Waterbury evening Democrat., 1905-08-02
6be Wings ef the Morning .:,,.':5 ;, :$::$ ?$:Ss 2; ;;
 . - Edward j. Clode
Copyright 1905. by Edward J. Clode

the water barrels and started thu slaves. The contents quietly ebbed away beneath the broad sheet and flowing inward by reason of the sharr slope of the ledge. percolated through the fault. Iris and he, notwithstanding their frenzied efforts. were not able tc save more than pint of gritty dlscol ored fluid. The rest, infinitely more valuable to them than all the diamonds of De Beers. was now oozing through the natural channel cut by centuries of storm. dripping upon the headless skel eton in the cave. soaking down to the very heart of their buried treasure
 Jenks was so paralyzed by this ca tastrophe that Iris became alarmed AS yet she did not grasp it's awful sig niicance. That he her hero. so brave so confident in the face of many dan gers. should betray such sense of fire deemable loss frightened her much more than the incident itself.
 Her lips whitened. Her words be. came incoherent.
 'Tell me-" she whispered. q can bear anything but silence. Tell me, I implore you. Is it so bad?"
 The sight of her distress sobered him. He ground his teeth together as a man does who submits to painful operation and resolves not to finch be- heath the knife.
 Tt is very bad" he said; mot quite the end. but near it."
 "The end,' she bravely answered, ''is death. We are living and uninjured You must fight on If the Lord wills it we shall not die"
 He looked in her blue eyes and saw there the light of heaven. Her glance did not droop before his. In such mo- ments heart speaks to heart without concealment.
 we still have little water" she cried. Fortunately we are not thirsty. You have not forgotten our supply of champa gne and brandy?"
 He could only fall in with her unre- fective mood and leave the dreadful truth to it's own evil time. In their It, tle nook the power of the sun had not yet made itself felt. By ordinary con- puta tion it was about 9 o'clock. Long before noon they would be grilling Throughout the next few hours they must suffer the torture of Dives with one meager pint of water to share be- tween them. Of course the wine and spirit must be summed like a pesti- lence. To touch either under such con- ditions would be courting heat. apo plexy and death. And next day.
 He frightened his jaws before he an- swered:
 We will console ourselves with bot tie of champagne for dinner. Mean while I hear our friends shouting to those left on this side of the island. I must take an active interest in the tion."
 He grasped a rife and lay down on the ledge. already gratefully warm. There was a good deal of sustained shouting going on. Jenks thought he recognized the chiefs voice giving in- structions to those who had come from Smugglers cove and were now standing on the beach near the quarry.
 T wonder if he Is hungry" he thought. If so, I will interfere with the commissariat"
 Iris peeped forth at him.
 "Mr. Jenks"'
 Yes" without turning his head. He knew it was an ordinary question.
 May I come too?" What. expose yourself on the ledger
 'Ies, even that. I am so tired of sitting here alone"
 Well. there is no danger at present.