The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1921-11-20

I'm a way, yes" he answered. soenAs
to his guns.
''In what wsyr'
May I begin at the besinninsr -
queried.
She nodded
ITO begin with, then, i love you, %
said, sravely. Her face slowly crimsoned.
The beginning must be the end Hos
said firmly.
"You are eonfes.edly cruel" laughed
Armstrong, but there was nothing of mirth
in the laugh. The girl held her silence.
Armstrong; eyes, wandering rloomhy
seward, dwelt upon q floating gull, grading
beyond the breakers. He raised his rlne,
glanced along the sights, and the crash OF
the gun drowned the boom Of the surf 'ua
beyond the gull rose a squirt Of spray, the
bird rose YEARLY from the beavins bosom
Of the sea and drifted away with the wind.
unscathed.
''In luck to one who Hills a fun, the5
ey," commented Armstrong. BE aimed Al
one farther out. Again the rife crashed
and this one stretched its broad wings out
in death. Armstrong; nl-lucf came sooner
than he could have guessed. The girl was
on her feet instantly. Anger, and touch
be thought, of superstition, he saw In her
face. He had offended against the island
traditions, but more, he had Enned against
vomanIy tenderness. The ses-blue eyes
blszed and the brown face flushed darkly.
"If l am cruel, you are hesruess' sns
cried. psssionately. She turned from him
and plunged recklessy down the path TO
the beach, and reaching this in safety, made
her way northwsrd along it.
As for Armstrong, he recovered from his
astonishment to smile queerly to himself
Then be swung his long legs over the clif
edge and took shot after shot at the guls
as long as be judged the girl in bearing.
II might have been a haf-hour that
Armstrong sat thus in the sulks. At the
end of this time his Ill temper passed, az
might , cloud from over the sun, and, sling
ing the rife over his shoulder, he set ost
good humoredly after the girl.
The sea doomed at his feet, and sent thu
trothins brine creeping toward him over The
hard sand. Above him lowered the lofty
cliffs, cleft here and there by the wave-cut
rullies. The whole aspect Of sky and sea
and land was one of utter savsgery, IN
which, for surht that was 70 be seen, hs
moved alone Of all his race, for frovn-
ing promontory had hidden the girl from
sight.
THE girl was In mood to walk that
L day, Armstrong decided. for point after
point of the curving sea front be rounded
without seeing her, and had it not been
for the print Of her small shoes in the hard
l. LII -. -
cended the cliffs again by one Of the rullies
And then, as be glanced ahead along this
track it seemed to him that the trail had
doubled. He hurried on TO the spot. filed
with grim foreboding. 1t was as be had
thought; new trail swept in from the
foot Of neighboring gully. and a single
glance told Armstrong that it was that Of
an animal, and that animal-the Great Wild
DOG.
Meanwhile the girl had wandered on with
her thoughts. Her sudden anger with the
man had left her. After all. she could not
expect in him the virtues of her own sex.
Nor would she wish them. He was a man,
and a masterful one. Would she have him
different? And then her reserve came 10
her again of a sudden. What did it mat
ter to her what be was? Why should she
care THAI be was tall and slender and dark.
unlike the sturdy, blue-eyed. fair-haired
islanders-thst he was Indifferent where
they were importunate. Why, indeed,
should she consider him at all? Yet. b.
was not as easily disposed of as this. A
trouble had come into her young life, She
felt suddenly older. She thought of his
going, and looking beyond saw-the hope
less monotony of her daily life She threw
herself on the dry sand at the foot of th,
cliff. Now and then a sob escaped her, and
then, at last, her head on her arm, she fell
into troubled slumber
The booming waves wove Themselves int
her dreams. 1t seemed to her that each wa.
hungry wolf with grinding teeth. that
each came nearer than its predecessor. and
that she was powerless to move. Then. In
the horror of that nightmare, she felt a
warm breath on her cheek-at last on, had
reached her. She uttered a low CRY of ter
ror and opened her eyes to a more terrible
sight, for, standing over her, hunger in it's
herce eyes, its lips drawn back TO show Zach
rang, Its ears erect as those of a wolf.
was the most monstrous and ss,.s. cr.stn-.
she had ever seen.
She sprsng to her feet, the fear Of death
in her eyes, and the beast 'retreated 4. stem
in doubt. The girl looked wildly about her
The clifsf 1t would catch her b.for, sb,
had gone rod up them. There WA. INIT
the sea, and she sprang toward IL down IN.
beach. For a moment the bus. villa A.,
watched her, his cruel eyes mesurtn, ~.
distance-playins with her a. . cat With .
mouse-then he lesped after her.
One despsirins glance the girl osst o,--
her shoulder, and at the sight her ,tr.,,ts
left her and she sank to the sand. IT,
as she waited an eternity 70 feel tbox< -.
fsrFS q her fhroaf