Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1915-07-24
lug~ a,anesi Hon.

huge lianed Hon.
Every now and; then he would halt
and lift his snif1hg nose to the gentle
breezs. and bic lips ut, barring TIN
mighty fangs beneath. but no sound
came from hi deep throat, for he wal
old. and hls wisdom was ~ the wis.
dom Of The fox.
Once upon q time he would have
coughed and moaned and roared after
] the manner Of his hungry brethren
but much experience with men people
and their deafening thunder sticks had
taught him that he hunted longest who
hunted In silence.
! Victoria Custer had gone to her room
much earlier in the evening than was
her custom. but not to sleep. She did
not even disrobe. but sat instead in the
out toward the black and mysterious
jungle in the distance and the shadowy
outlines Of the southern hills.
She was trying to fight down forever
the foolish obsession that had been
growing upon her slowly and insidi-
ously for years Since the first awak.
ening of developing womanhood with
In her she had been subject to the
strange dream that was now becoming
an almost nightly occurrence.
| At first she had thought nothing Of
1t other than II was odd that she
should continue to dream the same
thing 80 many times, but Of late these
nightly visions had seemed to hold
more Of reality than formerly ana to
presage some happening In her career
some crisis that was to alter the
course Of her life.
Even by day she could not rid her
self Of the vision Of tho black haired
young giant, and tonight the culmina-
ton had come in the voice she had
heard calling her from the rose thicket
She knew that he was but Q creature
Of her dreams. and 1t was this kn0wl-
edge which frightened her so, for It
meant but one thing-her mind was
tottering beneath the burden Of the
nervous strain these Authorizations had
imposed upon 1t.
She must gather all the resources Of
her nervous energy and throw OF this
terrible obsession forever. She must!
She must!
Rising, the girl paced back and forth
the length Of her room. She felt sti-
fling and confined within its narrow
limits. Outside, beneath the open sky,
vx-t< h1,, vda slA hn 6fotant
horizon. was the neld best fitted for
such battle A. was raging within her
Snatching a alken scarf. she threw
it about her shoulders concession to
habit, for the night was holland. step
ping through her window to the porch
that entircled the bungalow, she pass
ed on into the garden.
Just round the nearest angle Of the
house her brother and Billy Curtiss sat
smoking before the window Of their
bedroom. clad in pajamas and slippers.
Curtiss was cleaning the ride he had
used that day. the same that he had
carried into the rose garden earlier In
the evening. Neither heard the girls
light footsteps upon the sward, and the
corner Of the building hid her from
their view.
In the open moonlight before the
POSE tlS .ket Victoria Custer paced back
and forth. A dozen times she reached
the determination to seek the 6rst OPP
portunity upon the morrow to give
Billy Curtiss an Affirmative answer to
rhe question he had asked her the night
before-the night Of the earthquake
but each time that she thought she had
disposed Of the matter definitely she
found herself Involuntary comparing
Rim with the heroic figure OF her
dream man. and again she must need
rewase her battle.
AS she walked in the moonlight two
pairs Of eyes watched her every move
nent-one pair. clear and black. from
the rose thicket; the other. flaming yell
low green. hidden in little clump OF
bushes at the point where she turned
in her pacing to retrace her steps at
the point farthest from the watcher
among the roses.
Twenty times M was on the point
of leaping from bis concealment and
taking the girl IN his arms. for to him
she was Natul. daughter of Tha. and
1t had not been 4 hundred thousand
years. but only yesterday. the day be-
fore. that he had last seen her.
Yet each time something deferred
him-a strange. vague, indefinable fear
Of this wondrous creature who was
Nat-ui and yet who was not Nat-ul, but
another made in Nat-urs image.
The strange things that covered her
fair figure seemed TO have raised q
barrier between them-the last time
that he had walked hand in hand with
her upon the beach naught but the soft
skin of a red doe had clothed her.
Her familiar association, too, with
these strange people, coupled with the
fact that she spoke and understood
their language. only tended to remove
her further from him
M was very sad and very lonely,
and the sight Of Nat-ul seemed to ac-
centuate rather than relieve his de-
preston. Slowly there was born with
in him the conviction that Nat-ul was
no longer for M. the son of NJ. Why
he could not guess. but the bitter fact
seemed inevitable.
The girl had turned quite close to
him now and was retracing her steps
toward the. bushes twenty yards away.
Behind their screening verdure Old