Evening star., 1932-04-09
6<NAR1lNs SUMNER q
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or all that went on belonged to the
maze of delirium In which he had pass
ed the night. His arm was in band
age, and, though it throbbed painfully,
it felt oddly separate from the rest OF
his body. It was Like q large, heavy,
burning rod Of iron hanging from his
shoulder. He alternated between mo-
ments of tense alertnesS and moments
when everything became fantastic and
quite unreal. His lips were as dry as
crumpled paper, but his eyes were
bloodshot and deadly sick. His face
was drawn and glowing hot. His viii
alone-the hard, indestructible stuff OF
his being-kept him going.
He forced himself to take account OF
what was going on. What was 1t?
What had happened? Puck had come
to him that night He had spoken in a
hateful way to her, and she had gone
away. But I am going far away, very
far =" The words were always IN
Martins ears The marks of Puck's
heavy boots were still there In the wet
sand Of the beach. Tiger still ran
crazed with distress from Martins cabin
to the beach and back again, stopping
now and again to throw UP his head
and utter lamentable howl.
Martin would glady have howled. too.
He clenched his teeth as tightly as he
could to stop their chattering. If Puck's
in the lake, it's my fault? What had
he done? He had lived his life as SIM
pIy as he could and done the obvious,
natural thing Then of sudden he
was involved in error and guilt and
tragedy. Suppose Puck were really at
the bottom of the lake-suppose she
had done it-SuppoSe again IL was all
a dream like the infammabIe him
that had been in flames on countless
occasions that night? Martin strove IN
vain to break through the barriers OF
fever and stupor that penned him ID.
He did not know very much. But in
Frauensee everybody knew everything
by some mysterious means. Even the
sparroWS pecking in the dirt IN the
station yard knew that the crazy young
baroness had drowned herself for love
of the handsome swimming instructor.
Later in the morning, news came that
something had been found near the
Seespitz where the lake ran to sedgy
shadows that oyerdowed the swampy
ground.
Martin hung over the edge Of the
boat and stared into the water. and In
the water he saw many Pucks, many
small, dear. woebegone PuckS. Many
more hoods, and many looked like
Javanese slave girls. Many were eating
currants, and many grasped at him over
the glnwhale reflected in the water.
When Martin saw this, fit of dizziness
came over him and he thought: Stop!
1t took q supreme effort of will to regain
controE Of himself. If Puck were
drowned, her body would drift, he re-
flected, and even said as much in a.
hoarse voice to Herr Birndl, who nodded
his confirmation. Herr Birndl was
bathed in sweat from the exertion Of
rowiSg. and very grave.
Matz steered, taking his direction
frort Martins hstless eyes. Now and
again the three boats drew near to-
gether in their search and hailed each
other with a few laeonic words.
"Nothing?''
mo. Nothing at all"
I'VE need divers" said somebody.
The boats glided apart. As the sun
rose higher the lake became clearer and
luminous. The boat cast a shadow in
the green depths. Below, the water
weeds waved gently to and fro. Stones
and open muSsels gazed up like eyes
Suddenly Martin felt vivid pang.
Puck. darling Puck, he thought. Is it
possible you are dead? Never to see
you again, she had said, never again.
For a moment he realized that never
again" with violent and heart-rending
emotion, and then numbness came
round him once more.
Puck lay on the bottom in her sodden
heavy cloak and gazed up at Martin
with the wide eyes Of a corpse Martin
saw her distinctly. He reeled to his
feet and slipping of his cloak plunged
into the water He had made every
calculation. He had taken in a deep
breath, and dived vertically He dropped
like stone, keeping his eyes open. He
saw nothing. The bottom receded and
receded, till at last he was forced to
come up to the surface. When he raised
his arm out of the water and got his
breath 1t seemed to him that the
pain had left it. But he was terribly
cold In his cloak as he sat there with
the water running OF him.
Time went on. The twelve-twenty-
three train came in, the engine released
steam in noisy puffs, and the train went