Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1910-03-30
0oPsANNH 1904 ~ NC S1lNeW eoeNRrAr MGRkNy ARi4Av

!. -.ese clotnes, nave you oo1;as . !.
them?"
No. said the chaplain, ut has been
too dark in the first place, and"
will look at them" said Mr.. Whit
taker. Perhaps we may find some
new clew in them"
The Observation-Disclosures stopped
over the pathetic little heap of worn
garments. There were the blouse, the
skirt. the stockings. and the worn and
torn white shoes. The Bible lay upon
them assif to, weigh them down, and
they had been placed well above the
reach of the highest tide. The tide
was then Just coming in to the island.
The Bible had been opened and laid
face downward on the clothes. Mr..
Whitaker lifted 1t up reverently. He
observed as he did so that his, own
pencil. which he had left, he now re-
membered, with the woman, lay be-
meath the open book. On the blank
leaves between the Old and New ties,
tafnents something was written. No
mention of any writing had been
made in the afiidavit of the night be-
fore. He lifted 1t, turned his back
toward the east where the sun was
Just on the verge OF rising, and stud
led 1t out.
do you find anything?" asked the
chaplain. l9,i
There Is writing on this page said
the younger man. Il can just make it
out, s q u
Man. he read slowly, studying
each word in the dim light, Il loved
you. In one sense. in your sense, 1
was unworthy Of you. perhaps, but
not IN mine. You alone had my. heart.
The past was frightful mistake for,
which should not be blamed, but for
which must suffer. I tried you with
the world by your side. The world
was kind, but you were not You
broke my soul and killed something
within me which I had thought dead,
but which you had revived. No power
could revive It again. cannot marry
Langford, for do not love him, / will
not marry you, for you do not love me.
! will not go back to the world now.
! have no desire to do so and i cannot
live alone with you upon the island,
You will not go without me, and SO
will go first by myself alone. You will,
think of me, I know. in the great
world. Perhaps you will Judge your
self harshly, but do not judge you
at all. You did not know, you did not
understand. It came too suddenly
upon you. You cannot forget me. but
do not repine over me and remember
to the very last that II loved you.
Good-by. May God bless you, and
may he pity mel
Underneath she had written the i'm.
personal name which he had loved to
call her, Woman &
So characteristic was the letter that
that superscription was supererogatory
thought Mr.. Whitaker. Only a WON.
\ an could have written It. She had.
gone out of his life, because with her
IN At there was no solution of 1t for
him. Because how pitiful 1t sounded
there in the gray Of that morning in
that lone island to those two men!
because he did not love her. And she
had gone out OF it with excuses for
him on her lips and love for. him in
her heart. No wonder that, divining
thie which he had not seen, realizing
only that she was gone, he had been
stricken as he was. 81
The doctor arrived presently. He
ordered the man, still unconscious. to
be taken back to the ship where he
would do wha. he could toward reyiy-
ing him and pulling him through this
great and terrible crisis that had come
upon him. The chaplain went with
him, conceiving his duty to be in at
tendance upon the living rather than
searching for the dead.
The captain, with the other officers.
brought 100 men to the shore. The
island was Systematically searched. It
was all open. There was no place OF
concealment. but not a foot Of 1t was
left unvisited. Again and again the
men trayersed the island. They found
nothing, absolutely nothing. The
woman had vanished and left no trace
except the grass tunic in her cave, the
remains of her toilet articles, her scis-
scors. knife. watch and Bible and the
little heap of clothing ON the sand.
All these they carefully gathered up
and took back to the cruiser for the
man.
In the search, and made quite fran
tic by the necessity Of it, Langford
Joined. Indeed, he would not be per-
suaded that the woman he had treated
so badly. whom he had hunted SO de-
terminedly, whom he had loved SO
truly, who had rejected him finally,
was dead, but even he gave upat last.
5 Taking with them the evidence to
substantiate the woman's affidavit and
to establish, If SO be it were possible,
the mans claim, and taking with them
also the bones Of his mother, mot for
getting what remained of the faith
: full dog, which the captain caused to
be exhumed from the ruined boat, as
night fell the Cheyenne steamed away
Ito the northeast, followed not long
after by the Southern Cross. The two
Vesbels went sloWly, aS III lne Souls
that animated them were reluctant to
leave the gemlike island where they
had CHANGED upon 80 much that was
idyllic. SO much that was romantic;
and where they had seen so great 9
tragedy OF misfortune and despair.
Below in the cabin, under the care
of the sIlrgeOn and chsnlaiu Low tS,c
islander in the frightful throes of q
racking fever of the brain. He bah
bled OF the woman and knew moi
where he was or whittier he was being
borne.
CHAPTER XXI.
The Resurrection.
The little island lay quiet and still
thn rtu ~