The Washington times., 1912-04-08

Lam ENGLAND.
All at once eBeatrlce uttered a cry Of
startled gladness.
Look here! A storage chestp'
True enough, there stood a cedar box
oil scanned and cracked and bulging, yet
still retaining semblance of It's orig
fnal shape.
The copper bindings and the lock were
sun quite plainly to be seen, as the
engineer held the torch close, though
green and corroded with incredible age
One effort Of Stern's powerful arms
suficed to tip the chest quite over. As
II fell 1t burst. Down in mass of pull
verified, worm-eaten splinters 1t disinte-
grated.
out rolled furs, many and many of
them, black, and yellow, and striped
the pelts of the grizzly, of the leopard.
the chetah, the royal bengal himself.
"Hurray" shouted the man, catching
un first one, the another, and still a
fection here and there doesn't matter.
Now we've got clothes and bed-beds,
/ mean.
What's that? Yes, maybe they are a
trife warm for this season of the year,
but this is no time to be particular. See,
now, how do you like that?'
Over the girls shoulders, as he spoke,
he flung the tiger-skin.
Magnificent" he judged, standing
back pace or two and holding up the
torch to see her better. when / find
you big gold pin or clasp to fasten
that with at the throat you'll make
picture Of another and more splendid
He tried to laugh at his own words,
but merriment sat i'll there in that place,
and with such a subject. For the wom-
an, thus clad. had suddenly assumed
wild, barbaric beauty.
Bright cleaned her gray eyes by the
light of the fiambeau; limpid. and deep,
and earnest, they looked at Stern. Her
.E,.I l.AG. .t.alK la, 1,..NNr 1nr.-
ing masses over the striped, tawny saw
sgery of the robe, made colorful con-
trasts. barbarous seductive.
Half hidden, the woman's perfect
body, beautiful as that of wood
nymph or pagan dryad, reused alta
vistIc passions in the engineer.
He dared speak no other word for the
moment. but bent beside the shattered
chest again and fell to looking over the
furs. '.
A Polar bear skin attracted his atten-
ton, and this he chose. Then, with 1t
slung across his shoulder, he stood up.
said eems ee We must s be- going
now. Dur light won't hold out very
much longer. We've got to find food
and drink before the alcohols all gone;
whatever happens. Well, let's be go
ing"
Fortune favored them.
In the wreck of a small fancy grocers
DOotn down toward tne emu VI the a.
cade, where the postoffce had been,
they came upon stock OF goods In
glass Jars.
All the timed foods had long since
perished, but the impermeable glass
seemed to have preserved fruits and
vegetables of the finer sort, and shipped
beef and the like, in a state OF perfect
soundness.
Best of ALL they discovered the re re-
mains of a case of mineral water. The
case had crumbled to dust. but four
teen bottles of water were still Intact
pile three or four of these into my
| fur robe here" directed Stern. Now. a
| few of the other jars-thats right. To-
morrow we'll come down and clean up
the whole stock But we've got enough
for now"
stairs again." said he. And SO they
"Are you going to leave that fire
burning?' asked the girl, as they
passed the middle Of the arcade;
"Yes. 1t can't do any harm. Nothing
to catch here; only old metal and ce-
ment. Besides, 1t would take too much
time and labor to put IT out.
Thus they abandoned the Gruesome
place and began the long, exhaustinS
II must have taken them an hour and
half at least to reach their aerie.
Both found their strength taxed to tie
utmost.
Before they were much more than
halfway up the ultimate drop of al
cohol had been burned.
The last few hundred feet had to he
made by slow, laborious feeling, aided
onlY by such dim reflections of the
gibbous moon as glimmered through Il
window, cobweb-hung, or through some
break in the walls
At length. howev"r--for. all things
nave an end -ornathless and spent. thay
that. clad in their savage robes, they
suppea.
Beatrice Kendrick. stenographCr, now
king and queen of the whole wide world
domain las they fedred), sat together
oy little blaze of punkv wood frag-
nients that Rickered on the eroded floor.
out Of the bottles, sans apology Strange
were their speculations. their wonder
ings. their plansTnow disguised spe-
word that thrilled them both with sud
den poignant emotion.
And So IN hour passed, end night
deepened toward the birth of ?nother
day The fire burned low and died, for
| they had little to replenlsh 1t with.
Down sank the moon. her pale light
| dimmInr as she went. her faint illum-
ination Wanly creeping across the dis
ordCr4d, wrcck-srrewn FOOL
And at length Stern. in the outer Of
iice, Featrice In thu other, they wrap
| ped themselves within their furs and
| law them down to sleep.
Despite the age.lonG trance from
| which they both had but So recently
emerged, strange lassitude weighed
Yet long after Beatrice had lost her.
self In dreams, Stern lay and thought
strange thoughts, yelrning and eager
thoughts, there In the impenetrable
gloom.
! A Continuation of This Story VIII
BE Found In TOmOrrOw's