Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1910-05-06

lowing the stream The a who had
stood with her watching the boat, did
not for a moment notice her, but so
soon as be 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
feared. She had not known that he
possessed the faculty. Her curiosity
was too strong to be denied. She must
see what it vas She Quickened her
pace as if to shake him on, 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 coDpice, 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 q sudden cry Of horror. for
ut her feet the vegetation springing
through in every direction, lay a
skeleton, q human skeleton. It lay
athwart her path and at the feet was
@ smaller skeleton which she judged
to be that Of a 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
examine those last remainders Of hui
man presence, other than their own,
upon the island, but she could not do
1t just then.
There was nothing else thai 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 q more careful inspection of it.
Realizing that the lesson of the night
before II 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 a custom of avoid
ancs of that recess which should de-
velop into a liked habit, else she could
not be free. She could always secure
q 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
ugG, q sanctuary.
At FIRST glance there vas nothing
within the little apartment, washed
out ages g from the hard stone by
what action of water she could we'll
imagine, but as she s~crutinized it
closely she noticed in a recess a part
whore the rock wall cropped out in a
sort Of low shelf. On the shelf-wOn-
der Of wonderfully a book. Next to
humanity, a book, she thought, would
be the most precious sharer of her
solitude.
1t was a small, leather-bound vol
ume. Dust in the form of tiny par
ticles OF sand lay thick upon it.. The
ave was sheltered from the prevailing
winds else it might have been buried,
but under the circumstances 1t might
have lain there for ages n in that
dry, pure air have suffered no deteriO-
ration OF decay.
CrusOe was petrif1ed when he saw
the footprint in the sand. The woman
vas not less startled or less amazed
when she saw the book on the rock.
With a 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
it, and opened it. She instantly let it
fall from her hands with a 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 g~enealogies and
time-worn fables, myths for the credu-
lous and impossible lengends, mixed
up with poetry whose inspiration "a
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-5ut in her action in cast
ing it from her. It 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 be 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 pom the blank leaves
interposed between the Old and New
Testaments. Unfamiliar though she