The Morgan County press. (Wartburg, Tenn.) 1916-1926, 1917-03-29

came aware that they were closing IN
quickly to the shelving beach. He
glanced over his shoulder. They were
on the line Of breakers. Behind them
a heavy comber was surging In, crested
with snow, its concave belly resembling
q vast sheet of emerald. In another
moment it would be upon them. 1t
was the moment a seasoned swimmer
would seize.
His eye sought the girls. In hers he
read understanding and assent. OF one
strength. The comber overlook them,
clasped them to its bosom, tossed them
high upon it's great CLASSY shoulder.
They fought madly to retain that place,
and to such purpose that they rode 1t
over a dozen yards before it crashed
upon the beach, annihilating itself In
a furious welter of dreaming waters.
Whitaker felt land beneath his feet.
The rest was like the crisis Of a
nightmare drawn out to the limit of
human endurance. The undertOw tore
at Whitaker's legs as with a hundred
eventually to find himself well up on
| the beach leaning against the careened
hulk of a dismantled catboat with
gaping rent in it's side. At little dis
lance the woman was sitting In the
sands, bosom and shoulders heaving
convulsively, damp, matted hair yelling
her like curtain Of sunlit seaweed.
He moved with painful effort toward
her. She turned up to him her pitiful,
writhen face, white as parchment.
"Are you-hurt?" he managed to ask.
II mean-injured?"
She moved her head from side to
side, as If she could not speak for pant
ing.
"rm-glad." he said duly. "You
stay-here I'll 60 get help"
He raised his eyes, peering inland.
Back of the beach the land rose in
long, sweeping hillocks, treeless but
green. His curiously befogged vision
made out number of shapes that re-
sembled dwellings.
go get help
he repeated thickly.
He started off with brave, stagger-
ing rush that carried him dozen feet
inland. Then his knees turned to wa
ter, and the blackness Of night shut
down upon his senses.
When Whitaker awoke the afternoon
was cloudy-warm and bright, so that
his eyes were grateful for the shade of
white parasol that girl was holding
over him. He grew suspicious of his
senses; and when the parasol was
transformed into the shape of wom-
an wearing a clumsy jacket Of soiled
covert cloth over nondescript gar
ment of weirdly printed calico-then
he was sure that something was wrong
with him.
Besides, the woman suddenly turned
and bent over him an anxious face, ex-
claiming in accents of CONSERVATION:
30 dear! If he's delirious-"
His voice, when he strove to answer,
rustled and ratified so that he barely
managed to say: what nonsense I'm
just thirsty"
81 thought you would be-" said the
woman, calmly; $50 l brought water.
Here :"
She offered a tin vessel to his lips.
He sat up suddenly, seized the vessel
and buried his face in it, gradually tilt
ing it, while its cool, delicious sweet
ness irrigated his arid tissues, until
every blessed drop was drained. Then,
and not till then, he lowered the pail
and with sane vision began to renew
acquaintance with the world.
He was sitting in the lee Of the
beached catboat. The woman he had
rescued sat quite near him. The gale
was still booming overhead, but now
with less force Cor so he fancied)
and the surf still crashed in thunders
on the beach a hundred feet or more
away; but the haze was lighter, and
the blue of the sky was visible, If tar
nished.
The sands curved of In a wide cres-
cent, ending In a long, sandy spit.
There was a low, ragged earth bank
rising from the sands. Midway be-
tween the beach and where the hazy
upIands lifted their blurred profile
against the faded sky, stood a COM
monplace farmhouse, In good repair,
strongly constructed and neatly paint
ed with a brood Of out buildings.
Here and there. in scattered groups
and singly. sheep foraged. ,
With puzzled eyes Whitaker sought