The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1913-09-27

! II
sclous Of her situation; her sIeon b,d
oeen too long and too heavy, and her
awakening too gradual for anv sud
zen appreciation of the new condition
II was not until she had stared around
the walls Of the rude cabin for some.
'ime' mat she realized where she was
ana what had happened. When she
ola so she arose at once
Her first impulse was to call Never
IN her life had she felt such death.
IKE stiffness. Even in the camp al.
"oSt always there had been a whis.
per OF breeze through the pine trees
OF tne chatter Of water over the rocks
but here there were no pine trees and
no sound of rushing brook came to
ner. 1t was almost painful She was
Keen to dress and 60 out Of the house
one stood upon the rude puncheon
moor on one foot, scarcely able vet to
pear even the lightest pressure upon
the other There were her clothes on
chairs and tables before the fireplace.
such had been the heat thrown ont nv
: .nat huge blaze that a brief inspec.
ton convinced her that everything
was thoroughly dry. Dry or wet she
must needs put them on. since thew
were all she had. She noticed that
there were no locks on the doors, and
she realized that the only protection
she had was the sense of decency and
the honor of the man. That she had
oeen allowed her sleep unmolested
made her the more confident on that
account.
She dressed hastily, although it was
the work of some difficulty in view Of
ner wounded foot. and Of the stiff con.
oltlon OF her rough, dried apparel.
Presently she was completely clothed.
save for that disrobed foot. With the
Dig clumsy bandages upon 1t, she could
not draw her stocking over 1t, and even
II she succeeded in that, she could in
no way make shift to put on her boot.
The situation was awkward. the pre-.
olcament annoying. She was wearing
boomers and q short skirt for her
mountain climbing, and she did not
know quite what to do She thought of
tearing up one Of the rough unbleach-
ed sheets and wrapping it around her
leg, but she hesitated as to that. It
was very trying. Otherwise. she would
have opened the door and stepped out
into the open air Now she felt her.
self virtually prisoner.
She had been thankful that no ono
had disturbed her, but now she wished
for the man. In her helplessness she
thought Of his resourcefulness with
eagerness, The man. however, did not
appear, and there was nothing fo, her
to do but to wait for him. Taking orc
of the blankets from the bed she sat
down and drew it across her knees and
took stock of the room
The cabin was built of logs. the
room was large, perhaps - by 20 feet.
with one side completely taken up by
the stone fireplace; there were two
windows, one on either side of the
outer door, which opened toward the
southwest. The walls were unplaster
ed save in the chinks between the
rough hewn logs Of which It was made
Over the fireplace and around on one
side ran a rude shelf covered with
books. She had no opportunity to ex.
anime them, although later she would
become familiar with every one OF
them.
Into the walls on the other side
were driven wooden pegs; from some
OF them hung pair of snow shoes, a
heavy Winchester rife, fishing tackle
and other necessary wilderness para
phernalia. On the puncheon floor wolf
and bear skins were spread. In one
corner against the wall again were
piled several splendid pairs Of horns
from the mountain sheep
The furniture consisted of the single
bed or berth in which she had slept
built against the wall in one of the
corners. rude table on which were
writing materials and some books.
A row of curtained shelves, evidently
made of small boxes and surmounted
by a mirror occupied another space.
There were two or three chairs, the
handiwork Of the owner, comfortable
enough in spite of their rude construc-
ton. On some other pegs hung a
slicker and a sou'wester. fur over
coat fur cap and other rough clothes;
a pair of heavy boots stood by the
fireplace. On another shelf there were
a number of scientific instruments, the
nature of which she coald not deter
mine. although she could see that they
were all in beautiful state Of pres
erration.
There was plenty Of rude comfort in |
the room, which was excessively man
nish. In fact, there vas nothing any
where which in any way spoke Of the
existence of woman--eTccpt picture |
in small, rough, wooden frame which |
stood on the table before which she
sat down. The picture was OF hand
some woman naturally Enid Maitland
saw that before anything else. She
would not have been woman If that
had not engaged her attention more
than any other fact in the
.nnnn Che nicked Il LIN and studded