The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1910-04-15
CHAPTER II.
Conscious of His Manhood.

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 a 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
| its base and see oil 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 UNI
vexed sea. The day was brilliantly
clear; there was not cloud in the
sky. No mist dimmed the translucent
purity Of the warm nir. Nothing broke
| the far horizon. The island, fair and
beautiful, was set alone in
| mighty ocean. In so far as she could
tell, she and the man were alone upon
| it. The thought oppressed her. She
| strove to throw it off. The silence of
! the man oppressed her as well. She
the words wrung from her by the hor-
ror of the situation.
Man, man, whence came you? How
are you called? What language do
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 to
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 sudden
sinking of the heart. Had this godlike
creature roaming the woods, this faun
Of the island been denied brain,
articulate speech? Was she doomed
to spend the rest of her life alone in
this paradise of the Pacific with a
harmless mailman forever by her side!
What a situation was that in which
she found herself!
/, She was highly specialized product
of the greatest of universities. In
science and in philosophy she was a
master and doctor She should have
had resources within herself which
would enable her to be Independent of
the outside world, world in which
her experience. self-brought, had been
bitter, in which the last few weeks
had been one long establishment.
And yet she was now overwhelmed
with craving for companionship, for
articulate speech, as If she had never
looked into a book or given a thought
to the deep things of life. If this
man beside her would only do some.
thing, say something, be something
rather than silent satellite forever
staring in wonder. If she could only
solve the mystery of his presence, an.
swer the interrogation that his very
existence there alone presented.
Her future, her present, indeed
should have engrossed her mind What
she was to do, how she was to live
the terrible problems in which his
presence on the island involved hel
should have been the objects of her
attention. they should have afforded
food for thought to the keenest Of
women. She simply forgot them ir
her puzzled wonder at him. 1t would
, have been much simpler from one
, point of view if she had found the
| island uninhabited, and yet since the
man was human and alive, in spite Of
her judgment, her heart was glad tha'
: he was there.
She motioned to him to sit dowr
and then she sat in front of him ant
studied him. He looked as little lik.
fool as like a knave. She could, in
deed, detect no evidence Of any intellec
tual capacity, but she thought, as sh'
studied him keenly. that he possessed
: unlimited intellectual possibilities
2 There was mind back Of thos,
bright blue eyes, that broad noble
, brow. but it seemed to her mine
t entirely undeveloped. mind utterl!