Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1917-11-08
Craanally Il sahs.asd. The last Of

Without mans agency.
The lash Of the waves drove The
light notorboat toward the cliffs. Il
stranded not five hundred feet from
where Donald and his friends, awe
Struck, had watched the progress OF
the titanic conflict. They ran toward
It and pulled Ida from the thvarts. Il
had seemed incredible that she could
have survived.
For long time she lay motionlesS
Drenched with the brackiSh water. hel
hair unbound. she seemed to sleep If
DOnald's arms, while he and Davie:
worked frantically TO revive her.
Davies raised his head at last anG
looked at Donald fxedly Donald re
fused to meet his gaze.
They set to work again. For two
hours longer they went through the
movements of the resuscitation of the
drowned. They stepped at last, ex
hausted. Davies laid his hand on Don
AIDS shoulder: this time it was he
who could not meet his friends look
Suddenly they heard Clouts shout
ing, mad with JOY.
Look, sir! Mr.. Davies, look.'' he
screamed
They swung around. The girls eyes
had opened, and there was recognition
in them.
She drew the first faint breath; hel
weak arms stole round Donald's neck
And in the universal joy nobody
minded Clouts mouth organ, as ht
blew Home, Sweet Home"
"HoOray!" he yelled, tossing up hi:
cap at the finale. ''Mr. Davies, sir, it''
just as l told you, isn't it? We've
brought her back to life, and now were
going to wake up ourselves"
what do you mean, Clouts?" asked
Davies.
why, sir, don't you see? We've
just been picked up and landed from
the Beotia. And we've been dreaming
all sorts of deliriums about sea mon
sters, and suchlike. If l might be al
lowed, sir, I'll put it to Captain Paget
Amt we just been rescued after tor
pedoing the cruiser, sir?" he asked
"Ain't the whole thing a dream?'
Donald looked up. 81 don't know
Clouts," he said. II think you may b.
right. But it's happy one"
Davies looked at him in dismay.
"Do you really mean that, Donald? 2
he asked. do you honestly think tina
we have dreamed all this?'
ITS as plausible as any other ex
planation," Donald replied. Il cam
see why we shouldn't have. It's too
prepOsterOus-all that about the set
devils and that harmless crank Mac
Beard, who used to have newspaper
rows with poor old Masterman. Al
likely as not We'll see him haunting
the Inventors club when we get back
quite ignorant of the part he hal
played in our lives. You know dream:
do do that-they put inconsequentia
people into absurdly important posi-
TONS"
"Dut-hang it, Donald, how doe
Miss Kennedy happen to be hereT
"Why, wasn't she on board the Be
otia" Donald replied. "At any rate
if it's all true, what have we got tt
show for it?'
He had placed hts arm across his
breast and at that moment he felt tn,
crinkle of dampened paper in his innel
pocket. He pulled Out-the two pages
of Masterman's letter.
Donald unfolded it. It was quit,
legible, in spite of the stains of seq
water; but now for the first time hi
realized that he held not one page, bu
two. They had become stuck together
in some manner, and Donald had no
perused the second page.
It was in the form Of a postscript
and was the last sheet Of the origina
manuscript, which Masterman, in hi
characteristic way, had inserted aftel
the first He had written:
But thank God, Donald, my boy, mar
will triumph after all. 1 thought the mon
sters. were invulnerable, that nothing
what he doing when he made them.
There will be only three weeks Of suf
fering. for man, Donald-three weeks
For the creatures live for their queen
they can hardly be said to have indepen
dent life. They are sterile, like the bees
and the queen has a lfe-span Of three
swarm destroys itself. If the queen car
be captured, all will be well. The queer
has three weeks in which to grow to ma
turity, fulfil the purpose of her existence
and die.
What a tragedy Of course time may
seem longer to her, but we deem our sew
enty years all too short. We are saved
Donald
The letter rambled on, but Donald
without finishing 1t, handed it to Da
vies, who read it and gave it back.
eff MacBeard had known that" he
began.
II think that if is the rock or
which he foundered" answered Don
aid. "He worked out everything
mathematically, but he ignored thu
larger purpose Of the Creator"
aye, aye, sir" interpolated Sam
Clouts, feeling in his pocket. IF you'll
excuse me, sir, that motOrboat seems
wreck-proof, and I'd like to see wheth'
er it's still in good enough order to
take US home"
Which proved to be the case.
(THE END.)