Evening star., 1922-08-09

Of1N LINDSAY was quite sure,
he thought, as he struggled
~ to disentangle Merriam's body
from the sogging. swaying
mass of eel grass in which it was
caught at the bottom Of the muddy
lake that she was dead.
lie never knew how he got her
Tree from the tangle, or how he man
aged to lift her up, or how 1t was
that he could swim upward so easily
win that dear weight sagging from
his arm. Some one pulled them from
the water to the motor boat. Some
one literally pried her from his arms.
Then the monotonous put-put of the
Jerking engine began again.
ne lost all trace of what was hap
penlng He knew that he was
kneellng in the bottom of the boat,
that some one was trying to wrap
coat about him, that they were
Keeping him from touching her. He
could see her lying on the dirty
grating at the bottom of the boat.
She ;I looked very little lying there.
me wind was already drying her
bronze curls. They lay fatty against
her white forehead. There was a
long, muddy bruise on the side of
the cheek and forehead. She had
evidently struck against something
that knocked her senseless when she
went down out Of the canoe.
lie became aware of the fact that
1t was Philip Sheldon who was hold
ing him away from her; that it was
Or, Leonard. whom he hated so cor
daily, who was handling her poor
little body so roughly.
John! Sheldon's voice command
n n nj
way: Give him chance, won't
you?"
Again he felt them wrapping the
coat around him. And presently he
knew they had reached the crazy
little pier and were carrying her
across 1t to spot where some one
had spread a blanket.
Kirk Squires, dripping and spent.
staggered over to him.
ITS my fault" he heard him say.
TT was my fault"
He said it over and over me-
chanically and kept on saying 1t until
some one gruifly ordered him to
shut up.
John saw Don Ferry como toward
them and led Squires to a bench
at the other side OF the dock. Ferry's
face was set in hard lines. Private
ly. Ferry was thinking that the whole
fault was really that that quiet little
her fun. Half an hour before she
had been laughing, tantalizing per-
son, hubbling with mischief, flame
like in her almost childish dash
toward that fatal canoe.
''Heartless!" Ferry was deciding
hotiy. Here's old Kirk all shot to
pieces and never able to forgive him :
self. and that poor dub of husband
almost wild with grief" He shut his
jaws together. Already woman
hater. he became for the minute
violently SO.
Then he felt a touch on his arm.
Rose Lindsay, Isn't there some
thing 1 can do? Can't you make
them let me go over there by John
l can't make them understand I'm
his sister. Look, l must GO"
She wasn't at all little. She was
nearly as tall as the brother she was
trying to get to. But the woman
hater put his arm comfortingly
around her.
You poor little thing" he mur-
INJURED, compassionately. as he helped
her push her way toward her brother.
Where all the persons had come
from that showed their way down
that rickety stairway to the boat
house was a mystery. They Jostled
against the barricade that the boat
man had tried to make to protect
the doctor. The fat innkeeper pushed
behind them. Why they wanted to
watch that hideous task OF the doc
tor, as he went monotonously on with
his exhausting attempt to revive