Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1925-03-25
1'The Wings
of the Morning
Copyrighted by E. J. Clode)
BY LOUIS TRACY


island. the ST ade of trees, hut or cave,
the mower o. unrestricted movement
and the possession of water in any de-
sired quantity, robbed the tropical neat
of the day of it's chief terrors. Now all
was changed. Instead of working
amidst grateful foliage, they were
hound to the brown rock, which soon
would glow with radiated energy and
give off scorching gusts like unto the
opening of furnace-door.
This he had forseen all along. the
tarpaulin would yield them some de-
cree of uneasy protection, and they
both were in perfect physical condl-
ton. Buff Iris were wounded! Ii
fine extra strain brought fever In It's
wakei That way he saw nothing but
blank despair, to be ended, by her,
nv delirium and merciful death, Tor
him bv a Beresk rush among the Dy-
aks and one last mad fight against
overwhelming numbers.
Then the girls voice reached hlm'
self-reliant, almost cheerful
"You will be glad to hear that the
c1,t has stopped bleeding. 1t IS only
a scratch"
So a kindly Providence had spared
them vet a little while. The cloud
nassed from his mind, the gathering
mist from his eyes. In that instant ne
Thought he detected a slight ruStllng
anoono the trees where the cliff shelved
nm from the house. Standing as ne
was on the edge of the rock, this was
a noint he could not guard against.
When her welcome assurance re,
called his scattered senses, ne steppeu
hack to speak to her, and III the same
instant couple of bullets crashed
against the rock overhead. Iris hau
unwittingly saved him from sellouo'
perhaps fatal, wound. #. oe
He snrang to the extreme right or
the ledge and boldly looked INTO me
trees beneath. Two Dyaks were there
belated wanderers cut OH from lne
main body. They dived headlong AhCo
the underground for safety put one
of them was too late. Inc Lee-Met-
ford reached him, and us feVerpelaI-
ing conclusion, tossed BACK anu loich
by the echoing rocks, drowned MS
parting scream.
In the nlentitude of restored vigor
the sailor waited for no counter dem
ons+ration. He turned and chouchingly
anproached the southern end OF MS
narapet Through his screen of grass
no could discern the long black hair
and yellow face of a man who lay on
. the sand and twisted his head around
tbe base of the further cliff. The dis
lance. oft measured, was ninety yards
the target practically six-inch BULBS
eve. jerks took careful aim, nreu' anu
a Whit of sand flew up.
Perhaps ne had used too fine
sight and ploughed a furrow beneath
the Dyak's ear. He only heard faint
veil but the enterprising head van
ished and there were no more Votuh-
teers for that particular service.
He was still peering at the place
when a cry of unmitigated engulsn
came from Iris
ooh. come quick! Our water! The
casks have BURST"
IT was not until jerks had torn the
tarpaulin from off their stores, and ne
was wildly striving with both hands
to scoop up some precious drops col
lected in the small hollows of the
ledge. that he realized the full magn1-
tude of the disaster which had befal-
len them.
During the first rapid exchange OF
fire. before the enemy vacated the
cliff. several bullets had pierced the
tarpaulin. BY a stroke of exceeding
bad fortune two of them had struck
each of the water-barrels and started
the slaves. The contents quietly ebbed
away beneath the broad sheet, and
flowing inwards by reason OF the
sharp slope of the ledge, percolated
through the fault Iris and he, not
withstanding their frenZied efforts,
were not able to save more than
pint of gritty discolored fluid. Inc
rest, infinitely more valuable to them
than all the diamonds of De Beers,
was now oozing through the natural
channel cut by centuries of storm,
dripping upon the headless skeleton
in the cave, soaking down to the very
heart of their buried treasure.
jerks was so paralyzed by this
catastrophe that Iris became alarmed.
AS yet she did not grasp its aWful
Significance That he, her hero, SO
brave, so confident in the face OF
many dangers, should betray such
sense of irredeemable loss, frightened
her much more than the incident It
self.
Her lips whitened: Her words De-
came incoherent.
Tell me- she whispered. L can
bear anything but silence. Tell me, L
implore you. Is it so bad? :,
The sight of her distress sobered
him. He ground his teeth together as
a man does who submits to palntul
operation and resolves not to linen
beneath the knife.
cit is very bad" he said, mot quite
the end, but near il"
'"The end" she brayely answered,
sis death! We are living and unin-
iured. You must fight on. If the Lord
Wills it we shall not die
He looked in her blue eyes and saw
there the light of Heaven.
God bless you, dear girl, he muir
INJURED brokenly ''You would cheer
any man through the Valley of the
Shadow, were he Christian or FAINT
heart"
Her glance did not droop before his,
l. n