Okolona messenger. (Okolona, Miss.) 1900-current, 1911-06-15

a little cask with brandy in it, a good
sized pot nearly full Of beef extract, a
jar of dried eggs, three tins of con-
densed milk, a big ten-pound box OF
Albert biscuit"
His voice broke off there sharply,
but without the downward infection
she would have expected had he
reached the end. So she looked quick
ly and ~curiously up into his face. AS
quickly, her eyes sought the bit of pa
per which still lay open in his hand.
"You didn't finish" she said. There
was something else"
81 thought too late. oh! it's moth
ing, but it caught me-rather, and l
thought | would spare you the twinge
that finding it had given me. | might
better have read it right out. 1t was
a big plum pudding, in a tin, you
know-Cross G. Blackwells. But there
it was, waiting, suppose, to lend
some sort of an air of festivity to
their next Christmas"
The girl rose from her seat beside
him and going over to the window,
stood for a while gazing up the
beach.
1t was Just about the same time in
the afternoon that it had been yester-
day when he set out, awning, to find
her, and had come flying down out Of
the sky to drive away the sudden
nameless terror which had beset her.
That thought led him, now to visua-
lie some sticks Of wood, rather too
large to carry, which had been lying
on the beach near where he had found
her. Thinking that 1t would be a
good time to get them and drag them
in, he got a harpoon line, and 1t was
the girls question what he meant to
do with the rope, which caused him to
tell her what part Of the beach he IN
tended to visit. He asked her then II
she cared to come with him, but, after
q moments hesitation, she declined.
. 1T will be high time for supper be-
fore you can get back" she said, a
I'd better stay here and get 1t ready,
, that is, unless l can help you"
, So he set off alone.
For awhile the occupation Of setting
. their disordered living room to rights
and getting the supper started were
sufficient to take the whole Of the
girls attention. But later, when 1t was
q question merely Of waiting for the
pot to boil, and of not watching it so
= that 1t would boil sooner, she moved
=, restlessly to the door and stood there,
= before the hut, gazing down the beach
= in the direction Cayley had taken. He
: was already out Of sight around the
headland.
She wished she had gone with
Philip, and she gazed with straining
n eyes toward the narrow bit of slant
: ing beach around the base Of the head
land which was the place where he
must appear. He was not to be ex-
" pected yet, not for a long time, prob
ably, for his progress, dragging those
great sticks he had set out to bring
home, must be slow.
And then, even as she looked, she
saw him, not moving slowly with his
= burden, but running-running at his
= topmost speed, like a man in fear Of
something,
Il Instinctively she moved forward to
meet him, and this move Of hers en-
d" abled him to see her, He slackened
! his pace instantly, and waved her
., back toward the hut. She obeyed that
imperative gesture of his, without hes
IL itation, but still remained in the door
II way, watching him as he rapidly drew
. nearer.
l. When he had got near enough so
3 that she could see his face and read
u more or less, what she saw there, she
y again moved forward to meet him,
and this time he did not wave her
ID back. When he came within arms
50 reach of her, he caught her and held
! her tight in his two hands.
What Is 1t, Philip" she asked
= searching the depth Of his eyes and
10 trying to plumb the horror she saw
in them. What happened out there?'
"Nothing-happened. But ! saw
something there that made me anx
'e ious for your safety. It's al
II right now you're safe. Nothing has
10 happened here, has there, while have
been gomez"
W Nothing. What could have hap
up pened, Philip. 1t can't be anything
m that you're afraid to tell me-" sh'
went on, for he had not answered her
lp- There cant be anything you'd b.
it afraid to tell me now-not after yes
Sc terday,"
mt ooh, no; it's not so bad as that, bu
ly- l saw that l had been wrong to leave
lb- you, even for that little while. You
Mt see the sight Of the place brough
We back to my mind what you had tolt
me yesterday Of the terror you hat
lis felt there, and Of the thing that YOU
Ipt saw in the twilight, and so I locke
TO be continued