Martinsburg statesman-democrat. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1906-1921, 1910-04-15

could not resist his rough kindness.
Good! Now a piece of meat" he
said.
Please. Mr.. Blake!" she protested.
Yes, you must!"
She took a bite, and sought to eat;
but there was such lump in her
throat that she could not swallow. The
tears gushed into her eyes, and she
began to weep.
Blake's closest lips relaxed, and
he nodded.
That's it; let 1t run out. You're
overweight. There's nothing like a
good cry to ease off a woman's nerves
and | guess ladies aren't much diff
ferent from women when 1t comes to
such things"
But II want to get the flag mend
ed" she sobbed.
"All right, all right; plenty of
time!" he soothed. I'm going to see
how things look down the cleft"
He bolted the last of his meat, and
at once left her alone to cry herself
back to calmness over the stitching of
the signal
His first concern was for the barri-
cade As he had feared, he found that
it had been blown to pieces. The
greater part of the thorn branches
which he had gathered with so much
labor were scattered to the four cor
ners of the earth. He stood staring
at the wreckage in glum silence; but
ne did not swear, as he would have
done the week before. Presently his
face cleared, and he began to whistle
in a plaintive minor key. He was
thinking of how she had looked when
she darted out of the tree at his call
of her concern for him. When he
was so angered at Winthrope, she had
called him Toni
After a time he started on, picking
his way over the remnant of the bar
ricade, without a falter in his whis-
Ting. The deluge of rain had poured
down the cleft in a torrent, tearing
away the root-matted soil and laying
bare the lodges in the channel of the
spring rill But aside from an occa-
sional Doggy hole, the water had
drained away.
At the foot, about the swollen pool,
was a wide stretch of rubbish and
mud. He worked his way around the
edge, and came out on the plain,
where the sandy soil was all the firm
er for its drenching. He swung away
at lively clip, The air was fresh
and pure after the storm, and slight
breeze tempered the sun-rays.
He kept on along the cliff until he
turned the point. 1t was not alto
gether advisable to battle at this time
of day but he had been caught out by
the cyclone in a corner of the swamp,
across the river, where the soil was
of clay. Only his anxiety for Miss
Leslie had enabled him to fight his
way out of the all but impossible
morass which the storm deluge had
made Of the half-dry swamp. At
dawn he had reached the river, and
swan across, reckless of the croco-
dies. The turbid water of the
stream had rid him of only part of his
accumulated slime and ooze. so now
he washed out his tattered garments
as well as he could without soap, and
while they were drying on the sun
scorched rocks, swan about in the
clear, tonic sea-water, quite as reck-
less of the sharks as he had been OF
the ugly crocodiles in the river,
For all this, he was back at the
baobab before Miss Leslie had
stitched up the last slit in the torn
flag.
She looked up at him. with brave
attempt at a smile
Il am afraid I'm not much of
needle woman she sighed. Look at
those stitches!"
Don't fret. They'll hold all right,
and that's what we want he reas-
sured her Give it me, now. I've got
to get it up, and hurry back for nap.
No sleep last night was out beyond
the river, in the swamp-and tonight
I'll have to go on watch, The bafrl-
cade is down"
ooh, that is too bad! Couldn't
take a turn on watch?"
Blake shook his head. mo; III
sleep to-day, and work rebuilding the
barricade tonight Toward morning
/ might build up the fire, and take
nap"
He caught up the flag and its new
staff, and swung away through the
cleft.
He returned much sooner than Miss
Leslie expected, and at once began to
throw up a small lean-to of bamboos
over ledge at the cliff foot, behind
the baobab. The girl thought he was
making himself hut. in place OF the
canopy under which he had slept be-
fore the storm, which, like Win
thrope's, had been carried away. But
when he stopped work. he laconically
informed her that all she had TO do TO
complete her new house was to dry
some leaves.