The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1891-05-31

sheets that it needed all his might to close
the door.
Luckily it was a somewhat strong door,
The wind appeared 10 a trice 10 have
changed its direction and so strenuous was
its momentum that he felt his habitation
trembie and expected each new instant to
be lifted and whiSked away, as though he
were worm cuTled within leaf. Nor was
this the only horror he was now called on
to endure, for Just outside the wooden wall
between himself and the storm. he could
hear tumultS Of waves as they plunged for
ward and then dragged backward. like some
blOOd-thirsty cohort Of foes eager to Stay,
yet restrained in their rabid ire.
With strange abruptness the storm at
length ceased. Had it lasted but a little
while longer, Stayne now felt only too con-
sciouS that winds and waves would together
have wrought his destruction. When lie
reOpeDed the door again and looked forth
masses OF cloud were hurrying across a
heaven in which beamed fall aud golden
tinted mon. The Seam, directly in front Ct
him, skill frothed angrily, but all its wild ar
dOrwere spent Great creyices were scoOped
IN the beach, and drenched tangles of torn
down vine invaded II, while here and there
a prone palm tree made him Shudder
at the hair-Dreadth csc Ipe of those grove
grit roofs which had so lately sheltered him.
The moonlight now grew steadieT, for the
clouds were quite denuding the heavens in
which they had so long and harshly ragged.
Siayne sank above his ank les at first in the
inundated sand. as he moved forward to a
certain dusky bulk which the sea laVed and
recOlled from, like tiger sporting with tho
prey il has killed. What he presently gaZpd
at was a nameless kind of ruin, and though
Jagged and spintery to piteOus degree, it
oddly struck him for a moment as reSem-
bling coffin. But this illusion soon van
shed. He stopped and looked within the
sem-Shattered interior, which, for all its
rttir pH1lH fo1f Larv
row Compartment of ship Yet, while his
hand rested on the broken verge of the
thing, certain chill and hardness made him
aware that it was rather metallic than lig-
ne0us.
But in another moment he had forgotten
everything except the fact that a human
form lay stretched before his gaze. 1t was
the form Of a man. clad in some strange
made garment, not unlike that of the
ancient Greeks. While stopping there in
the vivid southern moonlight and believing
that he beheld a corpse, Stayne was thrilled
by the realization that he had never before
looked upon a being of so much facial
beauty and physical grandeur.
lie lifted the dropped head, whose heavy
gold cuTlS clung drenched about the wide
and l0rdly brow. Having flask of brandy
on his person he forced some of its contents
between the hueless lips. Then he let the
noble head sink backward again on what
seemed fragment Of cushioned interior
and waited
He had slight hopes Of the mans resusci-
tatiOn. IL seemed TO him that so splendid
creature should have every chance for
his life, and yet how meager was the
aid that could now be furnished
him. But soon, to Stayne's amazement,
shiyer passed through The recumbent frame.
Presently the still face grew fairer, for its
eyes Enclosed Their hue could not be seen,
but their size and brilliancy were new
revelation.