The Washington times., 1912-04-06

an inconceivable tangie Of detritus
those streets must bel
And do you notice the park hardly
shows at all? Everything's so over"
grown with trees you can't tell where II
revenge at last, on mani
The universal claim, made real" said
Beatrice. Those rather clearer lines
OF green, I suppose, must be the larger
away and away, like ribbons Of green
velvetl
"Everywhere that roots can hold at
all Mother Nature has set up her fiags
again. Hark! What's that?"
moment they listened intently. Up
to them, from very far, rose a wailing
cry. tremulous, long drown, formidab Bile.
''Ohl Then there are people, after
all?' faltered the girl, grasping Stern's 8
arm.
He laughed.
mo, hardly" answered he. "I see
you don't know the wolf-cry. I didn't
till heard II in the Hudson Bay coun-
! try last winter-that Is, last winter
plus X. Not very plea SAINT, Is tt?"
wolves! Then-there are"
why not? Probably all sorts Of
game on the island now. Why shouldn't
there be? All in Mother. Natures stock.
in-trade, you know.
| worry you. We're safe for the present
| Time enough TO consider hunting later
Let's creep around here to the othel
side of the tower and see what we car
! see."
Silently she acquiesced. Together
they reached the southern part of tn,
platform, making their way as far al
the jumbled rocks OF the fallen railing
would permit.
Very carefully they progressed, fear
tul every moment lest the support breal
| beneath them and hurl them down alonf
| the sloping side of the pinnacle to death
| "Look!' bade Stern, pointing. "Tha
very long green line there Ussd S to b
! of Arden now, isn't it?" He swept hi
| hand far outward.
| See those steel cages, those tiny, far
of ones with daylight shining through
Singer. and all the rest. And th'
| bridges, look at those!'
She shivered at the desolate sight
| Only the towers of the Brooklyn bridg'
| were standing.
| The watchers, two isolated castaway
\ on their island In the seas of uttermos
desolation, beheld a dragging mass o
| wTeckage thai dropped from these tow
ers on either shore. down into the spark
ling flood.
The other bridges, newer and stronge
far, still remained standing, but evel
from that distance Stern could quit
plainly see %t5pt nrte tSe sS fss
the BlackweII's Island bridge was ii
ruinous disrepair.
How horrible, how ghastly is al
this waste and ruin" thought the en-
gineer. "Yet. even In their overthrow
how wonderful are the works of man.!
| A vast wonder seized him as he stoo,
there gazing: fierce desire to rehablll
tate all this wreckaRe. to set II right, L
start the wheels OF the world machlner'
At the thought Of his own powerless
ness a bitter smile curled his lips.
Beatrice seemed to share something o
his wonder.
Can it be possible" whispered she
that you and-and I-are really nk
Macauiay's lone watcher of the worl
wreck on the London bridge?
That We are actually seeing IN
and poets? That All this mighty hear
is lying STILL at last-forever? Tn
; heart Of the world. never to bea
again?"
He made no answer save to shak
his head; but fast his thoughts wer
So then. could he and Beatrice. JUS
, they two, be in stern reality the sol
survivors of the entire human race
That race for whose material welfar
he had, once on a time, done such tr'
T mendous work?
Could they be destined. he and she.
witness the closing chapter in the lont
| painful, glorious Book Of Evolution
: Slightly he shivered and glance
around. i,
Till he could adjust his skason to Il
facts, could learn the truth and weiI
It, he knew he must not analyze q
closely; he felt he must try not to thin
: For that way lay madness!
Far out she gaZed.
The sun, declining. shot broad glo'
all across the sky. Purple and sold ar
; crimson lay the light-bands over Il
breast of the Hudson.
III Dark blue the shadows streamt
across the ruined city with Its croWdir
|, forests. its blank-startng windows ar
= sagging walls, It's thousands OF gaplr
r vacancies, where wood and stone aI
brick had crumbled down-the eli
where once the tides OF human life hs
v ebbed and flowed, roaring resistlessly.
e High overhead drifted Few ro'
n clouds, part Of that changeiess natu
i which alone did not repel or mystl
these two beleaguered waits. the
q chance survivors, this man, this woma
/, left alone together by the hand OF TAT
d They were dazed, fascinated by, =
splendor OF that sunset over wor
,. devoid of human life, for the nome
:, giving up all efforts to Judge or unde
e stand.
a stern and his mate peered close
down at the interviewer jungles or Y
! ION Square. the leafy frond-masses tn
q marked the one-time course of TWent
Q third street, the forest In Madis'
t Square, and the truncated column