The Wilmington morning star., 1947-12-03
'SeCre t t,,H[7[@(1|n|1gY1nO0N


|complete with sarong and q
tame leader, followed by a de.
voted band of head-hunters
may emerge from that jungle
and bear us off in state to her
village. But just on the off
chance that she won't, we'd bet
ter be making tracks, don't you
think?"
81 think" she had agreed.
And it had begun.
Even now, a year later, her
voice dropped to silence before
the vividness of the memory
her words had conjured up. The
steamy jungle; the dim light fill
tering through the vine
entangled trees; the fear that
about them in the jungle might
be hidden more of the enemy ;
the breathless hope that some
where not too far away there
might be reconnaissance post,
some farflung scrap Of base
at which there would be Ameri-
cans, English-perhaps a native
village. Only how would they
know whether they were friend
ly or hostile natives - until it
might be too late? The fear that
there would be no way out at
all
She heard, as from a great
distance, Bills voice.
"Well, go on-or are you en-
barrassed?"
Bewildered, she looked up at
him.
"Embarrassed?" she re-
peated.
"What happened?" he asked
shortly.
"We made our way out" she
said at last. Crawling, plod-
ding, creeping - an inch at a
time, it seemed. Oh, l cant tell
you what it was like, Bill. You
- you couldn't possibly under
stand"
"Of course not" said Bill,
and his voice was a lash tipped
with steel. 'I'm only a measly
4-F - not one of the gloriously
elect of the armed services,
whc take it as simply routine
that a good-looking man and a
pretty girl should get them
selves lost for eight days and
nights in a place like that with
out romance lifting its head"
"Romance?" she repeated in
credulously.
care you trying to tell me
that this Graham didn't make
love to your" Bill put it brutal
ly, so that she flinched as
though from a blow.
For a dazed, unbelieving mo-
ment she only looked at him.
Couldn't he realize that in those
terrible hours she and Graham
had ceased to be man and a
woman - male and female -
and had become just two tor
tured human beings dependent
on each other for survival?
That at such time, there is no
thought but the will to live, the
fight to survive, and that there
had been no time for any emo
ton except fear and hunger and
thirst and pain?
"Well? Can't you think up a
good answer to that?" asked
Bill at last.
Cathy shook her head.
"No, Bill, I'm afraid I can't" :"
she told him simply. "The only
answer I can think of is this:
If you hold me so lightly in your
mind that you could believe
such a thing Of me, then it's
good that ours is a secret mar
riage and that it can be ended
that way secretly, here and
now"
Bill said sharply, ''Oh, come
now, Cathy-''
II mean it, Bill" she toll d
him, and though her voice was
husky and shaken, there was a
determination in it that silenced
him. "I felt all along that we
were making a mistake to be
married like this; if you had in
troduced me to those boys as
your wife, they'd never have
mentioned Graham.
"And I'd have gone on being
a fool and knowing nothing
about the way you behaved
while you were out of the coun-
try"
Bills vanity had received a
mortal blow; his jealousy was
a dark and ugly thing, made
even more bitter by his feeling
of having been a Stacker. He
resented Cathy's service where
he had been denied the chance
to fight; and he would always
be jealous of every man in a
uniform, and he would always
be wondering uneasily if Cathy
didn't despise him.
"There doesn't seem to be
any answer to that, Bill" she
said. "I'm sorry it ended like
this. It was fun-for a while. :"
She turned, and with all the
pride at her command, man.
aged to steady herself so
that she could walk out Of the
-:LL.~ -o1n, into tho IoIroor,o