Waterbury evening Democrat., 1905-07-26

seemed to travel in waves from a great distance He tried to brush away from his brain these dim fancies. but his iron will for once failed. and he pitched headlong downward into dark. ness
 When he recovered, the girls left arm was around his neck. For one blissful instant he nestled there con tentedly He looked into her eyes and saw that she was crying. A gust of anger rose within him that he should be the cause of those tears.
 He tried to rise
 "Oh! Are you better?" Her lips quivered pitifully.
 Yes. What happened? Did faint?"
 Drink this.'
 She held cup to his mouth. and he obediently strove to swallow the con- tents. It was champagne. After the first spasm of terror and when the ap- plication of water to his face failed to restore consciousness Iris had knocked the head off the bottle of champagne.
 He quickly revived. Nature had only given him a warning that he was over drawing his resources. He was deep ly humiliated. He did not conceive the truth. that only strong man could do all that he had done and live. For thirU-six hours he had not slept. Dur ing part of the time he fought with wilder beasts than they knew at Ephe- sus. The long exposure to the sun. the mental strain of his foreboding that the charming girl whose life depended upon him might be exposed to even worse dangers than any yet encounter ed, the physical labor he had under gone. the irksome restraint he strove to place upon his conduct and utterances all these things eliminated in utter relaxation when the water touched his heated skin.
 How could you frighten me so?' de- handed Iris hysterically. You must have felt that you were working too hard. You made me rest. Why didn't you rest yourself:'
 He looked at her wistfully. This col lapse must not happen again for her sake. These two said more with eyes than lips She withdrew her arm. Her face and neck crimsoned.
 Good graciousr she cried. "The ham is ruinedr'
 It was burnt black. She prepared fresh supply. When it was ready Jenks was himself again. They ate in silence and shared the remains of the bottle. A smile illumined his tired face.
 Iris was watchful She had never in her life cooked even potato or boiled an egg. The ham was her first attempt.
 My cooking amuses you?" she de manded suspiciously.
 Tt gratifies every sense." he mur- mured. There is but one thing need full to complete my happiness"
 And that is?'
 Permission to smoke"
 Smoke what?'
 He produced steel box tightly closed and a pipe.
 Your pockets are absolute shops said the girl. delighted that his temper had improved What other stores do you carry about with you?''
 He lit his pipe and solemnly gave an inventory of his. worldly goods. Be yond the items she had previously seen he could only enumerate silver dol lar, a very soiled ard crumpled hand kerchief and a bit of tin. A box of Norwegian matches he threw away as useless. but Iris recovered them.
 You never know what purpose they may serve" she said In after days weird significance was attached to this simple phrase.
 why do you carry about a bit of tiny she went on.
 ''I found it here. Miss Deane.' he answered.
 Luckily she interpreted ''here" as applying to the cave.
 Let me see it. May 1?'
 He handed it to her. She could make nothing of 1t. so together they puzzled over it. The sailor rubbed 1t with 6 mixture of kerosene and sand. Then figures and letters and sort of dia- gram were revealed. At last they be came decipherable. By exercising pa tient ingenuity some one ad'indented the metal with sharp punch until the marks assumed this aspect: