The Washington times., 1912-04-13
CHAPTER XII.
Eight Hundred Years!

Eight Hundred Years!
4 @CKENEp with a numbing anguish
of fear such as In all his thirty
/ ~ years he had never known. Stern
! stood there moment, motionless
and lost.
Then he turned. Out into hall he ran,
i and his voice. re-echoing wildly, rang
through those Iong-descrtcd aisies.
4 All at once he heard laugh behind
him-a hail.
He wheeled about, trembling and
/ spent. Out his arms went in eager
ereeting. For the girl. laughing and
flushed and very beautiful, was coming
] down the stair at the end of the nall.
Never had the engineer beheld
/ sight so wonderful to hin, as this WON.
an, clad in the Renga! robe; this girl
1 who smiled ami ran to meet him.
| What? Were you frightened?" she
asked, growing suddenly serious, as he
| stood there speechless and pale. why.
what could happen to inc here? :,
Ills only answer was to take her In
his arms and whisper her name. But
! she struggled to be free.
Don't. You mustn't she exclaimed.
II didn't mean to alarm you. Didn't
even know you were here.
II heard the shots-I called-you didn't
i answer. eThen'--
(, You found me gone? 1 didn't hear
you It was nothing. after all. Nothing
He led her back into the room.
What happened? Tell me-"
st was really too absurd!
, What was it2"
! only this" and she laughed again.
! II was getting supper ready. as you
see," with a nod at their provisions laid
out on the clean-brushed floor.
! When"
| H"Yes?"
"why, a laundering great hawk
! swooped in through the window there.
F, circled around, pounced on the last of
our beef, and tried to fly away with 1t"
!, Stern heaved a sigh of relief. so that
And your absence?"
II struck at him. He showed fight. I
/ blocked the window. He was deter
mined to get away with the food ! was
determined he shouldn't. So 1 snatchcd
the revolver ,S an, and opened fire."
"That confused him. He tapped out
into the hail.. ] chased him. Away up
the stairs, he circled. shot again.
But he must have got away through
some opening. Our beets all gone"
And Beatrice looked very sober.
downstairs. % But tell I'm me. iIs did S you Wing
him?'
I'm afraid not" she admitted.
There's feather or two on the stairs.
Good work. cried he, laughing. his
fear all swallowed in the JOY of having
! found her again Safe and unhurt. But
! will you? It's all right this time. how
! ever. And now If you'll just wait mere
and not get fighting with any more wild
aest dr m 20 te dewR RoT ard SrRg s ny
added, slowly. gazing earnestly at her.
But J. don't want you chasing things
In this old shell of a building. No tell
ing what crevice you might fall into or
what accident might happen. Au re-
4 Voir!"
Her smile as he left her was inscru-
table, but her eyes, strangely bright
followed him till he had vanished once
more down the stairs.
Broad strokes, a line here. one there,
| with much left to the imaglning-such
/ will serve best for the painting OF a
picture like this-a picture wherein
I every ordinary bond of human life, the
nexus of mans society. is shattered.
! Where everything must strive to re-
= construct itself from the dust; where
the future, If any such there may be,
must rise from the ashes of the crumb-
| ling past.
Broad strokes, for detailed ones would
fll too vast a canvas. Impossible to
| describe a tenth of the activities of
Beatrice and Stern the next four days.
! Even to make a list of their hard
possessions would turn this chapter into
so let these pass, for the most part.
I Day by day the man, Issuing forth
/ sometimes alone, sometimes with Bea-
trice. slabored like Titan among the
| ruins of New York.
Though more than 80 per cent of the
| city's one-time wealth had long since
vanished, and through all standards of
worth had wholly changed, yet much
| remained to harvest.
| Infnitudes of things more or less
| damaged, they bore up to their shelter,
! up the stairs which here and there
Stern had repaired with rough-hewn
For now he had an axe-found in
that treasure-house of Currier &
| Brown s-brought to a sharp edge on
| a wet, fiat stone by the spring, and
J hafted with a sapling.
This implement was of incredible use
and greatly enheartened the engineer.
More valuable 1t was than thousand
tons of solid gold.
The same store yielded also a WELL
preserved enameled water pail and
some smaller dishes of like ware, three
more knives, quantities of nails and
some small tools.
F; Also the tremendous bonanza of a
magazine rifle and shotgun, both OF
| which Stern judged would come into
shape by the application of oil and by
careful tinkering. OF ammunition, here
doubt he could unearth unlimited guam
titles.
with Steel" he reflected. and with
| my flint spearhend, / can make fire at
lots of punk So the first step in re-
establishing civilization is secure. With
fire. everything else becomes possible,
After a while, perhaps, / can get
around to manufacturing matches again.
But for the present my few ounces of
phosphorus and the flint and steel will
answer very we'll"
Beatrice like the true woman she
was, addressed herself eagerly. to the
fascinating task of making a real home
olIt OF the barren desolation of the
fifth floor offices. Her splendid energy
| was no less than the engineers. And
the place
| Stern manufactured 3 broom for her
by cutting willow withes and lashing
them with hide strips onto a trimmed