New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1918-01-20
I uck Was Behaving Wonderfully
- Every Impulse Seemed Inspired

| was only Just out Of sight, but unless
any one should walk along the beach out
Of sight | certainly was, and it struck me
forcibly that ever since ] had given my
self up to luck every impulse had been an
inspiration. IF | were conducting the
search for myself, would l ever dream of
looking for the mysterious runaway be-
hind wall three feet high within twenty
PAGES of public road and absolutely ex-
posed to wide sweep Of beach? "No," |
told myself, 81 certainly should not"
Theirs sat for hour after hour, basking
IN the sunshine, and yet, despite my heavy
clothing, kept at u bearable TEN, ,-r ss..a,:re
by gentle airs Of cool breeze off the sea.
The tide, which was pretty high when I
arrived, crept slowly down the sands, but
save for the cruising and running of gulls
and little, piping shore birds, that was all
the movement on the beach. Not a soul
appeared below me all that time. Tho
calm, shining sea remained absolutely
empty, eXeeptonce for a quarter of an hour
or so, when a destroyer was creeping past
far out. To the seaward there was not
hint of danger or the least cause for ap-
prehension. 80. ~.
On the road behind me did hear sounds
several times which confess disturbed nv
eQuanlmity much more than | meant to
let them Once a motor car buzzcd past
and to hold my breath as the sound
swelled so rapidly and formidably was
more than | could achieve. The jogging
of a horse and trap twice set me wonder
ing, despite myself, whether there were
a couple of men with carbnes aboard. But
the slow, prolonged rafting and creaking
OF carts was perhaps the sound that wor-
ried me most. They took such an inter-
minable time to pass / conceived a verv
violent distaste for carts.
do take some credit to myself that not
once did yield to the temptation to peep
up over my wall and see who it was that
passed along the road | did not even
turn and try to peer through the chinks
IN the stones, but simply sat like a limpet
TIL the sounds had died completely away
The only precaution | took was to ex-
tinguish my cigarette if l CHANGED at the
moment to be smoking
In the course Of my long bask in that
sun bath | ate most Of my remaining
sandwiches and cake or two of choc-
olate, but kept the remainder against
emergencies. At last, as the sun wore
round, gradually descending, till it shone
right In my eyes, and | realized that the
afternoon was getting far through, hope
began to rise higher and higher. 1t &C
tualy seemed as if were going to be al
lowed to remain within twenty yards of a
highroad till night fell "And then let
them look for me-" | thought
| don't think my access of optimism
caused me: to make any incautious move
ment; know was not smoking; in fact
1t must simply have been that luck deter
mined to show me that was not her only
favorltc Anyhow, when / first heard a
1ootstep 1T was on the grass within five
yards OF me, and the next moment a man
came round the corner of the wall and
stopped dead Short at the sight of me.
lie was a small farmer or hired man,
should judge, q hroad~faeed, red-bearded.
wlde-shoulderea. pleasant looking fellow.
and he must have been walking for some
distance on the grass by the roadside,
though what made him step the few yards
ont OF his Nay to look round the corner
OF the wall haze never discovered to this
day. Possibly he meant to descend to the
Beach at that point. Anyhow, there he