The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1916-04-14

| Snot MN TO tne SURFACE, Dut DerOre lie
| could take breath other currents
sucked him down and dragged him
along the rough surface Of the crum-
bling soil. He felt as though he were
being torn limb from limb.
| Then suddenly he was cast into an
| eddy that in comparison with the mael-
strom was almost peaceful For an
| instant he felt like one who awakes
| from a terrible dream, but with the
sigh that trembed to his lips came
realization.
| From head to toe he was battered
and bruised. His cotton clothes were
| in tatters. His chest heaved In great.
| spasmodic gasps. Breath whistled
through his wracked lungs. His eyes
protruded. His head ached till ii
seemed on the verge of bursting. But
to his mind pierced a thought sharper
than pain-the thought of Margarita
and the Man. With clenched teeth be
struck out for the current.
| Far. far away rose dusty line OF
mist 1t marked the head Of the flood.
the meeting of water with the accumu-
lated dust Of rainless months. Gerry
recognized the meaning of that line.
| Somewhere there in the turmoil Of the
| first rush of the mad food were Mar
garita and the Man-what was left of
| them The distance dismayed him. but
he swan on. Then he felt the fast ap-
preaching end of endurance. A sob
choked him.
1t was only minutes till his arms re-
| fused to answer to his will. They
| moved so weakly that more than once
| his gasping mouth sank below the wa
| ter. He swallowed great gulps Of the
| turgid food. Then an uprooted tree
| brushed by him. He clutched its
| branches.
When all else In the world has
| passed from a mans brain there re-
| mains the life instinct-the will to fight
| for the last minute Of his allotted be-
| ing. The life instinct was all that still
| lived in Gerry. 1t urged him to 6 last
effort. He dragged his body upon the
tree where the branches forked from
| the main trunk. Utterly exhausted, he
| sank into their embrace. They held
| him as though in a cradle.
The rush of the waters began to
| siacken. They stretched out over the
valley and crept up its sides. They did
| not flow so much now as rise. The val.
| ley became moving sea. On its flow
ing surface beasts, fowls and, reptiles
struggled, mad-eyed, for life. Here
and there bloated carcass, brought
down from far up the river, bIundered
blindly through the living and brought
screams Of terror from the swimming
horses. and gasping lows from the
struggling cattle.
From the middle of the sea rose the
old plantation house still high and dry
| on its mound. 1t seemed very tiny
toy house on lonely islet
A great, open. white umbrella lined
with green sailed gayly along. 1t
caught in the branches of Gerry's tree.
Uprooted cotton bushes foated by. and
cane, snapped off, sometimes torn up
in whole bills, banked up against the
| tree and formed vast, unstable
island, toward which swan the delud-
ed stock.
From the mouth Of the cleft in the
river gorge issued laundering cata-
ract. 1t had burst through the walls
of the ditch and even unseated sec
ton of the rocky crag against which
| the sluice-gate had been buttressed.
The ditch was gone. 1t could never
be again, for the water was tearing
| the channel of the cleft deeper and
| deeper. The turbid food devoured the
silt of the valley. accumulated since
| man was, and carried it, seething. out
towards the river. The valley would
be left naked, stripped Of the source
of life.
Gerry's tree had crawied away from
| the main current In a vast eddy it
| approached the mound whereon squat
| ted the old plantation house. Dona
Maria stood at the edge of The waters,
Her two hands were cIenched and held
above her gray head, Thin wisps OF
| hair hung about her face, Her face
was distorted She was cursing Gerry,
cursing the day of his birth, the day of
his coming. the day he had opened hls
ditch. She swept her arms over the
terrible scene and called down the
curse Of all the ruin and death on bis
! head But Gerry was beyond hea ring.
In all the world there was none to hear
the old woman. She stood alone: about
her the silent waters, above her the
blazing blue sky.
The tree shot out OF the eddy. The
current, the main current from the
cleft, caught it squarely and swept it
away. 1t suddenly shook its long trail
of riffraff, and turning and turning.
more and more swiftly, swan out on
to the churning bosom of the great
river.
The valley had disappeared. Squat
ting on the very level of the far-hung
waters, the old house still stood. The
bright sun struck a CLINT Of light from
its white walls and gave rich colors to
It's moss-grown tiles. The roof was
! crowded with fowl and strange med
ley Of heavy flying birds. glad of a
perch on which to rest Dona Maria
went into the house. She closed the
great board shutters. The house looked
as if it had closed it's eyes in a last
remuneration.
Gerry's tree foated down the river.
1t swung slowly along near the north
shore. Just below 1t were houses.
They were perched on the cliff. Below
them were more houses and under
these the tiled roofs of still other
houses just topped the food. The
houses were what was left of PirdIn-
has.
From the shore canoes in search
of loot began to shoot out Oh the
quietening waters. One of them hap
pened upon Gerry's tree and then
upon Gerry. Gerry's eyes opened and
then closed again. He scarcely felt
the arms that lifted him. They car
ried him to the old inn. the miserable
little inn he had left behind ON thaS
glorious morning Of so long ago.
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