Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1908-08-13
CHAPTER XyII.-(Continued.)

All that had been serene partook OF
strange disorder now. Negley should have
made an effort ere this TO reach him. The
power that devastated the city and with
unspent violence swept the morne might
have reached three leagues at sea Save
that the gray was Interchangeable in the
roof of the world, he could not believe
that all this was one day. Lara
would never forgive him for being whole,
at the price Of her mothers eyes There
seemed no adjustment possible for this
cruel play of his service. He
called the mothers name softly, but his
words made no impress called in frenzy
ct last, and felt her shuddeY in his arms.
Boy"
Yes, yes"
Tell Lara that there was no yesterday
no last night And leave me herein
the dark ="
How long afterwards he never knew,
but he awoke to find himself uttering in
coherent sentences. The woman was quite
dead. The hours drew on into
eternity, but the gray still lived in the
sky. He loosened his arm, and the blood
rushing into the strained limb bore with
ed, but he did not put his burden down.
He had not yet fathomed the extent of
her surrender, nor the signet and color
of her personality upon every word she
had spoken. He heard a cry
from Lara, and deemed it the encroach-
ment of personal madness. Scornfully he
answered. Again the voice of the wom-
an He arose and called her name. A
shadow darkened the orihce, and he saw
his lady in the sky.
1t may be in this marvellous world,
where men carry on their wars and their
wooings, some pursuing their little ways
of darkness, some bursting into blooms OF
valor and tenderness-it may be that at
ter the most exalted passage of agony and
terror, two of Earths people were return
ed to each other in the strangeness of
these. One swoOning at the curb OF an
ancient cistern, under the hot leaden sky,
the falling sea before, and Pelee, with
his tens of thousands slain, on her right
hand; the other in the pit below, standing
in the cooling water, and calling upon her
to forgive him for failing in that which
only the gods could do. 1t may be that
in the collection of Earth's tableaux an
OlhtI SttCl lllII Is CuIItu dN az AlOIA cAAA
other age and another cataclysm.
''Niver you worry your hearrt, SORT,
called Macready, to whom the voice OF his
friend had brought imperious conscious
ness, man-wise instead of collapse. 'Ih'
faint is nothin'. It's a fortune fur thin
as can faint fur joy, an no HURT in ut,
sorr. Have you tn strent' t do tn over
hand up tn chain, wit tn fairest av tin
t'ousand at tn top, sorr?"
Constable placed his burden upon the
stone slabs, caught the chain, and pulled
himself free from the water. His weight
was a mountain. The five days had done
what four had not-played havoc with
the one hundred and ninety pounds of
manhood which struggled upward under
Macreadys cheers, and fell across the rim
of the cistern into Macready's arms.
Lara awoke and found Constable bend
ing over her. Her eyes rested upon his
lacerated hand, upon the swollen veins in
his throat and temples. She saw blood
upon his clothing, blisters upon his neck,
sweat and mire upon his face.
The reality came that he was praying for
her to forgive him--because her mother
had died in his arms.
You say-that mother"
She halted, for the grief uprose in
its fullness in her mind. The day had
put look of horror in her eyes that
months would not efface. But
there was no mortal hurt upon her. Her
nOstrils. lips, handS-all moved in THEN
way of dear perfection. Some time she
would see that he had done his best
Though he had failed in all else
he had saved this masterpiece from harm
but if had not come back, she never
would have known" he pleaded. And
she forgave me--Im quite sure-as you'll
forgive me-
What are you saying?" she cried sud
denly. What do you mean? 1t is hor-
rible, but l came thinking to find you al
lying here-as they are in the city-al
dead and down-and I have found my
lover living !"
Macready and Ernst, afar off, watched
the puffs of smoke and steam rise like
gray-white birds from the ruins
Ernst, lad" said the other, 9Th boss
an tn radin' lady are havin' an intel
lechooal repasht in tn cinter av tn
sta-age, be tn ould well. Bear in moint
you're chorus gurrl, an conduct your
silf in accord