The Washington times., 1921-02-13
The Isles of Love

i did not Know. i only Know Vnot
Harry England, the Wild hawk Of
the seas, had shaken me In his
claws, and that the world Was shsk-
ing and whiriing round mo because
of II.
With the instinct of q frightened
lamb | rushed TO the fold. forgot
INV fathers illness. / fiung open the
door OF his room and ran IN. Lor'
raine was there; she Was sitting In
a chair reading. My father lay on
his bed. pale. but-to my eyes
quite well.
"What is it?" asked Lorraine.
raising her emerald eyes from the
book.
/ could not say what 1t was.
cid not know.
Captain England is gone" I
stammered, II said good-by to
him."
as he away" asked Lorraine,
rising with that inevitable sweep
of her draperies. Someone should
have thanked him"
81 don't know" I stammered.
81 will 20 and see." said Lorraine.
spsring me the reproof for awk-
wardness that would otherwise have
been my inevitable portion.
followed her out to the arch,
way. There was nothing to be seen
of Harry England, but a sailor. q
coffee-brown islander. with . plump
figure and large black swimming
eyes, was wandering about. appar-
emily looking for someone. He was
very clearly dressed In white drill
trousers and blue jumper; he wore
a broad -brimmed man-of-war hat.
While we looked, trying to see
behind the clumps OF the palms II
the schooner was making sail. an.
other youth appeared and Joined
the first. They talked together In
some island dialect; their voices
were singularly sweet. | saw them
staring hard at Lorraine and at me.
saw Lorraine's expression sud
denly change.
whats the matter?", ] asked her.
Lorraine was wonderfully clever
with island tongues; she had mas
tered more thin one. do you
know what they are saying !
asked.
"Yes," she said CURLY. =
what is it," Even as ] asked
I knew she would not tell meat
least, not any more than she chose
to tell.
"They are saying" she answered
me. choosing her words, that they
ought not to have come up here, but
that the captain will be angry II
anyone lets him miss the tide"
"What else, Lorraine" She did
not answer me.
But the answer came otherwise.
A gust OF wind blew suddenly up
the track from the seat was the
breeze that comes with the going
down of the sun-apd seized the
wide hat of one of the sailors. He
caught at 1t, and the string that
held II under his chin gave way,
the hat blew off-and down ovei
the blue jumper, down to the knees
of the white-drill sailor trousers
fell a long. snaky coil OF hair.
The other sailor shrieked. laughed
and fed down the track with the
unmistakable swaying run OF girl.
In the same moment Harry Eng
land leaped from the rocks above
the cave arch-what he could have
been doing there was beyond me to
imagine-and landed on the track.
He did not see Lorraine and my
self; the light was low now and we
were in the shadow OF the cave.
More, he did not know-how could
he?-that the short rocky defiie
leading to the archway was a VERT.
able whispering gallery and carried
every sound He took two steps to
the blue and white figure with the
tumbling hair and spoke to 1t, not
loud, but furiously, We heard him.
l put my hands over my ears. !.
backed into the cave. white and
shaking. Lorraine retreated with
me. She too, was white.
WAS that swearing" whis-
pered. No one before had ever
sworn at an unruly native in my
presence.
"Yes," said Lorraine. The cap
aims figure was passing out OF