Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-07-30

ever touch her she should scream, and
POSSIBLY, even faint. Again and again
during the day following their unex-
pected meeting the woman reproached
herself for not having killed him as she
would ia or jato or any other preda-
tory beast that mcnaced her existence
or her safety. There was no attempt
at self justification for these sinister
rGfiections-they needed no justification.
The standards by which the acts of
such as you or / may be Judged could
not apply to hers. we have recourse
to the protection OF friends and rela :
tives and the civil soldery that upholds
the majesty of the law and which may
be invoked to protect the righteous weak
against the unrighteous strong; but
Jane Clayton comprised within herself
NOT only the righteous weak, but all the
various agencies for the protection Of
the weak. To her, then, Lieutenant
Erich Obergatz presented no different
problem than did ia, the lion, other
than that she considered the former the
more dangerous animal. And so she
determined that should he ignore her
warning there would be no temporizing
upon the occasion of their next meeting
the same swift spear that would meet
jas advances would meet his.
That, night her snug little nest
perched high in the great tree seemed
less the sanctuary than it had before.
what might resist the sanguinary in =
tentions OF 0 prowling panther would
prove no great barrier to man, and In =
huenced by this thought she slept less
well than before. The slightest noise
that broke the monotonous hum of the
nocturnal jungle startled her into alert
wakefulness to lie with srraining ears
In an attempt to classify the origin OF
the disturbance, and once she was
awakened thus by sound that seemed
to come from something moving in her
own tree. She listened intently-scarce
breathing. Yes, there 1t was again. A
scuftling Of something soft against the
hard bark of the tree. The woman
reached out in the darkness and grasped
her spear. Now she felt a slight sag
ging OF one of the limbs that supported
her shelter as though the thing, what
ever 1t was, was slowly raising its
weight to the branch. It came nearer.
Now she thought that she could detect
It's breathing. It was at the door. She
could hear It fumbling with the frail
barrier. What could It be? 1t made
no sound by which she might identify
it. She raised herself upon her hands
and knees and crept stealthily the little
distance to the doorway, her spear
clutched tightly in her hand. Whatever
the thing was, It was evidently attempt
ing to gain entrance without awakening
her. It was just beyond the pitiful
little contraption Of slender boughs that
she had bound together with grasses and
between the thing and her. Rising to
her knees she reached out with her left
hand and felt until sae found q place
where crooked branch had left an
opening a couple Of inches wide near
the center Of the barrier. Into this she
inserted the point Of her spear, The
thing must have heard her move within
for suddenly It abandoned It's efforts for
stealth and tore angrily at the obstacle.
At the same moment Jane thrust her
spear forward with all her strength.
She felt 1t enter flesh. There was
scream and curse from without, fol-
lowed by the crashing Of a body through
limbs and foliage. Her spear was al
most dragged from her grasp, but she
held to 1t until IL broke free from the
thing It had pierced.
1t was Obergatz; the curse had told
her that. From below came no further
sound. Had she, then, killed him? She
prayed so-with all her heart she
prayed It. To be freeu from the men
ace of this loathsome creature were re-
lief indeed. During all the balance Of
the night she lay there awake, listen
ing. Below her, she imagined, she could
see the dead man with his hideous face
bathed in the cold light of the moon
lying there upon his back staring up at
her.
drsa T. oaev hut oiI dnrine tbe 70.
nainder ~ fbe niobt she hoard never
another sound above the drowsv hum of
tbo Jungle. She was glad thnt he was
dead bnt she dreaded The eruesome or
deol that awaited her on the morrow,
for she must bury the thing that had
been Erich Obergatz and live on there
above the shallow grave of the man she
had slain.
She reproached herself for her weak
ness, repeating over and over that she
had killed in self defense, that her act
was justified; but she was still n
woman of today, and strong upon her
were the iron mandates Of the social
order from which she had sprung, its
interdictions and its superstitions.
At last came the tardy dawn. Slowly
the snn tanned the distant mountains
bevond Jad-in-lu And yet she hesi-
tated to loosen the fastenings Of her
door and look out upon the thing be-
low. But Il must be done. She steeled
herself and united the rawhide thong
that secured the barrier. She looked
down and only the grass and the flowers
looked up at her. She came from her
shelter and examined the ground upon
the opposite side OF the tree-there was
no dead man there. nor anywhere as
far as she could see. Slowly she de-
scended, keeping a wary eye and an
alert ear ready for tho 6rst intimation
of danger.
At the foot of the tree was n pool of
H.,