Show AMP as gol id zed CHAPTER VIII continued 15 well if jinny had not spoiled I 1 tt it for me I 1 had bad had a fair chance of tear ing the heart out of grace graces secret sweethearts notwithstanding I 1 might have prance VP 1 ance yet at all events I 1 would it t gi ghe gie e up while a shred of hope 1 guined ned on that resolution I 1 went to sleep next morning there was fine music when the carriers got to work clearing and felling the timber we wanted tor for rafts jinny stood 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 bush her beautiful hungry face with its avid eyes was fixed on the sliding romilly river the sound of the carriers clearing had shifted farther away hack back hack went the axes dully muffled by bv distance there was a pause through it arose ex the voice of a jambore can nabal singing the deith song of the tree followed a rending crash and shouts in chorus there Is something in the fall of a peat great tree that lets thin things s loose things that hae hane nothing to do on the surface with trees genevieve Genev leve had 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 haie hake needed great part of any man mans s days would hae hake beben worth it she swung round from the river she faced me tall as I 1 filled tilled 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 was so made I 1 im in not askin marriage phil amory she said I 1 im in askin 1 im in askin just a hut down somewhere at the mouth of the river and me waltin for you to come back since you won t have me on the trip and III stick to you and follow you she fought for breath tou you pulled me away from the sharks she said you sent your trip to blazes and never cared you re the first real man I 1 ve ever ever phil will you leave me in that hut when you go she was as modest almost virginal in her self betrayal as any girl I 1 don t know how but in that moment I 1 recognized a truth that so far had not come my way I 1 realized how such a woman as jinny may regen crate erate herself I 1 realized with a wrench of soul and body painful be yond all telling that I 1 and no other was the man to help her to it but between us stood the wrath of pia pla my white rose my star pia pla who some 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 if there had never been a pia pla jinny like many flame haired flame spirited epi women was ever so little clairvoyant she read my thought phil strite phil she said Is mis it because of me goin gay same as you yourself have gone III lay that you won wont t 7 because if that a all I 1 t answer her I 1 put my hands on her wide thin shoulders her face u was as on a level with my own and I 1 kissed it you re the best girl in all the world and I 1 love you jin ny by I 1 said unerringly she read my meaning through my words im the best girl but oner one she bald said to deny pla was to trample on the cross of my faith yes I 1 answered feeling as it if I 1 had struck her then if there baan hadn t been any miss Laur fers in the world it ltd d a been all right with you and me I 1 could not answer her there was no need she flung me away with a suddenness and strength that all but sent me down among the trampled palm leaves by the river side she was vias transformed instantly into a hag of the streets As she might look in twenty years time battered destroyed so she looked now in one awful moment of prophecy she gave a scream that reminded me of the screams of torn horses during tl e war and ran wildly down the bank of the river I 1 don t know where she thought she was going mabe to a spot further on where the current swept deep and oily past a high corner of the bank where if she had leaped the alit gators would have had her before I 1 or any other could have done any tnt thing to help but she was in another coment foment checked as I 1 was checked a py tay pursuit by the amazing anex kested 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 us and slung out a dinghy I 1 saw bassett was in charge the launch was drifting with the current bas sett secured her by a cable passed round a tree before be he came up to me and to jinny who was standing white staring but more or less self possessed a little dic distance tance away I 1 well he said aid with a certain forced cheerfulness so you youve ve saved me half my trip very obliging of you may one ask I 1 demanded what the blazes the government Is doing up here you can ask without the blazes the government has business any where we ve been sent up to save this young lady from being carried off by cannibals like the str ste in 1 at picture by beatrice grimshaw illustrations by irwin slyer copyright by hughe hughes hassle co service show the G S was at dam daru in the and news came down the coast native telegraph you know that a white Sin abada had gone up the romilly in a canoe ft vi ith halt half a dozen boys meaning to strike inland so the G S turned a handspring and had three cat fits and packed me off with out my lunch so here s the eaurl to take her back only I 1 see you ve been beforehand with us he glanced with interest at the figure of jinny who was contriving to look amazingly dignified in my khaki shirt and trous arous ers by the way sheep he went on become of your expedition for he like every one else down west had known of my departure it was difficult to ans anaver er him I 1 came back was my lame reply well he said well after a pause during which he had looked swiftly keenly at both of us I 1 suppose im to have haie 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 tauri was a fast launch she could take me home in a day and a half half a day to fix up matters there and get stores then a day and a half back in the eaurl ya 1 am m 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 f tour our days cut in the bush eight 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 if there was no one ahead of me I 1 suppose I 1 said to the waiting bassett that you t see any sign of another party on the river 0 bassett was busy lighting a cig arette you suppose wrong then he said his head bent over his hands there theres s a prospecting and exploring party down at the river mouth at this min ate he did not look at me as he spoke bassett was Is a little gen tieman how soon can we get away was my reply As soon as you can chuck your car alers on board and get you and this lady on he ile kicked me slyly and I 1 replied as intended with an introduction to jinny I 1 im in sorry to offer you such rough accommodation miss bliss he apologized fixing her with bis his grave ministerial stare but you are fairly lucky to be alive this minute which I 1 suppose Is some compensation do you said jinny I 1 don dont t and turned her back on him I 1 could only tap my forehead and nod sig antly at bassett the bush I 1 explained as he moved a little away it was explanation enough for any one who saw less c early through a stone wall than bassett usually did we made a very silent party dropping 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 bodilly a estuary with the gulf of papua flat and gray as a pewter table opening out before there was a long strip of beach at the river mouth you could scarce scarcely lv see it at that hour but if y u could not see the beach you could see quite clearly thit wit which stood upon it the pointed shapes of several canvas tents well we 11 stop here for a few minutes said the magistrate I 1 t call go ing up just hailed them and asked if they had seen anything of a white woman whit what did they say I 1 I 1 asked one of them it was I 1 think I 1 hear he went with them sho shouted buted back that they t and asked aled who she was and what it was about I 1 I 1 said who were the others only one other white you ou know him spicer he ile give gave an order to the brown bare limbed steersman and our boat took a wide sweep and begin head ng inshore I 1 spicer Is not such a fool as he looks for old time gold goldhiner miner and survivor of a past era of mining successes was about the ablest prospector who ho ever washed a dish between daru darn and the mambaje do me a kindne kindness qs bassett will you I 1 said dont mention to any one ashore juba where it was that you picked us up right you not riot coming io no fear miss coming 1 I don dont t silently jinny s head bead 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 bassett s store of cloth ing and looted it ruthlessly A cum merlund of dark blue silk birc ed 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 had time to grow more than a little impatient the boat was back again and the launch under way what had bad jinny been sayi saying doing out there in the camp chiy had she been so anxious to go ashore and why now that she bad had returned was she still keeping hidden avoiding sight or sound of me bassett was sitting on the cabin c ro roof of a whitish blur in the dark dar k I 1 edged up to him and asked him point blank did you anyone say anything ashore he knew what I 1 meant he ile did not look took up or turn his face but he an immediately in Bas bassett s own crisp precise way 1 I saw spicer I 1 asked him wept the delay was asked if I 1 could assist in any way he said no it was all right they had stopped because he wished to buy sago they d be off tomorrow at daylight I 1 got back to the boat then miss he spoke poke carefully seeming to weigh his words even more than usual mis miss stayed behind for or a while I 1 waited for her I 1 was she I 1 stopped it was biffl cult to phrase there appeared said bassett pre pro closely to be something in the nature of a friendly understanding between her and mr air spicer 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 tel feld 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 di as best I 1 could this unwelcome news new s it did not I 1 elp matters or make me more hopeful that I 1 heard once in a way a sound like some one down below trying to stifle bit ter weeping TO BE CONTINUED |