Evening star., 1913-02-09

OF sudden he discovered that he was looking at the
strip OF beach from changing angle The distance was
growing greater too The breakers not disturbing
them and those which he ahead receding.
Ram cast a quick look about. The rocks of Mission
Point, to the north of them, moving in orderly
procession eastward. He knew then that the tide rip
was carving them toward the open
Swiftly they borne along, river at the
season of floods Detas cap had disappeared, and her
pale gold hair trailed behind them in the dark green
The girl looked at the moving cliffs, and Ram
knew by the fresh alarm her that she understood
what was happening.
"Never mind-we get out of this yeti he told her.
But he could not believe the words himself.
Far away from the beach and its belt OF breakers they
carried past the last rownng rampant of Mission
Point and toward the patch of fire the sky painted by
the departed The girl beside Ram required more
and more of his energies She was good swimmer her
self: otherwise she would have been overwhelmed In
that first mad collision of the river and the sea. But
she had grown rapidly exhausted and became neces
sarv support her head constantly that would not
fall forward beneath the surface. Repeatedly he sought
to revive her with cheering words He could hear her
teeth chatter. Once she managed to articulate I'm
cold-so co1d!'
The current, veerng, whirled them to the norhward
The fire died; the sky became gray ashes The land
marks on the shore fell into owying blur. When the
tide rip first seized them Ram had tried to stem 1T;
then to escape it by swimming across and out OF the
current finally he had ceased to resist it, hoping only
that it would veer again toward the land or push them
strength might determine.
The sea became ink. Ram began swimming once
more SLOWLY in a general easterly direction. He
was unable to Judge where they were, whether
- the tide rip still carrying them The water
a was very cold; yet he felt that, if alone he
's5ssA would have been able to keep af1oat for
s:SsEA hours longer. The girl was becoming
TssaSfsS more and more of burden. She did
not reply when he spoke, and at
sSsssxS s%ssSHs times he wondered with dull agony
if she was still conscious.
He heard the beat of the surf
and knew that they not far
HI 80 aaSssSSx from land. Presently he real
lied with a start that the
~ sound not of the sea
breaking upon sand.
The beat became rapidly
& & louder There no long
III SxS er any doubt of it-they
sssg 5sSsssss were being rapidly driven
sszSSS SSsxSsN toward the rocks!
sSsss Ram decided that the
noise little to
sSxs side, and, turning, tried
to swim obliquely away
from it. But almost at
once he heard another
deafenng roar just ahead
of them. He stopped
swimming, gripping the
girl tightly, expecting
every instant to be dashed
to pieces with her.
A gevser of white spray,
rearing itself like ghost out
of the blackness sprinked
them with dust of the They
whrled past it, only to face its
brother farther They were
tossed in a seething, churnlng
caldron. Thunder and white light
ming of the surf played all around
Suddenly Ram became that the
roaring noises were behind them, and that
they were in comparatively quiet water He
began to swim. A foot, kicking out. struck
something that was harder than water.
The next moment Ram his feet, stag
gering forward with Delta in his They had
Slipped between rocky outposts of Mission Point
and into a gentle cove embroidered with tiny beach