The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1910-04-22

sand toward the sea. She turned and
idly walked away from the beach, fol-
lowing the stream. The man, who had
stood with her watching the boat, did
not for moment notice her. but SO
soon as he discovered her direction.
ran after her and without Offering to
touch her barred the way with ex.
tended arms.
No, no." he cried, his first real
spontaneous use of the word.
She stopped, reflected waved the
man aside and went on. There was
something in the coppice that he
feared. She had not known tina, he
| possessed the faculty Her curiosity
was too strong to be denied She must
see what 1t was. She quickened her
pace as if to shake him off, but he
easily kept by her side plaintively
calculating his monosyllabic negative.
1t was evident that he knew the mean.
ing OF the word, she was glad to see
When she reached the underground
OF the coppice, she hesitated in appre-
hension of she knew not what, but
summoning her courage parted the
reeds and peered in them She shrank
back with sudden cry of horror, for
at her feet, the vegetation springing
through in every direction, lay a
skeleton, human skeleton 1t lay
athWart her path and at the feet was
a smaller skeleton which she judged
to be that of dog. With instructive
repugnance she released the rushes
and turned hastily away.
Yes, yes" said the man by her
side with an expression OF unusual re-
lief on his face which she could
scarcely fail to notice
She knew that she could not thus
evade her duties or shrink from her
problems. She had marked the CLEAN
of metal amid the bones. She knew
that she would have to come back and
examine those last remainders of hu-
man presence, other than their own,
upon the island, but she could not do
it just then.
| There was nothing else that she
| discovered on her tour about her pris-
on until she returned to the cave. 1t
| was afternoon by this time and she de-
| termined to employ some of her hours
in more careful inspection of it.
Realizing that the lesson of the night
before If REINFORCED and maintained
would stand her in good stead, she
| made the man remain outside while
she went within. Her hope was to es-
tablish in his mind custom of avoid
ance of that recess which should de-
velop into fixed habit, else she could
not be free. She could always secure
few moments respite from his pres
| ence, at least she had done SO hereto
fore, but she did not dare to try how
he would sustain longer absences,
hence the necessity for establishing
herself in the cave as a harbor of ref
uge, a sanctuary.
At first glance there was nothing
within the little apartment, washed
out ages ago from the hard stone by
what action of water she could we'll
imagine, but as she scrutinized it
closely she noticed in a recess part
where the rock wall cropped out in
sort of low shelf. On the shelf-won-
der of wonders!-lay book Next to
humanity, book, she thought, would
be the most precious sharer of her
solitude
1t was small, leather-bound vol
ume. Dust in the form of tiny par
ticles of sand lay thick upon it. The
cave was sheltered from the prevailing
winds else it might have been buried,
but under the circumstances 1t might
have lain there for ages and in that
dry, pure air have suffered no deterio-
ration or decay.
Crusoe was petrifled when he saw
the footprint in the sand. The woman
was not less startled or less amazed
when she saw the book on the rock.
With little cry of delight she stepped
toward it, bent down, lifted it up,
handling it carefully in spite of ner-
vous exultation, shook the dust from
1t, and opened it. She instantly let it
fall from her hands with look of dis
appointment and disgust. One glance
was enough. The book was the Bible.
She had no interest in the Bible, a col
lection of ancient genealogies and
| time-worn fables, myths for the credu-
lous and impossible lengends, mixed
up with poetry whose inspiration was
trivial and history whose details were
false. For this woman, who had for
gotten how to pray and who had abol-
ished God, had little use for the Book
! of Books. Rather any other printed
page, she had thought bitterly, than
| that one.
She had acted upon impulse, not in
her disdain for the Bible and that for
which it stood-that was grounded
upon reason and philosophy she fond
ly believed-but in her action in cast
ing it from her. 1t had no more than
rolled upon the sand at her feet when,
with swift reconsideration, she stopped
and lifted it again. 1t had occurred to
her that there might he writing there
in and that the writing might give her
a clew to the mystery of the man. She
knew that births and deaths were fire.
quently entered upon the blank leaves
interposed between the Old and New
Testaments. Unfamiliar though she
was with the contents of the book,
she easily found the place and eagerly
looked at the leaves. Alas, they were
| blank. She turned to the fly leaves