The Mena weekly star., 1910-05-05

| oue II SD, they must be abidinr on the farther side. She and the man were alone.
 standing on her feet, with A slieh, renewal Of her strength from wha, she had eaten and drunk the wor,ar now felt less fear of the man. He had treated her kindly. His aspect was l gentle, even amiable. He looked A, ner wistfully, bending his brows from lihle to time and ever and again shalx. ing ms head, as great dog looks at 'ne master with whom he would fain speak, whose language he would fain und9rstand, 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 rntil her eyes rowing past him detected a dark object on the water line just where the still blueness tosicaed the white sand. The sunlight was re. hected from gleams of metal. and thinking that she recognized 1t. she stepped from the shade of the palms
 nd made her way unsteadily toward It. The man, without sound, follow. ed closely at her side.
 Her vision had been correct, for she drew out of the sand a leather hand bag, such as women carry. It had been elaborately fitted with bottles and mirrors and toilet articles. Alas. 1t was in sad state of dilapidation now The bottles were broken. their con tents gone. The bag had been lying In the boat when 1t had been hurled on the barrier in the night and the same storm and tide which had borne her ashore had hurled it also on the sand. But it had come open in the battering and it's contents were pitt ably ruined. With eager eyes and fin gers she examined everything. She found intact little mirror, a pair of scissors, little housewife which was not part of the fittings and she won dered how 1t failed of being washed away, two combs and package of hairpins.
 She had fought against starvation and thirst and loneliness and despair as she had fought against men and she had not given way. She had set her teeth and locked her hands and endured hardship like the stoutest hearted most determined soldier in the history of human struggles. But as the realization of this small mis- fortune burst upon her, she sank down on the sands and put her head in her hands and sobbed Tears did her good. She had her cry out, utterly unhin- dered, for the man stood by, shaking his head and staring at her and mak- ing those strange little sounds, but of fering in no way to molest her.
 The water was beautifully clear and she could see on the other side of the barrier the remains of her boat. Per. haps some time, If there were need, she could get to that boat, but for the present all the fiotsam and jetsam of her wild and fearful voyage lay in water-soaked bag full of broken glass an battered silver from which she had rescued pair of scissors, a mir or, two combs, housewife full of rusty needles and some hairpins. 0 vanitas vanitatum!
 She was wearing a serviceable dress of blue serge with a sailors blouse and a short skirt Putting her precious treasure trove within the loose blouse and carrying the battered bag which she meant to examine more carefully later, she turned and made for the shade of the trees again. For one thing the sun rising rapidly was gaining power and beating down with great force upon her bare head. She had enjoyed the protection of wonderful ly plaited straw hat on her long voy- age else she could not have borne the heat, but that. too. was gone.
 As she walked inland, she noticed again off to her right that stream of water which dropped over the tall cliff in a slender waterfall a sweet in viting pool at the base before 1t ran through the sands toward the sea. She made her way thither and at the brink knelt down and took long draughts of it. Eating and drinking evidently went together in the mind of the man, for when she raised her head, she found him standing before her with both hands filled with some of the fruit she had partaken of before and other fruit. She thought she recognized the bread fruit and a species of banana. At any rate. she ate again and having by this time recovered to some extent her mental poise, she ate sparingly and with caution.
 Then having satisfied her material needs, she knelt down by the stream and washed her face and hands. How sweet was the freshness of that water to her face burned by the sun and the wind and subjected for a long time to the hard spray of the briny seas. She would have been glad to have taken of her clothing and plunged into the pool. to have washed the salt of days from her tired body. to have had the stimulus and refreshment of It's sparkling coolness over her weary limbs But in the presence of her dog like attendant this was not yet possi- ble
 Still she could and must arrange her hair. Of all the articles in her dress ing bag, she was more feryenuy thankful at that moment for the combs than anything else, the combs and the title mirror and the hairpins- small things indeed, but human happiness as a rule turns on things so small that