The Savannah morning news., 1900-07-29
Won Beneath
the Yellow Flag.
by PRINCE T.. wooDs.

All ltCntnOnd nad SuTTeuacTeu 10 zen
eraI Humidity and his torrid solar army.
The excessive heat had driven all, but
those to whom fate had been unldnd, TO
shelter from the fiery lances of old Sol.
Toward evening the invader. relentng,
withdrew his main body and permitted
cooling breeze to relieve the swelterng
populace.
At Grey Manse the members of the fam
lily had sought comfort in the cooler air
on the wide. vine powered piazza and the
serving people might be found seeking the
same solace in the grove back of the cook
house. The evening papers were filled
with accounts of victims OF the invaders
fury and told of the hospitals filled with
persons overcome by the heat" But
Madam Grey and her daughter, Janet,
we're more concerned about the dispatches
from Mexico. yellow jack was raging
along the Gulf coast. The latest news
reported that the villages along the lula
river had been almost wiped out of exist
ence. The temporary hospitals flying the
yellow flag" at Panuco were overcrowd-
ed Physicians were not plenty and were
the natives. The newspaper correspond
ent wrote that no news had been received
for two weeks from the outlying planta-
lions and that It was feared that the
planters had succumbed TO the yellow
plague
As Janet Grey read the dispatches to her
mother her face whitened and in the
tightening lines about her mouth Madam
Grey thought she read the birth of some
.f.l. .rtf lon Il
weaken. Mother and daughter sat silent
ly and sadly. hand in hand as the shad-
ows of evening deepened; neither spoke
1t was a long, long communion of souls
When the moon peeped In among the vine
leaves II found them still there, hand in
hand Then as the soft moonlight ilum-
ined the younger woman's face, and in that
pale light there seemed something almost
divine in the Inspiration that shone from
within the being of her sweet Southern
beauty, she broke the silence Mother /
must 80 10 him"
The mothers answer came softly, re-
sgnedly but with no reproach AT once
love. Poor Jackv Then two pairs of
hands became as one and the pale moon
peeping between the leaves wondered at
two women weeping i'm each others arms
Next morning among the passengers on
the fast express flying swiftly south
ward was young woman who
might be %. and whose sweet and
face contrasted strangely with the air of
eager impatience which enveloped her.
A Gladstone grip az her feet bore the ini-
tiais u. G. o." Sixty miles an hour seemed
slow to Janet.
Five years before Janet Grey an only
daughter had been student in the New
York training school for nurses Not
because she needed a profession, she told
herself but because she wished to be able
to be useful. u was a hobby firmly
led hobby. Of a young woman who was
to be some day owner of some OF the
finest land in Virginia. SO when Jack
Masters, a childhood playmate and the
son Of an old family friend sought her
love and twice asked her to become his
wife, she, though she was very fond OF
him, had twice put him off and had re-
fused to consider matrimony as n serious
possibility until after she had won her
diploma as trained nurse. Furthermore.
she had limited to Jack that she was not
sure OF his cons tency and that she had
doubts about his business ability; for
IL was common property that though
Jack had inherited a most desirable es-
tate. the young gentleman had not done
all that might be expected of him as a
landed proprietor. and that Masters Hall
was not the hall OF the Old time. Whether
Jack was at fault or not we are not pre-
pnred to say. II Is sufficient to know that
Madam Grey had enlisted under his stand
ard and had fought noby for him; but
Janet remained firm in her resolve, as
she usually did. She SAID that II he was
Of the same mind when she had completed
her four years training as nurse he
might again seek TO win her She would
hear no more on the subject until then
and that, although she hoped that they
would remain good friends. he must con-
slider the subject OF love and marriage as
under a great taboo.
In a III of what he considered righteous
Indignation at this decree, Jack sold out
Masters Hall purchased coffee planta-
ton near the banks of the lula river in
Mexico and had taken himself off. Before
his departure he had broken taboo and
had again sought 10 win Miss Grey from
her resolution but she remained obdurate.
lie left vowing to prove himself a man OF
business and that he would return In five
years and would then carry her of
whether she would or not. Five years,
because that time was needed to put his
new purchase IN the best paying condition
also a year longer than Jauets taboo he
cause the young man sought 10 Guido her
In the matter Of obstinacy. Somehow he
felt sure that Janet loved him. at any rate
she loved no one else.
Letters passed to and fro frequently
during the first four years. Young
Masters wrote all about coiIeG