The Comrade. (Winnfield, La.) 1890-1914, 1910-08-05

OUT ner handS again.
Water" she gasped in hoarse
whisper water, or I die"
The man had started violently at her
speech. Giving him no time to re-
cover, she went through the motion
again, this time with greater effect,
for the man turned and vanished. She
sank down on the sand too exhausted
to follow him even with her eyes. II
he brought the water she would drink
it and live; if he did not, she would
lie where she was and die. She did
not care much, she thought, which
would happen. She had so sickened OF
life before she essayed that open boat,
that she believed it was simply an
animal craving in her which would
make her take the water in case 1t
should be brought her. And yet when
he did appear with cOcOanut shell
trimming with clear, sparkling liquid,
she felt as though the elixir OF life
had been proffered her.
She seized the shell with both hands
which yet so trembled that most OF
the precious water spilled on her dress
as she carried it to her parched lips.
This was good in the end, for If that
vessel had been the famed J0tunehelm
drinking horn, she would have drained
it dry ere she set it down. AS 1t was,
she got but little; yet that little was
enough to set her heart beating once
more. Implying the shell of the last
drop-and with that keenness of per-
ception which her long training had
intensified and developed, marking the
while that it had not been cut clean
by any knife or saw or human nipple
ment, but was jagged and broken as
If from fall she dropped it on the
sand and looked again toward the
man. He held in his hand fruit of
some kind, she did not know what it
was. 1t might have been poison. What
mattered it? Having drunk she must
also eat 1t looked edible, it was in
viting to the eye and smell, and as she
sunk her teeth into it, she found it
agreeable to the taste also. He had
brought it to her. If he had meant
harm, present harm, surely he would
not have given the water She ate it
confidently
AS the man saw her partake of what
he had given her, he clapped his hands
and laughed. She was grateful for
that laugh. It was more human than
the babbling sounds which he made
before
There was but little Of the fruit, just
| what child would have brought and
this again was good for her, for had
there been an abundance, in her need
she would have eaten until she had
made herself i'll. When she had par
taken, she rose to her feet. Before do
ing this she had extended her hand
to him as if seeking assistance, but he
had simply stared at her uncompre.
hending and she had been forced to
get to her feet unaided. Once stand.
ing, she trembled and would have
fallen, but that she caught his arm
and steadied herself by holding tightly
to it. The man started back at her
touch. Color came and went in his
face; little shudders swept over him;
his mouth opened; he looked at her
with a singular expression Of awe not
unmixed with terror in his eyes, for
this was the first time in his recollec
ton or what would have been his rec
4 objection if his retrospective faculties
had been developed, that he had ever
felt the touch of a Woman's hand, OF
any human hand upon him.
1 Noticing his peculiar demeanor In
the, to her, perfectly natural situation
the woman summoning some of the
remains of the reserve Of force which
{, is in every human body until life is
gone, released his arm and stared
!, about her leaning against the trunk Of
the nearest palm. This time, and fol
. the first time, she took in that expanse
. OF sea, lonely yet beautiful, upon which
her eyes were to look so often. Out
of the deep and the night she had
come. Into what deep and into what
day had she arrived?
She turned and surveyed the shore
I The beach curved sharply to the right
and to the left, the long barrier ree1
q following roughly its contour until the
land obscured it on either side. Bacl
of her stretched a grove of palms anG
8 back of that rose hill; its crest bare
. and crag-like lowered above a sea O
: verdure. Through chance vista she
Z saw the mass of rock as a mountain
peak. On one side high precipitou!
cliffs ran down close to the shore AMI
!, shut out the view. Over them watel
, fell to the beach. (
Save in the person of the man be
side her there was not an evidence o
!, humanity anywhere. No curl of smok,
! rose above the trees. No distant cal
! OF human voices smote the fearful hol
! low Of her ear. The breeze made musi
: in the tall palms and in the thick ver
dure farther up the hill side, bird
4 sang softly here and there, but ther,
I, was a tropical stiffness to which tn
q great heaving diapason on the distan
E no rr;orc wac foundation 5fof conn,