Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1941-07-12

i the August Of 1893, the Jolly Compan-
ions had accepted an offer to tour In
South Africal He was glad, now. that
he had given Kitty hundred pounds
from the savings which had been go
ing to buy him a plane; glad, too, that
the day the company had sailed. in
the second week Of the war, they had
met once more, and parted friends.
A fortnight later had come the Of
fetal intimation that the boat on which
his wife had sailed was supposed to
have been torpedoed, and in any case
had been sunk without trace" For
a while her dreadful end had haunted
him, she had been delicate, clinging
little thing-a coward, too. But even
then he had known how intolerable
burden fate, so seldom kind to men,
had lifted from his young shoulders.
The "all clear" moaned through the
air, and an uncanny stiffness again
took possession of the vast city. So
Jock, with a sudden tightening Of the
spirit, turned away from the window.
But in the blackness, he smiled grim
ly. He knew the raiders ways. They
would soon be backl Indeed he must
hurry to the nearest restaurant which
still remained open at night for when
the sirens sounded, most Of them shut
their doors, and he now felt what. to
himself, he called ridiculouSly hungry.
He had been too excited, too-too
hungry for her, to want any Of the
good lunch which had been served In
Elsie's luxurious home in GroSvenor
Square. While the others, tomorrow,s
three bridesmaids and three grooms-
men, had hurried off talking and
laughing to the dining room, they two
had managed to slip away, and, when
alone in a little room at the back Of
the big house, they had fallep into
each others arms and kissed and
kissed and kissed.
As the SAVIOR of those kisses came
back, the coming night seemed TO
stretch long and bleak before him,
and he thanked God, for the first
time, that her father was rich man,
and had had the good sense to have
had made a deep safe shelter, long
before Jerry had taken to dropping
bombs over London.
Harkl The sirens which grumblers
called "the Banshees' warning" had
started once more their long drawn-out
wall. But he, Jock Benson, was too
hungry by now to allow a warning
to stand in the way of his getting
something to eat. There was the Char
ing Cross hotel close by. he could get
In there, for he knew the doorkeeper.
Again he struck a match, and shield
ed the tiny flame with his hand. It
lit up his flying kit lying on an easy
chair, and he told himself he might
as well slip his Flying Cross into an
inside pocket. There would be no one
In Garrick House for quite a little
while, and what fool he would look
If he was burgled tonight.
Taking up his tin hat, he made
sure he had his latchkey, and CROPPED
his way down the first two flights of
the now empty house.
Empty2 NO, for on the second land
ing, his foot suddenly bumped into
something.
Stopping, he put out hand, and
found it was a woman who was
crouching on the stone floor of the
landing.
EOOI CIGhJuC. mo uOuDb oA4C A4dA
rushed in from the street, and then
walked upstairs, terrified at the thought
of being caught by the blast, should
a bomb fall outside.
please stand up. I might have hurt
you just now"
And then there swept over him a |
tornado Of fear, rage and despair, for
on his ears had fallen the plaintive,
wheedling, falsely affectionate accents
of the woman he had believed dead
since the late September of 1885, Now,
he felt that the words she had just
uttered would forever echo in his ears. |
Darling JockI How wonderful it
should be you'll I'd a kind of bunch
you'd be here, In this dear old place. |
shan't feel frightened any more,
now. But you'll have to get me away
somewhere into the country tomorrow.