Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1912-09-27

f, gasping cry SHE came TO the last of her
ebbing strength and sank down on the
/ sands. staring after the vessels with
eyes horror smitten.
| Crittenden vanished, the Cynthia
abandoned her, -. Terror OF lone
/ illness overcast Cynthia's senses. I'M
consciousness claimed her. and from IL
she passed unstirring into. deep Stun
Der. docile to the demands OF an over
wroight mind and an overworled body.
CHAPTER XVIII 81
NARROWED.
on this THO sun rose. on this tableau.
arranged upon a stretch of pink coral
sand. with a smiling breadth Of water
OF a wonderful fulgent blue as fore
ground, a thicket Of cedar and pitch
pine and strangely tinted tropical I'M
dergrowth for background; a young
bathing suit that would have seemed
not out Of place on a Newport beach,
l lying i'm the attiaude OF one who had
succumbed TO the need Of sleep at
nadir' OF pure physical prostration, her
head pillowed on the rounded softness
of one bare arm outfiung; standing
above her. in a pose Of complete and
absorbed stupefaction a young man In
torn shirt and soiled trousers. collar
less and barefooted and lacking a hat.
I'm one hand the straps OF a canvas
covered life belt. and discofored, damp.
stencilled with the name Cydonia-
Crittenden's features were drawn and
haggard and darlkened beyond their nor
NAL shade by a coat Of fresh sunburn;
slightly blyoOdshot. his eyes shone like
smouldering Goals in their deep-set
! sockets There was a hint Of grimness
/ and despair in the set of his mouth and
chin, rusty with day-old stubble. One
sleeve OF his shirt was ripped to the
shoulder. where il was widely stained
with dry blood. His trousers were
turned I'D high. exposing bare, sinewy
ankles and feet sun scorched. scratched
and abgaded from their unaccustomed
contact with rought ground. and parched
and blistered with the heat of mean
descent sands.
His appearance. in short, delineated
very faithfully the mishap-ridden mar
liner of the old-time romances: forlorn
and hopeless. half starved and weather
worn. the gall and wormwood of frus-
trated hope and blasted fortune in his
heart, logged endurance in his sombre
eyes.
But the virulence that Crittenden
tasted was due more to the plight of
his soul than to the evil circumstance
in which he found himself.
Through all the yesterday. from the
hour when he had Weakened to md
Lobb, Perez, and Rhode standing over
him and in possession of his only
weapon. until sleep claimed his dis
traught senses long after nightfall, ne
had endured purgatory, his mentality
rent by internal discussions, his heart
in mutiny against the dictates Of his
reason He had fought himself as man
hfa hff-
terest enemy; and in the end had told
himself that he had triumphed. that he
had succeeded in casting out the pas
sion that possessed him: that Cynthia
was no longer anything to him, that
honor and decency were masters Of his
affections-that white was black. On
this assurance he had slept.
Later, reused out Of uneasy slum-
Der by he knew not what shapeless
apprehension, he had risen and wan
dered without purpose from his resting
place along the outer beach to its ex-
tremity. where il turned TO curve in
round the lagoon. And there he sat
himself down to rest in mute commun-
ion with his benumbed senses, promis-
ing himself that this torpor born OF
inter WEAKNESS meant indifference:
that he could thenceforth entertain the
thought OF Cynthia without emotion
contemplate eternal separation from her
without repining. that what he had
named love was but fugitive infatua-
tion-that white was black and for
ever would be so.
The splitting crackle OF wireless from
the Cynthia, sounding its tocsin-like
alarm in the Silly night, failed to in
terest him. He hearkened without
troubling to attempt Interpretation. The
confusion that followed, eliminating in
departtIre of both vessels, left him in
like apathy: he had looked to be left
behind and had reconciled himself with
the understanding; TO see his expec-
tation fulfilled 20 the blacklist letter
failed to move him. He even, in the
astigmatism OF perceptions that saw
his abandonment as a matter OF less
CONSEQUENCE than the inviolate preser-
walton OF his ideal Of honor, found
himself sufficiently unconcerned to doze
upon the knowledge of his desertioh,
until daylight banished further
thoughts of sleep.
Then. I'm somewhat objectless return
to the place he had selected for his FIRE,
he had stumbled across the nfe-belt
get from recent immersion, lying across
what otherwise he might have over
looked-the trail of flying footprints.
dim. divergent; marks of feet shod in
light. narrow, heelless sandals. CrusOe
on Juan Fernandez discovering the
marks of Fridays feet had been no more
dumfounded. Crittenden, astare, was OPP
pressed by a suspicion, vague, skeptical
but gnawing, that dried his mouth with
fear lest il have support in fact. q
Now, having tracked her down, he
gazed upon the substance Of his fears
and dreams alike, still bewildered.
How could it be possible that she was
there?
He put himself between her and the
sun. whose level rays were like lambent
flames.
Surely her fairness was surprising.
$50 fair" his memory
prompted: "And. 10! her wonderfully
woven hairP"
He looked upon her consummate hove
Illness and his heart melted. and he I'M
derstood the vanity of self-delusion. He
loved her beyond expression. in his eyes
she was more fair than any living thing
end more to be desired; and thus IL