Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1915-05-19


dozen torches were stuck into the
ground above the crumbling ledge;
she saw the flames as one sees q
| burning match cupped in a smokers
| hands, shedding light upon nothing
save that which stands Immediately
| behind it.
She choked little. Her eyes smart
ed. Her lips were slightly cracked,
| and cold-cream seemed only to provide
a surer resting place for the impalpar
BILE dust. 1t had penetrated through
wool and linen and silk, intimately, IN
til three baths a day had become
welcome routine, providing it was pos
sible to obtain water. Water. Her
tongue ran across her lips. Oh, for a
drink from the old cold pure spring at
home! Tea, coffee, and bottled soda;
nothing that ever touched the thirsty
spots in her throat.
| She looked up at the stars and they
looked down upon her, but what she
asked they could not, would not, an
| swer. Night after night she had
asked, and night after night they had
only twinkled as of old. She had trav-
eled now for four months, and still the
| doubt beset her. It was to be leap
/ in the dark, with no one to tell her
what was on the other side. But why
| this insistent doubt? Why could she
| not take the leap gladly, as woman
should who had given the affirmative
| to a man? With him she was certain
that she loved him, away from him she
| hot
abided in her heart. She was wise
enough to realize that something was
wrong; and there were but three
months between her and the inevitable
decision. Never before had she known
other than momentary indecisiOn; and
it irked her to find that her clarity OF
vision was fallible and human like the
rest of her. The truth was, she didn't
know her mind. She shrugged, and
the movement stirred the dust that
J had gathered upon her shoulders.
'A rare old lot of dust; eh, Miss
Chetwood? I wish we could travel by
night, but you can't trust this bloom
ing old Irrawaddy after shutdown.
Charts are so much waste-paper."
st never cease wondering how those
poor coolies can carry those heavy
rice bags she replied to the purser
ooh, they are used to it," carelessly
The great gray stack of paddy-bags
seemed, in the eyes of the girl, fairly
to melt away.
'By Jove!" exclaimed the purser
| There's Parrot & Col" He laughed
| and pointed toward one of the torches
Parrot & Co.? I do not under
stand"
| THAT big blond chap behind the
fourth torch. Yes, there. Sometime
I'll tell you about him. Picturesque
duffer."
II She could have shrieked aloud, bu
all she did was to draw in her breath
with a gasp that went so deep it gave
her heart a twinge. Her fingers tight
ened upon the teak rail. Suddenly sh'
knew, and was ashamed of her weak
! ness. 1t was simply remarkably
d likeness, nothing more than that;
could not possibly be anything more
Still, a ghost could not have startle
III her as this living man had done.
IN "Who is he?"
"a chap named Warrington. Blu
Id over here that signifies nothing
se might just as well be Jones or Smit
IT or Brown. We call him Parrot & CO
He's always carrying that Rajputan
ct parrot. You've seen the kind aroun
Va the palaces and forts; saber-lik
g. wings, long tailfeathers, green an
blue and scarlet, and the ugliest littl
vi ic ,nI
IN do tricks"
II, But the mani" impatiently.
n. He eyed her, mildly surprised. "Ol
10 he puzzles us all bit, you know. We
III. educated somewhere back a gentle
We man; from the States. OF course
lie don't know; something shady, prob;
I bly,. They don't tramp about like thi
IN otherwise. For all that, he's rather
". decent sort; no bounder like this 70
IL. ter we left at Mandalay. He neve
do talks about himself. I fancy he's LON
h. some again"
m "Lonesome?"
he Its the way, you know. Thes
ey poor beggars drop aboard for tn
It night, merely to see a white woma
again, to hear decent English, to dres
- and dine like a human being. The
"a. disappear the next day, and often "
never see them again."
What do they do?" The questio
he came to her lips mechanically.
nd 'Paddy-fields., White men are needle
ar to oversee them And then, there
70 the railway, and there's the new g
he country north Of Prone. You'll 81
an the wells tomorrow. Rather fancy tn
ri. Warrington chap has been worki1
en- along the new pipe line. They're ru
ne ming them down to Rangoon. If he
nd with us tomorrow, I'll have him p
cd the parrot through its turns. A
as amusing little beggar."
av ''Why not introduce him to me?"