The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-05-14
EVENING STORY
(By Susan E. Clagett. }

The two women sitting before the
open fire regarded each other steadily.
In the eyes of one there shone a
curious contempt. The other, wom-
an of about thirty, was flushed with
an emotion she tried vainly to hide.
You think I was wrong because
you do not fully grasp the circum-
stances" she said at last. You know
I that 1 have broken my engagement.
! OF what led to that decision you have
not the faintest understanding"
True. But it would seem that the
reason might have been discovered
within a week of your wedding day.
1t was scarcely fair to Charles to wait
until then" her friend answered cold
| ly.
! Ann Chesley leaned forward and
gave the fire a poke that sent the
| flames up the chimney.
You cannot realize. as l do, the
comfort of this she said irrelevantly.
nodding toward the blazing logs. Il
| never thought to see such a fire again.
| Odd as it may sound, l never was S
nearly frozen in my life in the
down, scorching and shriveling the
| life out of US. At night the wind
! blew in from the ocean and chilled us
! to the bone"
Il knew you had been shipwrecked,
| but have not heard the particulars.
You were not alone?''
| Ann shook her head. For some
| time there was silence, then she
said slowly:
/ II do not like to think of that time
yet the memory is always with me.
| Today it has dominated me. There is
something in the sound of the wind
! that brings it all back. 1 can hear
the surf beating against the reef; see
! the palms twist and bend until they
| all but sweep the lagoon. l do not
/ like to speak of that time, Elizabeth,
but L do not want to be misjudged by
you 1t was that experience that led
| to my break with Charles
| Her friend looked at her curiously,
Il thought you cared for him? ?"
/ Il did, but 1 think the Indian ocean
| burned all feeling out of me- When
the uncertain thought that l might
continue the trip around the world,
and when l reached Cairo l had fully
determined on the longer journey. I
remained in Egypt long enough to alb
sorb the mystery of the country; then
1 took passage for the far East
! alone ?''
Il knew several people on board.
! One or two were going to Calcutta,
others to Singapore The passengers
the world and I think every language
under the sun was heard upon the
deck of that 2. and o. steamer.
| II kept no track of the days. I just
|
the polyglot crowd. Occasionally L
saw a man, an American, who was as
| interested : spectator as 1, but chance
never brought him near my corner
and 1 had no opportunity to speak to
/ him.
! "One night we were caught in the
| tail of a typhoon. 1t must have driven
us upon a hidden reef, for there was
a, horrible jar; then the hurrying of
feet and screams that all but de-
/
| My fingers turned to thumbs as l
tried to dress. Everything was dark,
| but at last 1 got into my clothes, Sc
cured my money and letter of credit,
and, snatching up a wrap, stumbled to
the deck. There was no one in sight
on my side of the steamer, but as 1
looked about I heard a man say:
| g She's sinking fast We must get
out of this. There's a small boat that
has been overlooked that we can man.
age between US
~ don't believe I will leave the
ship, l heard myself say
/ VIII L have to throw you in? he
said, angrily. You know, 1 eannot
leave you here. To be perfectly frank
I don't want you, but now that you
are here I can't leave you
| why not?' 1 asked in that voice 1
did not recognize.
| '' Because I'm a man and you are
a woman and fate has brought you
into my care. This is no time for fool
| ishness. There is chance out there
/ None here. Hurry. Climb over the
rail-
He was already outside and, catch
ing me by the hands, swung me out
and downward. He had hooked his
legs about the rails and, leaning over,
| he dropped me into the boat. The
steamer was sinking so fast it was not
a far drop, but 1t was sufficient to
knock the breath out of me.
| when came to my senses he was
rowing with all his strength. We just
missed being drawn into the rush of
water from our ship as she sank from
sight. 1t was awful, the screams and
! bobbing heads of the drowning men
and women. And we could not help
After that a burning sun that parched
and blistered us. and lungs that SEEM
ed to shrivel from the heat as we
drew breath.
| How long we were on the water L
do not know 1t seemed an eternity
before we found ourselves upon a
strip of beach, with palms twisting and
bending in a wind the like of which 1
had never known before and hope
never to know again.
! Il can give you but the barest out
| line, Elizabeth-our exhaustion. as we
lay on that length of sand; then, when
strength returned, our search for food
and water, For n time we lived upon
cocoanuts: necessity taught him how
| to trap fish. We built some sort of
shelter, but it was no protection from
the storms that swept the atoll from
time to time and that man, whose
name 1 did not know, took me into
his arms and sheltered me from the
wind.
TT sounds like light opera If it
had not happened to me l could not
credit such a situation. This return
to the primitive in no wise obliterat-
ed my sense of modesty, which be-
came more and more outraged by
conditions I could not change. It was
mot long before my slippers were a
thing of the past. My thin clothes
/ became tattered remnants that, try
as 1 would, did not cover me.
MY enc effort was to keep be-
tween us such formality as would
have been natural under different cir
70 I n IL