The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-11-04
Crushing a Scorpion.
BY REBECcA :. FRIPP.

Copyrighted, 1900, by Daily Story Pub. Co.
1t was the year 1888, that memorable
year which did more to change the
geography of the South Sea archipelago
than ever Napoleon cid to change the
map OF Europe. At the time which I
write, the city of AMER, with its $4,000
souls, still rested in fancied security
upon the shores of the Java. For three
months the solid earth had been tremb-
ling and Krakatoa had set aglow d
lamp which went out neither night nor
day. The people had grown used to it.
They did not Shrek now, nor start up in
terror when the rhythemic tremor of the
earthquake set the windows rafting.
Bah! 1t was nothing-a mere undulation
AS for Krakatoa-the old mountain would
burn itself out, and then there would be
an end of all this. The -ordinary ayoca-
tons of life were resuIned-at morn the
fishing boats set SAIL at eve they anchor
ed in the bay.
On the hillside, a mile or two inland a
number of Europeans had set their beau
tiful and comfortable villas. thus escap-
ing the intense heat and deadly malaria
of the lowlands. Here they lived sumpl-
uouSly in the midst of a cosmopolitan
civilization with all that wealth could
lend to mitigate the pangs of exile. They
too, had grown needless of the unnatural
conditions Krakatoa had broken out in
May. It was now mid-August, and all
that time the warning had not ceased TO
be heard in the dull rumble of the earth
quake, and seen in the fierce light of the
volcano, but their ears were dulled and
their eyes were holden that they should
not see.
1t was the morning of the 18th of Au-
gust, a glowing, Sabbath morning The
foreigners were slpping early tea on
their verandas. Gorgeous, bewildering in
its lavish profusion of beauty, the trop-
ical landscape lay before them, the dew
still glittering on the rich and varied
foliage of the underground. Great trop-
ical flowers glowed like many colored
lamps in shadowy recesses under giant
palms. Birds as brilliant as the flowers
fitted from tree to tree. Iridescent i'll
sects sparkled like Jewels in the sunlight,
and in hidden places, venemous reptiles
with glittering eyes crouched motion
less.
A young girl and young man came
strolling leisurely down little path al
most hidden in the dense shrubbery They
We're enthusiastically of Anglo-Saxon blood.
The girl was very beautiful, with the
pallld, fragile beauty of one who had
long languished under the influence of
an enervating climate. There was no
healthy cClor in her lovely, oval face,
though sometimes it flushed like a juno
thing for her ear alone. The man was
different type; his was a mature youth
He was perhaps thirty years of age, tall,
sunbroWned and sturdily built. He had
an air of self-reliance and responsibility
that sat well upon lim-a strong man in
every way he seemed.
The girl was the eldest daughter of
rich American merchant, whose pal
atia1 villa dominated the height above
fHn1l1 Of -.
British geological survey, at present sta
toned in Java in order to investigate
the recent seismic disturbances. 1t was
but natural that he should spend much
Of his spare time at the Americans hos
pitable home. To man Wearied with
wandering iE many lands, it was like a
bit of Eden. 1t was but natural, too,
that he should lose his heart to the love
lest of the lovely daughters of that
Eden, although to her it seemed q
strange and wonderful thing. 1t was
short wooing, whose end was from the
beginning. The glory of first love lay
around the girl; her footsteps trod in an
enchanted land AS for him, no one
else, he told himself, had ever filed his
heart before-no one else had realized
the ideal of his dreams. He was as in.
tcXicated with her beauty and grace as
any boy might have been. To find her
mere, III ILLS Oul-Ol-tHS-W IlloSCJ ~
was like the fairy stories of his al
most forgotten childhood. She was like
a rare songbird that had flown out of
this little world of flowers to blossom
in his heart. He laughed at himself-he
had a trick of laughing when he did not
care to analyze a thought too deeply.
He did not want to go beyond his love
and happiness today. He would let no
vision of his naughty English mother dis
f,,rI, him nor did he DanSe to consider
the difficulties Of his chosen career-today
here, tomorrow at the other end of the
world. What business had he with a
wifel Love paused not at such questions.
Family pride, interest, ambition, We're
meaningless words before the deeper
reality of this. Love alone was life.
Suddenly, across the path, little reptile