Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1920-06-26

for morning in the bowl of night
the face of an element at large and
sparring for another chance to rush
down her throat. She felt the cheated
song racing around in her blood,
swelling her heart, informing all her
limbs with a new joy, a new life.
She swayed this way and that, look
cd up and down: then she leaned far
.out to study the rugged brown face Of
Mr.. Man, the face that always smiled.
From where she sat at his shoulder
thc goggles, were not SO complete. a
mask. She looked and her eyes be-
came fixed in Il fascinated stare. Two
deep lines lay like parentheses from
the mans nostrils to the corners of his
mouth. They made his mouth look as
though it smiled but the man was
not smiling. Suddenly she knew that
through it all, from the moment he
had laid his masked eyes upon her, lie
had never smiled. Her heart turned
cold.
CHAPTER II.
Up to the moment of the sudden
chilling of her exultant blood, Andrea
had been almost oblivious of the Gin
of the engine. Now she could think
Of nothing else. The d%eafening roar
that made speech futile was a very
real barrier; it imprisoned her, held
her like the bars of an iron Gag and
even beat her remorselessly with its
rapid-tire explosions of defying sound.
Twice she tried Il her voice against
it; once in a deep-throated coll and
again in a shrill scream 1t was as
though her lips had not parted.
She sank back On her seat, painting
and sobbing. She was frightened.
Never since the day when as a LITTLE
child a closet door closed and locked
upon her and ineXorable darkness hl6
an eternity, had she known such ter
ror. The feeling that had come 10
her then, came to her now-darkness,
a sinking of the heart down, down
through an interlninable void and.
tumbling after it, body, soul. a leg or
two and a clutching hand. all come
apart III the maelstrom of faar.
The present nightmare did not last
for long, Andrea gradually realized
that in fact she was quite grow up,
not a child at all but a strong and rea.
sonably healthy young woman who
had ridden straight to hounds at
many a five-barred gate before which
men had often paled. What was sha
frightened about? A man? Why, in
water. men had been her aillnent for
years! Her backbone stiffened with q
snap. she assumed her natural, erect
and square-shouldercd carriage. and,
leaning forward from the hips, laid
her hand on the mans arm. Gentle
action failing to command his atten-
ton, she tggcd at him, then shook
him. He showed no sign and An
drca's lips gradually set in "a thin
straight line. Doubling up her fists
she started to pummel him into SUD-
mission.
The onslaught was sudden and it
was reasonable to suppose that tho
man would half jump out of his skin
to their mutual peril. She was pre-
1~ranspired. The man merely raised
his shoulders. at the first blow ard
paid no heed whatever TO the ones
that followed in rapid diminua";r
ceasing suddenly when Andrea pain.
fully realized thai such fists as lc::
were never intended for stone crush.
crs. She sat back filled with wonder
and a vague admiration for the con.
struction of tho. male frame.
In the meantime the aeroplane con
tinued to mount steadily into the chill.
~ morning blue. She looked abou,
her and down. The world was very
far away and very small. It, looked
like something that one might forget
and leave behind entirely. She tried
paw " hS lilly JOOI l1lGti
was sheltering Aunty Gwen through
hef morning nap. Tears once more
came into her eyes and then rcccdel
as a new idea came to the assistance
of her hard-pressed determination.
she stopped over, too off one dain.
~ satin slipper and after a foolish
glance upward to assure herself tina,
the man couldn't possibly look, undid
certain fasteners with fingers that
could see in the dark and subsequent
~ removed one Of her best party,
heaVy silk, champagne-colored stock
lngs. This done, she sat back with
the stocking in her lap and stared
long and pensively at the man sitting
before her intent on the business OF.
going somewhere at the rate Of a
hundred miles an hour. That thought
electrified her. A hundred miles an
hour meant fifty for every half-hour,
and thirty minutes had certainly pass.
ed since she had delivered her person
INTO the trap of a kindly smile that
was not. She took a long breath,
leaned forward, slipped the stocking
deity around the mans neck, tied il
IN a, single slipping knot and pulled.
The results were immediate. The
man headed the %aeroplane up for q
last grab at altitude, started it on 8
long straight downward glide and cut
off his engine. The blessed stillneN
HNS was So 4IlGlldUIy S~CCt
that Andrea had to give vent to one
great sigh before she spoke and whils
she was doing that the man salmly
drew a hunting knife from his belt
and severed the restraining strands OF
a stocking that only a moment before
had been almost worthy of the ankle
1t had clothed and adorned. !,
Obi" gasped Andrea.
is that all you had to say?' asked
the man. Into the vast and rushing
stiffness his calm voice dropped word,
as cool n hard as pellets of ice.
andrea choked with rage. h hat
to swallow a lump in her throat be
fore she could gasp. Il want to 81
back-at once"
you asked mo to take you Will
me-" said the man in the same calm
voice, land I don't happen to be go4
ing back"
mot going back!". suffered An,
drea, trying v%aliantly to appear col
lected. Il did ask to c-come. b.
but it's every woman's privilege t.
ch-change her mind"
At het words the man shrank' al
she had expected him to shrink from
her blows. "Oh, We gods Of warmed.
over wit and the worn-out phrase!" HI
groaned.
you are horrible" said Andrea
when 1 first looked at you 1 saw !.
smile that was kindly and ~chivalrous
How could I know that your smile Il
nothing but camouf1age made up Of
lines Of dissipation, and your hideoui
Goggles nothing but a mask for hard
eyes? I thought 0 were a man but
you're nothing but a beast. willing t. :
torment a girl who has foolishly put
herself in your power"
49, ~ TOnt{nnnH an AfOr10v I'd Al-+I