The Richmond palladium. (Richmond, Ind.) 1906-1907, 1906-09-02

strip or SAND ana the rocks II
IL frant, his troubled brain paid
perfunctory heed to his task The
! stern sense of duty. the ingrained force
! Of long years of military discipline and
! soldleriy thought, compelled him to keeI
/ watch and ward over his fortress, bu
| he could not help asking himself wha
/ would happen if Iris were seriously
| wounded.
There was one enemy more poten
| than these skulking Dyaks, a foe more
irresistible in his might, more pitiIes:
in his strength. whose assaults would
tax to the utmost their powers of re
sistance In another hour the sur
would be high in the heavens, pouring
his ardent rays upon them and drying
the blood in their veins.
Hitherto the active life of the island
the shade of trees, hut or cave, the
power of unrestricted movement and
the possession of water in any desired
quantity robbed the tropical heat of
the day of it's chief terrors Now al
was changed. Instead of working
amid grateful foliage they were bound
to the brown rock, which soon would
glow with radiated energy and give
off scorching gusts like unto the open
Ing of furnace door.
This he had foreseen all along. The
tarpaulin would yield them some de
gree of uneasy protection, and they
both were in perfect physical condi-
ton. Buff Iris were wounded! If
the extra strain brought fever in its
wake! That way he saw nothing but
blank despair, to be ended for her by
delirium and merciful death. for him
by a Berserk rush among the Dyaks
and one last mad fight against over
whelming numbers.
Then the girls voice reached him,
self reliant, almost cheerful:
You will be glad to hear that the
cut has stopped bleeding. 1t is only
a scratch"
So kindly Providence had spared
them yet a little while. The cloud
passed from his mind, the gathering
mist from his eyes. In that instant he
thought he detected slight rustling
among the trees where the cliff shelv-
ed up from the house. Standing as he
was on the edge of the rock, this was a
point he could not guard against.
When her welcome assurance recall
ed his scattered senses he stepped
back to speak to her, and in the same
instant a couple of bullets crashed
against the rock overhead. Iris had
unwittingly saved him from a serious.
perhaps fatal, wound.
He sprang to the extreme right of
the ledge and boldly looked into the
trees beneath. Two Dyaks were there,
belated wanderers cut off from the
main body. They dived headlong into
the underground for safety, but one
of them was too late. jerks rifle
reached him, and its reverberating con-
cussion, tossed back and forth by the
echoing rocks, drowned his parting
scream.
In the plenitude of restored vigor the
sailor waited for no counter demon
stration. He turned and crouchingly
approached the southern end of his
parapet Through his screen of grass
he could discern the long black hair
and yellow face of man who lay on
the sand and twisted his head around
the base of the farther cliff. The dis
lance, oft measured. was ninety yards,
the target practically a six inch bulls
eye. jerks took careful aim, fired, and
a Whit of sand few up.
Perhaps he had used too fine sight |
and plowed furrow beneath the Dy-
axis ear He only heard faint yell, |
but the enterprising head vanished, and
there were no more volunteers for that
particular service.
He was still peering at the place
when cry of unmitigated anguish |
came from Iris:
.'Oh, come quick, Our water! The |
casks have burst,'
1t was not until jerks had torn the
tarpaulin from off their stores and he
was wildly striving with both hands to
scoop up some precious drops collected
In the small hollows of the ledge that
he realized the full magnitude of the
disaster which had befallen them.
During the first rapid exchange of
fire before the enemy vacated the cliff
several bullets had pierced the tarpau-
lin. By stroke of exceeding bad for
tune two of them had struck each of
the water barrels and started the
slaves. The contents quietly ebbed
away beneath the broad sheet and.
flowing inward by reason of the sharp
slope of the ledge, percolated through
the fault. Iris and he, Notwithstanding
their frenZied efforts, were not able TO
save more than a pint of gritty diScol-
pred fluid. The rest, infinitely more
to them than all the diamonds
Of De Beers. was now oozing through
he 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.
jerks was SO paralyzed by this ca
-astrophe that Iris became alarmed.
As yet she did not grasp its awful sig
llficance. That he her hero. so brave,
20 confident in the face of many dam
yers, should betray such sense of ire
ieemable loss frightened her much
more than the incident itself.
Her lips whitened. Her words be-
anne incoherent
Tell me- she whispered 81 can
year anything but silence. Tell me.
mplore you. Is it SO bad?''
The sight of her distress sobered
lin. He ground his teeth together as
man docs -rhn S.1h-r,;fc ~