Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-11-25
CHAPTER XII
DRAWING TOGETHER

DAYS passed, busy days, fun OF hard
~ labor and achievement. rich in expert
enee and learning, in happiness, in dreams
OF what the future might yet bring.
Beatrice made and finished IA considerable
wardrobe OF garments for them both.
These, when the fur had been clipped close
with the scissors, were not oppresslvely
warm, and. even though on some days a bit
uncomfortable, the man ana woman toler-
ated them because they had no others.
Plenty Of bathing and good food put them
In splendid physical condition, TO which
their active exercise contributed much.
And thus, judging partly by the state Of
the foliage, partly by the height OF the
sun, which Stern determined with consider.
able accuracJ by means OF simple home
made quadrant-they knew mid May was
past and June was drawing near
The housekeeping by no means took I'D
all the girls time. Often she went out with
him on what he called his "pirating e&pedl.
tions," that now sometimes led them as
far aheld as the sad ruins of the wharves
and piers, or to the stark desolatlon and
wreckage of lower Broadway and tho one
time busy hives OF newspaperdom or uD
to Central Park or to the great remains
OF the two railroad terminals.
These two places, the former tide gates
OF the City's life impressed Stern most
painfully OF anything. The disintegrated
tracks, the jumbled remains OF locomotives
and luxurious Pullmans with weeds grow
ing rank upon them, the sunlight beating
down through the cavsd-in roof of the
Pennsylvania station "concourse," where
millions OF human beings once had trod in
all the haste Of mems paltry futile AFFAIRS,
filled him with melancholy, and he was
glad to get away again. leaving the place
to the jungle, the birds and beasts that
now laid claim to II.
"sio transit gloria mundlF he murmured
as with sad eyes he mused upon the down
tumbled columns along the facade, the over.
grown entrance way, the cracked and fall
ing arches and architraves. And this,
they said, was builded for all timer
1t was on one OF these expeditions that
the engineer found and pOcketed-unknown
TO Beatrice-another disconcertlng relic
This was a bone, broken and spllntered
and OF no very great age. gnawed with per-
fectly visible toothmarks. He picked IL up.
by chance, near the west side OF the ruins
OF the old City Hall
stern recognized the manner in which the
bone had been cracked open with a stone
TO let the marrow be sucked out The sight
OF this gruesome relic revived all his fears
tenfold more acutely than ever and filled
him with a sense OF vague, impending evil,
OF peril deadly to them both.
This was the more keen because the en-
gineer knew AZ glance that the bone was
the upper end OF human femur-human
or. at the very least belonging 10 some
highly anthropoid animal And OF apes or
Eoriilas he had. as yet, found no trace In
the forests OF Manhattan.
Long he unused over his md. But not
single word did he ever say to Beatrice
concerning Il or the flint spear point Only
he kept his eyes and cars well open for
ether bits Of eoFroborative evidence.
And he never venturad a foot from the
building unless his rifle and revolver were
with him. their magazines fun Of high-
power shells.
The girl always went armed, too. ana
soon grew 70 be such an expert shot that
she could drop q squirrel from the tip OF :
az, o. wing heron IA fuli hight
CONTINUED MoNDAY9