The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1939-03-06

sldJBA HIit llitG OUT MA lot.
Where are you % but the only
answer was the roaring Of the
water and the distant wailing.
Again she called out and again
there was no answer.
For a second she was terrified.
so terrified that she was sick. and
then all at once she was cold again
and clear-headed. Clinging 10 the
balustrade of the bridge she
thought eoldly. He is gone. He
Is dead"' and for a second she
thought. Why should l not join
him ?" What was not possible in
life would be possible in death.
And now, once the moment of
temptation had passed, she knew
well enough that easy death for
death by drowning was easy was
not her destiny. II was work,
eternal, endless work And there
came into her mind the vision of
what the city would be when the
flood subsidized, Of the misery and
sickness and death. With the
major gone there would be no one
but herself to stand between the
people of Ranchipur and the
cruelty that was India For that
she was stronger even that the
major himself She knew all the
tricks. for she had played the
game all her life.
And so after a little time she let
go the balustrade and struggled on
into the street which led toward
the hospital. Away from the
bridge itself the current grew
weaker, but even so she was swept
again and again across the road
against the stone wall of the
Geological Gardens. Inch by inch
she fought her way along. aware
presently that the water was
rising again and that she must
hurry. There was no time now
to think of the major. And pres |
emily she felt the earth rising be-
meath her feet and the water
growing more shallow. She knew |
every inch of the way, every tree.
every stone. In the darkness and T
the rain she made her way from
landmark to landmark until pres
emily out of the darkness rose the
opaque mass of the hospital itself
most of it still standing.
Aloud she said, Thank Cod"
and made her way up the shallow
stairs into the familiar hallway.
There she found a chair and sat
down, the rising water still about
her ankles. and when she had re-
covered a little she called out the
name of Mrs. Gupta, and presently
from the stairs she saw the faint
glow of a candle and heard her
voice.
Where's the major? ?" asked
Mrs. Gupta.
Miss MacDaid wanted to say,
He was swept away. He was de-
layed, but her honesty made her
say He disappeared on the Race
course bridge. He is dead" But
there was no time now, no time
even to think of the major. For
the harness was about her once
more and in some way she knew
that work would make it easier.
Yearly but quickly she rose and
followed Mrs. Gupta up the wide
shallow stairs.
More than fifty patients clam
ored for food and water, for band
ages, and most of all for the pres
ence of Miss MacDaid or one of
the nurses to reassure them and
ease their terror. 1t was always
Miss MacDaid they wanted, no
more than the sight of her. to
calm them. So as Miss MacDaid
walked through the wards a pool
of silence created itself about her.
1t extended as far as the beam of
the candle she carried in one hand.
AS she passed the hot, dsheveled
beds the patients grew still and
followed her with their great dark
eyes, only sobbing or whispering a
little.
One W o m n patient, already
anemic from malnutritian, had
turned a CHASTITY yellow color.
Miss MacDaid saw at once that q.
there remained but little life in
her. She sent Mrs. Gupta for
brandy and for an injection, and
seated herself by the side of the
bed. and taking the damp. cold
hand in her own, she began to l
chafe it. The woman shook so
violently that the whole bed trem-
bled and creaked.
While she held the poor thin
hand she began to talk to the :
woman in a low voice, speaking :
Gujerati slowly and carefully, so
that the woman who spoke only
her own caste dialect would be :
able to understand her. Always !, !,
she had fought like this even
for patients doomed by cholera /,
and plague, but now she was
driven by some special inner COM D.,
pulsion. This woman must live
Nearer and nearer she leaned {
over the dying woman. willing her
back to life. willing into the
drained. un e nourished body '
of that terrible vitality |
which had driven her on and on /
heat and intrigue, disaster
and strife and disease.
Presently the WON n slowly
opened the immense sunken eyes
and looked at Miss MacDaid as $
from a great distance, and for a I
moment the lips twitched and Miss l
MacDaid knew that she was trying :
to smile, to smile perhaps for the {
first time in a life which had /
known only misery and starvation. $
Then the tired lips of the woman :
and Miss McDaid thought 7
in triumph. II have won. Now she I
will fight to live" j
And turning to take from Mrs. "
Gupta the syringe and the brandy, a
she found that it was not Mrs. c
Gupta who was standing beside !
her. but the major, clumsy band
age on his head. He had been Q
standing there for long time.
listening while she bent over the
Iow-caste woman, willing her back