The Mena weekly star., 1910-09-01

cry of the bird and the rustic of the gentle wind across it's hills. For we'll nigh 30 years 1t had not been so abandoned. Two days past 1t had re- sounded with the cries of men scaling It's heights, crashing through it's cop pices. calling a name. beseeching an answer. Two days before great ships had drifted idly under it's lee. It had been the center and focus of great events. Now it lay desolate, alone.
 On that morning the tide which had drawn away from 1t through the long night had turned and was coming back. The force of the water spent Itself upon the barrier Within the lagoon it lay placid. rising gently inch by inch in mighty overflow. A watcher, had there been one, would have seen at sunrise the still water of the la goon broken by ripple, keen eye might have noticed at the base of the cliff where it ran sheer down into the blue. dark object moving beneath the surface. The eye could scarcely have become aware of its presence before the waters parted. A little splash and q head rose dark crowned. white faced. There was a sidewise wave and shake of the head and pair of eyes opened. The blue of the water was frightened by flashes of white arms. As the body rose higher under the impetus of strokes, vigorous yet graceful, 1t could be seen that 1t was that of a woman.
 With ease and grace the figure swan along the base of the cliff until 1t was joined by jutting spit of sand which widened and widened into a great strip of beach that ran around the island Upon this sand presently the shallowing of the water gave the swimmer a foothold. Progress ceased. With eyes haggard, yet keenly alert. the sea, the shore. the beach, the cliffs, the trees were eagerly searched. The long glances revealed nothing. Then the head was turned and the ear listened for sounds and heard nothing. The look of apprehension faded into one of dull relief.
 Walking now, the woman in the water made her way toward the sand. Very white she gleamed in the full warm light streaming from the risen sun against the background of the dark black rock. The water dripping from her exquisitely graceful limbs. she looked very nymph of the sea as she stepped out at last above the high 1 tide line and stood poised as if for flight upon the hard and solid shore. Again she threw about her that quick, apprehensive look. Again she paused | to listen. Reassured in that she heard and saw nothing but the birds song, the winds sigh, the waves splash, she ran swiftly toward blacker opening | in the dark rock. She gleamed whiter still in the entrance for a moment and then disappeared She came forth l presently still unclothed. look of disappointment on her face.
 i She had many things to do, much to occupy her mind, but the first duty that lay to her hand and the first in- stinct which she followed was that her nakedness should be covered
 still warily watchful, still keenly alert still fearful apparently of inter- 1 ruption or observation. she ran across | the beach. her movement as free, as graceful. as rapid as she had been Atalanta herself, and disappeared un- der the trees. The whirr of birds dis turbed might have marked her pass | age.
 After some time sne appeared on the ton of the high bare hill that crowned the island. She had impro-
 vised for herself Q covering out of three or four great fern leaves, soft
 and pliable, which she fastened with | nalm flbers from shoulder to knee on either side, her bare shoulders rising
 from the rich greenness like white
 corolla from It's verdant calyx. She
 vent more assuredly, now, party be-
 carse of the fact that she was clothed
 and partly because her first rapid sur
 vev of the horizon revealed the fact
 that the ships were gone She was
 dad that this was so. and vet wheS