The Elk Mountain pilot., 1924-12-04
II

At midday the heat became excess
uve. Mercilessly the sun, like a auiv-
ering mass of molten steel, beat down
upon the shore; no breath of wind
stirred the hot air; the lagoon, with
Its almost indigo blue. assumed an oily,
sluggish appearance, as If sinking to
sleep with the lowering tide.
Within the shade of the angle formed
by one side of the hut and the hill he
hind, Barbara lay Inert upon a soft. II
simple, couch of sun-dried coats. Find
Ing that the ground swayed and rolled
like a mountainous sea II she endeav-
ored to rise, she gave up the attempt.
and lay motionless with closed eyes.
Nearby were some untouched bana-
mas and broken coconut the she'll of
which was filed with water and placed
upright between three stones. From
within the hut came the noise of split
ting sticks. as If somebody were break
Ing the bamboo canes which, crossed
and interlaced. formed its structure.
The girl listened. wondering DULY at
the endurance of her companion, full
of miserable sense of shame at her
own weakness. Without pausing for
rest, after fetching their coats and pro-
curing food he had begun clearing and
improving this dreary abOde-carrying
down broken portions from the ruins
above for door, fetching other canes
and palm-eaves for mending the
thatched roof
pt.nSnntlx. hot nj hn
peared. He had shed all his clothes
except breeches and shirt and looked.
she thought, strangely in keeping with
the scene around them. This was her
first experience of man whose life
had been spent chiefly in wild sur
roundings, often upon but the fringe of
civilization; whose abundant vitality
responded to the call of untamed ma
ture in way that proved he had not
been shnckled by chains of convention
closing around him, fetter by fetter, as
the years passed
"That's donel' he said briefly He
sat down and proceeded to peel and
eat bananas with considerable relish.
"I feel so useless " she exclaimed,
miserably. "Such hindrance instead
of help. II would have been wiser
to have left me in the water. You
would get ON better alone. We shall
only die lingering deaths here, If res
cue doesn't come"
Dashed If | mean to die!" he pro-
tested, between two large mOuthfuls Of
fruit. Nor shall you ~
awov hjs "a m akinS ha
rose and surveyed the water; then he
came close to her, towering over her.
ss II seemed to her excited fancy.
"T'm going to try to reach the ma
chine. I may he able to rescue our
luggage and pr0visiOns-"
''Oh NO, no. moi! she cried wildly.
Suppose you get drowned? Never
mind luggage! What does that mat
ter? Oh don't leave me all alone"
Terrified, she tried to reach some
part of him, to restrain him by force.
He caught her arms, raising her to
her feet and supporting her.
Listen I" he commanded In tone
which checked her agitation. ITS
not only luggage! want to save the
wireless transmitting set"
"Wirelessw Radiant relief over
spread her face. "Why-then-we can
soon get rescued after all? l forgot
about that"
"You mustn't rely too much on 1t.
1t will be only the short range set.
The long range used on board OBJ
tanned its electrical energy from
generator run from one of the engines
and Is therefore useless now"
Her eagerness for this new hope to
be tested was still modified by fears
concerning the risks of his venture.
He pointd out the shallowness of the
water and the scattered little coral
islands. "The tides low enough now
for me to wade to that one nearest
the reef From there it's quite short
distance. If swimming is necessary"
~ will wade with you"
1.-THE devil you won'tl |" He sudden
ly wheeled round upon her. Look
herel You're never to go in the la
goonl Battle in the river, but don't
ever go In the lagoon. Swear to mel"
She gazed at him In stupefed
amaKement and anger.
= "Whv nOtf If-if You 20 in"