Evening star., 1921-09-04
illustrated by C. D. Bachelor

tact with the infection. The black
death Of the middle ages. which Is the
Dubonic plague Of the nineteenth and
twentieth centuries, Is mild compared
monte disease.
There was not one Of the passengers
in the boat who did not know by this
time what they took away with them;
did not feel the presence Of that other
passenger. whom no one saw, as they
they. the contacts. and one other
All the time. when they had
been laughing. flirting. and card
playing, and dreaming. on the liner.
this passenger had been with them.
unseen. He was with them still. and
they knew that his hand was raised
to strike. But whom. and when. they
did not know.
The island was all sand and wind
and sun; 1t seemed to be STEPPED in
light and heat. Light flashed from
the windy palm. chat shook always
sparked back from the hard. sword
like pandanus leaves. and struck
clear through the thin tangles Of
creeper and Llama, as If they had been
made Of glass. Light beat in ones
face from the glaring sand and fash
a spot of shade on the whole place,
save in the hot, verandaless houses.
where the party of contacts hastened
to carry their belongings and their
food. The houses at least were new
and clean. and no one had lived in
furniture and a few rough cooking
utensils in an outhouse.
THEY all sat down to table to-
gether that night when the food
was ready: the three young men.
Arthurs the clergyman and Mrs. Ar
thurs. his wife: Mrs. Waite. the
smart society widow: the broken
down. miserable man who was little
Agnes father. the steward and the
stewardess They were as cheerful
as they could manage to be; they
talked OF the voyage. and the ports
they had seen, and the wonderful
like; they did their best to hearten up
the bereaved father. whom no one
could hearten or help. and nobody
said single word about pneumonia
plague. and nobody thought. for one
solitary second. of anything else. Ar
dle-aged man with the oxford man.
ner, felt. confusedly. that it was all
very like the dinners in the Concier-
gerie prison during the time Of the
French revolution, when the aristo-
Gratis under sentence Of death made it
gay and to avoid all mention Of gull
lotines. Afterward. walking up and
down on the moonlit sands with his
wife and Mrs. Waite, he said some
thing Of the kind. Mrs. Waite fast
ened on the idea; she was woman Of
pleased with her own dauntless cour-
age in the face Of such an awful
danger.
Later the women went together
into one house and the men into the
other. and camped as best they
con,d. ent -, No one slept much: the dis
rustic Of dry palms were constantly
broken by restless turning and toss
ing and long sighsI inside the hot,
small houses. For the Passenger
Whom No One Saw was with them,
and every one Of them all feared
lest those unseen footsteps should
pause by her or him
Next morning was batter. They re-
minded themselves that many escaped
contagion; each hoped to be one Of
the many. They looked at the liner's
and watched the tiny figures MOVING
on her decks. They were all very
energetic. and told each other they
never felt better in their lives. Some
Of the men went for q walk around
turned scarlet with sun. but almost
gay. The women did somo sewing.
and told each other alleged humorous
stories. about the funny things they
had known cats and dogs do. These
loud, shriil laughter. when Mrs.
Waite was not laughing. she sat with
her mouth open and her chin q Httle
droppsdI her eyes had sunk In her
head since morning, and stared un.
her. It was noticeable that she had
dressed her hair high up. over an i'm
provised pad, and wore lace hand.