The Harlowton news. [volume] (Harlowton, Mont.) 1909-1914, 1910-02-25

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She Shrank Back with a Sudden Cry
Of Horror.
within the little apartment, washed
out ages ago from the hard stone by
what action of water she could well
Imagine, but as she scrutinized 1t
closely she noticed in a recess q part
where the rock wall cropped out in
sort Of low shelf. On the shelf-won-
der Of wonders!-lay a book. Next to
humanity, 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
cave was sheltered from the prevailing
winds else it might have been buried,
but under the circumstances it might
have lain there for ages and in that
dry, pure air have suffered no deterio-
ration or decay.
Crusoe was petriaed 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 1t up.
handling it carefully in spite Of ner-
vous exultation, shook the dust from
1t. and opened it. She instantly let 1t
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 credit
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. It had no more than
rolled upon the sand at her feet when,
with swift consideration. she stopped
and lifted 1t 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 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 ny leaves
at the beginning Of the book. There
was Z name written there and in a
woman's hand.
John Revell Charnock," she read.
Below was date rs years before
the moment of her landing.
John Revell Charnock. 1t was a
strange name, English in part. with
suggestion of France In the middle
name. 1t meant nothing to her. Was
this John Revell Charnock who stood
outside looking at her? II so, who was
John Revell Charnock? The problem
was not greatly elucidated. There was
no evidence that the book belonged to
the man or the man to the book, or
even that the one appertained remote
ly to the other. There was certain
likelihood, however, that they had
come to the island together.
She had been sure that the man was
a white man. She had thought that
he looked like an American. an Eng
lishman, an Anglo-Saxon. and the
longer she looked at him with the
Bible in her hand the more sure she
became.
She had been disappointed that the
book had turned out to be the Bible,
but at least 1t would serve one useful
purpose. By It, without the laborious
effort involved In making letters
upon the sand, she might teach the
man before her to read. She wished
she had a worthier volume from her
point Of view through which to intro
duce him to the worlds literature,
but she would do the best she could
with that. It was pitiful, as she saw
1t, that with a nascent soul to work
with, she should be compelled to en-
tighten it through the medium Of time
worn superstition.
Below the shelf, not quite buried in
the sand, there was a small metal box
She knelt down. scraped the sand