Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-01-05
CHAPTER xxx

EXPLORATIONS
TTNDER the ministertns care OF h''"'''
! u and the patriarch, Stcrn's convalescent"
was rapid The old man, consumed win
| terror lest the dreaded chief, kamrou' re-
| turn ere the stranger should nave "noHy
recovered spent himself in cItorts 10 MASTER,
| he cure. Ana with dcft skin he brewed
| his pntions, made his salves ana coheocteu
rsyFvifylng medicines from minerals "n'cn
| orIy be-desplte his blindness-knew how
| to compound,
The blow that had so shrewdly clipped
| Stcrn's skull must have inevitably killed.
as an OK is dropped in the slaughter-house'
a man less powerfully endowed WIN Sp'e"-
did energies and full vitality
Even Stern's wonderful physique nad
bard fight 10 regain its finely rIpened forces
r,,It dav bv day he gaiued--we must speak
~ DAYS though there were only sleeping
times and waking t!mes-untll az lehElh'
uuon the fifth he was able for the hrst time
10 leave his scaweed bed and SIT whlle
weal5lv ON the patriarch's bench WIN h'"-
trice beside HIM
many questions. aud the old man smilugly
answered such as he saw fit. But of kam-
rou neither he nor the girl yet hreathed
ono syllable
Next dav and the next and SO on every
day, stern was able to creep out OF the nut
then walk a little, and tinally-sometlmes
alone sometimes with one or both MS
nurses-go all among the wondering ana
admiring Folk. eagerly watch their iabors
Of all kinds try TO talk with them in the
few haItlng words he was able 10 pick up
and learn many things OF use and deepest
interest. A grave and serious FOLK they
We're, almost without games or sports SEEM
lngly without religious rites OF any kind'
and lacking festivals such as on the surface
....,I.. ItrtI HIIr
Thoroughly he explored every nook and
corner of the village. As soon as his
strength permitted he even penetrated parts
Of the surrounding region, He thought at
times TO detect among the Folk who fol-
lowed and surrounded him, unlesH he eN-
pressly waved them away, some hard looks
here or there InstHctively he felt that a
few of the people, here one there one still
held hate and bitterness against him as an
alien and an interloper.
But the mass of them now outwardly
seemed so eager TO serve and care for him,
So quick to obey, so grateful almost 10
alteration, that Stern felt ashamed of his
own suspicious and of the revolver that he
still always carried whenever outside the
patriarchs hut.
And in his heart he buried his fears as
unworthy delusions, as the imaginIngs OF a
brain still hurt. The occasional black
looks of one or another OF the people, or
peTchance some sullen, muttered word, he
set down as the crude manners of a PRINT
tive and barbarous race
no Beatrice he spoke no word Of his
occasional uneasiness, nor yet to the old
man. Yet one of the very first matters
he attended to was the overhauing
of the FeyOlyers, which had been rescued
out Of the melee OF the battle and been
given 20 the patriarch, who had kept them
with kind of religious devotion.
Stern put in half a day cleaning and
oiling the weapons, lie found there still
remained a hundred and six cartridges
in his bandolier and the GIRLS These he
now looked upon as his most precious
treasure He divided them equally with
Beatrice, and bade her never 90 out un-
less she had her weapon securely belted on.
Their life at home was simple In tho
extreme. Beatrice had the inner room Of
the hut for her own Stern and the pa
trlarch occupied the outer one. And there,
often far into the hours OF the seeping
time when Beatrice was resting within. he
and the old man talked OF the wonders OF
the past, OF the outer world Of old tradl-
tions. Of the abyss and thousand fasel-
mating speeulations.
Particularly did the old man seek to
understand some notions Of the lost ma