Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1917-07-20

door-one knock, followed by three.
Both men were transfixed. Almer,
first to ecove his calmness, motioned
dining room. When his companion
had disappeared he stepped to the
door and cautiously asked, "Who
knocks?'
An answer came that caused him to
shoot back the bolts and thrust out
his head. A message was hurriedly
whispered into his ear. The Splen-
dide's proprietor withdrew his head
and slipped the bolt home again. His
face was as a ~thundercloud as he sum
moned Woodhoase. His breath came
in wheezy gasps.
MY Arab boy comes to the door just
now to tell me of Louisa's fate. She
has been arrested" be said.
Come, Almer! l am going to the
signal tower. There is still time for
US to strike"
Out on to waterproof street leaped
Woodhouse. and the door closed be-
hind him.
Jane Gerson, tossing on her pillows,
heard the mellow bell of a clock one
where in the dark and silent house
strike 3. This was the fifth time she
had counted the measured strokes of
that bell as she lay, wide eyed, in the
guest chambers canopied bed. An
eternity had passed since the dinner
guests departure. Her mind was rae
Ing like some engine gone wild, and
sleep was impossible. Over and over
again she had conned the events Of
the evening, always to come at the end
against the impasse of General Gran
dalrs blunt denial, you shan't sail in
the morning." In her extremity she
had ever considered flight by stealth
the scaling of walls perhaps, and a
cropping through dark streets to the
wharf, there to smuggle herself some
how on a tender and so gain the Sax
onia. But her precious gowns! They
still reposed In their bulky hampers
here in Government House. To escape
and leave them behind would be worse
than futile. The governors fiat SEEM
ed
Urged by the impulse of sheer neces-
sity to be doing something-the bed
had become a rack-the girl rose, lit a
taper and began to dress herself, NOV
ing no~iselessly. She eve packed her
travelling bag to the last inch and
locked it. Then she sat ON the edge of
the bed, hands helplessly folded in her
lap. What to do next? Was she any
better off dressed than thrashing In the
bed? Her yearning called up a picture
of the Saxonia, which must ere this be
at her anchorage, since the consul said
she was due at 2. In three short hours
tenders would puff alongside, a happy
procession of refugees climb the gang
way, among them the Shermans and
Willy Kimball, bound for their Kewa-
nee, the captain ON the bridge would
give an order, winches would puff, the
anchor heave from the mud, the big
boats PROV slowly turn westward,
oceanward, toward New York! And
she, a prisoner caught by the mis-
chance of wars great mystery, would
have to watch that diminishing col
umn of smoke fade against the morn
ing's blue~-disappear.
Inspiration seized her. 1t would be
something just to see the SaXonia, now
lying amid the grim monsters of the
war fleet. From the balcony of the
library, just outside the door Of her
room, she could search the darkness of
the harbor for the prickly rows of
lights marking the merchant ship from
her darker neighbors. The generals
marine glasses lay on his desk, she re-
membered. To steal out to the bal
cony, sweep the harbor with the glass
es and at last hit on the ship of deliv-
erance-for all but her-to do this
would be better than counting the
hours alone. She softly opened the
door of her room. Beyond lay the dim
distances of the library suddenly be-
come vast as an amphitheater; in the
thin light filtering through the curtains
screening the balcony appeared the
lumpy masses of furniture and vague
outlines of walls and doors. She clos
ed the door behind her and stood trem-
bling-this was somehow like burglary,
she felt-at least it had the thrill of
burglary.
The girl tiptoed around a high back
ed chair, CROPPED her way to the gen
erals desk and fumbled there. Her
hand fell upon the double tubes of the
binoculars. She picked them up, part
ed the curtains and stepped through
the opened glass doors to the balcony.
Not a sound anywhere but the faint
cluck and cackle of cargo hoists down
in the harbor. Jane put the glasses
to her eyes and began to sweep the
light pointed vista below the cliff.
Scores of pin prick beams of radiance
marked the fleet where it choked the
~roadstead-red and white beetles eyes
in the dark. She swung the glasses
nearer shore. All, there lay the Sax
onia. with her three rows of glowing