, 1909-12-09

I8oNlhUiaIt9 ~ tfShtot opUtOb IMAM
anything she had yet heard from him.
What was he doing? In a flash the
woman realized that the man was
praying. The realization smote her
like a blow, for this woman had long
since put away prayer. In her philoso-
ply of life there was no place for God:
in her scheme of affairs the Divine
was unimminent. And yet alone on
that island, in the darkness. despite
her attempt to mock away the con-
seriousness, she was relieved at that
sight.
The little ritual on the sand ended
with the one word her pupil knew.
Mani" he said striking his breast
again and staring upward toward the
heavens. Mani" he cried as II in his
new consciousness he would fain In
troduce himself to his Maker, the
woman thought. His Maker!" her
lips writhed INTO a bitter smile that
was half a sneer.
What would he do next? He rose
to his feet and peeped toward the
door. She grasped the scissors tight
or and held her breath. But he had
learned his lesson. With indescribable
relief she saw him turn aside and cast
himself down upon the SAM where he
lay motionless. If she had had any
faith she would have breathed Thank
Cod" As II was, she was very glad
She watched him a long time. spec
ulating on the questions she had asked
him on the hill in the morning; who
he was what he was; whence he
came: where he had learned that bah
bic nj prayer: why he was devoid Of
81. eli; . al vas the God to whom
he prayed? She would study those
%tliuzs. The problems fascinated her.
The desolation and loneliness of the
Island might have crushed her. Re-
lieved from her immediate apprehen-
sions the man delighted her. She
would investigate him, analyzs him,
synthesize him, teach him. She would
mother him as a woman o child. No
such opportunity as was hers had ever
presented itself to a human being.
Free, as h imagined herself, from
inherited prejudices, devoid of old su-
perstitions, crammed with new learn
ing, Illuminated with new light, abb
vi ndAloW lulu85t II lduCltu
herself we'll fitted for that strangely
maternal and ~preceptive role in which
chance had placed her. She would play
upon that mind virgin to her touch, if
she might use a woman's word, until
1t ran in harmony with her own. Alone
upon that island, the rest of the world
away, she would find occupation, in
terest, inspiration in that nascent
man.
He lay so still and SO quiet that
presently she arose and tiptoed softly
to the entrance where unseen she
could look down upon him. The noon
rose back of the hill. Although he
was in the shadow, there was still re-
fraction sufficient to enable her to see
his face. He was asleep. The quiet.
dreamless, unvexed sleep Of q healthy
animal, she thought. Their positions
were reversed. He had watched her
before when she was off guard and
asleep with what dim. dumb. inchoate
effort 1t might be to comprehend her.
Now 1t was her turn. He took no
disfavor in her mind after her inspec-
ton. He was a bold, splendid piece
of what? Clay. She would put
a soul in him, her soul. Her soul was
the only thing she knew. She forgot,
or If she remembered it, disdained the
ancient concept hat before the dust
Of the earth became alive 1t had to
be permeated with the breath not
merely of man or woman, but of God.
She came back at last and sought
her corner, disposed her limbs to rest
and kept through silent hours her
lonely vigil. So long as he slept she
was safe. When he awakened, what
then? So long as his mind slept. his
soul slept, his consciousness slept, she
was safe, but when they, too, awak-
ened, when whatsoever light there
might be that dawns in personality
dispelled the night of idle dreams In
which he lived, what would happen
then?
Instinctively she shrank from the
thought of the future. She was as one
who had a potent talisman in her hand
and feared to put it to the touch. So
the fisherman in the Arabian tale, If
he had known the contents of the
corked bottle thrown up from the sea,
might have hesitated ere he drew the
stopper and released the prisoned
spirit. She must watch. she must
wait, she must be on her guard. She
forgot that when she had called him
Man" and laid her hand upon his
shoulder she had begun an evolution
which no human power could stop.
Never had the hours seemed so long
and so strange to her. Nothing hap
pened. Even the capacity to think
gives out in the strongest mind. the
acutest brain. temporarily or other
wise. She was very tired; the silence
was oppressive: the rusty scissors fell
from her hand and at last she slipped
down upon the sand and drifted away
into that slumber, that suspension Of
consciousness in which for the mo