Show CHAPTER VIII continued 15 well had ot spoiled it for a I 1 had bad a fair chance of tear ing the heart out of graces secret sweethearts notwithstanding might bare a chance yet at all events I 1 would not give up while a shred of hope remained on that resolution I 1 went to sleep next morning there was fine music when the carriers got to work clearing and telling the timber we wanted for drifts rifts jinny ethod beside me on the river bank tall and thin and motion less as one of the long palms that grew in the sheltered verge of the buah her beautiful hungry face alth its avid eyes was fixed on the eluding eliding romilly river the sound of the carriers clearing had shifted farther away hack hack went the axes dully muffled by distance there was a pause through it arose ex the voice of a jambore can anibal singing the death song of the tree followed a rending crash and shouts tn chorus there Is something in the tall of a great tree that lets things looser things that have nothing to do on the surface with trees genevieve Genev leve bad been one woman in the instant before that crash in the instant after she was another an other of the many jinnies to know all of whom would have needed great part of any mans das would have beben worth it perhaps she swung round from the river the faced me tall as 1 filled as I 1 with the fires and forces of youth strong supple as a tigress brave as a tigress a woman made for the wilds if ever one wa so made im not askin marriage phil amory she bald 1 I m askan im askin just a hut down somewhere at the mouth of the river and me waltin for you to come back since you wont have me on the trip and I 1 II 11 stick to you and follow you she fought for breath you pulled me away from the sharks ehe said you sent your trip to blazes and never cared youre the first real man I 1 ve ever ever 1 will you leae me in that but when you go she was as modest almost virginal in her self betrayal as any girl I 1 dont know how but in that moment I 1 recognized a truth that so tar had not come my way I 1 realized how each a woman as jinny may regen rate herself I 1 realized with a wrench of soul and body painful beyond all telling that I 1 and no other vas the man to help her to it but between us stood the wrath of pla my white rose my star pla who one day god willing should pass the ivory gate of dreams with me into a paradise of which I 1 was unworthy which nevertheless I 1 could not give up if the salvation of a hundred jinnies stood in the way it there had never been a pla jinny like many flame haired flame spirited women was ever so little clairvoyant she read my thought ahll strite phil she said Is it because of me coln gay same as you yourself have gone lay that you won ta because if all I 1 answer her I 1 put my bands on her wide thin shoulders her face was on a level with my own and I 1 kissed it youre alie best girl in all the world and I 1 love you jin ny I 1 said unerringly she read my meaning through my words im the best girl but one she s eald i to deny pla was to trample on the fc cross of my faith i yes I 1 answered feeling as if I 1 had struck her i then if there been any t miss in the world a been all right ath you and me I 1 could not answer her there was t no need she flung me away with a I 1 suddenness and strength that all but sent me down among the trampled paira leaves by the river side she L was transformed instantly into a bag of the streets As she might look in tweety years time battered destroyed she looked now in one awful mo of prophecy ahe gave a scream that reminded me of the screams of torn horses during the war and ran wildly down the bank of the river I 1 don t know aher she thought she was going maybe to a spot further on where the current swept deep and oily past a high corner of the bank here if ehe had leaped the alligators would have bad her before I 1 cr any other could have done anything to help but she was in another moment checked as I 1 wag checked la my pursuit by the amazing anex pecked sight of a government launch on a lower reach of the river rapidly heading towards myself and jinny they stopped as soon as they saw and slung out a dinghy I 1 saw bassett was in charge the launch aa drifting with the current bas ett secured her by a cable passed round a tree before he came op to and to jinny who was standing hite staring but more or less self possessed a little distance away well he cald with a certain forced cheerfulness so youve saved to half my trip very obliging of you slay on ask I 1 demanded what the blazes the government is doing up here you can ask without the blazes the government has business anywhere weve been bent up to cave atals lady from being carried off by cannibals like str aft ft picture by beatrice illustrations by arwin sayers copyright by hughea masle co service show the G S was at daru in the eaurl and news came down the coast native telegraph you know that a white Sin abada had gone up the in a canoe with halt a dozen boya meaning to strike inland so the 0 S turned a handspring and had three cat fits and packed me oft with out my lunch so aej es the eaurl to take her back only I 1 see you ve been beforehand with us ue glanced with interest at the figure of jinny who was contriving to look amazingly dignified in my khaki shirt and arous trous era by the way he went on what a become of your expedition for he like every one else down west had known of departure it was difficult to answer him 1 I came back as my lame reply well he said well after a pause during nelch he had looked keenly at both of us 1 I suppose im to have the pleasure of fetching you along to daru also I 1 was thinking rapidly calculating just what this new turn in my affairs might mean the eaurl was a fast launch she could take me home in a day and a hilf half e day to fix up matters there and get stores then a day and a half back in the eaurl im not askin marriage phil amory she said again I 1 calculated that the govern ment would owe me so much for doing its work at my own cost half a day for contingencies two days to get through my four days cut in the bush echt days in all from now ought to see me should see me if I 1 were alive once more at the point where I 1 had turned back it was no one ahead of me 1 I suppose I 1 said to the waiting bairett Ba isett that you dian didn t see any sign of another party on the river bassett was busy lighting a cig arette you suppose wrong then he said his bead bent over his hands there s a prospecting and exploring party down at the river mouth at this min ute lie did not look at me as be spoke bassett was Is a little gen tieman bow soon can we get away was my reply As soon as you can chuck your car biers on blaid and get you and this lady on he kicked me slyly and I 1 replied as intended with an introduction to jinny im sorry to offer you such rough accommodation miss tie apologized fixing her ft ath his grave ministerial stare but you are fairly lucky to be alive this minute which I 1 suppose Is some compensation do you said binny 1 I don t and turned her back on him I 1 could only tap my forehead and nod sig at bassett Baa sett ahe bush 1 as he moved a little away it was explanation enough for any one who saw less clearly through a stone wall than bassett usually did we made a very silent party drop ping down river with the current and the speed of the launch it was a comparatively short journey dusk of next day found us on the opening reaches of the estuary with the gulf of pa pi a flat and gray as a pewter table opening out before there was a long strip of beach at the river mouth you could scarcely see it at that hour but if you could not see the beach you could see quite clearly that which stood upon it the pointed shapes of several canvas tents we 11 stop here for a few minutes eald the magistrate 1 I call going up just hailed them and asked if they had seen anything of a white woman what did they say I 1 asked one of them it wa I 1 think 1 hear he went with them shouted back that they and asked who she wasand wa aasand sand what it was about caboni i I 1 said who were the others only one other white aou know him salcer he gave an order to the brown bare limbed steersman and our boat took a wide sweep and began inshore caboni i I 1 thought salcer Is not such a tool as he looks for old time and survivor of a past era of mining successes was about the ablest prospector ever washed a dish between daru and the mambaje do me a kindness bassett will you I 1 said dont mention to any one ashore just where it was that you ed us up light you not coming no fear miss coming 1 I dont silently jinny s head appeared above the cutting off my words she stepped out on deck there was still some light left I 1 could see that she had found s store of cloth ing and looted it ruthlessly A cum merlund of dark blue silk circled the waist of her my trousers she had white socks on and a silk tie about her neck I 1 looked at her in amazement as she swung lightly down into the boat avoiding my eyes she had not looked at me or spoken to me since we came aboard I 1 saw her go ashore with bassett disappear among the tents before I 1 bad time to grow more than a little impatient the boat was back again and the launch under way ft hat had jinny been saying doing out there in the camp why had she been so anxious to go ashore and why now that she had returned was she still keeping hidden avoiding sight or sound of me bassett was sitting on the cabin root a whitish blur in the dark I 1 edged up to him and asked him point blank did you anyon esay anything ashore he knew whit I 1 meant did not look up or turn his face but he an immediately in bassett s own crisp precise way 1 I saw salcer I 1 asked him chrt the defay was asked it I 1 could assist in any way he eald no it was all right they had stopped because he wished to buy sago be off tomorrow at daylight I 1 got back to the boat then miss he spoke carefully seeming to weigh hia words even more than usual misa stayed behind tor a while I 1 waited tor her was she I 1 stopped it was biffl cult to phrase there appeared said bassett precisely to be something in the of a friendly understanding between her and mr salcer I 1 gathered an impression that she was pointing out to him something in connection with the course of the romilly river on purred the launch the stars fell away right and left from her wake going forward where I 1 could be more or less alone I 1 sat on deck and dl as best I 1 could this unwelcome news it did not help matters or make me more hopeful that I 1 beard once in a way a sound like some one down below trying to stifle bitter weeping TO BE CONTINUED |