Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1916-04-21
CHAPTER Xxx.

( M
Brave winds, blowing fair. swiftly
drove the Ghost northward into the
seal herd. The hunting was perilous;
but the boats, lowered day after day,
were swallowed up in the gray OBJ.
security, and were seen no more till
nightfall, and often not till long after,
when they would creep in like sea
wraiths. one by one. out of the gray.
Wainwright, the hunter whom Wolf
Larsen had stolen with boat and men.
took advantage of the yelled sea and
escaped. He disappeared one morn
ing in the encircling fog with his two
men. and. we never saw them again,
though it was not many days when
we learned that they had passed from
schooner to schooner until they finally
regained their own.
had read sea romances in my time.
wherein figured, as matter of course,
the lone woman in the midst of ship
load of men; but l learned, now, that
had never comprehended the deeper
significance of such a situation-the
thing the writer's harped upon and ex-
plotted so thoroughly. And here it
was, now, and was face to face with
it. That it should be as vital as pos
sible, it required no more than that
the woman should be Maud Brewster.
who now charmed me in person as
she had long charmed me through her
work.
She was in striking contrast to
Wolf Larsen. Each was nothing that
the other was, everything that the
other was not. l noted them walking
the deck together one morning, and |
likened them to the extreme ends Of
the human ladder of evolution-the
one the elimination Of all savagery.
the other the finished product Of the
finest civilization.
But this day, as l noted them pac-
ing up and down. / saw that it was she
who terminated the walk. 1t was in
his eyes that l saw the cause of her
perturbation. Ordinarily gray and
cold and harsh, they were now warm
and soft and golden. and all adance
with the tiny lights that dimmed and
| faded, or welled up till the full orbs
were flooded with a glowing radiance.
Perhaps it was to this that the golden
color was due; but golden his eyes
were, enticing and masterful, at the
same time Turing and compelling, and
| cpaoI;po q domopd opd clamor IF III q
blood which no woman, much less
Maud Brewster, could misunderstood.
Her own terror rushed upon me,
and in that moment of fear. the most
| terrible fear a man can experience.
| knew that in inexpressible ways she
was dear to me. The knowledge that
/ loved her rushed upon me with the
terror, and with both emotions grip
ping at my heart and causing my
blood at the same time to chill and
leap riotously, l felt myself drawn
by a power without me and beyond
me, and found my eyes returning
against my will to gaze into the eyes
of Wolf Larsen. But he had recovered
himself The golden color and the
dancing lights were gone. Cold and
gray and glittering they were as he
bowed brusquely and turned away.
Il am afraid" she whispered. with
a SILVER. Il am so afraid"
/, too, was afraid, and what Of my
discovery Of how much she meant to
me my mind was in a turmoil; but
succeeded in answering quite calmly:
"All will come right, Miss Brewster
Trust me, it will come right"
She answered with a grateful little
smile that sent my heart pounding
and started to descend the companion
stairs.
For a long while remained stand
ing where she had left me. There
was imperative need to adjust my
self, to consider the significance o.
the changed aspect of things. 1t hat
come, at last, love had come, when
least expected it and under the mos
forbidding conditions. OF course, ny
philosophy had always recognized tn,
inevitableness of the love call sooner
or later; but long years Of bookisl
silence had made me inattentive ant
unprepared. And now it had come
In what could have been no less thai
an ecstasy, left my post at the heat
of the companionway and starte,
along the deck, murmuring to mysel
those beautiful lines of Mrs. Brown
| ing: