The Washington times., 1921-04-10
(continsed from Preceding Page)

y
And another cry Of 'Luke!" from
Lorraine.
Then a trampling of feet from
the front of the church. as the peo-
pie who had been waiting, avid
with curiosity, in the nave, broke
1 all bounds and rushed to the yes.
TRY door.
And then-no one bookings cur.
rent of fresh air on my 4ace---the
outer docr-the steps--the white
road. under my shoe soles. flying,
/ did not think: I did not cry.
was conscious of one feeling only;
one desire. The cliff! The end!
And as my mother had gone.
when love went out and left the
world all dark, 30 through the
darkness of that daytime went i;
SO, running. pushing, stumbling
past the house and past the sarden
and, with one leap. over the clih.
There seemed to be no interval
ct all between the feeling of q rush
of air streaming up in my face,
Easter and faster, and slow, PAIN
full waking up in the dark. Then,
suddenly, In the intervening period
OF half consciousness / felt myself
being lifted out of the water.
found myself almost at once,
and knew where I was. I was lying
on the cane platform of large ma
tive canoe, and the canoe was un.
der sail and drawing rapidly
through the water before a strong
favoring breeze. And 1t was night
and the stars were in the sky.
say / knew where I was. but !
did not for the moment remember
what had happened. lay on my
hard bed and puzzled myself to
find out how I had come there.
Two natives we're in the narrow
{ body of the canoe, seated upright
on the little bamboo bars that
crossed from side to side. They
we're both men and they were talk
ing in one of the island dialects.
did not understand what they said.
whist is Il? Where am II" /
asked in English, lifting myself on
my elbow and becoming conscious
that was strangely stiff and sore
~ II I had had fan.
One Of the men turned bis head
and spoke to me, but he did not
use my language His tone was
that Of q man who makes an ex-
PLANTATION. The other man began
to talk in his turn. gathered,
somehow, that they were afraid OF
me. ~
They had placed me as far away
from themselves as the limits OF
the canoe permitted, and when
moved as If to come nearer they
gave a simultaneous shout and
started back. Then they seized
their paddles and began to. work
hard. helping on the canoe In the
direction whittier the breeze was
already carrying her. She went
through the water like a launch,
and not the saowest Of launches,
either. With a fair wind and not
too high a sea the island canoes
can make surprisingly quick going.
I sat up, cross-legged, "a one
must sit on canoe platform, and
looked about me. My hair was all
down and streaming in my face. l
could not find any hairpins, so l
plated 1t and threw II back in one
large rope over my shoulder.
There was something wrong with
my forehead; it seemedf to have
had blow and was sore to touch
and swelled; and one of my fingers,
the left little one, was sprained so
that / could not use it.
These things puzzled me little,
but only little. There was GER
tain confusion in my head that
seemed to prevent my thinking
clearly. l was clear about one
thing only-the fact that I was
hungry.
"Have you any kai-kai?" asked.
"Kai-kai' (food) is word COM
pretended by almost every island
native, whatever his tongue. One
of the men nodded and reached
down into the bottom Of the canoe.
He brought up handful of bananas
and a lump of cold yam. took
them eagerly and ate. The men
watched me with interest and
seemed to argue about something.
'Niu?" / asked them, using the
word for cocoanut that is common
to most island languages. They
gave me one and drank.
Again they watched me and dis
puted. caught the word for
Spirits" and guessed that for
some reason or other they took
me to be "a supernatural being and
were arguing about the capacity OF
spirits for eating.
BY and by one of the men seized
the other by the arm and pointed
ahead, swinging the mat sail lit.
tie to one side so as to change the
course of the canoe. | looked into
the darkness and saw, at the dis
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