The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1937-01-27
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He broke off, for his voice hat
suddenly become, unsteady. ~.r.
IL am beginning to talk il
pretty flowery language, and thai
is always a sign that; l. have sale
all that Iohave toiay," he SAID
lightly. 'Iet5 rot be tragic.
go and you stay. | leave my love
with you. You know that. Give
me yours--and your royal bless
ing-and / will CO."
Joseph started to speak. His
voice broke, and he cried, "Oh
Paulw and threw his arms about
his older brother. Then, at last,
he drew away and mastered him.
self.
"Goodby, Paul, and God bless
YOU" he said.
Paul went to the door. He
stopped suddenly. The jeweled
sword and scabbard of some aide
lay on a chair. He seized the
sword, drew it out, flourished it,
and performed the salute, hilt
touching his chin, blade pointing
toward the ceiling. For. a mo-
ment he stood there, rigid. Then
he laughed, laid the sword down
waved his hand, and left. The
aide showed him to the car, and
he was driven back to the wharf.
The sloop Irene rounded the last
headland and lay over before a
stiff east wind. Paul trimmed the
sheets and perched at the tiller,
with never a glance over his
shoulder for the land of Northum-
bra. falling astern forever.
He was on his way-to what!
Back TO the old life on the Bay
St. Francis, with Ardath and all
that she offered him?
He looked at the horizon ahead
and frowned. Ardath would COM
fort him; she would show him how
absurd it was to cry over some
thing that had been irretrievably
lost. She would even wind up by
persuading him that what had
been well lost. He would grow old
there, with her, without a visible
care in the world. In the end,
probably, he would cease to rebel
against the emptiness, the mean
inglessness, of the routine of the
gay coast Of pleasure. He would
conform, at last, and be just one
more of that coasts idlers.
II not back to Ardath, what
then? Well, there was Guatemala,
where his old friend and tutor,
DR.. Sonders, delved in the ruins
of a lost world and brought forth
craven records and buried cities
of kings who had lived and died
and been forgotten. DR.. Sonders
had asked him to come and help
him; that would be work, a life
in which a man might take pride.
Grand he smiled to think OF
it-there was the town Of Cam
den. Maine, with lanky Jones COT
fin looking for capital to set q
fleet of barkentines moving along
the old trade. lanes. He could 20
there, supply Coffin with his CAPT,
tai. and help the world do its work
and move Its goods. Or he
could. 60 farther. if he chose, to
the western plains, and start the
cattle ranch he used to dream OF.
Guatemala, Maine and the west
ern plains lay beyond the Allan
tic: but the Irene was staunch and
well provisioned; she would take
him there, if he wanted to go :. .
and if she did not-did that really
matter so much?
Back to the Bav st. Francis;
Ardath, and a life that would
slowly smother his discomfort in
cushioned ease % westward,
across the ocean to a new land
and a new life?
He looked Mt his chart. South
by east, for the Bay st. Francis
southwest by west, for Guatemala;
west-northwest, for the coast Of
Maine. Il was time to set a course.
Which should it be? This decision
would be final. There would be
no turning back, even again.
He looked far ahead at the
empty horizon. Across it there
seemed to move the sails of the
fleets of the kings of long ago
coming out of the past and steer
ing for a future they. could not
see: and they seemed to be accom-
panied by the prayers, the cries
and the tears of the people who
had trusted them and followed
them and believed in them and
died for them - an everlasting
pageant, moving ghostly along the
| line where sky and water met.
Then the imaginary sails van
ished and the sea was empty. Pau
made his decision, reached dowi
and marked his course on tn,
chart, swung the tiller over unit
the compass needle registered cor
rectly. And the little sloop sailed
ahead, over an empty sea and un
| der an empty sky; and the las
line of the land fell away behint
and was seen no more.
| (THE END)