Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1909-12-29
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me hours ran on until the declin-
ing sun and the, GOODNESS that came
with the late afternoon warned her
that If she were to continue her ex-
plorations she must be about 1t i'm
mediately. So she rose and nerving
herself to her task went toward the
coppice where lay the CHASTITY remains
Of what had been human being.
Forcing herself to the duty with her
knife she carefully cut away the rush
es, being particular not to disturb the
bones of the skeletons. AS before she
did all this in the face of vigorous
remonstrance from the man. In some
way, she could not tell how, the place
was horrible to him. He would never
have come near.it evidently ofhis own
will, and although the power of mem
DRY in him was but latent, the impress.
sion that had been produced upon him
by what she found there at some
period in his life was strong enough
to make him avoid it forever.
She did not ask him for assist
ance, indeed. she would not have
trusted him with the knife under any
circumstances, and he made no at
tempt to keep close to her He stood
on the outskirts of the coppice in
great state of excitement, uttering
without sequence or reason such
words as she had taught him. To him,
in this instance, she gave no heed.
Presently she had completely I'M
4 covered the two skeletons. She had
studied anatomy, but was not spe-
cialist in that department of human
leasning. She thought that the skele-
ton before her was that of woman
She measured its length with piece
OF tall grass and compared it with her
own. They were both of size. The
soil in which the bones lay was soft
and porous. Every vestige of clothing
had long since rotted away and disap-
peared with the flesh it covered. If
the person whose bones lay there had
worn, any article of gold or silver,
which, being rustless would have sur
vived the long exposure, they were
probably buried in the earth beneath
the bones. She would attend to that
later.
Then she looked toward the bones
at the feet of the human remains and
decided instantly that they were the
bones of a dog. Across the vertebrate
lay piece of metal She picked it up,
recognizing 1t instantly as a plate
which had probably belonged to
dog collar. There was an inscription
on it which she did not take the trou-
BILE at the moment to read. Slipping
1t into the bosom of her tunic and
making sure that the confining rope
would keep it from falling out, she
stopped down and gathered the bones
of the human being up in her arms,
repulsive as the task was, and carried
them down to the boat on The beach.
She laid them in the bottom of the
boat carefully and then moved by
sudden impulse, she went back and
gathered up those of the dog which
she put in the boat also. 1t was an
easy matter to tumble few spadefuls
of sand over the bones. Then she left
them in that rude Viking sculpture,
knowing that time would soon refill
the empty dinghy and the bones would
be safely buried unless some other In.
vestigator should uncover them.
The man had assisted her in no way
in this process, but his excitement was
very great. While she stood looking
down at the little heap of sand which
covered all that remained Of this for
lorn and forgotten visitor to this is.
land, wondering If the fate Of that
trespasser upon these silent shores
would some day be hers, the man sud
denly dropped on his knees as she had
seen him do on her first night on the
island. He put his hands together and
began that mumbled jargon which she
had not been able to understand, but
which had seemed to her more like
language than anything to which he
had given vent. She was surprised be-
yond measure, yet she listened with
every faculty on the alert if possible
to comprehend what he had been say
ing, and presently a familiar sound or
two flashed into her mind that he
was making use of prayer which she
herself had used in childhood; that,
absurd, fantastic, impossible though
the conclusion was, he was saying the
childish petition, Now lay me down
to sleep!"
The first impulse of the woman was
to laugh. The next impulse was to
take off the palm leaf hat and stand
with bowed head and clasped hands.
What marvellous miracle was this
that throughout the years which she
could no longer doubt this man had
been alone on the island, there had
survived the one childish habit Of
prayer and that the one vestige of
language which had remained to him
was the language Of petition She did
not believe in it, of course. 1t was
absurd to her, but it was none the less
wonderful. 1t filled her with certain
awe 1t was as If some power had
maintained hold upon the conscious
ness OF this man in this way.
NOW lay me down to sleep!" How
long 1t had been since she had said
Ihat? She believed nothing. she cared
for nothing, but the woman hid her
lace in her hands for moment. She
clenched her teeth and forced out of
her mind that which at that moment
was striving for birth. She was to
teach this man everything. She was
to make him know slife and history.
She was to bring him in touch with all
the glories of to-day and she recoa
nlzed in that hour, although she did
not and could not admit it, that per
haps he might teach her something
as well, something that; she had not
known or something that she had for
gotten, without the knowledge of
which all her science was vain, a
foolish, futile thing
The little prayer was ended. The
man rose to his feet She. took her
spade and went back to the place
where the bodies had lain and there
began carefully to scrape away the
earth, examining scrupulously every
shoyelful ere she threw it aside. In
one place where the hand had lain,
she remembered, her labors were re-