Okolona messenger. (Okolona, Miss.) 1900-current, 1911-06-08

The sight of her made It hard for
him to stick to his maps. But present
ly he looked up with a sudden ques-
ton. do you happen to find any
thing" he began, and then broke on
shortly.
From her face, half-shaded as 1t
was, he could see that what she had
been reading Just then was no mere
description Of this land upon which
they had been cast away, but some
thing far more personal to the father
she had lost here.
There's something perfectly terri
flying" she said, about fathers de-
scription Of this man Roscoe. Over
here near the end. before the sun
came back to them, he tells Of going
out for a walk by himself and of dis
covering that Roscoe was stalking
him, in the hope, he thought, of dis
covering, in advance of the others,
where the gold ledge was. In the twi-
light, father says, he looked, in his
white beer-skins, perfectly enormous
and incredible. And Philip"
She closed the book, holding 1t tight
in both hands, and leaning forward a
little as she went on, and Philip, his
description sounds-oh, l suppose it's
silly, but 1t sounds like the thing /
thought l saw today when was alone
there on the beach, before you came
flying down out Of the sky. 1t didn't
look like a bear, 1t wouldn't have
been 80 dreadful If 1t had"
TITS possible" he said gravely, 1T
may have been he whom l frightened
off when l came down last night. Ger
tainly there was somebody, and that
somebody may still be here on shore
though l supposed he had gone out to
join in the attack on the yacht. But
it's very strange, If there ls any one
that we could have passed q whole
day without encountering him"
i The girl Shivered; then, with 6
4 shake of her head as If Diminishing the
" qpGanny thought from her mind, said;
you started to ask me about some
thing else, and / interrupted"
1t took him a moment to collect hii
thoughts. "Oh, yes. There's some
thing marked here on this map which
, l took at first for the location of thu
hut, but 1t appears now that 1t wa
, marked before they built 1t. l wonde,
, If, In the early pages of the Journal
. there was a description Of any natura
, formation about here like a cave
. or"
She made as II to open the book
then, suddenly, changed her intention
and held 1t out to him. instead.
I 81 haven't been playing fair" sh
. said. Il wasn't really looking for any
thing, l was Just reading stories an
! dreaming over them. It's his hant
writing, l think, that makes 1t so har
a to be good. It's-well, almost lik
n hearing his voice. Won't you wor
I the book and the maps and give N
a something to do-with my hands,
meanf-oh, l know I'm tired, but tha
doesn't matter"
CayIey-s first impulse was to refus'
. but It needed only one thoughtful loo
into her face to convince him that tn
a kindest, as we'll as the wisest, thin
D.. was to do as she asked. An uncann
horror of the monstrous Roscoe an
"a the appalling idea that he, and pc
:. haps others Of his gang, might
sharing the solitude of this froze
Ia coast with them was plainly to I
d read In her eyes, and her own pr
d scription for dispelling 1t was pro
d ably the best that could be thought
Il With a nod Of assent, he rose ar
"a went into the storeroom, returning Il
A. next moment with an armful of heaN
rope.
" "In the old days Of wooden ships
he said, when they wanted to disc
pline a sailor, they set him to pickil
N oakum. Next to pounding rust off Il
anchor, it's the dullest Job in Il
world. But we need some for calkil
a up the cracks in u walls. Do y
IN mind?"