The citizen. [volume] (Berea, Ky.) 1899-1958, 1908-10-15

And the humansY Her eyes fell
before the meaning in his.
DO you mean that am cruel?" she
demanded. with island directness.
In way. yes" he answered. stick
ing to his guns.
In what way?"
May | begin at the beginning?" he
queried.
She nodded.
ITO begin with, then. love you"
he said. gravely Her face slowly
crimsoned.
Tho beginning must be the end"
She said firmly.
You are confessedly cruel" laughed
Armstrong. but there was nothing Of
ninth in the laugh. The girl held her
silence
Armstrong; eyes. wandering gloom.
lly seward. dwelt upon a floating
gull. grading beyond the breakers. He
raised his rifle. glanced along the
sights. and the crash OF the gun
drowned the boom OF the surf. Just
beyond the gull rose squirt OF spray.
the bird rose YEARLY from the heav
ing bosom OF the sea and drifted away
with the wind. unscathed.
"lll luck to one who kills a gull,
they say" commented Armstrong. lie
aimed at one farther out. Again the
rifle crashed, and this one stretched
Its broad wings out In death. Arm
strong's ill-luck came sooner than he
could have guessed. The girl was on
her feet instantly. Anger. and a
touch. he thought. OF superstition. he
saw in her face. He had offended
against the island traditions. but more,
he had sinned against womanly ten
demess. The sea-blue eyes blazed and
the brown face flushed darkly.
II ] am cruel. you are heartless."
she cried passlonately. She turned
from him and plunged recklessly down
the path 10 the beach. and. reaching
this in safety made her way north
ward along A.
As for Armstrong. he recovered
from his establishment to smile queer
ly TO himself. Then he swung his long
legs over the clif edge and took shot
after shot at the guus as long as he
] aNAN'A AA' SUI ia NEARING
II might have been a half hour that
Armstrong sat thus in the sulks. At
the end OF this time HIS ill-temper
passed. as might cloud over the sun
and. singing the rife over his shout
der he set out good humoredly after
the girl.
The girl was In a mood to walk
I that Hay Armstrong Ta~FHaH g. lin.
after point Of the CURING sea-front he
rounded without seeing her. and had
Il not been for the print OF her small
shoes In the hard sand he would have
believed she had nscended the cliffs
again by one OF the gullles. And then,
as he glanced ahead along this track
Il seemed to him that the trail had
doubled. lie hurried on TO the spot
filled with grim foreboding. II was
as he had thought, a new trail swept
In from the foot OF a neighborly gully,
and a single glance told Armstrong
that Il was that OF an animal. and
that anlmal--the Great Wild Dog
Meanwhile the girl had wandered
on with her thoughts Her sudden an.
ger with the man had left her. After
all. she could not expect in him the
virtues OF her own sex. Nor would
she wish them. He was a man. and a
masterful one. She threw herself on
the dry sand at the foot Of the cliff
Now and then sob escaped her,
and then at last. her head on her arm.
she fell into troubled slumber.
The booming waves wove them.
selves into her dreams. II seemed TO
her that each was a hungry wolf with
grinding teeth. that each came nearer
than It's predecessor, and that she was
powerless to move. Then, In the hor.
ror OF that nightmare. she felt a warm
breath on her cheek-at last one had
reached her. Sha uttered a low cry
OF terror and opened her eyes to a
more terrible sight, for standing over
her. hunger in its fierce eyes, its lips
drawn back 10 show each fang. it's
/ ears as erect as those OF wolf. was
the most monstrous and savage crea-
ture she had ever seen.
she sprang 20 her feet. the fear OF
death in her eyes, and the beast re.
treated a step In doubt. For mo-
ment the huge Wild dog watched her
his cruel eyes measuring the distance
playing with her as a cat with q
mouse-then be leaped after her.
One despalring glance the girl cast
over her shoulder, and at the sight her
strength left her and she sank to the
sand. Then. as she waited an eternity
to feel those white fangs at her throat
there came the nearby crash of rifle,
a huge shadow fitted over her and on
the wet sand beyond her she saw the
monstrous dog struggling convulsively
In fits death agony.
When Armstrong reached her side
with his smoking rife. he found her
hysterical, shaking like a leaf in the
wind. He lifted her TO her feet and
she chung to him as might n child. her
arms about his neck and her flushed
and terrorstricken face on his breast
and. like a child he comforted her
He seated himself on the sand with
his back TO a bowlder and the dead