The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1915-06-04

her she fingered upon the sands. IN
the mouth Of the shelter he had &C.
lected for her. staring hungrily out on
the shimmering sea that. nov wholly
divestsd Of it, shroud. smiled up 70
the heavens. whose sapphire face Il
mirrored. - fair and sweet Of SEEM
ing % though 1t had never yelled .
heartless tragedy.
Slowly It darkened ~ the sapphire
above grew darker. blending insen-
sibly into rare ultramarine with the
slow decline Of the sun, by whose al
titude above the horizon the day had
not more than ninety minutes to run.
And she thought drowsily that II
that sun sank without her learning
that her lover lived. it would not rise
again upon q world tenanted by Rose
Urine.
It was not true. she told herself. that
people never die Of broken hearts.
She knew that, were he taken from
her, she could no longer live. . {.
And sleep overwhelmed her sud.
denly, like q great. dark cloud . . I.
But its dominion yer her faculties
wal not Of long duration. Slowly.
heavily, mutinously, she was rescued
from its nirvana-came to her senses
with an effect of one who emerges
from some vast place of blacknees and
terror, to find Barcus kneeling over
and gingerly but p%ersistently shaking
her by the shoulder.
And then she sat up with q cry Of
mystified compassion; for In the brief
time that he had been absent-it had
not been more than an hour-Mr. Bar
Gus had most unQuestionably been Sc
verely used.
He had acquired a long cut over one
eye, but shallow, upon which blood
had dried, together with a bruised and
swollen cheek that was badly
scratched to boot. And what simple
articles of clothing remained to him.
after his strenuous experiences of the
last forty-eight hours, had been re-
duced to even greater simplicity; his
shirt, for example, now lacked a sleeve
that had been altogether torn away
at the shoulder.
"No!" he told her, as soon as he saw
her wits were awake once more
don't waste time plying me. I'm all
right-and so is Alan! That's the
main thing for you to understand; he's
still alive and sound"
"But where is he? Take me to
hint" she demanded, rising with a
movement Of such grace and vigor
that it seemed hard to believe she had
ever known an instants WEAKNESS.
That's the rub" Barcus confessed.
squatting on the sands and knuckling
his hair. II dassent take you to him.
Judith might object. Besides, you can
see for yourself it isn't safe to mingle
with the inhabitants Of this tight
little standard you can't get to
where Alan is without mingling con
siderably. Sit down, and Ill tell you
all about it, and we'll try to figure out
| what's best to be done. Maybe We
can manage a rescue under cover o.
night"
And when the girl had settled her
self beside him he launched into
detailed report.
TITS Katama island, all right" he
announced, "but a change has come
over the place since I visited it some
years ago. Then 1t. was a community
of supplemented villagers and fisher
men; now, unless all signs fail, it's q
den of smugglers. I noticed q mum
Der of Chinese about; and that, taken
in connection with the fact that, when
l ventured to introduce myself to the
village ginmill and ask a few limo
cent questions, the entire population
to a child, landed On me like a thou
sand brick-the two circumstances
made me think we'd stumbled on a
settlement Of earnest workers at the
gentle art Of helping poor Cinnamon
evade the exclusion laws"
With a wry smile, he pursued: "Aa
for me, I landed out back of the joint
on the nape Of my neck, and took the
count. surrounded by a lot of unsym'
pathetic boxes and barrels that had
seen better days. And when l came to
and started to crawl unostentatiously
away, l was just in time to witness the
landing of your amiabie sister, that
gang Of cutthroats she keeps on the
pay roll, and Alan in company with as
choice a crew Of scoundrels as you'd
are to see. I gathered from a few
words that leaked out Of the back door
Of the barroom, that It was as I had
thought-Judith had stolen a boat
from the ship that picked her up. and
rammed 1t on Norton's reef; and after
she gathered Alan in the schooner OF
these smugglers happened along, and
she hailed It and struck q bargain with
the captain and signed co.partnership
articles. or something like that. Any
way, her lot and the islanders were
soon 90 thick as thieves. and tanking
up 20 socially that I actually got a
chance to whisper Q word to Alan and
tell him you were Gil right. and that
he'd find us both down here on the
beach. IL luck served him with an e.
cape. That wa all I got Q chance to