The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1909-12-11
CHAPTER XIV.
United.

now aWrul had been those two years
upon that islandi They would have
been completely insupportable had It
not been for the forethought and kind.
ness OF Langford. The books were not
such as she would have chosen. but
tney were books. at any rate, and she
Knew them by heart. OF the cloth
tnat he had left. she had fashioned for
nerself such simple garments as were
suitable to her situation, rejoicing that
she was no longer compelled to wear
the rough, coarse, chatting grass tunics
Of the past.
the greatest blessing, however, of
all that had been left to her was the
writing paper. the note books and
pencils. They had given her occupa.
ZION after all other things had failed
her, for she had written down the
story of her life. Not imagining that
they would ever be seen by human
eyes, she had poured her whole soul
out on the pages. Every incident had
peen gone over. Not Rousseau him.
SELF had been franker in his "Confes.
s1ons," but here was only sweetness
and light. She had restricted her
writing to certain number of mo-
ments daily in order to prolong the
occupation as much as possible. and
she had carefully considered every.
thing ere she put it down.
Twice daily she had gone to the
heaven-kissing hill high in the center
OF the island where she had laborious.
~ builded another pyre for another
beacon. Morning and evening with
unvarying routine she had scanned the
horizon, this time with an excellent
glass that Langford had left her. Not
once had she sighted ship. He never
came; no one ever came. Hope grad.
ually died away in her heart.
One evening she climbed wearily to
the top Of the hill and listlessly swept
the horizon. the bare, vacaAt. un.
broken horizon, which she had sur.
veyed morning and evening all these
years. She expected nothing, but sud.
denly there sprang into the object
glass OF the telescope a dark blur
which she had never seen before. Her
hand trembled so that she almost
dropped the glass. She strove to nick
up that object again and could not do
IL IN her nervous agitation. Finally
she lay down upon the hill and rested
her arms upon a little rise of ground.
and thus steadying the glass, managed |
to find 1t once more. It could be moth. |
ing but the smoke of ship!
The sky was without cloud: she
could not be deceived. 1t was miles |
away, of course, yet if the ship was
visible to her, the land would be more |
visible on account of its bulk compare.
lively to those aboard of her Yet the
ship, If 1t were bound on some trading
voyage, would probably pass by.
What should she do? She had sworn
that she would stay on that island.
live and die there, unless he came to
fetch her. but the longing to see him,
to hear about him, to know what had
become OF him, had grown so great
that her resolution was trembling in
the balance, and in the smoke of that
ship 1t vanished into thin air.
She had means of striking a light
which Langford had left her. which
and mechanically she al
ways brought with her when she
climbed up the crest of the hill to seek
sor sail. She lifted the matches and
approached the beacon. She remem-
oered how once before she had lighted
hat beacon; she remembered how he
had pleaded with her not to do so,
now In doing 1t she had brought the
world upon her with such terrible con-
sequences to her. Should she do Il
again! What would happen II she did?
She laid the matches down and lifted
he glass once more. Yes, the shin
vas still there. She was so far away
indeed that the short time which had
elapsed would have made no change In
Ter apparent position.