Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-02-17
CHAPTER X.
FARLA's NIGHT ON LIONS HEAD.

FARLA's NIGHT ON LIONS HEAD.
Farla was very angry; angry at she
scarcely knew what. She could not say
that she was angry at what her innocent and
simple-hearted little sister Sanello had said
or done She was surely not angry at any,
thing that Mr.. Gray had said or done. She
was simply angry; perhaps at herself
Fate.
She had looked forward eagerly to this
day when she SHOULD be with him, sail the
boat that bore him on and on through the
straits, on and on through the Golden Gate,
on and on to the stormy islands of stone,
with their roaring sea lions and their clouds
of countless sea birds. She had expected
SO much of this day; and what had she had
of it? She surely had not expected aught
of John Gray except his ever serene for
|. bearance and equipoise of manner. She had
long learned that this silent and absorbed
man had never been boy and was some
thing more than man; at least something
more than the brute-maD. 1t was indeed
this gentle element in his nature, this un-
selhshness and serenity and entire respect
for her that had suddenly, and for the first
time in her lie, touched her heart. Hard
as her lite may have been, stormy as her
vorage may have been at times, she still
loved gentleness. 1t found response in her
heart. For all very strong souls are also
very gentle.
Had anyone asked Der, had she asked her
self why she so wiliully and suddenly de-
clined to return with the party, but pre-
ferred remaining, as she often had done be-
fore, indeed, with her people on the islands,
she would have been at a loss for an answer.
Surely she wanted to be with Mr.. Gray; ah,
she even now, and in truth all the time,
wanted to be with him. Yet had she thrown
all this sunlit afternoon of glory into the
sea! Such is the incomprehensible contra
diction of woman.
Climbing higher and higher up the steep
and stupendous wall OF SCARED and light
ning-riven granite and conglomerate and
lava, she found new and almost incalcula-
bic deposits of eggs. She startled storms of
sea birds that had never vet been interrupted
there in their cloud-built crags.
This pleased her. This was coDquestl
She would not only have something new to
tell; this discovery would add 10 her fathers
meageT revenues.
Higher and higher she hasiened to climb
till at last she stood with flowing nair
lined out against the gold of the sunset, the
silhouette which her startled father saw the
time be turned about to look back from his
boat as they sailed in through the Golden
Gate.
The girl remained fixed to this spot,
watching the fading away of the yellow
sail a long time The task of reaching this
almost inaccessible point where she now
stood had been considerable; as exhausting
as perilous, and she felt that she needed rest
before attempting to return.
At last night moved down in all his
somber majesty from his camps in the can
yons under the cedars and frs and redwoods
of the Sierras and swiftly as the flight of
bird possessed the sea walls and the sea-
The Golden Gate was barred by bolts of
darkness; and the white roads across the
waters of the ocean of oceans that ended
here by this sea bank were obliterated for
the night
Taking firmly hold of the rocks, setting
her certain feet securely in the narrow
niche below, the girl began to slowly
descend. But the light Law on the other
side of the island now. Darkness or at
least confusion of light Law on the side
where she stood, or rather clung, and Farla
drew herself up by the hands to the same
spot where she had rested a moment before
She began to think seriously if it were
really safe to descend by this precIpitous
way.
She gathered some eggs that lay in
feathery nest by her right hand dropped
them one after another down the steep wall
by which she had climbed.
1t startled her to see how nearly perpen-
dicular she in her sudden flush of pique
and displeasure had assembled Her heart
beat so loudly that she ceased tossing the
eggs down the precipice and laid her hand
TO her bosom.
The soft silver moon came to her in this
lofty isolation and kept pleasant company
for little time and then settled slowly on
down in the path of the exhausted sun.
And how lone nowi
The shadows that came crowding up from
the sea far down below seemed never so
black as now. The girls heart had ceased
to beat so terribly now at the idea of spend
ing the night alone on the shelving crags,
but for all that she was sadly frightened.
1t may be safely said that now, for the first