The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1914-10-27
CHAPTER Lxxx-rHE DESERT.

! CHAPTER LNNX.-THE DESERT.
He threw off her hand with bittcr
/ i"ugh-that was like the croaking of
raven as it issued from his bone-dry
! throat-and In a momentary possession
Z OF hysteric madness, reeled away form
, the woman and the shelter of the rock
/ and delivered himself anew to the
/ mercy OF the dust-storm.
! Though she had been schooIed to
+ hold the very name OF Law in loath-
4 Ing unspeakatle and to think of Alan
! fs a mortal enemy and as one whose
death alone could properly requite the
cruel injury that had been done her
father: and though the man himself
! bad laughed to scorn her first involun-
| tary confession OF that love for him
| which now consumed her being with its
/ Unsuitable fires, that love which she had
/ conceived in agony of spirit, against
/ her Will and against her pride az we'll:
that same nothing had made nothing of
these things; through 1t Judith had
4 learned to hug to her bruised heart the
/ bitterest humiliations il suffered he
| cause of her love.
So now when he denied her and
would have none of her, when he threw
1 himself off into the storm rather than
endure association with her in the
( shelter OF the rock, she swallowed her
chaSrin and followed him with the So
licitude of one whose love can rccog-
| nize no wrong in its object, Through
I all the remainder of that day of terro..
/ she was never far from his side, never
out OF touch with him-though che did
not again offer to touch him after, that
first rebuff.
| What did it matter? she asked her
! self. All along she had known that
! he could never love her, that his love
/ was pledged to her own sister, Rose.
So why should she complain II he de-
,At~,
fury of the tempest to refuge of II
! in her company? Her love was no
! less sweet to her for that. whose pas
sions thTiSed on lawlessness. And she
| could not forget what she did not of
a certainty know. but had instinctively
! OWNED at first sight of him. back there
in the lee Of the rock, that he had
| come In search of her, In spite OF him
/ self, spurred ineNorably by that sentl-
| ment in his nature which would not
let him spare himself while n woman
..eeded to be served, though that wom-
an We're one abhorrent. And ahe coul...
J sympathize with that feeling which
made him turn from her, when once
he had found her safe and free through
! her own endeaVors. She knew that
feeling: something nearly akin to 1t
was inherent in her own nature. She
| loved him but the better for that.
Now once 1t caught her IN the open.
! the storm flew at her throat like q
! maddcned animal that thirsted for her
blood Its Shrek OF eldritch Joy fair
ly deafened her. And for the moment
/ its strength seemed redoubled. Judith
! was well-nigh swept of her feet,
/ while Alan in the weakness of his
! fatigue and suffering WAS actually
staggered and beaten to his knees.
| Yet when he was warned of her ap-
/ proach by some subtle instinct he rose
and battled blindly on. [.
| With the meekness OF the strong
she made herself his shadow. And she
was now the stronger, for She had had
more than an hours rest beside the
! waterhole. which he had missed on
| the way OF that rocky windbreal>
Sooner or later his strength must fail
him. and he would need her; till then
she was content to bide her hour.
1t befell presently in startling fash
! ion: She was not yard behind him
when he vanished abruptly, without
warning or apparent excuse; as IL
/ he had been a thing of such fraiI
| texture that the wind had whipped
him bodily away.
But tho next moment Judith herself
was trembling on the crumbling
brink of an arroyo Of depth and width
Understandable In the obscurity of the
duststorm. Down this. evidently, Alan
had fallen in his blindness.
Without falterins, however. she
secuted along that brink until she
found q spot which seemed to offer
n less sheer descent, and let herself
down, gaining the bottom with rush
that almost carried her of her feet.
Alan she found insensible, lying with
an arm bent under him in n pose
frightfully suggestive OF dislocation
Yet when she turned him on his back
and released the arm. he made no
sign 10 indicate that the movement
had caused him the slightest pain.
There was slight cut upon his
brow, a bruise about his left temple,
She tore linen from her bosom, be-
meath her coase flannel shirt and
with sparinG aid from the canteen,
washed the cut clean and bandaged It,
Then, seeing that the storm held with
fury undated. she rose. reconnoitred
and returned to exert all her strength
and drag the unconscious man across
the dry bed of that ancient water
course and under the lee of it's farther