The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-02-16
HE LADY OF
 THE HEAVENS
ropyright, 1908, by H. Rider Haggard
fcontinued from page &,

f fsopJTAShI, lVOo, Dy Ill. hlQer Haggard
 tcontinued from page s.)
 accompanied by hurricane of wind ma deluge of rain, through which the lightning blazed necessarily. The Enunoer claps too were so loud and constant that the sound of them which nook the earth. made it impossible for Klchard and Rachel to hear each other gpeak. So they were silent preforce. Phly Richard rose and looked out of Inc cave. then turned and beckoned to hfs companion. She came to him and watched. till suddenly blinding sheet 2. Flame lit up the whole landscape. rhen she saw what he was looking at, Tor now nearly all the island except mat high part of it on which they |tood. was under water, hidden by a brown. seething torrent that tore past them to the sea.
 If it rises much more. we shall be Crowned" he shouted in her ear.
 She nodded. then cried back:
 Let us say our prayers ana get ready" for 1t seemed to Rachel that Inc glory of which her father spoke 10 often was nearer to them than ever.
 Then she drew him back into the cave and motioned to him to kneel be- side her. which he did bashfully enough. and for while the two chill aren. for they were little more. re- h1ained thus with clasped hands and moving lips. Presently the thunder Iessened a little so that once more they sould hear each other speak.
 What did YOU pray about?" he ask Ed when they had risen from their knees ,t.N4r .4
 T prayed that you might escape, and that my mother might not grieve for he too much she answered simply And you?'
 fo1,+ escape. I did not pray for my mother Is she is dead. and I forgot about tather.''
 Look. look!'' exclaimed Rachel, pointing to the mouth of the cave.
 He stared out at the darkness. and Ihere.. through the thin flames of the Hre. saw two great yellow shapes which appeared to be walking up and flown and glaring into the cave.
 "Lions.' he gasped. snatching at his kun.
 Don't shoot!" she cried. you might nake them angry. Perhaps they only want to take refuge like ourselves. The lire will keep them away"
 He nodded, then remembering that ane charge and priming of his flint bck roer must be damp. hurriedly set To work by the help of Rachel to draw k with the screw on the end of his lamroad, and this done, he reloaded RkSA 8OE1G UONWtI6T CIlAI 1le uCu dIA Cooy placed to dry on fiat stone near the Ire. This operation took five minutes gr more. When at length it was f1n- khed and the lock reprfmed with the Try powder, the two of them, Richard koidiMg the roer, crept to the mouth If the cave and looked out again.
 The great storm was passing now, md the rain grew thinner, but from hrne to time the lightning, no longer orked or chain shaped, flared in wide Iheets. By it's ghastly illumination hey saw a strange sight. There on Inc island top the two lions marched backwards and forwards as though they were in a cage, making 8 kind If whimpering noise as they went, and taring round them uneasily. More bver, these were not alone, for gatrf- lred there were various other animals, lriven down by the flood from the islands above them, reed and water bucks, and 8 great eland. Among these the lions walked without mak- ng the slightest effort to attack them, hor did the antelopes. which stood Iniffing and staring at the torrent, take lny notice of the lions, or attempt to escape.
 .sYou are right said Richard, 'sthey l Ire all frightened, and will not harm l Hs unless the water rises more, and hey rush into the cave. Come, make ID the fire.''
 They did so, and sat down on it's further side, watching till, as nothing happened f their dread of the lions passed away, and they began to talk lgain, telling to each other the stories If their lives.
 Richard Darrien,it it seemed, had been n Africa about five years, his father having emigrated there on the death If his mother. as he had nothing but he half-pay of "a retired naval cap tain, and he hoped to better his for tunes in new land He had been granted farm in the Graaf-Reinet district, but like many other of the | rarly settlers, met with misfortunes. Now, to make money, he had taken to klephant-hunting, and with his part aers was just returning from a very successful expedition in the coast ands of Natal, at that time an almost anexplored territory, His father had lllowed Richard to accompany the barty, but when they got back, added he boy with sorrow, he was to be yent for two or three years to the col iege at Cape Town since until then his tather had not been able to afford him the luxury of an education Aft erwards he wished him to adopt a profession, but on this point he-l Richard-had made up his mind, al- though at present he said little about hat He. would be a hunter, and noth- l Ing else. until bL grew too old to hunt, when he intended to take to farming.
 His story done, Rachel <. told him hers, to which he listened eagerly
 .'Is your father mad?'' he asked, when she had finished.
 'sNo," she answered. "How dare Fou suggest it? He is only very good; much better than anybody else.''
 ''Well, it seems to come to much the yame thing, doesn't it?" said Richard, for otherwise he would not have sent you to gather gooseberries here with such storm coming on.''
 Then why did your father send you 10 hunt lions with such q storm com Ing on?" she asked.
 "He didn't send me. I came of myself; said that I wanted to shoot buck, and finding the spoor of a lion followed it. The wagons must be long way ahead now, for when I left them I returned to that kloof where I had seen the buck. I don't Enow how I shall overtake them again, and certainly nobody will ever think of looking for me here, as after this rain they can't spoor the horse."
 "Supposing you don't find it-I mean your horse-tororrow, what shall you do?' asked Rachel, "We t- f<