The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1909-06-20
CHAPTER XIV.
United.

upon that islandl They would have
been completely insupportable had it
not been for the forethought and kind
ness of Langfcrd. The books were not
such as she would have chosen, but
they were books at any rate. and she
! that he had left, she had fashioned for
herself such simple garments as were
suitable TO her situation, rejoicing that
she was no longer compelled TO wear
thc rough. coarse, chafing grass tunics
Of the past.
The greatest blessing. however, Of
all that had been left TO her was the
pencils. They had given her occupa~
tion after all other things had failed
her, for she had written down the
story of her life. Not imagining that
| they would ever be seen by human
eyes, she had poured her whole soul
out on the pages. Every incident
had been gone over. Not Rousseau
himself had been franker in his econ
| fessions' but here was only sweetness
and light She had restricted her
writing to a certain number of mo-
mcnts daily in order TO prolong the
occupation as much as possible and
she had carefully considered every
thing ere she put it down,
She had dwclt most of all on her
three years of life with the man on the
island She told of her hopes. her
fears, her trials, her struggles. her am
bitions. She neglected nothing. She
told Of her grief, her disappointment,
Of her further hope, She burned her
longing upon the white page. 1t was
revelation as would have thrilled the
unresponslve human race If it could
have read it. She had a wonderful
facility of expression and writing thus
out of her heart. deathlcss words came
upon the smooth leaves. She loved
thinking sadly Of that other book
which had made so much of a stir
in her world And so the work grew
and grew under her hand until upon n
certain day in early summer it was
| finished.
She would add no more to it, There
were n few blank pages left and few
stubs of pencils. These she would
reserve for what might come IN the
future. If he came back to her, she
would write it down. II she stayed
there until she died. when she was old
and lonely and broken, she would
write down her final words again and
leave them for whomsoevcr might
chance upon the record in some future
hour. But when she had completed it,.
she was strangely sad. II was as II
another chapter in her life had ter
minated, and she knew not exactly
how she could take 1t up again and go
on the unvarying round.
Twice daily she had gone TO the
heaven kissing hill high in the center
Of the island where she had laborious-
ly builded another pyre for another
beacon Morning and evening with nm
varying routine she had scanned the
horizon, this time with an excellent
glass that Langford had left her. Not
once had she sighted a ship He never
came; no one ever came. Hope grad
ually died away in her heart. She
wished now that she had not insisted
that Tangford should not say that she
was alive Her longing for sight Of
each day found the burden of life with.
out him moro terrible and uncomfortable
than that Of the day before. Would
he never come? Would she live and
grow old there and die there7
IL it had not hcen for the books and
for her task, she could not have sur.
vivcd, Her brain would have gone
that in use by reading aloud day hy
day page after page from ope OF the
other of the volumes that she had
One evening she climbed YEARLY to
the top Of the hill and listlessly swept
the horizon. the bare. vacant, unbroker
horizon. which she had surveyed morn
ing and evening all these wears. Sht
expected nothing. but suddenly ther,
sprang into the object class of the tele
scope dark blur which she had neve
seen before. Her hand trembed 81
I that she almost dropped the glass Sh,
: strove to pick up that object again anc
i, could not do il in her nervous agita
! ton. Finally she lay down upon th,
: hill and rested her arms npon lI,tl
rise Of ground. and thus steadying tn,
glass. managed to find it once more
3 1t could be nothing but the smoke o
/. ship!
The sky was without a cloud; sh
could not be deceived. r. WAS mile
a away. of course. yet If the ship wa
. visible to her. the land would be NOR
> visible on account of lis bulk compare
lively To those aboard OF her Yet th
. ship, if it were bound on some tradin,
voyage, would probably pass by Whn
1 should she do? She had sworn tha
: she would stay on that island. live an,
i. die there. unless he came 10 fetch her
l.. but the longing 10 see him. 10 hear abou
him. to know what had become OF him
. bad ornwn so great that her resolution