The Comrade. (Winnfield, La.) 1890-1914, 1910-08-05
CHAPTER II,
Conscious of His Manhood.

CHAPTER II.
Conscious of His Manhood.
High noon and they were back at
the landing place and she at least was
very tired. Accompanied by the man,
who made not the slightest attempt to
guide her, after some difficulty she had
succeeded in forcing her way through
the trees to the top of the hill. Part
of the time she had followed the
course of the rivulet from which she
had drank at the foot of the cliff. She
was determined to get to the top, for
she must see what was upon the other
side. Humanity's supreme desire when
facing the hills has always been to see
what was on the other side. The slim
illus Of the unknown was upon her,
but it was coupled with very lively
desire begot Of stern necessity to know
what there was to be known of the
land upon which she had been cast
up by the sea.
Her view from the hilltop-she did
not essay the unclothed and Jagged
peak; she could make her way around
it's base and see all that there was to
see-was not reassuring. She could
detect on the other side of the island
no more evidence of life than were
presented by that she had first touched
upon. In every direction lay the un-
vexed sea. The day was brilliantly
clear; there was not a cloud in the
sky. No mist dimmed the translucent
purity Of the warm air. Nothing broke
the far horizon. The island, fair and
beautiful, was set alone In q
mighty ocean. In go far as she could
tell, she and the man were alone upon
it. The thought oppressed her. She
strove to throw it of. The silence OF
the man oppressed her as we'll She
turned to him at last and cried out;
the words wrung from her by the hor'
FOR of the situation.
MAN, man, whence came you? How
are you called? What language dc
you speak? Why are you here?"
The sound of her own voice gave her
courage. Waiting for no answer, and
indeed she realized that none could
come, she stepped to the brow of the
hill where the trees happened not tc
be and raising her voice called and
called and called. There were answer
ing echoes from the Jagged crag be
! hind her, but when these died away
there was silence unbroken save by
| the queer babbling, chuckling noises
| Of the man.
She looked at him with a sudden
| sinking OF the heart. Had this godlike
creature roaming the woods, this fau1
of the island been denied a brain
articulate speech? Was she doomed
to spend the rest of her life alone il
this paradise of the Pacific with {
harmless mailman forever by her side
What a situation was that in which
she found herself!
!. She was highly specialized produc
Of the greatest of universities. II
science and in philosophy she was
master and a doctor. She should have
had resources within herself which
would enable her to be independent Q
the outside world, a world in whicl
her experience, self-brought, had beef
bitter, in which the last few week
had been one long establishment
| And yet she was now overwhelme'
with craving for companionship, TO
articulate speech, as if she had neve
looked into a book or given a though
to the deep things Of life If thi
man beside her would only do some
thing, say something, be sometime
rather than silent satellite foreve
staring In wonder. If she could onl
solve the mystery Of his presence, ar
swer the Interrogation that his YER
existence there alone presented.
Her future, her present, indeed
should have engrossed her mind. Wha
she was to do, how she was to live
the terrible problems in which hi
4 presence on the island involved he
should have been the objects of he
I attention; they should have afforde
{ food for thought to the keenest (
1 women. She simply forgot them j
!; her puzzled wonder at him. It woul
4 have been much simpler from on
! point of view If she had found th
island uninhabited, and yet since tn
J. man was human and alive, in spite {
:. her Judgment, her heart was glad thu
, he was there.
She motioned to him to sit dow
i and then she sat in front Of him an
studied him. He looked as little Ill
fool as like a knaye. She could, i
deed, detect no evidence of any intelle
tual capacity, but she thought, as ST
studied him keenly, that he possesse
Z unlimited intellectual possibilitie
81 There was a mind back Of tho!
!. bright blue eyes, that broad mob
) throw, but it seemed to her a mil
t entirely und eloped, mind utter