Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1875-04-08


way. A stout rope was brought
fastened firmly about my waist, and
was lowered, a hair breadth at time
by my honest friends above. At last
my foot trembled upon the thin piece
of slate upon which Phil rested
Grasping the rope with one hand, ]
disengaged his unconscious form from
its perilous resting place, slipped slowly
into the position he had taken, and
binding the rope about my poor Phil,
I had the joy to see him finally lifted
into the arms Of my comrades above.
Loud shouts arose from the plateau
and were echoed from the little steamer
below, from the deck of which my
perilous undertaking had been watched
with intense interest. With difficulty
l succeeded in keeping my hold upon
this ledge of the precipice until the
rope came back to me, and when
bound it about my waist l had already
experienced that fatal dizziness that
precedes unconsciousness. Reaching
the top, escaped from the'embraces Of
my Teutonic friends and made my
way to the chamber in the hostelry
where they had taken Phil. A doctor
was already with him, and declared
that, although no bones were broken,
his system had received a nervous
shock, and that he would need careful
nursing. So l took my place by the
side of Phil, and nursed him in Ger
many as he had ministered to me in
Africa. He got well sooner than
did; but modesty compels me to say 1t
was because of better nursing. His
collar bone and right arm were not
smashed, neither had he the skin torn
direct from the scalp over his eyes
which leads me to the opinion that a
collision with rock is less formidable
than one with a lion. Then there
were better facilities for nursing in the
pretty Saxony town than in the heart of
Africa; and besides, I wasn't the only
nurse he had; lady travelling in the
vicinity kindly aided me. She was
not althogether stranger to Phil-nor
to me, for that matter.
She was very gentle and beautiful,
with that winning way about her that
reaches the heart, magnetizes it and
enthrals it,without the exact knowledge
of that organ.
There was something in the slight
pressure of her hand upon Pills fore~
head, the floating Of her diaphanous
drapery about his bedside, the melody
of her voice, the soft cleaning of her
luminous eyes through the dimmed
light of the sick-room, that made her
presence consolng, healing divine.
Then when Phil had fallen into
she came to me, her fellow
and ministered to my comfort
through the dark watches of the night
She listened with tender interest to
my relation Of our adventures in Africa,
and was especially never tired Of a
terrible struggle Of mine with a male
lion in the defile of the mountains
She declared it was thrilling, grand,
heroic; and, touching with her slender
fingers the scars upon my Ease, pro-
nounced them beautiful, while !, alas z!
caught and kissed those gentle fingers,
and wished that Phil's conyalescerce
were not so rapid, and that we might
forever we three-rest together upon
the vendure.crowned heights ''like
gods together, needless of mankind"
On one of these occasions I was re-
lating to her desperate encounter of
ours in the jungle with a panther, and
had reached the most thrilling
part of it; she covered her eyes with
one hand, as if to shut out the terrible
scence, and the other she stretched to
me in sympathy with my relation to
the combat. Absorbed with my story,
I just touched the white fingers to my
lips with caressing movement, when
suddenly Phil stood before us. He
was pale to ghastliness, and my heart
smote me, for I saw in his face bitter
hatred and reproach. He glared at
me with hollow, burning eyes. But
Diana rose to her feet. Taking the
light shawl from her shoulders, she
threw it about the shivering form of
Phil, and gently forced him to the seat
beside her.
"You wicked boy" she said, looking
upon him in tender reproach, chow can
you be so imprudenta We want no re-
lapses, you know, for must leave
you tomorrow, The colonel will be
here"
''The COLONEL" stammered Phil;
:swhat COLONEL"
"Why, my colonel" said Diana.
"Colonel John Talbot, my husband"
Phil seemed to have lost all power
of articulation, and own voice sounded
hollow and strange as I remarked we
were under the impression Colonel