Evening star., 1932-03-29
INsTALLMENT XIV.

INsTALLMENT XIV.
r TERR B1RNDL was quite right
about his risks, for no sooner
had August begun than the
J. Il receipts from swimming les
sons fen of In an alarming
and depressing manner In fact, there
was little left for him to do beyond
standing in all weathers In his bathing
dress on the gangway to see that no.
body got drowned. Occasionally he in
dulged in a swim himself, racing May
and Carla tor fun over a 200-meter
course, or even taking on Bobby or the
lean and swarthy Count C2ereny, who.
with his monocle and aristocratically
nasal voice, was the last word of social
distinction In the exclusive circles OF
the Big PetermRnn.
So Martins midday meals were now
irregular; they occurred perhaps every
second or every third day. After lunch
he lay on the beach for short time
for he felt tired and out Of form. Later
in the afternoon there was usually
thunderstorm. And afterward Martin
had 10 wade out into the non-swim-
mers' pool and bring the flags closer In
shore. The level of the lake was rising
daily.
The storm always came from the
same point In tie southeast. The
thunder reverberatee from mountain to
mountain with echoes that never
ceased. The lake began to stir as sud
denly as II 1t had come to the boil.
Two minutes later everything was in
turmoil. and the hail beat on the red
painted zinc roofs of the bathing huts
like a whole regiment of drummers.
Martin ran to his hut and shut the
window. II was not really q window,
but a hole in the boards with round
shutter of wood in front of It. His hut
was at the end Of the row numbered Is
to Sc, and was actually no more than
a bathing hut itself Pouring down
from the gutter In a torrent, past the
Intel Of the door against which Mar
tin always bumped his head. the water
came. trying to find an escape through
the boarded floor The piles, too, that
supported the bathing huts were no
longer on dry ground. now that the
level Of the lake had risen. and Martin
could hear and see the water through
the cracks of the floor as the dark
waves broke in foam against the wood
work
While Martin stood in the doorway
one afternoon breathing In the moist
air and listening to the racket of rain
and storm outside, he was astonished
to see small leather suit case come
flying over the railing that divided the
bathing inclosure from a plot of vacant
ground A moment later a foot was
put cautiously over the fence and the
strand of barbed wire. The foot was
a small one. and it was shod in very
muddy white shoe. 1t was followed by
very pretty leg and then by drip
ping-wet white skirt. as Martin was
able to see by craning out his head
below the gutter. Finally Anika jumped
to the ground inside the inclosure.
leaving shred of her white flannel
skirt hanging on the barbed wire
Anika was pitiful spectacle as she
ran across the beach through the
drenching rain with the suit case. She
was wearing the white sleeveless frock
she had put on for n sultry afternoon.
The black lacquer cap of her Chinese
hair was in wild disorder She was
tattered and torn, wet through and
splaShed with mud from head to foot.
Martin had no idea what to make OF
this strange apparition. He ducked
his head and went a couple of steps