The Sauk Centre herald., 1909-09-09

they were already white and red and
yellow in the light of the risen sun;
for in that country there is no very
long time between dark night and
broad day.
Baraka sat down again, on the spot
where she had slept, but she said
nothing. The man was trying to dig
q little hole in the wet sand with his
hands, beyond the water that was
still left, for perhaps he thought that
II he could make pit on one side,
some water would stay in it; but the
sand ran together as soon as ne
moved It; and presently, as he bent
over, he felt that he was sinking into
II himself, and understood that it was
q sort of quioksand that would suck
him down. He therefore threw himself
nat on his back, stretching out his
arms and legs, and, making move
ments as If he were swimming, he
worked his way from the dangerous
place till he was safe on the firm
white beach again. He sat up then. and
bent his head till his forehead pressed
on his hands, and he shut his eyes to
keep out the light of day; He had
not slept, as Baraka bad, but he was
not sleepy; perhaps he would not be
able to sleep again before the end
come. Baraka watched him quietly,
for she understood that he despaired
of life, and she wondered what he
would do; and, besides, he seemed to
her the most beautiful man in the
world, and she loved him, and she was
going to die with him.
It comforted her to think that no
other woman could get him now. 1t
was almost worth while to die for that
alone; for she could not have borne
that another woman should have him
since he despised her, and If it had
come to pass she would have tried to
kill that other. But there was no
danger of such a thing now; and he
would die first, and she would kiss
him many times when he was dead,
and then she would die also.
= The pool was all gone by this time,
leaving a funnel-shapped hollow In
the sand where it had been. II any
water still leaked through from with
out It lost itself under the sand, and
the man and the girl we're at the bot
tom of q great natural we'll that was
quite dry. Baraka looked up, and she
saw a vulture sitting in the sun on
pinnacle, 300 feet above her head. He
would sit there till she was dead, for
he knew what was coming; then he
would spread his wings little and let
himself down awkwardly, half-fying
and half-scrambling. When he had
finished, he would sit and look at her
bones and doze, till he was able to fly
away.
The hours passed, and the sun rose
higher in the sky and struck deeper
into the shady we'll, till he was almost
overhead, and there was scarcely any
shadow left 1t became very hot and
sitting, because the passage through
which the air had entered with the
water was shut up. Then the traveller
took off his loose jacket, and opened
his flannel shirt at the neck, and
turned up his sleeves for GOODNESS,
and he crept backwards into the hol-
low where the ruby mine was, to shell
ter himself from the sun. But Baraka
edged away to the very foot of the
cliff, where there remained belt of
shade, even at noon; and as she sat
there she took the hem of her one
garment in her hands and slowly
famed her little feet. Neither he nor
she had spoken for many hours, and
she could see that in the recess of the
rock he was sitting as before, with
his forehead against his hands that
were clasped on his knees, in the at
titude and bearing of despair.
He began to be athirst now, in the
heat. If he had not known that there
was no water he could easily have
done without it through long day,
but knowledge that there was none,
and that he was never to drink again,
parched his life and his throat and his
tongue till it felt like dried fig in his
mouth. He did not feel hunger, and
indeed he had little food in a wallet
he carried; but he could not have eat