The Morgan County press. (Wartburg, Tenn.) 1916-1926, 1917-03-01

his gaze sweep up from the beach ana
along the brow of the bluff. He paused,
frovning. Some twenty feet or so dis
tant the legs of a man, trousered ana
booted, protruded from a-hOllOw be-
tween two hummocks of sand. And
the toes of the boots were digging into
the sand, Indicating that the man was
| living prone; and that meant Gf he
we're neither dead nor sleeping) that
he was watching the woman on the
beach.
Indignation, righteous indignation,
warmed Whitaker's bosom. 1t was all
very we'll for him to catch sight or
the woman through her cottage win
dow, by night and TO, swim over to the
beach in her wake the next morning,
but what right had anybody else to
constitute himself her shadow? Re
sides. it was possible that the man
was DrummOnd.
He strobe forward and stood over
the man, looking down at his back. 1t
was true, as he had assumed-the tel-
low was watching the woman. Ana
his back was very like Drummonds.
A little culver of excitement mingled
with anticipative satisfaction ran
through him. Now, at last, the mys-
terry was to be cleared up, his future
r ,lations with the pseudo-suicide de-
fined and established.
Deliberately he extended his bare
foot and nudged the mans ribs.
"Drummond :" he said in
clear voice, decided but unaggreSsive'
With an oath and what seemed
single, quick motion, the man jumped
70 his feet and turned to Whitaker Il
startled and inf1amed countenance.
"What the devil :" he cried angrily.
''Who are YOU? What do you want?
What d'you mean by coming round
here and calling me DrummOnd?"
He was no more Drummond than he
| was Whitaker himself.
"For that matter" = something
clicked in Whitaker's brain and sub
consciously he Knew that his temper
was about to take the bridge-"what
do YOU pean- by spying On that lay
yonderI
1t being indisputaaly none OF his
concern, she unfafrness of the question
only lent it offensive force. Ihe man
made this painfully clear through the
medium of an intolerable epithet and
an attempt to land his right fist on
| Whitaker's face.
The face, however, was elsewhere
when the fist reached the point for
which it had been aimed; and Whit
aker closed in promptly as the fellow
bodv followed his arm, thrown off bal
ance by the momentum of the unoD-
structed blow.
What followed had entered into the
calculations of neither. Whitaker felt
himself suddenly falling through air
thick with a binding, choking cloud OF
dust and sand The body of the other
was simultaneously wrenched violently
from his grasp. Then he brought up
against sOidity with a bump that
seemed to expel every cubic inch OF
air from his lungs. And he heard him.
self cry out sharply with the pain OF
his weak ankle newly twisted.
He sat up, gasping for breath,
brushed the sand from his face and
eyes, and as soon as his whirling wits
settled a little, comprehended Wha'
had happened.
Half buried in the debris of mini
allure landslide, he sat at the foot OF
the bluff. Immediately above his head
] a ragged break showed where the sand
held together solely by beach grass
had given way beneath the weight OF
the antagonists.
A little distance from him the other
man was picking himself up, apparent
ly unhurt but completely surfeited
Without delay, with not even so much
as a glance at Whitaker, he staggered
off for a few PAGES, then settled into
heavy, numbering trot westward
along the beach. He did not wish the
woman to recognize him; therefore nc
was putting himself out of her way
For she was approaching.
When Whitaker caught sight of her
she was already close at hand. She
had been running. Now as thell
chances met. hers keenly inquiring OF
Whitaker's still bewildered eyes, she
pulled up abruptly and stood astare
He saw. or fancied, something closely
akin to fright and CONSERVATION In heI
look. The flush in her cheeks gave
way TO a swift pallor. The hands
trembled that drew her beach cloak
close abott her. She seemed to make
an Intellectual effort to speak.
On his part, Whitaker tried to get
up. keen twinge in his ankle, now
ever. wrung an involuntary grunt from
IL, md with a u.rv grimace he sank