The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1910-05-05

should be brought her. And yet when
he did appear with cocoanut shell
brimming with clear, sparkling liquid,
she felt as though the elixir of life
had been proffered her.
She seized the shell with both hands
which yet so trembled that most of
the precious water spilled on her dress
as she carried it to her parched lips.
This was good in the end, for If that
vessel had been the famed Jotuneheim
drinking horn, she would have drained
it dry ere she set it down. AS it was,
she got but little; yet that little was
enough to set her heart beating once
more. Emptying the shell of the last
drop-and with that keenness of per-
intensified and developed, marking the
while that it had not been cut clean
by any knife or saw or human imple-
ment, but was jagged and broken as
If from a fall, she dropped it on the
sand and looked again toward the
man. He held in his hand fruit Of
some kind, she did not know what it
was. 1t might have been poison. What
mattered it? Having drunk she must
also eat. 1t looked edible, it was in
J Viting to the eye and smell, and as she
sunk her teeth into it, she found it
agreeable to the taste also. He had
brought it to her. If ne had meant
harm, present harm, surely he would
not have given the water. She ate it
confidently.
AS the man saw her partake of what
he had given her, he clapped his hands
and laughed. She was grateful for
that laugh. 1t was more human than
the babbling sounds which he made
before.
There was but little of the fruit, just
what child would have brought and
this again was good for her, for had
I there been an abundance, in her need
she would have eaten until she had
made herself i'll. When she had par
taken, she rose to her feet. Before do
ing this she had extended her hand
to him as if seeking assistance, but he
had simply stared at her uncompre-
hending and she had been forced to
get to her feet unaided. Once stand
| ing, she trembled and would have
fallen, but that she caught his arm
and steadied herself by holding tightly
| to it. The man started back at her
| touch. Color came and went in his
| face; little shudders swept over him.
his mouth opened; he looked at her
xryith cin of
unmixed with terror in his eyes, for
this was the first time in his recollec-
tion or what would have been his rec
objection if his retrospective faculties
had been developed, that he had ever
felt the touch of womans hand, of
any human hand upon him.
Noticing his peculiar demeanor in |
the, to her, perfectly natural situation, |
the woman summoning some of the |
remains of the reserve of force which |
is in every human body until life is
gone, released his arm and stared |
about her leaning against the trunk of
the nearest palm. This time, and for |
the first time, she took in that expanse |
of sea, lonely yet beautiful, upon which |
her eyes were to look so often. Out |
of the deep and the night she had |
come. Into what deep and into what
day had she arrived?
She turned and surveyed the shore.
The beach curved sharply to the right
and to the left, the long barrier reef
following roughly it's contour until the
land obscured it on either side. Back
of her stretched grove of palms and
back Of that rose hill; its crest bare
and crag-like lowered above a sea of
verdure Through a chance vista she
saw the mass of rock as mountain
peak. On one side high precipitOus
cliffs ran down close to the shore and
shut out the view. Over them water
fell to the beach.
Save in the person of the man be-
side her there was not an evidence of
humanity anywhere. No curl of smoke
rose above the trees. No distant call
of human voices smote the fearful hol-
low of her ear. The breeze made music
in the tall palms and in the thick YER
dure farther up the hill side, birds
sang softly here and there, but there
was a tropical stiffness to which the
great heaving diapason on the distant
barriers was foundation of sound
upon which to build lonely quiet
Human beings there might be, there
must be, on that island, If island it
were; but if so, they must be abiding
on the farther side. She and the man
were alone.
Standing on her feet, with slight
renewal of her strength from what
she had eaten and drunk, the woman
now felt less fear of the man. He had
treated her kindly. His aspect was
gentle, even amiable. He looked at
her wistfully, bending his brows from
time to time and ever and again shak-
ing his head, as a great dog looks at
the master with whom he would fain
speak, whose language he would fain
understand, to whom he would fain
impart his own ideas if he could.
She stared at him perplexed. She
was entirely at loss what to do, until
her eyes rowing past him detected
dark object on the water line just
where the still blueness touched the
white sand. The sunlight was re-
fected from CLEANS of metal, and
thinking that she recognized it, she
stepped from the shade Of the palms
and made her way unsteadily toward
it. The mar, without sound, follow
ed closely at her side.
Her vision had been correct, for she
drew out of the sand leather hand
bag, such as women carry. 1t had
been elaborately fitted with bottles and
mirrors and toilet articles. Alas, 1t