Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1908-08-28
XVII (Continued.)


..r.nge disorder now. Negley should have
nade an effort ere this to reach him. The
Dnmnr that devastated the city and with
frnsnpnt violence swept the morne might
bovp reached three leagues at sea Save
,bat the gray was Interchangeable in the
,oof of the world, he could not believe
s ,bat all this was one day. Lara
rould never forgive him for being whole,
If the price of her mothers eyes! There
seemed 10 adjustment possible for this
,rnel play of his service. He
s.IIpd the mothers name softly, but his
cords made no unprecedented in frenzy
a. last, and felt her shudder 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,
INIT he awoke to find himself uttering in
oohprent sentences. The woman was quite
dpad = The hours drew on into
eternity, but the gray still lived in the
sky He loosened his arm, and the blood
rrsbing into the strained limb bore with
# a thrashing pain. The water had cool
ID 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 orifice, and he saw
bis 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
yalor and tenderness-it may be that af-
ter the most exalted passage of agony and
terror, two of Earth's 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
other such film is curled away-from an
other age and another cataclysm.
"Niver you worry your hearrt, sorr, y
called Macready, to whom the voice of his
friend had brought imperious conscious
ness man-wise, instead of collapse. "Th'
faint is nothin'. 'Tis 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
tousand 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
Macready's 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
acerated hand, upon the swollen veins IN
his throat and temples. She sew 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.
Peter my beloved p' she murmured.
You say-that mother
She halted, for the grief uprose in
its fullness in her mind The day had
put a 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 their
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-I'm 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 all
lying here-as they are in the city-all
dead and down-and l have found my
lover livingr'
Macready and Ernst, afar off, watched
the puffs of smoke and steam rise like
sray-white birds from the ruins.
Ernst, lad," said the other, eth boss
an tn Iadin' lady are havin' an intel
lechooal repasht in tn cinter av tn
Stage, be tn ould well. Bear in moind
you're a chorus gurrl, an conduct your
Sllf in accord.''