Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1894-04-05

THERE WAS A STRUGGLE o
them, but abe sent him back. 'This
race is to the strong" h said, land
we want no help for either" So he
only cautioned them lest they should
60 too far.
I will not say that I had q precedence
OF evil Such things are the refuge Of
small minds Perhaps it was the vani-
ty Of an old egotist that led me to fol-
low them, matching my prewess
against theirs. Perhaps it wa be-
cause 1 loved to see their bare arms
flash in b sunlight. and their grace
full bodies, half revealed, half hidden
some distance between us, and this
gradually heightened until measuring
the stretch to the shore with my eye,
and then that which separated us. 1
began to doubt my wisdom in going
further. But I had little time to think,
for while l looked a faint cry reached
me. just noted above the swish that the
ave made, and perhaps unnoted
wholly If the blonde head had not gone
from my sight at that instant With
out pausing further, 1 plunged forward
with the whole strength Of my arms
6A0 u AAtS L440 In 10 Lucy
were some two hundred yards from me,
but l was not long In coming up with
them When I did so I was relieved to
SEQ both heads above the water; but
dismayed at ~perceiving q great mass Of
kelp about them, In which they were
apparently entangled. Not without
some difficulty, and some danger to my
self, was I enabled to free them from
It; and the way In which the Shiny
tendrils of the weed had wound them
selves about the limbs and body of Cor
doa's wife seemed almost to suggest a
human agency. Indeed, this thought
did flash upon me- but I resolutely
put it away. Gordon had seen from
the shore that there was need Of help,
and was with IS almost as Don as I
had cleared them from the floating
mass of weed Both women were 80
much exhausted. probably from fright
more than from the exertion of swim
ming, hat he had to support them on
the way backJ thus leaving me to my
self, although I protested that I was
quite fresh enough to give one of them
my assistance
And now let me show you what the
consummate deviltry Of q woman can
do. OF n sudden Gordon's wife released
her hold upon him, gave a cry, and
sank from sight like a plummet. But
as she went down, I saw her hands
dart up through the water and catch in
. death grip about her sisters neck.
There was q struggle for release
mad churning OF the blue waters-an
agoni1ed cry from Gordon as he went
with them down into that seething un-
derworldl One cannot always take
note Of time. How long it was before
I saw Ora's 1ifeless body rise beside me,
I will not attempt to tell. A little
longer, and there was Gordon, support
ing his wife, whose face was hardly
less deathlike than her sisters. When
his eyes fell upon the other one, he
threw his wife from him and went and
took that which had been her In his
arms And had 1 not gone to her
whom he left, there might easily have
been two dead instead Of onel
There is little moro to tell. I had
witnessed the eruption Of the volcano.
I am not sure whether Gordon knows;
but when he looks at his wife there are
mingled fear and hate In his eyes
Eea1 not of her, but for her. And
when she looks upon him. there is .
haunting dread-a dread lest he Ruel0
the secret that ! know -,zs-senG