The Washington times., 1912-04-06


ing them, showed as bright and clear
as ever.
Come, now; come with me-" he bade
Out through the doorway into the hall
lowed AS she went she gathered her
wondrous veil of hair more closely
about her.
In this universal disorganizatIon, this
wreck OF all the world, how little the
conventions countedl .
Together picking their way up the
bloken stairs, where now the rust-bit-
ten steel showed through the corIoded
stone and cement In a thousand places,
they cautiously climbed.
Here spider webs thickly shrouded the
way, and had to be brushed down
There, still more bats hung and CHIP
pered in protest as the intruders passed:
A FUZZY little white owl blinked at
them from dark niche, and. well
toward the top of the climb they hushed
up n score OF mudswallows which
had ensconced themselves comfortably
along a broken balustrade.
At last, however, despite all unfore-
seen incidents of this sort, they reached
the upper platform. nearly a thousand
feet above the earth.
Out through the relics OF the revolv-
ing door they crept, he leading, test
ing each foot of the way before the girl.
They reached the narrow platform OF
red tillng that surrounded the tower.
Even here theE saw saw WIN WI ,ir,s growing SMS ni
this maddening mystery had laid It's
heavy imprint. a."
"LookyF he exclaimed, pointing, What
this all means we don't know yet; How
long it's been we can't tell. But, TO
Judge by the appearance up here, It's
| even longer than ] thought. See, the
very tiles are cracked and crumbling.
"Tiiework Is usually considered high
ly recalcitrant-but this is gone. There s
grass growing in the dust that's settled
| between the tiles. And-why. here's a
young oak that's taken root and forced
THE winds and birds have carried
| seeds up here and acorns," she answer
ed in an awed voice. Think of the
time that must have passed. Years and
years.
But tell me-" and her brow wrinkled
with a sudden wonder. tell me how
we've ever lived 30 long? can't under
stand II.
Not only have we escaped starva-
tion. but we haven't frozen to death in
all these bitter winters. How can that
! have hapDened?"
Let il ali go as suspended animation
till we learn the facts, II we ever do
he replied, glancing about with kenest
wonder
You know. of course, how toads
rock for centuries? How fish, hard
frozen. have been brought to life again?
But we are human beings"
Il know. Certain unknown natural
: forces, however, might have made nc
more Of us than OF non-mammalian and
less highly organized creatures.
Don't bother your head about these
we've got enough to do for the prVs,
ent without much caring about the
how or why.
has passed, leaving US still alive. The
rest can wait"
How long a time do you Judge IT,?
she anxiously inquired.
Impossible TO say at once. But II
must have been something extraordi
nary-probably far longer than either
of us suspect.
See, for example. the attrition OF
weather" He pointed at the heavy
stone railing See how that is wrecked
for instance"
! blocking all the southern side OF tho
} platform.
The bronze bars. which Stern we'll re.
membered-two at each corner. slantins
now wasted to mere pockmarked shells
of metal.
Three had broken entirely and sagged
wantonly awry with the displacement
vines and grasses had long been carry
, ing on their destructive work.
Look OUT Stern cautioned Don
! Firmly he held her back as she, eagerly
inquisltive, started to advance towarC
the railing.
Don't go anywhere near the edge. l
may all be rotten and undermined, fo
anything we know. Keep back here
close to the wall"
Sharply he inspected 1t a moment.
"Facing-stones are all pretty vel
} gone" said he, but. SO far as l caI
AA aNn fra TAM N1A ha1 Dt1f
ting everything together, I'll probabl!
be able before long to make some sor
I OF calculation of the date. But for nov
we'll have 10 call It * and let it g,
The year X" she whispered unde
her breath. Good heavens, am I a
old as that?'
? He made no answer, but only dreN
: her to him protectingly, while all abou
! them the warm summer wind swep
l onward to the sea, out over the spark
ling expanses of the bay-Rlone un
, changed in all that universal wreckagt
In the breeze her heavy masses, o
j hair stirred luringly. He felt its silke
0 caTcss on his half-naked shoulder, an
= In his ears the blood began to poun
. with strange insistence.
Quite gone now the daze and drowsi
: ness of the first awakening. Stern di
e not even feel weak or shaken. On tn
contrary, never had life bounded NOR
, warmly, more fully, in his veins.
Z The presence OF the girl set his hear
: throbbing heavily, but he bit his u
/ and restrained every untoward though
y Only his arm frightened little abou
s that warmly Clinging body. Beatric
Il did not shrink from him. She needle
o his protection as never since the worl
began had woman needed man.
= To her 1t seemed that, come whs
$ might, his strength and comfort coul
= not fall And, despite everything. sh
could not-for the moment-find unhaI
X plness within her heart.
= Quite vanished now, even in thos
brief minutes since their awakening
E was all consciousness of their formt
J elationship-employer and employed.
! The self-Contained, courteous, yet ur
3 apDroachable, engineer had disappeaTet
Il Now, through all the extraneous dt.
guise OF his outer self. there lived an
. breathed just a man, young maj
il thewed with the vigor OF his plenitud
All else had been swept clean away b
a this great change.
n The girl was different too Was th
strong woman, eEGer-eyed and brav
5 the quiet, low-Yoiced atenographer !
,, remembered, busy only with her m,
e chine, her file boxes and her carbo