of the peril of her situation. Should that chasm close before she ros

Now she felt herself rising. Holding her breath she looke

ater," was her mental co

peded her. The sting of the water imperiled her power t

s. The next instant she gripped both her companion's wrists and lifted as she never lifted b

half-unconscious girl from the pool than it closed with

ush was not so great.

settled back

it than to the shore. She thought she saw a small cabin in the stern. Luci

zily to her feet. "I'll help you. The wreck-we mu

inst the stiffening garments, the aching lungs and muscles, bu

r way across the treacherous tangle of ice

three-quarters. And now, with an exultant cry, Marian dragge

he whispered, "a warm ca

e," Lucile ec

More than once Marian despaired. At last they stood before the door. She

ed her heart. But

e key we found in th

ey?" Lucile re

ey. Why, that's

it is!

my park

from a frozen pocket, and the next after t

of joy Marian found matches, lighted one, tried the stove, found it filled with oil. A bri

l, she stripped the clothing away until at last she fell to chafing the white and

om. She was snuggled deep in the interior of a mammoth deerskin sleeping-bag, while her ga

by a voice. It was a man

? That's supposed to be my cabin, don't

out her. For a second s

she s

minute; I'm