Okolona messenger. (Okolona, Miss.) 1900-current, 1911-05-18

not look up at neT 10 y tnSLu
there. Now" he said, Ppm going to
take off these boots of yours, which
are wet, but which will serve excel
nevertheless, for a pillow, and
you are to take off that heavy coat
and get inside this bag. Have you ever
slept in one?'
He was already Juggling at one OF
the boots. and her protest went I'M
heeded-it was only a half-hearted
protest after all.
When he had taken off the boots,
she submitted, without demur, to his
christening the frogs on her heavy
seal-skin coat and slipping it off her
shoulders.
When finally, with some assistance
from him, she nestled down inside the
great fleece-lined bag, when he had
rolled her small boots into a bundle
and made a pillow Of them for her
head, as he had said he would, she
exclaimed, half-rebelliously, at the
comfort of it all.
ut is so deliciously warm and soft"
she said. 81 didn't know you were
just being a luxurious sybarite when
you refused a mattress and a pair OF
blankets on the yacht. If only you
could be warm, too, and comfortable"
81 shall be-" he assured her. I'll
make a cushion of that great coat OF
yours and sit down here at the foot
Of the bunk. You're not to bother
about me. You're to prove the efficacy
Of the s~leeping-bag by going to sleep
in It,"
And what will you do all the while
sitting there and keeping watch?
Would you-would you like to read
fathers journal? If you would, I'd
like to have you, after what you said
long ago about the men who risked
and lost their lives trying to reach
the pole. l think If you will read
that book, you will understand, In
spite of your wings. And-well, I'd
like to have you understand"
He moved the bulls-eye to another
part Of the hut, where the light from
It would not shine in her eyes, and
would illuminate the pages Of the
book she offered him to read, while he
sat, wrapped in her great coat, at the
foot Of the bunk.
Once as he passed by her in the
completion of these arrangements, she
withdrew her hand from the bag and
held 1t out to him. You've been very
good to be-" she said-"I don't mean
by risking your life and ~plunglng down
=, into that bank of fog when you knew
l was in danger. A brave mar would
do that, l suppose-some brave men
any way. But you've been better thar
, that"
| He told her not to talk, but to go tt
sleep; and without any more words
3, %ensconced himself at her feet, drew
. his legs up under him, tailor-fashion
and began to read.
7 She saw him close the book at las
and sit there, as she had sat, with
upon his knees, absorbed, reflective
Suddenly, he took up the book again
opened It and referred to the entry OF
that last page.
He was thinking now, not dreaming
, His mind was on the active present
Before long he stole a look at hel
: She met his eyes.
- I'm glad father told US that tn
man was left-handed," she said grave
y ly. Because the man who killed M.
Hunter was l~eft-handed, too"
- She had spoken the very thing hi
- own mind had been cropping for will
- out finding, and he started and stare
~ at her. why do you say that?" b
demanded. How do you know?"
= 1T was a left-handed stick. l toe
, It up in my left hand and 1t fitted
u that was when l was fetching 1t out
y the cabin for Uncle Jerry"
G Then that was how you knew
hadn't done it?"
. mo. I didn't need any proof,
knew already without that"
II Suppose I had turned out to
II left-handed, too?"
u 81 didn't think of that. But
H. wouldn't have made any difference
IT, me. When you really have faith
70 anybody 1t isn't easily shaken; not
mere circumstances, at least"
TO- "'When you really have faith"
repeated. Eyes, l suppose that's sc
~ He pressed his hands against his tie,
ne pies. But there isn't too much
ID that divine commodity In the worlt
There was a long silence.