The Cordova daily times. [volume] (Cordova, Alaska) 1914-1947, 1919-11-03

COUNCIL ROCK
BY lZOLA FORESTER.
Observation-Disclosures

rapids. Creston said afterwafd he
thought some hidden snag had ripped
4 hole large enough to start leak,
and 1t had been twilight then, too
dark to notice until they felt the water
in the bottom of the canoe.
There had been no real danger, he
kept assuring her after he had beached
the boat, and they stood on the tall
spur of gray rock in the middle Of the
silent river. They would be missed
at the cottage by dinner time, and of
course Barclay or some Of the others
would put out to the rescue In the
motorboat.
In the meantime they could build 4
IRE on the rock as q signal and take
things easy. There was nothing to
worry about.
Dorothy was silent as he talked. She
knew how Connie would say she had
managed the whole affair cleverly. 1t
had been her mothers pride the way
she had married of her four girls to
wealthy men. The lovely Warnings, the5
called them-Evelyn. Winnie, Phyllis
and Dorothy-and only the youngest
remained.
She wondered II Creston suspected
that he had been selected by her moth
er as the man whom she was to marry.
He was so easygoing, so careless, ap-
parently, that she doubted whether he
would even care. And yet 1t seemed
as If he had followed them down the
coast with deliberate intent in his
yacht, and had taken the cottage at
Palmetto beach so as to be their next
door neighbor. 1t was all so business
like and unromantic. Evelyn had said
to her the night before they left for
the South as they sat together In her
box at the opera:
Don't let mother persuade you into
a marriage like mine, Dot. / have ev
erything-but love and cOmradeShip. ]
am less to my husband than his Jap
butler / am sure he would far rather
lose me than Suroki with his knowl-
edge of mixing drinks artistically.
Marry the man you really love"
And the worst of it was she had
cared for Creston Clay from the first
time they had met. 1t had been at the
country club, at tea after a game OF
golf. Winnie had watched her anus
eddy as they talked together, and on
the way home in her car she had said:
ITS just your luck, kiddie to pick
winner like Clay without realizing it.
He's worth millions"
Dorothy had felt the chill of disIllu-
sion then. Was everything in life
touched with gold to make it worth
while? She remembered this now,
watching him bend over the building
of the fire. 1t was so beautiful on the
rock at this hour. The beach slipped
away to the low ripple OF surf, and
fringe of palmettos rose in slender,
purple silhouette against the sky.
Creston came up and stretched out at
her feet.
They'll see that soon," he said. II
'7sanly wish they wouldn't, don't you,
Dot? It's like the islands you read
about, isn't it? When | was young
ster dad had a craze for sailing the
seven seas, and l went along | al
ways liked the islands best, and |
wanted one, know. Now that every
thing seems to be going | think I'll
take the boat some day and slip away
to hunt them"
'Everything going!" repeated Doro-
thy wonderingly.
He nodded happily, looking through
halfclosed eyeids at the lights on the
main shore.
"You know dad inherited all he had
from his father, because Uncle David
was supposed to be dead. He had the
wanderlust, like l have, and hadn't
been in America in years. Well, he's
turned up, that's all, and of course
the whole shooting match goes back to
him. I'm rather glad. I'll have enough
to keep up the yacht and do what
want to. The only thing is''-he looked
up at her qulzzically-"your mother
wouldn't give me a ghost of a show,
would she?"
J Dorothy started to speak, but he
checked her.
Don't say anything to spoil it, Dot.
They'll come after you soon enough.
Just imagine you're on my desert
we're not going back until we want to.
Just supposing we We're going to be
married tomorrow. Uncle David just
reached New York, heard by wire to-
day. And the yachts waiting for me-
Surprising l were to ask you to go
with me. 1t wouldn't be the regular
society honeymoon, would it?
Across the bay there came three
long, shrill whistles, and the dull throb
of a motorboat engine. Dorothy smiled,
leaning close to the shoulder that
somehow was just beside her at the
proper height. He slipped his coat
around her as they waited. There
would be Granger, of course. 1t was
his boat.
Listen, dear" he Seid SOFTLY: cit