The Elk Mountain pilot., 1924-11-27


traces of blood washed away his
head bandaged adroitly with her own
handkerchief twisted In his.
I'm going up that hill to view the
land,' he said, with abrupt decision,
proceeding toward II as if oblivious of
her presence.
"I'm coming too" she exclaimed
Fastening after him. I'm not going
TO be left alone down herel There
may be alligafors and thingsw
He gave an impatient smile. Come
along, then; I'll help you up"
"Oh, no, thanks! can manage
quite well,' she replied rather coldly,
nettled by his tone and manner.
He said no more, but began to climb
the rugged rock-strewn hillside with
the agility of mountain goat.
Barbara struggled after him, Slip
ping. bruising herself. painting for
breath. The shock had left her weak
and unnerved She sank upon the
ground. drawing hard sobbing breaths.
Croft. without backward glance,
was disappearing among the larger
oOuihCiS at llt II tdTIul OF
being left. she rose again and scram-
bled on. Her aching head throbbed
wildly now; sudden dizziness caused
everything to swim around her .
Stumbling over half-concealed rock,
she fell prone upon the ground
There she lay, conscious of terrible
silence. No other sentient being
seemed to move within a world SO
full of awful loneliness that 1t ap-
pa1led her; 1t was almost tangible. A
great wave Of fear, grief. loss, home
sickness. wild-almost childlike-
lenging for Hugh, swept her away.
For the first time since the horror be
gan. she found relief in tears. She
lay there alone, sobbing weakly. .
From the top of the hill Croft
scanned what was visible of the land
along the north, east and west coasts.
This was, he concluded. an island of
volcanic origin, with the exceptionally
high reef more or less surrounding it.,
sometimes at considerable distance
from. and sometimes fairly near. the
shore. He surveyed the view criti-
cally. a purpose forming in his mind.
The gradient inland eliminated in a
short. fairly steep rise to a grove of
cocoa palms, near which a clearing
was visible, covered with little groups
Of something-possibly caves or rocks.
Nowhere did there appear to be sign
of human life.
1t would be easy, he saw. to reach
those possible caves by following the
neck of high ground running inland
from the top of his hill. Turning sea-
ward, he shaded his eyes with his
hands and scanned the horizon
No indication of life was visible. No
smoke, no mast, no sail.
He swept the small island with an
other keen critical glance. From his
knowledge of the South Pacific-in
which ocean, somewhere, this island
must lie-he guessed it to be of little
or no use for trade. either in copra or
cther exports. in spite of its patches
of luxuriant verdure. Therefore, prob
ably. II was never visited by the out
side world Unless there were habi-
tations in the south, 1t was conceivably
ninhabited-possibly unknown.
For some moments he stood motion
less. facing these probabilities
Then, with a grim face, he turned In
search Of his companion.
Barbara, her head buried in her
arms. did not hear his approach. II
was with start Of surprise that she
found herself suddenly lifted bodily,
as If she were but a featherweight.
Feeling again very small and ashamed,
she would have struggled free. but his
grip frightened.
keep still It's rough climb" He
spoke abruptly. ever his way In mo-
ments of stress. The tears of weak
ness rose again in her eyes. She closed
them, but too late to hide what she
felt he would despise. She turned her
face away into his wet shoulder; and
he strobe along in silence.
Stray rocks lay about the ridge
small shrubs. interspersed with ferns
and club MOSES. made progress diff
cult; but he never paused until they
were among the tall trees of the palm
grove. Then he set the girl upon her
feet
"Where are we going?" she asked.
"ListenW he commanded. without
answering her quetsion.
From near at hand came the noise
Of rushing water. He turned farther
inland. amid tall avenues of bamboo
toward the sound. Barbara closely fol.
lowing. Presently pleased exclama-
tion escaped his lips, and he halted.
From the high ground the river tum-
bled down, sheer waterfall of dane.
Ing crystals splashing from great
boulders high up among the forest
trees to smaller ones on the lower
level; thence hurrying and gurgllng
over little rocks, which enclrcled
small pools of translucent green, into
clear, softly flowing stream some six
feet deep. This after time spread out
and grew shallow. finally disappearing
l A...