| Show BY LOUIS TRACY A If I tike take the t wings n of the morning tho the and lead dI sea dwell me m l even and In to ne the Thy there uttermost right t shall m hand band Thy parts hand shall ot of THE T 11 WINGS W IN 6 S OF 0 f THE T H lIE MORNING M 0 R N I 1 N G 6 Author American D appearance t of Emperor The of s Final Lady x The Ware War Dolls Delia Strange Stange etc eta An Antho hold me Psalm 9 10 Copyright Copy tight 1901 1908 by Edward J Clode f CHAPTER XII A TRUCE Though his eyes like live coals glowered with sullen fire at the strip of sand and the rocks In front his troubled brain paid perfunctory heed to his task The stern sense of duty the Ingrained force of long years of military discipline and soldierly thought compelled him to keep watch and ward over his fortress but he could not help asking ag ng himself what would happen if It Iris were seriously Wounded There was one enemy more potent than these skulking D a fore more Irresistible in his might more pitiless In his strength whose assaults would tax to the utmost their powers of resistance re resistance Istance In another hour the sun would be high In the heavens pouring his ardent rays upon them and drying the blood In their veins Hitherto the tho active life of the island the thc shade of or trees hut but or cave the power of unrestricted movement and the possession of ot water In any desired Quantity robbed the tropical heat of the day of or Its chief chiet terrors Now all was changed Instead of ot working amidst grateful foliage tollage they were bound to the brown rock which soon would slow glow low with radiated energy and give off orr scorching gusts like unto the opening of ot a furnace door This he ho had foreseen all along The tarpaulin would yield them some de decree deo degree cree gree o of or uneasy protection and they both were in perfect physical condi condition condItion condition tion But If Iris were wounded If It Iti the tho extra strain brought fever In Its i wake That way he saw nothing but blank despair to be ended for her by delirium and merciful death for him by a Berserk rush among the and one last mad fight against over overwhelming overwhelming overwhelming whelming numbers Then the girls voice reached reach d him almost cheerful You will be glad to Hear near that the cut has stopped bleeding It Is only a scratch So a kindly Providence had spared them yet a little while The cloud passed from his mind the gathering mist from his eyes In that Instant he thought he lie detected a slight rustling among the trees where the cliff shelved up from the house Standing as he was wason wason on In the tho edge of ot the rock this was a point he could not guard against When her welcome assurance recalled recall mall ed his scattered senses he stepped steppe st back to speak to her and in the same Instant a couple of ot bullets crashed against the rock overhead Iris had hao unwittingly saved him from a serious perhaps fatal wound He sprang to the extreme right of the ledge and boldly looked into the trees beneath Two were there belated wanderers cut off oft from the main body They dived headlong Into the th undergrowth for safety but one of them was too late The I reached him and its Us reverberating con concussion concussion tossed back and forth by the echoing rocks drowned his parting stream scream In the plenitude of ot restored vigor the sailor waited for no counter demon demonstration demonstration demonstration He Ho turned and approached the southern end of ot his I t Through his screen of grass ho far could discern the long black hair and yellow face of a man who lay layon on oa the sand nd and twisted his head around the base of the further cliff The rhe distance was ninety yards ards the target practically a bulls lye ye Jenks took careful aim fired and a whiff of sand fland flew up Perhaps he had used too fine a sight end p ad ploughed a furrow beneath the oar ear He Ho H only heard a faint e a h tie the ri nEr 11 head vanish ed and there were no more mor volunteers for that particular ular service He was still peering at the place when a cry of ot unmitigated anguish came from Iris Oh come quick Our waters The casks have burst It was not until Jenks had torn the tarpaulin from t their stores and he was wildly striving with bath hands to scoop up some precious drops col collected collected collected In the small hollows of ot ite ledge that he realized the full mag magnitude magnitude magnitude of the disaster which had be befallen befallen befallen fallen them During the first rapid exchange of fire before the enemy vacated the cliff several bullets had pierced the tar tarpaulin tarpaulin tarpaulin paulin By a stroke of exceeding bad b d fortune two of them had struck each of the water barrels and started the staves The contents quietly ebbed away beneath the broad sheet and flowing inwards by reason of the sharp slope of the ledge percolated through the fault Iris and he notwithstanding their frenzied efforts were not n t able to save more than a pint of gritty dis discolored discolored discolored colored fluid The rest Infinitely more valuable to them than all ajl the diamonds of oJ De DeBeers DeBeers DeBeers Beers was how flOw now oozing through the natural channel cut by centuries of storm dripping upon the headless skeleton skeleton skeleton eton In the cave soaking down to the very heart of their buried treasure treasur Jenks was so 50 paralyzed by this ca that Iris became alarmed As Asyet Asyet Asyet yet she did not grasp its awful significance significance cance That he her hero so brave so confident in the face of many dangers should betray such sense of Irredeemable irredeemable Irredeemable able loss frightened her much mere than the incident Itself Her lips Ups whitened Her words become be become become come incoherent Tell me she whispered I 1 can but silence Ten Tell me I Implore you Is it so 50 bad The sight of ot her distress sobered him He ground his teeth together as asa asa asa a man does who submits to a painful operation and resolves not to flinch be beneath beneath beneath neath the knife It Is very bad he said not quite the end but near It The end she bravely answered Is death We are living and uninjured uninjured You must fight on If the Lord wills It we shall not die He looked In her blue eyes and saw there the light of heaven God bless you dear girl he mur murmured murmured murmured brokenly You would cheer any man through the Valley Vangy of ot the Shadow were he Christian or Faint heart heartHer heartHer heartHer Her glance did not droop before his In such moments heart speaks to heart without concealment We still have a little water she sho cried Fortunately we the are not thirsty thirsty ty t You have not forgotten our out supply of champagne and brandy There was a species of mad humor In Inthe Inthe inthe the suggestion suggest on Oh On for another miracle that should change the wine into wa water water Water ter He could only fall In with her unreflective unreflective mood and leave the dreadful truth to Its own evil time In their little nook the power of the run had hadnot hadnot not yet et made Itself felt By B ordnary ordinary it was about 9 Long before noon they would be grill grilling grillIng grilling ing Throughout the next few fen hours they the must suffer sutter the torture of Dives with one meager pint of ot water to tu share between them Of at cOUrs th the wine and spirit must be shunned like a pestilence To touch either under such conditions would be courting heat ap apoplexy apoplexy ap apoplexy and death And next day He tightened his jaws before he an answered answered answered We will console ourselves with a bottle of ot champagne for dinner Meanwhile I hear our friends shout shouting shoutIng shout shouting ing to those left on this side of cf l the island island island and I must take an active interest in inthe inthe inthe the conversation He grasped a rifle and lay down on the ledge already gratefully warm warmTh There Th e was a good deal of sustained shouting going on Jenks thought he recognized the chiefs voice giving In Instructions Instructions instructions to those who had come from Smugglers cove and were now stand standIng standIng standing Ing on the beach near the quarry I 1 wonder if he Is hungry I he thought If It so I will interfere with the commissariat Iris peeped forth at him Mr Jenks Yes without turning his head h ad He knew it was an ordinary question May I come too What expose yourself on the Yes even that I am so tired of ot sit sitting sitting sitting ting here alone Well there is no danger at present But they might chance to see you and you remember what I 1 Yes I remember quite well If It that thatis is I all There Th re was a rustle rustic of gar garments garments garments ments I 1 am very mannish in appear appearance appearance appearance ance If It you promise not to look at atme atme atme me I will Join you I promise Iris stepped s forth She was flushed a 8 little and to cover her confusion contusion may be picked up a L Now there are two guns she S le said as she stood pear him He could see through the tall tail of his eye that a slight but elegantly pro proportioned 1 proportioned ro portioned young gentleman of ot the sea seafaring seafaring seafaring faring profession had suddenly ap appeared appeared appeared from nowhere He was glad she had taken this course It might better the position were the to see her thus The moment I tell you you must fall flat fiat he ho warned her No cere ceremony ceremony ceremony mony about it t Just flop I dont know anything any better cal calculated calculated calculated to make one flop than a bullet she laughed Not yet did the tragedy of the broken kegs appeal to her Yes but it achieves Its purpose In I two ways I r want you to adopt the precautionary method Trust me for that Good gracious The sailors rifle went off with an un unexpected unexpected unexpected expected bang that froze the tho exclamation exclamation exclamation tion on her lips Three were at to run the gauntlet to their beleaguered comrades They carried ajar a ajar a ajar jar and nd two wicker baskets He with the Jar fell and broke it The others doubled like hares and the first man dragged himself after them Jenks did not fire again Iris watched the wounded wretch crawling along the ground Her eyes grew moist and she paled somewhat When he vanished she looked into the valley and at the opposing ledge three men lay dead within twenty yards of her Two others dangled from the he rocks It took her some time to con control control control her quavering utterance sufficient sufficiently ly to say sayI I 1 hope I may not have haye to use a gun I know It cannot be helped but if it I were to kill a human being Ido I do o not think I would woula ever rest again In that case I have indeed murdered sleep today was the unfeeling reply No no A man must be made of ot sterner stuff We have a right to de defend defend defend fend ourselves If It need be I will axer cise else that right Still it is horrid oh so horrid t I She could not see the sailors grim smile It would materially affect his rest for the better were he able to slay every evet Dyak on the island with a single shot Yet her gentle protest pleased him She could not at the same time be callous to human suffering and be Iris But he declined the discussion discussion of ot such sentiments You Yon were going to say something when wh n a brief disturbance took place he inquired Yes I was surprise to find how hot the ledge has become You notice it more because you are obliged to remain remlIn here hereAfter After Af r a pause paule pau e eI I I think I understand u now why vh you were so fO upset by the loss of our Cur o r water supply Before the day ends we will willbe willbe willbe be in great straits enduring agonies gonles from thirst Let us not meet the devil half halfway halfway way he rejoined He preferred the th unfair retort to a confession which could only foster dismay But please I am thirsty thirst no noHe now noHe He moved uneasily He was W lS only too conscious of ot the impish weakness common to all mankind which creates a desire out of sheer inability to sat satisfy satIsfy satisfy it Already his own throat was parched The excitement of the early struggle was In Itself enough li to en engender engender engender gender an acute thirst He thought it best to meet their absolute needs as asfar asfar asfar far as possible Bring the tin cup he said 1 I Let Letus t us take half our store and use lse the re remainder remainder when we eat Try to o avoid breathing through your The Trie hot air quickly affects affe ts the palate pala e and causes an artificial dryness jt We ve a can cannot cannot cannot not yet iet l be in real need of ot water It Iti i tr largely imagination Is 1 Iris is needed no Bond s pond bidding She Rhe carefully measured out halt a 1 pint of ot the unsavory fluid the dregs s of ot the casks and the of the tha ledge ledger I r will drink first she cried No no he interrupted 1 impatiently Give It to me meShe meShe meShe She pretended to ba surprised As Asa a mere matter of ot politeness I am sorry but I must Insist She gave him the cup over his shoulder He placed it to his lips lils and gulped steadily There he said gruffly Iwas in ina Ina Ina a a hurry The may na nake an nn another another other rush at any moment Iris looked into the vessel You have taken talen none at all te said Nonsense Mr Ir Jenks be reasonable You need more than T J I want to live you His hands shook somewhat It was well there was no call c n for accurate ace irate sho shooting tang just then B assure you I took all I required he with unnecessary chem vehemence vehemence ence At least drink your share to please me she murmured You wished to humbug me he grumbled If you will m take the first half I wilt will take the second And they settled It that way The few mouthfuls of tepid water gave them new life One sense can deceive the others A man developing all the symptoms of ot hydrophobia has been cured by b the assurance that the dog which hit lilt him was not mad So these two not yet aflame me with drought dought banished ban banished Ish d the arid phantom for a little while Nevertheless N by b high noon they were suffering again The time passed very slowly The sun rose to the zenith and filled tilled earth and air with his ardor arnor It se seemed omed med to be a miracle now appreciated appreciated appreciated for the first time In their lives that the sea did not dry up and find the leaves wither on the trees Th silence the deathly athly d inactivity of all things became intolerable The girl bravely tried to confine her thoughts to the task ta of or the hour She displayed alert watchfulness an instant readi readiness readiness ness to warn her companion om Dan Inn of nf the slightest s1 movement among among the trees or by the rocks to t the northwest this Being the arc of their periphery as assigned assigned assigned signed to her at a sunlit space tom cover and looking at the same place when sweltering In the direct rays of oC a I tropical sun are kindred operations strangely diverse in achievement Iris I could c uld not pot reconcile the physical p sen sensitiveness sensitiveness of If the hour with the care careless careless careless less hardihood of the preceding days da s sHe He Her eyes ached somewhat for she had tilted tilted her to the back of her head In the effort to cool her throb throbbing throbbing throbbing bing temples She put up her ber right hand to shade the too vivid reflection of the glistening ning sea and was astound astounded ed to find that in a few minutes the back of at her hand was scorched A I faint sound of ot distant shouting dis disturbed disturbed disturbed her painful reverie How is it she asked that we i feel fecI the heat so much today I have hardly noticed It before For two good reasons forced idle idleness Idleness Idleness ness and |
