Camas Prairie chronicle. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1901-1917, 1909-02-26
Constable carefully related the crusc


episode.
Breen groaned. Don't you see, Peter,
you are winding yourself up tighter and
tighter In my crimes2"
Somehow, can't get wrought up over
trifes tonight. The detective matter dis
posed of, what are the other reasons why
you and 1 must diverge after this night"
Breen was silent a moment. II was
pretty hard-hit this morning" he said
finally. 1.-THE rough weather broke down
my idea about not going to the shop
again. 1t seems incredible, but Soronia
has never had a lover-before. l found
her-n you'll forgive me-in need of me.
You see, had just come from the reek-
ing stone of sacrifice where you lay; and
1 relit a pair of creole eyes-promised
to go to sea no more"
Suppose had missed Crusoe?" Con-
stable asked bitterly. Suppose l had
been a poor liar?"
'"There are many Crusoes, Peter. They
won't all fail. You can't keep this one
off always. 1t amounts to just this for
me-that have found my little isle in
the midst of the sea, like that other pro-
moter who all but conquered Europe"
"But why could you not both 60 aboard
with me-" the other persisted.
II have told you that after this ride
1 cease to vampirize the career OF Con-
stable. If Crusoe finds the Rue de Rivoli,
very we'll. If not, for the present, very
well again. None of his ilk shall find
you and me together. Two or three times,
back across the forbidden tundras of
years, 1 have met men who stack up
something as you do in my thoughts to-
night. 1 never hurt any of those fellows
as have hurt you. I'm too fond Of you
to hit you any harder. Let's talk about
something else"
Constable had received a singular Gp-
| peal. He knew that If there were any
future for him, he would think of Breen's
last words coordinate in memory with
the quabing rim of the crater. 1t did not
occur. 10 him to answer at once. They
were passing through Morne Rouge, sc
overcrowded now that people were sleep
| ing In the streets. On the dark down
trail again, words did not come to him
and when the party re-entered the banl
of falling ash and the sulphur stencil, il
was not good to open ones mouth II
speech.
The guides were paid at the edge o.
the city. Saint Pierre was dark and har
rowingly still The hoof-beats of the two
mules which the Americans retained wer'
muffled In the ash, as If they were pound
ing along the sandy beach. Often thu
rousing fetor of death reached the nostril
of the riders, above the drying, cutting
vapor of the volcano, and their beasts
SHE'D and snorted at the untoward humps
on the highway. 1t was as If war anC
pestilence had stalked through Sain
Pierre that day, and a winter storm haC
tried to cover the dreadful aftermath. 4
door opened at last before them, anC
there was a cry from Soronia. Per-
Rabeaut hurried out and led the mules tt
shelter.
Constable sank into his old seat at thu
round table under the window. He watch
ed Breen and the woman. His friend wa
huge and lean in the lamp light; hi
white clothing stained from the saddle
his hair and mustache white from ash, hi
black eyes burning In face haggard unto
ghastliness The woman was in his arml
as they stood together. What they said
| Constable did not allow his mind to rea
son with, but the glory of her loVer''
presence which shone in the eyes of So
| roma called down upon the watcher hil
own black vistas of desolation. She haC
found, for an hour, the true and the beau
tiful-the soul anchorage which he wai
never to know! He would keeI
all craft of the Crusoe stamp from
laundering into her sweet haven-thic
much he could do, was his thought. Food
was placed before him, and he ate a lit
tie, for the sake of Breen. His eyes
panied from the lamplight, and he drop,
ped his face forward into his arms on the
table. Close to the wood, the vibrations
of the mountain doomed louder in his
ears.
"But you must not go away again ~
Soronia implored.
Eyes, for an hour-two hours at the
most-little fairy" Breen whispered.
They were in the living rooms across
the court, where the bird cages were
TERED and covered with cloths. She chung
to him pitifully.
with you away-oh, my lover, no, no
l cannot live again for hours
and hours ~
Hush he is in great trouble. He
must not awake until after l am gone,
Then he must not know where l have
gone. l am going to the plantation house
on the Morne dOrange. 1t is for him
Two hours at the most, and the last
the last 1 shall ever leave you, little
fairy"
Breen recrossed the court and entered
the fruit shop on tiptoe. Constable die
not move; his breathing was inaudible
At the street door Soronia Joined him like
a shadow. He kissed her and put hel
arms from him. 1t was sleven-ffteer
by the old French clock.
Soronia, alone, stared for an instant
at the figure sprawled across the table
the man who had caused her lover twic,
to be torn from her arms that day. Their
she moved to a chair, in the shadows a
the far end of the shop, and sat down
rigidly to wait.
CHAPTER XII.
IN the dim upper hallway, Lara rea,
in the face of her mother, hard and whit
as ivory, that the clash of wills had come
a slender arm barred the door through
which the daughter had to pass.
Lara, what do you mean to do?''