The Ocala evening star., 1921-12-01
Reunited by
Quicksands
By WILLIAM FALL.

wouldn't go out toDagnt, Eliza
beth. If were you" spoke queruIous,
rheumatic old Grandma DENLY.
Il must. grandma was the reply,
firm. yet panied. and the old woman
glanced keenly at the young face,
wearing care and sorrow, and
sighed. and then was silent. gazing
sadly. dreamily into the fickering
crate
''Dear child crooned the old wOm-
an, as Elizabeth threw a cape across
her shoulders and fitted from the
room. Dear. poor child knowl l
know!r
Just year this very night. not chill
and sere. although September-like now,
but star-spangIed evening OF sweet
sounds. stroll along the whispering
sands and troth pIighted under the
great, stately elm that had shaded the
old brook for over a century. Then
under the great elm where each had
promised, no matter what might hap
pen, to return there upon each anni-
versary as TO shrine devoted to
love undying, eternal.
''It was all my fault" moaned Eliz-
abeth, as slowly. sadly she started
down the edge of the sand beach.
watery moon casting dim. weird shad-
ows across her path. ''Oh. why was l
Jealous. why was I so impulsive and
cruel?"
She recalled the May day festival
at the village where she had been so
proud of her lover. Randall Gray. and
then so irrationally jealous of him.
In a fit of pique, melted by a false
friend, a sehemiDg girl companion.
she had tried to punish her lover, en-
tirely innocent OF any real purpose to
pain him. and she had lost him.
.And l can never forget" she
walled to the signing night winds, and
pursued her lonely path on a pilgrim
age of sorrow and penitence.
She faltered as she came in sight of
the old elm.
II thought it would comfort me to
come" she moaned. "but it is break
ing my heart!"
At last she reached the old trysting
place. She sank like a wearied child
TO the mOss-covered trunk and cried
her heart out.
Harki
Her pulses stirred at a cry Of alarm.
1t was a call for help.
Elizabeth started to her feet and
tremblingly listened. A new fear came
into her face as she traced the call
across the sloping expanse Of stunted
oak to where the brook ran and the
whispering sands were the most
treacherous.
She was true daughter of the wood.
land. and she sped like sprite along
the upper Iedges overlooking the
brock.
"Helpi"
| Ii was closer now, that cry.
A human form was visible in the
swirling mass of quicksands, appeal
ing wildly for help. with arms out
stretched. sinking deeper and deeper
each succeeding moment
How she managed to drag one Of the
great rough logs, the size of railroad
tie In thickness, fully twenty feet she
never knew. She managed to tilt the
end of the heavy timber across the
ledge of rock and let 1t drop. Eliza
beth crept out on the log.
Grasp the log firmly with one hand
give me the other"
Then her voice died away and her
soul seemed to go with it, for the man
she had saved was-Randel Grey.
II was like a hideous dream with a
i =. ~.
soft ground and sank upon a messy
plat exhausted. their eyes met. and
then their hands.
"You have saved my Iifei" he
breathed. 81 owe 1t to you-Eliza-
| beth!"
! How sweetly, how fervently he pro-
nounced her name. the ring of year
agosin 1t
+ Il am glad" she said simply. and
shrank hack away very contriteIy and
with a sense of unworthiness.
IF you had nOt been near" he be-
gan. and then asked: How came you
Ia be?"
Her eyes dropped and she rose to
her feet He caught sight of her poor.
HHcttlttS nrtiac. anu dokS0A tAACu anu
kissed them.
at was just a year ago-the old
eIm-dO you rememberT'
She bent her head. and he guessed
the truth.
.'Its call was strong upon mel had
not forgotten" he said in low. eager
tone Elizabeth. say it was all a mis-
take. your cold. bitter letter TO me-"
.It was more-it was cruel. wicked
and have been punished. Oh Ran
dal. my heart is breakingl"
He caught her swaying form in his
arms. He cIasped Der close. leading
the way past peril into peace. past
} the weird whispering sands to the
soft shadow of the great elm. its
swaying boughs seeming to welcome
so much youth and loveliness and
Joy.
This is a Studebaler year.