Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-02-24

that great white and wloe-wlnged sea Dat
was brushed of, and went whirling madly
round about, adding its own dismay and
CONSERVATION to that of the terrified girl in
the boat. And then another white sea bat
broke loose; and then black sea bat broke
loose from the beetling arch, till all was
terror and confusion, as If the waters Of the
deep had been broken up.
"We are going to die" cried the girl.
"John.Gray, we are going to die r.
She drew him closer to her still in her ter
ror; she looked down into his face. She
had folded him 10 her heart in thar time of
terror, and in that marrow place, without
even knowing 1t.
Boom and boom came the watersl
Thrash thrash boom and thunder The
sea bats struck her face; and one had fast
ened in her hair.
John Grayr' She had bowed her face
even to his to escape the hideous creatures
about her. .
John Gray, we are going to die ! and
and-and l will kiss you as we die together"
Her lips lay tenderly TO his unconscious
lips; and then her great ardent and i'm
petucus soul came up from out its hiding
place in the corners of her heart; even as
the great sea came up to them there, BOOM
Ing and laundering, from the caverns of its
trembling bosom. And the flower and per-
fume of her holy womanhood she laid, as if
it were religion, on the altar of her love.
And she was stronger for it, braver, better
in this briet and singular completeness of
her perfect nature. But he, John Gray,
never knew. ...
- y x& -
If the girl had paused to reflect on the
food of rising waters around her, she would
have known that as these birds of the sea
made their home there, why surely the place
was secure. But the birds and beasts tran
quilly trust God, where man, with all his
intelligence, despairs. Just when the re-
action in the pent-up waters came, Farla
could not tell. But the boat drew low and
slow along the edge of deep, dark river,
with pebbly banks, when she lifted her face
and looked forth. Perhaps she had been
unconscious from exhaustion and terror.
There was low arch here. The waters
were surging to pass under this arch. There
was a narrow cleft near the keystone of this
arch, and through this the sea bats by
thousands, black and white, were eagerly
struggling TO get out. She could hear their
teeth shifting as they angrily struck at one
another.
The boat. eddied past the mouth of the
Buried river, bumped and thumped, as if it
too was eager to get out; but it soon passed
on, and around and around again. At each
round or circle the water grew lower. An
other round and the prov of the boat could
pass under the arch. Only the length of a
hand morel Around, slowly around, they
went once more.
To her CONSERVATION this time she found
that the waters had ceased to subside. There
was a bit of wood by the wall under the
arch. To her horror, as she watched this
closely, she saw that it had ceased to move.
The waters we're at a standstill! Hastily
pushing the boat back up to the pebbly
bank, by laying hold of the ledge with her
right hand, she leaned over and caught up
the big and heavy yellow pebbles, and
dropped them as fast as possible into the
bottom of her boat. They were singularly
heavy, and almost before she knew it. to
her great delight the little craft had sunk
down into the water u or 10 inches from the
great weight of the curious yellow pebbles
that lay there in such profusion and so
ready to hand.
And now the girl drove her boat straight
and with all her strength into the low, rocky
arch. The bats were still whirling, biting,
fighting in legions through the keystone
crevice overhead, but she did not heed them
now; on! on! onl
Her little vessel began to totter, to trem-
BILE, to sink down from the suction of the
waters underneath. Nature, the elements,
were battling in the bosom of the sea below.
The bats kept battling in the broken and
ugly arch overhead.
One earnest prayer, for she wanted to
escape now; she so wanted to live now, and
the girl once more drew the water-tight
skins firmly together, and fastening them,
thus prepared for the worst. She was none
too soon with her precaution. So suddenly
as TO almost make her dizzy, the craft spun
around, and around! and around! Then
down like great white swan, deep, deeper,
deepesti Then like ball it bounded to
the surface, and leaped along the waters,
the swift-running waters like a racer right
on and out toward the Golden Gate and the
great, roaring, lion.iocked islands of rock,
with their clouds of sea birds beyond.
Swift swept the tide by the foamy pillars
of the mighty gate. The sun was going
down. The sun was rolled down out of
heaven, huge molten ball of immensity.
1t filled the gate completely. Looking out
against the rocky islands, YOU see them set
tight and fast against wall Of fire. The
stars were out in heaven as they rounded to
the further side of the larger island, where
yellow sail nodded welcome, where it
lay bobbing and backing to hidden cavern
there.
A million stars were out in heaven, but
the sun and the moon and ten million stars
together were passing their light and their
love into the fortified heart of Farla now.
For ne had called her namel The balm,
and the calm, and the great strength of the
all restoring arms, had brought him back to
life.
And John Gray had come back to life
out of the water of his Buried River with
her name, the name of Farla, on his lips.
= y
After the silent old giant had lifted and
borne them both from the boat into the
warm and skin-Iined. heart of the cave he
came out to empty the boat of its ballast, and
draw it in out of sight so that it might not
attract attention and betray too much to
too meddlesome world. He caught up one of
the yellow rocks hastily but it slipped from
his hand and sank in the foamy sea. He
caught up another, and still another till
all the largest were gone. But each one
seemed so very heavy; and as hard to hold
as if they had been fish fresh from the sea.
Finally he took up smaller pebble and |
lifted it to his great white teeth. Then he |
rubbed it with his rough palm, then on his |
sleeve, then on his lips, and chuckled and
till his massive shoulders shook |
and shook. This man had been miner in
the days of 40.
He seemed singularly glad to see John |
Gray sitting up, warming his hands by the |
big oil lamp, as he went back into the |
cavern after taking care to hide the remain
ing half bushel of ballast. Farla, in fact,
had never seen him so glad. He even |
laughed; laughed twice, thrice, till it |