The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1914-07-24

strained to the
breaking point by weeks of enervating
dry heat.
He had looked across the table with
a look in his eyes hers could not
bear.
ill-you-shut-up"
She had sat stunned for moment,
and then, choking down a dry sob,
I said
I'm sorry, Dick. You've been so
worried It's been terrible-this
year"
His face did not soften, and he
laughed harshly.
Eyes, this year and last, and the
year before that, and all the rest OF
the years to come probably" He
stood up abruptly. I'm going to
town"
She noticed the slight stoop Of the
boyish shoulders and the listless drag
of his feet and then she turned and
looked out across the baking fields,
where the crowdlng rows Of gray
green corn dropped as II the heat
were heavy and bearing them down.
The child that lay on the bed tossed
and walled fretfully. After she had
soothed 1t back into an uneasy slum-
Der, she commenced to clear the
table, working swiftly to ease the con-
striction in her breast
When her fingers touched the fine
ly-chiseled edges Of the cut-glass sugar
bowl that stood so anonymously amid
their homely ware, she paused and
whispered aloud the thought that this
bare touch had awakened.
He travels the fastest who travels
alone"
His mother had said 1.-THE same
who had given them the sugar-bowl-
said 1t In her presence when she and
Dick had gone to tell her their re-
solve, that they were going to be mar.
ried.
Placing the ironing board across the
backs OF two chairs, she lifted the
iron from the stove and tested it with
a moistened finger. The light breeze
that stirred the curtains felt cool on
her damp brow but she did not look
up to see the green haze.
Neither did she note the far-sff hum,
like the hum of bees when they gath
er at the home hive at nightfall-a
hum that grew louder, and swelled in
volume till 1t sounded like the rumble
of a thousand busy looms-louder,
louder.
An eery note sang through It: loud
er and higher, and louder and higher
like the increasing roar of advancing
war.
The shrieks Of the child seemed fee
BILE and impotent in the face Of the
roar, as she seized 1t up and plunged
head down into the swirling dust out
side.
For moment she was but play.
thing of the storm that whirled her
! skirts above her head and blinded her,
She was hurtled along until she STUN
) bled and fell to her knees on a mouNd
OF earth, which with heart.leap OF
JOY she recognized as the storm-house.
Then the door yielded, crashed down
) over their heads, and from pande-
monium she stepped into peace.
) Long she sat with wide.stretched
eyes staring into the darkness of their
) refuge, until things began to take on
dim, ghostly shape, and even the
; dirt wall opposite came into view.
The mutter was dying lower and
) lower, and the whine was stilled.
, when suddenly there came a clear,
! sharp tap on the tin door of their
refuge. She caught her breath and
strained to hear. Yes, there was an.
other, and two, three, four, until II
sounded like the preliminary rattle
and then the full rolling of a drum.
, The woman breathed In deeply. All.
dibly. and then she screamed:
! "Baby!-the rain!-the rainl"
Swiftly she rushed up the four stems
! and pushed back the trap-door half
sobbing, half laughing crafty. She
lifted her arms and let the water
, stream down her upturned face. as II
she were drinking II in along with
the thirsty earth
1t was salvation to her life that had
been so near ruin that very day, for
1t was salvation to the corn wherein
lay their hopes, and with a glad heart
! she turned to watch the torrents pour
ing on their fields.
- II crent into her face, into her eyes
until she could no longer bear to look
and turned. There lay the house IN q
: 'IGicroos r:ass, enc beam erect, like
4 man lying Oh his side. his foot in
5 the air.
She did rot hear the mad splash,ns
: Of a horse down the road. where he,
husband, bareheaded, came galIon,ne
wildly through the rain. a terr,hls
fear in his eyes.
: He did not notice the fields. M,
even the house, but when he saw he,
!: star Ding there disconsolate. his eve,
I lighted up with a great Joy. and tbe
look of terror fed. Swiftly he came
: up to her.