The Parker post., 1915-12-25
THE sun GOD
BY n. M. EGBERT,

CNovelized from the Motion Picture
Drama produced by the Universal Film
Manufacturing Company
|.
A blazing sun, and human figure
that stood naked beneath it, staring
| down at the dry river bed! The body
Of the man was chocolate red never
theless once it had been white.
The thing that had awakened mem
ory and mind was gold Gold, on an
uninhabited island, where the man
had been cast months before.
With rush recollection came back
to the man. The face of Alice, his
sweetheart, seemed etched against the
little fishing town where they had
lived since childhood; Old Ben, her
father-and then Captain Harding, the
retired sea shark, rich with his in
surance collected from the rotten
hulks that he had sent with their liv-
ing freight beneath the waves.
Harding had had all that his ILL
spent life had ever held out as sub
stitute for an unstained soul; but that
had not been enough. The old man
wanted Alice, who filled the young
fisherman's life entirely. The lovers
had sensed it dimly, but they were too
happy to care, and neither suspected
the designs that Harding held in his
heart.
Harding's mate, Anderson, had 1ured
Herbert aboard his ship and struck
him down treacherously from behind.
Herbert awakened to find the ship far
at sea and himself one of the crew.
A drunken crew, a floating hell, ship
wreck-the panorama of the past un-
folded itself before Herbert's vision.
Then the escape of Anderson and him
| self, the treacherous seizure of the
boat by the mate, who put out alone
to sea, months of semicon-
sc1ousness -. the oyster beds
(. wild fruit and water :.
shelter gold, on an uninhabit-
ed island!
| Lifting his eyes, Herbert perceived,
at that moment a fleet Of native ca
noes debouching round the point of
the island. They were manned by
brown-skinned savages, whose paddles
swept rhythmically through the wa
ter
Without thinking, he ran toward the
sandy beach, but halted within TWEEN
ty yards Of the party that had assem-
bled within little grove Of palms.
Noiselessly he crept nearer, and, fiat
on his stomach, surveyed with wonder
some score Of natives who had
grouped themselves about curious
| fat stone in the center of small open
space. Tied to the stone was girl,
perhaps twenty years of age. Her long,
black hair fell heavily about her bare
arms. Upon her face was an express
sion of resignation.
From among the savage group
stepped forward an aged man, with
long white locks that hung over his
shoulders. He strained his throat and
shouted an impassioned cry. The
shout was taken up by the group of
natives. The elder began to dance.
Frenzy seized on the spectators. The
brown limbs heaved, the yells that
burst from the throats of the swaying
natives rang like the sound of tom
TOMS
| Suddenly silence-sO swift a transi-
tion that the effect was more stunning
than the sound. From his loin-cloth
the old man drew sharpened stone
which he poised on high. And at that
moment the watcher understood. He
had heard tales of the Polynesian GUS
toms from many seafaring men. This
was the annual journey Of the Sun
| Worshipers to the sacred stone of sac
rifice. And the girl upon the stone
was their destined victim
| Herbert sprang to his feet and
rushed among the natives just as the
priest poised the stone knife above
the heart Of the girl. He struck up
the old mans arm and stood before
her His life seemed not worth
moments purchase at that instant
But the dramatic action had stupefed
the savages. The old priest stared at
the stranger. Burned as he was, Her
bert. lighter than any man the ma
tives had known, seemed to them a
the same inspiration struck them at
the same moment.
The god! The god OF the stone!
With one accord they broke away
| in terror and fed to their canoes.
Herbert picked UP the knife which
the priest had let fall and with it sew
cred the hemp ropes that bound the
Is{r hA O&0 fol
fiat at his feet in alteration. The sun
god had come to claim his bride in
life instead Of death.
Daily Herbert toiled in the. bed of
the river, amassing a fortune in gold
dust. Life had suddenly become fair
er. Alice had grown to be a distant
memory. The love Of Altoona was
grateful to the starved heart Of the