Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1910-05-06
CHAPTER II-ContInued.


The next thing she remembered, she
was u~nclosing her eyes as she had
done early in the morning and the
mar was still watching by her side.
She had been so utterly wearied by
her strange adventure, by her long
wrestling with thirst and starvation
in the open boat that before she knew
It WEAKNESS overcame her. He had
watched by her side without molest3ng
her. 1t was late In the evening now.
The problem OF the night had to be
faced. This time the man took the
Initiative. He walked along the shore
a little way and then looked back at
her, and repeated the process once or
twice as a dog might have done who
was DESTROYS of bringing his master to
some appointed place. Understanding
she rose and followed him. He led her
along the sands now Swallowed by the
tall palms until they came to the rfvu-
let, where she stopped and drank once
more. They passed 1t, he plunging
bodily through it's shadows; she leap
ing from rock to rock until she reach
ed the other bank. He went swiftly
dIOullu liz LdCS " Tx I'D AO oIAC
passed the point she saw hat it
curved suddenly inward away from
the shores into a sort Of amphitheater
and fair in the center of the face she
perceived an opening. He halted there
and entered fearlessly, she following.
The cave was rOOmy and spacious,
at least it seemed so in the fading
light. In the morning when the sun
shone through the opening, it would
be fooded with daylight. but now
when the sun was sinking behind the
hill, it was quite lark. 1t was dry
and clean and apparently empty. The
man stood looking at her smiling, at
least there was a suggestion Of a
smile upon his lips. He was nOdding
his head. She understood that he
lived there. The dog had come back
to his kennel and had taken this &C
Quaintance there, too.
1t would be a good place to pass the
night. The night had to be passed
somewhere. How, was the problem.
She had little fear of any savage ami
mails on the island. There had been
no evidence Of them observed in her
progress; the man himself was testi-
mony to immunity Of attack from that
source. Had it not been for him, she
could have lain down in that cave
with quiet confidence and slept with
out apprehension of mOlestation, but
he complicated the issue.
Twice he had watched by her asleep,
but that was IN the broad daylight.
When darkness came, what then? Her
heart was filled with terror. She was
suddenly afraid of the dark, a childish
fear at which her soul would have
Knocked in other days and under other
conditions. But now she was a prey
to vivid apprehension and the night
was coming on with the swiftness Of
the tropics. She was glad that she
had slept through the long afternoon.
She would endeavor to keep awake
during the night. She must turf the
dog out of his kennel and occupy that
herself. How was she to enforce her
will under the circumstances? She
could only try.
Man." b said, pointing to he
door. "gO!"
The words conveyed nothing, but
the gesture meant much. Even to the
man association with his kind for one
day had effected a revolution in him.
He hung undecided, however, before
her, while she repeated again and
again her Injunction. Finally she took
him by the shoulder, risking the pc
culiar emotions that contact seemed
to bring to him, and thurst him gently
through the entrance outside. Then
she went back into the cave farther
and waited with a beating heart. She
could see him silhOuetted against the
twilight standing where she had left
him. He came toward the doc at
last and stood in the entrance.
NO. no." she cried fiercely. praying
that the note of terror might be lost
In the imperative n of her voice.
"Man, co."
She stood waiting and he likewise.
Mastering her courage at last, she
went over to him and hrust him out.
Again and again the little drama was
played until by and by it became i'm
pressed upon the mind of the man
that he was to stay out n she was
to stay in. He came no more to the
entrance. He stood outside, aloOf,
looking in, although in the growing
darkness he could not see her.
1t vas the second thing he had
harmed. The first ray of light in his
dawning consciousness had illumin-
ated the ego, the personal. the con
crete. He was learning now the sig
n~ifcance of a verb and an abstract
idea was being bred in him and some
concept of c%onstraint was entering his
being. The first of those long checks
that circumstances impose upon free
dam in order that civilization may be-
gin 20 be was then meeting him face
to face. He had slept in that cave, she
Imapinsd for years. and suddenly he