Show CHAPTER IX continued 10 and I 1 you breathed it bungo lie slipped to his enec took both her hands in hla and looked into her ees as though ho could neer take his fill of the sanity that had come back to them andrea he went on before you hive time to think about it I 1 want to tell oa that you and I 1 can never feel shame again I 1 wint YOU to know that no man however mean or tar nashed by life could do the things that I 1 have done for sou and will still have to do v shout falm the pangs of a love that Is rooted out side the limits of passion he dropped bis ees as though before a confessional until I 1 a you quite helpless until I 1 saw you pass to the other side of pain I 1 know that I 1 hid a heart I 1 had a stange conception of love as a thing that you give generously to dogs sparingly to men and never to women except as a last surrender to the unknown lie paused andrea smiled faintly and now she prompted now he answered now I 1 know that a man must travel far beyond the limits of every day emotions to come up love itself he may find content and drowsy happiness in some woman possessed of all the quail alea that command affection but love itself dwells far beyond at the cross roads of weakness and strength and eo your helplessness carried to that last degree has wound itself around my heart with a grip that wll never loosen poor man 1 andrea whether you want me he con tinned gravely or mock me whether ou are true or untrue pure or impure all those things no longer matter for loe Is an integral you may leave me put the width of the world between us and the breath of sour body will still be the breath of mine the surge of your blood will be the surge of mine your sins will be ra sins because your helpless self stripped of all the clogs of fleish has twined itself for always with the fibers of my heart so you would give three pounds for me murmured andrca he let go her hands and rose quickly to his feet you are stronger than I 1 thought he said no never give a cent for ou ill wait till youre well and then take you in freo fight and in my own way but andrea did net hear him she biad sunk back lax into her pillows two tears crept from under her closed and down her hollow checks im so weak she whimpered so weak I 1 cant cry the white man cursed himself aloud iso one anew better than he that it Is not won when the tide of battle turns and that he who sleeps on the verge of victory awakes to defeat he settled down to the long vigilance that was bis price of peace the day and i night came and went before he could draw the long quivering breath of relief that marked the passing of danger during the stage of convalescence he read and talked to her by the hour hut the time came when she would have no more of the printed page lie had spoken a passage here and there from the book of his own life and now she demanded the volume from cover to cover he told her of alg boyhood in a ew angland country town of scrapes in school and of the disaster n college that had turned him from the narrow drosd of specialization in the diseases of the nose and ear to that broad highway which Is trod and by stray ds and citizens of the world you would have made a great physician said andrea almost regretfully he replied but I 1 have saved mi self t would never have found myself I 1 would have been one of those unconscious mortals who spend their lives in a group picture I 1 would never have found out that there Is something within me that utterly rebels nil those iams isms which aim nt the col classification of man and whose goil Is the herd instead of the individual but ant that old stuff asked andrea yawning tar tho first time in many dais 0 o it the white man thoughtfully ana ril tell ou any kever for centuries has life been so alosa as it Is today to its true level of proportionate valuation whit avis worth living for jsn t a justification today I 1 raiment dud n baby grand leisure in the thoughts nt true men thin do truth bionoi amna alie final quality of mercy ue sat fw long in tin absorbed silence tell aie cald andrea how the of a million bohai s r i f of fiber Is an expression of the individual now trying to pull down the star to which ive hitched ray personal wagon ad with his slow smile well he continued tale it handle it hut let it go again when you re through with it because I 1 need it high up and far abeid when I 1 real zed that thit th it M 0 a liar after all white min broke in andrea and leaned forward she stared at him wide eyed and hushed of cheal are you trevora Trev orl lie nodded robert oddman trevor robert trevor he confirmed and simplified oh white man she cried again dropping her hands into her lap and gazing at him with an intensity that slowly drove the blood from her face she was sitting in her hammock chair propped against all the pillows the camp could produce she took a long breath and then she again will you do something for me a little thing Wh yak well its like this aid andrea 1 I want to kiss you she turned her ees from his face and continued rapidly it mean anything of coarse nothing binding you enow on either party only you see any thing might happen to me at any moment I 1 might fall again and just pop off go it you dont mind id mke to do it now please trevor s face presented a puzzle hiat nobody saw for andreas eyes w ere anywhere but it he arose nna came hesitatingly to aneel beside her chair well he said and she almost laughed at the weird quiver in ills voice here I 1 am G go to it she put her arms around his neck ard came blindly toward him andrea he protested arent you going to 1001 hi my eyes she shook her held no she whispered it isn t that und of a her soft moist lips on his mouth w ere as light as a flower that sways to its mate in the cool breith of the morning salutes gently and recedes fearful of bruising there 1 she cried back on her pillows now go on about affie star thing breor a dazed look in his eyes mopped his brow returned to his chair and obediently repeated when I 1 realized that that M 0 a liar after arc you trevor nh and thit my flying dais were icalla our I 1 had to look around for new stee ilna lights there are just three things la the world today winning the ar la number one and after that come education and trai port lie nodded to himself as it in con amaca 1 I picked transport for i my star sly mission Is to and ll roads I 1 believe in all reference that together with education they can lo 10 welded into die second comak of our lord bearing peace and not a s vord if you ann cnn only see my star high rough ana far enough away yu 11 alno that it shines on a world vend blasphemy he looked at iff anxiously as though h feared she might stay among the shallows lovs while he aa trying to show her his depths she added go on beginnings he continued alloys look small measured against ambition end so I 1 dont often look eo far ahead just now my eyes are fixed right here on thlu soli of because from her breast ive drawn my stake of a million a bit mixed but its clear it yes said andrca go on another thing that Is written in the book of great truths which by the way Is the primer of the citizens of the world continued trevor is the axiom that success begins at the point where i man stops asking for favors and starts giving them get the connection when I 1 remind you that the possessor of a million of anything can always give favors A whole cotillion agreed andrei a million I 1 shall have no difficulty in building a railroad across africa with other peoples money and having built one I 1 shall build another and fien another to put it in a nut shell I 1 might say that from now on all my prayers will bo stated in terms of miles of roadbed what you anglish call permanent way other and greater men hive built empires I 1 should like to lnla taca together when are ou going to start asked andrea ive started already answered tre or I 1 e got my anke and a besides pure velvet now a days tell you when you really started s ild andrea the moment you connected your inner flame with the stir of transport Trin sport youre coming on said trevor pleased at her remembering and said andrei hae you neer once played the phonograph ehl exclaimed tremor his mind turning somersault look here he protested are you trying to bowl me oer with my own philosophy of contrasts what the devil has the phonograph got to do with stars and inner lames the d thing mine why I 1 never use it it s tainted by its prospective ownership Mac Closter roused andrea aloud her aies flashed a smile at him ell anyway I 1 know its going to be awfully jolly what the phonograph 0 o silly building railroads CHAPTER X from that day andreas health be gan to mend w ith tremendous rapidity trevor never tired of watching her never ceased to wonder at a recovery so rapid that its dally transitions were visible it reminded him of one of the man elg of his boyhood an old man had said to him one dawn hear the corn growing sonny and be laughed whereupon the granddad had taken him by one ear and marched him to the nearest furrow pick out a stalk and watch it you little egg sucker he commanded see it grow if ou cant hear andrea was like that she was cn furlang as though in the morning of a new youth never had her eyes been brighter never her cheeks so quick to play with fire incidentally she was full of a devil of mischievous reminiscent innuendo its all a greit joke now young lady trevor would defend himself but if seen what I 1 hae of per malaria oud keep grave tor a year ive seen three thit had nourished mosquitoes from their youth up fall like dogs one after an other within a mile and a halt of an infected camp and the best of thorn went stone blind for a month did you nurse them white man did ou see them through these were the questions that drove him nearest to desperation but the gleam in the eyes above the demure mouth from which they issued inva warned him of the trip in time lie was on his guard be knew that there were things between him and andrea that speech would turn into ghastly skeletons walking by day and which only consistent silence could entomb but so deep had grown his sympathies anat even in this he under stood her it was not thit she was perverse but that her pride demanded a constant con stint test of his loyalty to her other self that internal self that had lain bared revealed and helpless la his arms about things which might hive aroused a legitimate curiosity ahe ased few questions without a word of inquiry she despatch picked men on some als ston whose intricacies and necessitated i pil ncr of in houra dural on anent she witched his detailed of a w ell appointed lc its were blushed and set to all cots and mat tresses put out for a sun bath proal slona of all sorts packed in one load cases water boiled filtered and hung in canvas coolers only a few days before just buch signs as those bad made her feirt heavy with unanswerable questionings but her illness hid changed all tint the successive roo mants of the throbbing present each in its turn filled her whole horizon she knew instinctively that he bad up bis sleeve and that he would shake it out on the slightest provocation she also had a long mem wy and had no difficulty in his exact boast as to whit he would do when she was well lie was going i to take her in free fight ahe was w ell now she reflected she had never felt better in her life and it there was one thing she hungered for more than another it was the promised combat there Is no telling how long an dreas innate stubbornness would have lold oat nor at what point exasperation would have driven ham for their wordless content wig interrupted by an event which he had both foreseen and feared they were sitting at a table after dinner on a iff cloudless night brilliant under a full moon when a far away sound came to disturb their purposeful silence trevor straightened in his chair and leaned forward his whole body tense in the effort of listening it came again a ghost of a sound that gradually assumed and rhythmic form until after five long minutes it was recognizable as the cadenced rumble of an african river chanted ch antei instantly trevor was on his feet he issued orders to bathtub who imme began to clear the table and eliminate aery item ot furniture that would indicate a dual occupancy of tie white portion of the camp they hall dressed that night for dinner not as a celebration of any special event but because they were both bored with too much time on their hands trevor now excused himself to andrea and withdrew to his room in a few min utes he reappeared garbed in his roughest khaki shirt and trouse s hiis face was grave as he advanced on andrea with a nod toward her hut Mac Closter will be here in half an hour lie stated 1 I ask you to go to your room clos and bir both doors and stay there until I 1 call you without waiting for her comment he turned and left her she sat on with narrowed eyes until she had fin dished her cigarette and then with i glance around to see if trevor were she arose and walked slowly across the open court of the braal in her breast was a great rebellion at the curt manner in which he had made his request but she had to admit to herself that no other form of address coming from him could have impressed her so deeply amov ed her so quickly she went to her room closed the front door but did not bar it chose a book and sat down to make a pretense of reading the sound of the chantey rumbled near and then wavered afar according to the bends of the river but in spite of this variation the sum of iti volume swelled steadily in an ominous approach until it died quite suddenly at the boat landing there wis w is a diskint di stint rattle of a dozen punting poles dropped across the thwarts th a spoken word or two that carried marvelously across the still night and then a long silence sud denly shattered by a bellowing voice ship thoyl show your port and starboard lights d yon how in the h ayou think III make the chan nel andrea rose quickly and laid her ear to a crack in the door her pulse was beatles fast but she was smiling she heird trevor come out and presently she heard him alq voice was almost unrecognizable it was so cold and so incisive like sharpened steel in strange incongruity the words he let fall were like drops 0 molten metal hello you dirty drunken brute 1 our price to go away from here tonight I 1 can offer you a case of bols and all the kaffar dogs in the braal to see you oft the words and their manner astounded andrea for a moment it seemed to her thit these two men must be joking then she felt the im pact of an undercurrent of malevolence such as she bad never in her life am much less encountered she quivered to the thought that here was absolutely without gloves at last every word an intentionally naked blow trevor said MacCI oster in an oily voice that was strangely softened and indescribably aggravating 1 I like you I 1 cint help likin you s oure so d jot a whisper about a sanguinary batted fatted calf you go right to my heart with a case of gin I 1 accept bring it out no said trevor ill send it up bae it waiting for you bi the time you got back it you don t rot and tall anait on the way there you go said MacCI oster always cheerful warm welcome on your tongue then with a change that was like a thunderclap send it up you dunghill bantam t hy the h you sent my music box andrca pressed her hands her face ind her whole body against the door she wis trembling slightly but she was not frightened her intelligence was too busy it had leaped to an ur of trevor s part in what wis going on outside she forgot that she bad ever thought it a mere battle ot tongues she could imagine this man MacCI oster as a mountain of brawn and sinew against which tre voi was deliberately opposing all the moral weight of the old fighting gan bully a bully 1 more than that she could now feel that the suppressed hatred she had guessed at their w had come bold ly into the open and that it was |