Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-10-31

bounded on the west by the broad, shall
low channel to TIE ocean, on the east
connected with the mainland by sand
bar which half the day lay submerged.
He had, then, these alternativeS-he
might either compose himself to hug the
leeward tide of q dune till daybreak Cor
till relief should Gomez or else undertake
a f1ve-mile tramp on the desperate hope
Of finding at the end of it the tide out
and the sandbar a safe footway from
shore to shore. Between the two he
vacillated not at all; anything were pre-
ferable to a night in the dunes. beaten by
the implacable storm, haunted by the
thought of Quain; and even though he
were to find the eastern causeway under
water, at least the exercise would have
served to keep him from freezing
Ten minutes after his last cartridge had
been fruitlessly discharged. he set out for
the ocean beach. pausing at the first
dune he came upon to Scrape a shallow
trench in the sand and cache therein
both guns and his game bag. Marking
the spot with a bit OF driftwood stuck
upright. he pressed on, eventually paus-
ing on the overhanging lip of a twenty
foot bluff. To it's foot the beach below
was aswirl knee deep with the wash of
breakers, broad patches Of water black
and glossy as polished ebony alternating
with vast eXpanses Of foam and clotted
spume, all aglow with pale winter phos-
phorescence. Momentarily. as he watched.
at once fascinated and appalled,. noun
famous ridges of blackness heaved up out
of the storms gray heart, offshore. and,
curling crests edged with luminous white.
swung in to crash and Shatter thunder
ously upon the sands.
Awed and disappointed. Amber drew
back. The beach was impassable; here
was no wide and easy road to the east.
such as he had thought to find; to gain
the sandbar he had now to thread a tor
tuous and uncertain way through the be-
wiidering dunes. And the prospect was
not little disconcerting: afraid neither
of wind nor of cold, he was wretchedly
afraid of going astray in that uncertain.
shifting labyrinth. To lose ones self In
that trackless wilderness go"
A demon OF anxiety prodded him on
he must learn Quain's fate or so mad
Once on the mainland it were matter
Of facility to find his way to the village
Of Shampton. telephone Tanglewood and
charter a team to convey him thither
He shut his teeth on his determination
and set his face to the east.
Beset and roughly buffeted by the gale:
the snow settling I'm ripping drifts In the
folds of his clothing and upon his Shout
clouds of sand flung horizontally with
well nigh the force of birdshot from a
gun, he bowed to the blast and plodded
steadily OIL.
Imperceptibly fatigue benumbed his
senses. blunted the keen edge OF his emo
mere dull ache I'm the back of his percep-
tons; of physical suffering he was un-
conscious. He fell q prey to freakiSh
fancies-could stand aside and watch
himself. an atom whirling in the mad
dance of the tempest. as the snowflakes
whirled, as little potent. He saw himself
pitting his puny strength of mind and
body against the infinite force of the
elements; saw himself fall and rise and
battle on, gaining NOTTINGHAM atom, sport
M high 0n5Sf IN ha Of ftSna no
grew quite oblivious. his thoughts wan-
dering i'm the past. oddly afar to half-re-
membered scenes, to experiences more
than half forgotten, both wholly irrele-
want; picturesque and painful memories
cast UP from the deeps of the subcon-
seriousness by some inexplicable convul-
sion of the imagination. For long time
he moved on in stupid. wondering con-
temptation Of a shining crescent of sand
backed by a green. steaming wall of jun
gle; there was dense blue sky above.
and below. on the beach, dense blue
waters curled laZily up the feet of a lit
tie. naked. brown child, that played con-
tentedly with a shell of rainbow hues.
Again he saw throng upon a pter-head,
and I'm its forefront an unknown woman,
plainly dressed, with deep brown eyes
wherein despair dwelt. fearless but white
to the lips as she watched steamer
draw away. And yet again. he seemed
to stand with others upon the threshold
of the cardroom of Hongkong club-in
a glare of garish light a man in evening
dress lay prone across a table on whose
a sorbent, green cloth dark and ugly
stain was widening slowly. But for
the most part he fancied himself walking
through scented, autumnal woods, beside
a woman whose eyes were kind and dear,
whose lips were sweet and tempting-a
girl he had known not an hour but whom
already he loved. though he himself did
not dream II nor discover it till too late. |
. And with these many other visions
formed and dissolved in dreamlike phan-
but Of them all the strong
est and most recurrent was that OF the |
girl I'm the black riding habit. walking by |
his side down the aisle of trees. So that |
presently the tired and overweight man |
himself talking with her. rea-
soning, arguing. pleading desperately for |
his hearts desire: - and Weakened with |
q start. to hear the echo of her voice as |
though she had spoken but the instant /
gone. to find his own lips framing the |
syllables Of her name-"Sophia."
Thus strangely he came to know that |
beyond question he loved. And he stop-l
ped short and stood blinking blindly at
nothing, q little frightened by the depth