Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1912-01-26

to the settlements. or course, these
had passed him by remotely, but here
he was brought in touch Intimately
with humanity. He who had taken
life had saved it. A woman had sent
him forth; was a woman to call him
back?
He cursed himself for his weakness.
Re shut his eyes and summoned other
memories. How long he stood there
lie could not have told. He was fight
ing a battle and it seemed to him at
! last that he triumphed. Presently the
consciousness came to him that per-
haps he had no right to stand there
idle; il may be that the woman need
. ed him; perhaps she had tainted in
the water; perhaps. He turned to-
ward the bend which concealed him
from her and then he stopped. Had
he any right to intrude upon her
/ privacy? He must Of necessity be an
/ unwelCOme visitor to her; he had sur
/ prised her at a frightful disadvantage,
lie knew instinctiyely. although the
fault was none of his, although he
( had saved her life thereby, that she
/ would hold him and him alone re-
/ sponsib!e for the outrage to her mod
/ esty, and although he had seen little
at first glance and had resoIutely kept
/ his eyes away. the mere conscious
ness of her absolute helplessness ap-
pealed to him-to what was best and
noblest in him, too. He must go to
! her; yet stay, she might not yet be
| clothed, in which event. But 10,
she must be dressed, or dead, by this
time, and in either case he would
have a duty to discharge.
It devolved upon him to make sure
Of her safety: he was in a certain
sense responsible for it, until she got
back to her friends, wherever they
might be; but he persuaded himself
that otherwise he did not want to see
her again, that he did not wish to
know anything about her future: that
he did not care whether it was we'll or
i'll with her; and it was only stern
obligation which drove him toward
her-oh, fond and foolish man!
He compromised with himself at
last by climbing the ridge that had
shut off a view of the pool and look
ing down at the place so memorable
to him. He was prepared to with
draw instantly should circumstances
warrant. and he was careful so to con-
ceal himself as to give no possible OPP
portunity for her to discover his
scrutiny.
With beating heart and eager
eyes he searched the spot There lay
the bear and little distance away
prone on the grass, clothed but wheth-
er in her right mind or not he could
not tell. lay the woman. For moment
as he bent a concentrated, eager gaze
upon her he thought she might have
tainted or that she might have died
In any event he reflected that she had
strength and nerve and will to have
dressed herself before either of these
things happened. She lay motionless
under his gaze for so long that he
finally made up his mind that com
mon humanity required him to go tc
her assistance.
He rose to his feet on the instant
and saw the woman also lift herself
from the grass as If moved by a SINH
lar impulse. In his intense preoccu
patton he had forgot to observe the
. signs of the times. A sense Of the
overcast sky came to him suddenly al
1t did to her, but with a difference
He knew what was about TO happen
his experience told him much more
as to the awful potentialities of thu
tempest than she could possibly imag
inc. She must be warned at once
she must leave the canon and get VI
on the higher ground without delay
His duty was plain and yet he did i
not He could not The pressur,
: upon him was not yet strong enough.
4 half dozen times as he watched
!, her deliberately sitting there eating
he opened his mouth to CRY to her
yet he could not bring himself to il
A strange timidity oppressed him
> halted him, held him back. 4 mai
cannot stay away i've yesrs from @sl