The Emmett index. [volume] (Emmett, Idaho) 1893-1925, 1909-01-07
CHAPTER XvI.-fContinued.l


brain how many times the splendid spiri
OF the woman recalled her own lowlie
faculties to action and the terrible mean
ing of the quest-only God and thes
knew. But the little boat held its prov
to the desolate shore.
T They gained the Sugar Landing at last
! and strange sounds came from the lips o
Ernst, as he pointed to the hulk of tn,
launch, burned TO the water line. Gray
covered heaps were sprawled upon thu
shore, some half-coyered By the incoming
tide, some entirely awash Pelee haC
brought down the city; and the fre-tigel
had rushed in at the kill. He was kissing
and crunching still, under the ruins. The
woman moaned and covered her face
There is nothing alive :" she said with
dreadful STRESS
What else could you Lux fur?" Mac
ready demanded. wait till we get over
tn hill, and you'll hear tn burrds sing
in the naygurs lsughin' in the fields an
wonderin' why the milkman don't come. -
Il can live-yes, can live-until l see
our house crushed to the hill, all coated
with paste, and those heaps lying about
on the ground "A woman can't
| be a friend like a man! You will stand
and uncover your heads-when you see
your friend lying upon the ground-and
Il will die p
She was walking between them, up to-
ward the market place, fighting back her
terrors, which added to the burdens of the
men. The opened space was filed with
the stones from the houses, hurled there
as from a dice box. Smoke and steam
oozed forth from every ruin. The silence
was awful as the sight of death. Rue
Victor Hugo was effaced, the way up to-
ward the morne undiscernible breath
ing pile of debris barred every way. 1t
was plain that they must make their way
southwark along the shore.
If l cud on'y get holt O. that barna-
Gle av a sharks loot, Pugh-if cud on'y
get him here vance bare-futted," Denny
gasped-"sure I'd lie happy holdin az
him Ha don't sthep there ~
He pulled her away from a puddle of
uncongealed stuff as hot as running iron.
Once he had stepped upon what
seemed to be an ash-covered stone. Ii
was soft, springy, and vented a wheezy
sigh. Rain and rock-dust had smeared
all things alike in this gray, roasting
shambles.
''Speak-won't you please speak, the
woman cried suddenly.
at luks like rain, ma'am," Macready's
quick tongue offered.
They were on the shore, nearing the
rise of the Morne d'Orange. Saint Pierre
had rushed to the sea-at the last The |
mountain had found the women with the |
children, as all manner of visitations find |
them-and the men little apart. There !
was nothing to do by the way, no lips |
to moisten, no voice of pain TO hush, no /
dying thing to ease. Pelee had not fall |
tered at the last. There was not I'm in
sect murmur in the air. nor a crawling |
thing beneath, not q moving wing in the
hot gray sky. They traversed a shore
of death absolute-these three-and the
woman was thinking ahead.
From the shoulder of the morne Lara
turned back one look Saint Pierre was
like a mouth that had lost its pearls The
land ahead was a husk Invested of its
fruit. Pelee had cut the cane fields, suck
ed the juices, and left the blasted stalks
in his paste. The plantation house push
ID forth no shadow of an outline. 1t might
be felled, or lost in the smoky distance
The nearer landmarks were gone-homes
that had frightened the morne in their
lay, whose windows had flashed the rays
If the afternoon sun as it rode down over
like the fields of cane. There
vas no balm. no saving grace. Pelee had
swept far and left only his shroud, and
he heaps upon the way, to show that the
I'D sea-road, so white, so beautiful. had
,een the haunt of man. The mangoes
lad lost their vesture the palms were
-narled and naked fingers pointing to the
,itiless sky.
She had known this highway in the
when joy was not dead, when !
he songs of the toilers and the laughter !
f children glorifed the fields; in the ,
Thite moonlight when the sweet draughts !
rom the sea met and mingled with the {
pice from torrid hills, and scent Of jas {
nine and rose gardens. The [
ark eyes under the huge helmet were /
taring ahead; her lips were parted and S
-hite. Though they had passed the ra- I
ius of terrific heat, she seemed slowly {
D be sufocating. Macready remembered l
is voice. Il
Things are queer by the sea, masm. I
low, il I'd ha' TUX Pugh be tn t'roat I'd o
e intertainin' Mr.. Constable presently in y
he bottom av tn ship, logged out head +
a. fut in irons fur tn occasion, an he'd I
~, 'Dinny why didn't you sthand be tn
Idy whin l tould you? Perhaps you can b
and be tn bunkers betther, me son. Go f
thin, We goat Ernst, lad, p
pure intertainin', you're loquenchus."
The woman was stepping forward d
Witty between them. Words died upon u
-acready's tongue when he saw her face q
I'D thought OF what she would find i
head. He believed that she would keep a
sr word-that she would break, brain O.
Id body-if the mountain had shown no
ercy at their journeys end. P
nd Macready did not hope The man a.
whom he had tied his own life would 81
down like the others, and the great
,use about him All that a soft Irish SC
art could feel Of terror and bereave-
ent had waged in his breast for hours m
D let the woman succumb among her &c
ad was more than he could bear. m
The ruins of the plantation house wav-
ed forth from the fog The prayer had 81
t availed; the day still lived A swoon -