The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1909-10-05

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Leaving a FunneI-shaped Hollow in
the Sand.
! en- without water and it did not occur
| to him that Baraka might be hungry.
| Perhaps, even II he had known that
| she was, he would not have given her
| of what he had he would have kept
it for himself. What was the life of a
| wild hill-grl compared with his? But
| the vulture was watching him, as well
as Baraka, and would not move from
it's pinnacle till the end, though days
might pass.
Baraka was not thirsty yet, because
she had drunk her fill in the morn
ing, and was not used to drink often:
it was enough that she could look at
the man she loved. for the end would
come soon enough without thinking
about it. All day long the traveller
crouched in the hollow of the ruby
cave, and Baraka watched him from
her place; when it grew dark the vul'
ture on the pinnacle of rock thrust its
ugly head under it's wing. AS soon as
Baraka could not see any more she
curled herself up on the white sand
like little wild animal and went to
sleep, though she was thirtsy.
| 1t was dawn when she awoke, and
her linen garment was damp with the
dew, so that the touch of it refreshed
her. The traveller had come out and
was lying prone on the sand, his face
buried against his arm, as soldiers
sleep in bivouac She could not tell
whether he was asleep or not, but she
knew that he could not see her, and
she cautiously sucked the dew from
her garment, drawing it up to her
mouth and squeezing 1t between her
lips.
1t was little enough refreshment,
but 1t was something, and she was not
afraid, which made difference. Just
as she had drawn the edge of her shift
down and round her ankles again, the
man turned on his side suddenly, and
then rose to his feet. For an instant
lie gi&re" ~ her, and she saw that
his blue eyes were bloodshot and
burning; then he picked up the heavv
camel bag, and began to make his
way round what had been the beach Of
the pool, towards the passage through
which they had entered, and which
was now a dry cave, wide below, mar
row at the top, and between six or
seven feet high. He trod carefully
and tried his way, for he feared the
quicksand, but he knew that there
was none in the passage, since he had
walked through the water and had
felt the way hard under his feet. In
few moments he disappeared under
the rock.
Baraka knew what he meant to do;
he was going to try to dig through the
dam at the entrance to let the water
in, even if he could not get out; but
she did not move, for in that narrow
place and in the dark she could not
have helped him. She sat and waited
with sweat and yet parching with
thirst, and he would glare at her hor
ribly again; perhaps he would be mad
when he came out and would kill her
because she had brought him there.
After some time she heard a very
faint sound overhead, and when she
looked up the vulture was gone from
his pinnacle. She wondered at this
and her eyes searched every point
and crevice of the rock as far as she
could see, for she knew that the evil
bird could only have been frightened
away; and though it fears neither
bird nor beast, but only man, she
could not believe that any human be
ing could find foothold near tt
, where it had perched.
! For some seconds, perhaps for 6
! whole minute, she saw nothing, though
, she gazed up steadily, then she saw
that small patch of snowy white was
moving slowly on the face of the cliff
| at some distance above the place
where the vulture had been. She ben
, her brows in the effort to see more
t by straining her sight, and meanwhile
/. the patch descended faster than Il
seemed possible that man coul(
, climb down that perilous steep. Ye
: it was man, she knew from the first
and soon she saw him plainly, in hi
loose shirt and white turban, and will
long gun slung across his back
Nearer still, and he was down to tn,
. jutting pinnacle where the vulture ha,
sat. and she saw his black beard: stip
nearer by few feet and she kneN
him, and then her glance darted t
a the mouth Of the cave. at the othe
end of which the man she loved wa
!, toiling desperately alone in the dar
to pierce the dam of earth and Stone
1t was only glance, in second {
time. but when she looked up tn