The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-11-27


 vuas the cry of the kaminari. the thun- der animal. or of the kappa that lures the swimmer to his death. An icy blast seemed to shoot past the glider into the zenith. Staring, Daunt real ized that one of the great planes. the propeller. the after framework. with the man who had clung to it, were utterly gone; that the glider. like a dead bird caught by the thudding twinge of a bullet. was lunging by it's own momentum-to its fall Had Phil fallen or was it.
 Suddenly he felt himself flung back ward. then forward on his face. The spreading vanes. crumpied edgewise like squares of cardboard. were sliding down. He saw the shipping of the bay spread beneath him, the twin light houses. one red. one white, on the ends of the breakwater; the black Dread noughts. a steamer with bright red tunnels, a feet of fishing sampan put ting out. All were swelling larger and larger. The wind blowing upward around him stole his breath. and he felt the blood beating in his temples. He heard ships bells striking. and across the sound a temple bell boomed clearly. A mist was coming before his eyes. Just below him was a white yacht; it seemed to be rushing up to meet him like swan Thoughts darted through his brain like live arrows. The battleships were saved! No shameful suspicion should touch Japan's name in the highways of the world. What matter that he lost the game? What did one-any one count against so much? \ He thought of Barbara. He would never know now what she had been about to tell him that night at the Mix ko shrine. He would never see her again. But she would know-she would know.
 The sound of the sea-a great roar. ing in his ears.
 < On the deck of the white yacht the captain rose to his feet. The battle fought on that huddle of blankets for the life of the man so hardly snatched
 
 it had been won. His smile of satis- faction overran the group of observant faces at one side. the. bishop watching with strained anxiety. and the girl. who pillowed in her arms that uncon- scious head with its drenched. brown curls.
 Don't you be afraid. Miss Fairfax," he said. with bluff heartiness. "He'n be all right now."
 The assurance came to Barbara's heart with an infinite relief that he could not guess At the first sight of the huge birdlike thing slipping down the sky she had known the man cling ing to its framework was Daunt. The stricken moments while the wreck of the great vanes lay outspread on the water. the launch of the yachts boat and the lifting of the limp form over its gunwale. the cruelty kind ministra- tions that had brought breath back to the inert body-these had seemed to her to consume dragging hours of az. ony. A thunder of guns roared across the water. but she scarcely heard. Her eyes were fixed on the face to which the tide of life was returning.
 Again the roar. and now the sound pierced the saturating darkness. It called the numbed senses back to tho sphere Of feeling. to a consciousness of an immense weariness and gentle motion. It seemed to Daunt as though his head rested on pillow which rose and fell to an irregular rhythm. He stirred His eyes opened
 Memory dawned across them. Ha- fu's story. the windy flight on the glider. the sick sense of failure, the plunge down and down and the water leaping toward him! Had he failed? A third time the detonation rang out. He started. made an effort to rise His gaze swept the sea. There. dags flying. bands playing. line of Dread noughts was steaminS down the har. bor.
 '"The battleshipsr' he said. and thers was triumph in his eyes.
 He turned his head and saw the bishop. the silent crew. the relieved countenance of the captain. Realiza- ton came to him. Soft arms were about him: the pillow that rose and fell was a woman's heaving breast! His gaze lifted. and Barbara's eyes flowed into his. He put out hand weakly and whispered her name.
 She did not speak. but in that look a glory infolded him. 1t was not wo- manly pity in her face. It was far.
 far more - some
 A thing wordless,
 A0 but eloquent
 F1 yelled. yet pas