Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1920-07-15
CHAPTER XIX.

~ OAA1AA ~ Ala
From that day Andrea's health be-
gan to mend with tremendous
rapidity. Trevor never tired Of
watching her: never ceased to WON
der at a recovery SO rapid that its
daily transitions were visible. 1t re-
minded him of one Of the marvels of
his boyhood. An old man had said
growing, sonny?" and he laughed,
whereupon the granddad had taken
him by one ear and marched him to
the nearest furrow. "Pick out a stalk
and watch it,, o little egg-sucker,"
he commanded. See it grow, il you
can't hear"
Andrea was like that; she vas un-
a new youth. Never had her eyes
been brighter, never her cheeks 20
quick to play with fire. incidentally.
she was full of a devil of mischievous
reminiscent innunendo.
It's all a great joke now, young
lady" Trevor would defend himself,
but if you'd seen what 1 have Of
pernicious malaria, you'd keep grave
for a year. I've seen three Swahilis
their youth up, fall like logs, one aft
err another. within a mile and a half
of an infected camp and the bent Of
them went stone blind for a month";"
ibid you nurse them. White Man?
Did. you see them through"
These were the questions that drove
him nearest to desperation, but the
mouth from which they issued in
variably warned him of the trap in
time. He was on his guard; he knew
that there we're things between him
and Andrea that speech would turn
into CHASTITY skeletons walking by day
and which only consistent silence
could entomb. But so deep had grown
his sympathies h a even in his he
understood her. 1t vas not that she
was perverse but that her pride de-
manded a constant test Of his loyalty
to her other self-that internal self
that had lain barred, revealed and
helpless in his arms.
About those things which might
have aroused a legitimate curiosity
she asked few questions. Without a
word Of inquiry she saw him dispatch
twelve picked men on some mysteri-
Gus mission whose i~ntricacies n i'm
!portance necessitated a preliminary
p~alaver of an hours duration. Equal
ly silent, she watched his detailed
preparations of a well-appolnted
safari. Tents were brushed and set
to air; cots and mattresses put out for
a sun-bath; provisions of all sorts
packed in one-load cases; water boil
ed, filtered and hung in canvas cool
ers. Only a few days before, just
such signs as these had made her
heart heavy with unanswerable ques-
tionings but her illness had changed
all that. The successive moments of
the throbbing present each IN It's turf
filled her whole horizon.
When all was apparently ready.
Trevor settled down deliberately to
wait and still Andrea held her to.,gue
as to such things as mattered-things
that sooner or later would have to
swim to the surface between them OF
drown forever. Her silence began ia
in little things, in the furtive slances
he cast her. way, in his interminable
smoking, his restless and aimlese
moving about the. craal and In the
long pauses with which he met her
chatter, as though he waited for some
curious word that would give him al
opening.
something big up his sleeve and tina
he would shake it out On the slightes'
provocation. She also had q long
memory and had nc difficulty in re-
calling his exact boast as to what he
would do when she were well. III
was going to take her in free fight
She was well now, h reflected; she
lnd0T never I6lI USlLCE VI IlCE AllS ohN
if there was one thing n hungereG
for more than another it was the
promised combat.
Her studied and %selective silence
almost dazed Trevor with h reallza.
ton that he was up against one OF
the are strategists of the age. He
was. like a wrestler, praetlced In
hand-holds and many deadly tricks
where his opponent is accommodating
but who circles in vain around a stolio
antagonist whose pose says, NO pre-
lliminaries! Keep off or so to thu
mattel"
There is no telling how long An.
|drea's innate st~ubbornness would
have held out nor at what point Ire
vors evaporation would have driver
him to dive for a body hold. for thei,
wordless contest was interrupted b!
an event which he had both foreseer
and feared. They we're sitting a
table after dinner on a cloudles'
night, brilliant under a full moon
when a far-away sound came to dis
turb their purposeful silence. Trevol
Strengthened i n his chair and leane'
forward. his whole body tense in tn
effort Of listening. 1t came again.
| ghost of a sound that gradually as
sumed substance and rhythmic form
until after five long minutes 1t wa
recognizable az the cadenced rumble
OF an African river chantey.
Instantly Trevor was on his feet
He issued orders to Bathtub who i'm
mediately began to clear the tabl'
: and eliminate every item Of furnitur
: that would indicate a dual occupanc!
: Of the white portion Of the camp
: They had dressed that night for din
: ner, not as a celebration OF any spe
cial event but because they were boil
bored with toe much time on thei
! hands. Trevor now excused himself
10 Andrea and Withdrew to his room
l lin a few minutes he reappearet
. CARRIED in his toughest khaki shir
: land trousers. His face was grave q
he advanced on Andrea with a moo
E toward her hut. Manchester will b.
There in half an hour he stated. /"
ask you to 90 to your room, close and
|. bar both doors and there until