here." A hand strayed to rest, flut
tering, above her heart. " I f I should
l«‘t you go . . . Oh, my dear one,
don't, don’t go »*
“ Mary,” he began hoarsely, “ I tell
you— ”
“ You’re only going, Hugh, because . . .
because
love you so
afraid to let you love me . That's true,
Isu’t It? Hugh— It's true?”
lie mumbled an almost Inaudible
uvownl o f his Intention.
“ Hugh, you're kllllug met I f you
love mo— ’’
He gave a gesture of despair nnd
< npltulutlon.
" I ’ve done my best. Mary. I meant
to do the right thing. I— ’’
“ Hugh, you mean you won’t go?”
Joy from a surcharged heart rang vi
brant in every syllable uttered tn that
marvelous v«ilce.
But now he «hired meet her eyes.
“ Yes,” he said, “ I won’t go— ’’ nodding,
with an apologetic shadow o f hts
twlste«! smite. “ I can’t If . . .
It
distresses you.”
“ Oh. my «lenr, my dear!”
Whitaker started, staggered with
amaze, and the burden of his w ife In
his arms. Her own arms clipped him
close.
Her fragrant, tear-genuned
face brushed his. He knew at lust the
warmth o f her sweet mouth, the dear
madness o f that first cares*.
Then through the magical hush of
that time when the world stood still,
the thin, clear vibrations o f a distant
hall:
“ Aho-oy!”
In his embrace his w ife stiffened
and lifted her hend to listen like a
startled fawn.
“ L isten !” He held up his hand.
This time It rang out more near and
most unmistakuble:
“ Ahoy ! ,T h e house, ahoy !”
With the frenzied leap of a madman.
Whitaker flung out Into the dim, sil
very witchery o f the night. He stood
staring, while the girl stole to his
side nnd cuught his arm. He passed
It round her, lifted the other hand,
dumbly pointed toward the northern
beach. For the moment he could not
trust himself to si>cak.
In the sweep of the anchorage a
small, white yacht hovered ghostlike.
On the beach Itself u small boat
was drawn up.
A figure In white
waited near It. Itlslng over the brow
of the uplands moved two other fig
ures In white and one in darker cloth
ing. the Intter lending the way at a
rapid pa«*e. As they drew together,
the leader o f the landing party
checko«l his pace and ra ile d :
“ Hello there! Who are you? What's
the meaning o f your fires— ?”
Mechanically Whitaker’s lips ut-
ter«*«l the beginning o f the response:
“ Shipwreck«.*«!— signaling for help— ”
“ W hitaker!” the voice of the other
Interrupted with a jubilant shout
"Thank God we’ve found you !”
It was Ember.
I
1 . . .
I am
“ But you are no w ife," he countered.
"Dear, you are cruel to m e!”
“ I think It's you who would be
“ 1 am all right. I’m resting, dear,
and thinking. Don’t fret about me. cruel to yourself, dear heart.”
“ 1 think,” she announced, “ we'd bet
When I feel able, I will come down
ter go In.”
to you.”
She rose without assistance, moved
“ As you w ill," he assented, unspeak
ably relieved; and returned to the away toward the house, puused and
returned.
kitchen.
“ Hugh,” she said gently, with a
Sunset Interrupted his thoughts
—sunset and his wife. Sounds of quaver In her voice thut wounded his
someone moving quietly round the comAft in himself; for he was sure
kitchen, a soft clash o f dishes, the It spelled laughter at his expense and
rattling o f the grate, drew him back well-merited— “ Hugh, you big sulky
boy! get up this instant and come
to the door.
She showed him n face of calm re back to the house with me. You know
I'm timid.
Aren't you ashamed of
straint and Implacable resolve.
“ Hugh"— her voice had found a new, yourself?"
“ I suppose so,” he grumbled, rising.
sweet level o f gentleness nnd strength
— “ I Just wanted to tell you how sorry “ I presume It's childish to want the
1 am. Tve let you go without your moon—and sulk when you And you
can’t have It.”
lunch.”
“ Or a star?”
“ W ell,” he admitted with a short
He made no reply; but his very
laugh, “ I’m furnished!"
silence was eloquent. They entered
She paused, regarding him with her
the kitcheu.
whimsical,
indulgent smile.
“ You
“ Something'll have to be done; If
strange creature!” she said softly.
they won't help us, we’ll hnve to help
“ Are you angry with me— impatient—
ourselves.”
for this too facile descent from heroics
“ H ugh!" There was alnrm In her
to the commonplace? Be patient with
tone. He looked up quickly. “ Hugh,
me. dear.”
what are you thinking of?”
But, alarmed by his expression, her
“ Oh— nothing. But I've got to think
words stumbled and ran out. She o f something.”
stepped back a pace, a little flushed
She came nearer. Intuitively alarmed
and tremulous.
and pleading. “ Hugh, you wouldn't
“ Hugh! No, Hugh, n o!”
leave me here alone?”
"Don’t be afraid o f me,” he said,
“ Don't be afraid," he said evasively.
itiming away. “ I don’t mean to bother, ‘T i l be here— as always— when you
only—at times— ”
wake up.”
“ I know, dear; but it must not be.”
She disappeared; the light of her
“ Shall you make a fire again to lamp faded, flickering In the draught
night?” she asked, when they had con of the hall, stencilled the wall with
cluded the meal.
its evanescent caricature o f the bal
"In three places," he said. “ W e’ll ustrade, nnd was no longer visible.
.tot stay another day for want of let
"H u g h !” her voice rang from the
ting people know we’re here. I'll go upper floor.
now. When you are ready— ?”
He started violently out o f deep ab
“ I shan’t be long," she said.
straction. and replied Inquiringly.
When it was quite dark, Whitaker
“ You won’t forget to lock the door?"
fraught a lantern to. the door and
He swore violently beneath his
«•ailed her, and they went forth to breath; controlled his temper and re
gether.
sponded pleasantly: “ Certainly not.”
As he had promised, he had built
Then he shut the outside door with
up three towering pyres, widely apart. a convincing bang.
C H APTE R XVII.
When all three were in full roaring
“ I f this be marriage . . . !”
He
(lame, their illumination was hot and smiled his twisted smile.
Disappearance.
glowing over all the upland.
It
Seldom, perhaps, has a habitation
Leaving the kitchen light turned
.•»eeine«! impossible that the world low, he went to his own room and, been so unceremoniously vacated ns
should not now become cognizant of as on the previous night, threw him was the solitary farmhouse on that
their distress.
Whitaker delayed
self upon the bed without undressing; Isolated Island.
At some distance to the north of but this time with no thought of sleep. only long enough to place a bill, bor-
the greatest tire— that nearest the Indee«!, he had no expectation o f clos rowed from Ember, on the kitchen
farm-house— they sat as on the previ ing his eyes In slumber before the table, in payment for what provi
ous night, looking out over the black next night, at the earliest; he had sions they hail consumed, nnd to ex
nnd unresponsive waters, communing no Intention other than to attempt to tinguish the lamps nnd shut the door.
together in undertones.
Ten minutes later he occupied a
swim to the nearest land.
In that hour they learne«! much of
An hour dragged out Its weary chair beneath an awning on the after
• ••ne another; much that had seemed length, and the half o f another. He deck o f the yacht, and, with a blessed
>-trange and questionable assumed, in rose, with infinite precaution against cigar fuming in the grip o f bis teeth,
stared back to where their rock o f ref
the understanding o f each, the com making any noise.
pletion of the normal and right. Whit
Slowly, on tiptoes, Whitaker stole uge was swiftly blending Into a smull
aker spoke at length and in much de toward the door, out Into the hall, took dark blur upon the face o f the waters.
“ Ember,” he demanded querulously,
tail of his Willful Missing years with a single step on toward the kitchen;
out seeking to excuse the wrong-mind nnd then, piercing suddenly the abso “ what the devil Is that place?”
"You «lidn’t know?” Ember asked,
ed reasoning which had won him his lute stillness within the house, a
own consent to live under the mask board squealed like an animal be amused. “ It Is No Man’s Land.”
“ I ’m strong for Its sponsors in bap
of death. He told of the motives that neath his tread.
had prompted his return, of all that
In an instant he heard the thud tism. And the other— ?”
“ Martha's Vineyard.
That's Gay
had happened since in which she had and patter o f her footsteps above,
had no part— with a single reserva her loud, quickened breathing as she head— the headland with the llght-
tion. One thing he kept back; the leaned over the balustrade, looking Irnuse. Off to the north o f It, the
time for that was not yet.
I f we’re lucky,
down, and her cry of dismay: “ Hugh! Elizabeth islands.
A listener in his turn, he heard the Hugh!”
we’ll be at anchor off East Twenty-
history of the little girl of the Com
He halted, saying in an even voice: fourth street by nine o’clock tomorrow
mercial House breaking her heart “ Yes, It is I.” She had always seen morning. Any kick coming?”
against the hardness of life in what him ; there was no use trying to get
“ Not for me. You might better con
at first seemed utterly futile endeavor awny without her knowledge now; be sult— my wife,” said Whltnker with an
to live by her own efforts, asking sides, he was no sneak-thief to fly from embarrassed laugh. “ Look here: I've
nothing more of the man who had a cry. He burned with resentment, told you how things were with us, In
given her his name.
irnputience and indignation, but he b rie f; but I’m hanged If you’ve dls-
He learned of the coming o f Max, waited stolidly enough while the gorged n single word o f explanation
his Interest in her, the Indefatigable woman flew down the stairs to his as to how you came to let Drummond
pains he had expended coaching her side.
slip through your flng«:rs, to say noth
to bring out the lutent ability his own
“ Hugh,” she demanded, white-faced ing o f how you managed to find us.”
genius divined; of the Initial perform nnd trembling, “ what Is the matter?
“ He didn't slip through my fingers,”
ance o f “ Joan Thursday” before a Where are you going?”
Ember retorted, “ lie launch«-«! u young
meager and indifferent audience, her
He move«] his shoulders uneasily, earthquake at my devoted head nnd
instunt triumph and subsequent con forcing a short luugh.
“ I daresny disappeared before the dust settled, i
quest o f the country in half a dozen you’ve guessed It. Umloubtedly you came to some time later with u gng
widely dissimilar roles; finally of her have. Else why— " He didn’t finish in my mouth, handcuffs on my wrists,
decision to leave the stage when she save by a gesture o f resignation.
behind my back, nnd rope round my
married, for reasons comprehensible,
“ You mean you were going— going legs. Midnight the following night,
demanding neither exposition nor de to try to swim to the mainland?”
the owner happened along and let un
fence.
loose.
“ I meant to try It,” he confessed.
“ It doesn’t matter any longer,” she
“ It was easy enough to surmlne
“ I should hnve known!” she de
commented, concluding: “ I loved und clared passionately. “ I wns nsleep, but Drummond had some pal or other
I hated it. It was deadly nnd It was I knew the Instnnt you stirred.”
working with him— I was slungshot-
glorious.
But it no longer matters.
“ It must be done,” he muttered. ted from behind, while Drummond was
It lg finished; Sura Law is no more.” “ Please— ”
walking ahead. And two men .had
“ Yob mean never to go back to the
“ But It must not he none! Hugh I” worked In the klrlnnping o f Mrs.
stage?”
Her voice ascended. “ I — I can’t let Whitaker. So I went sleuthing; traced
“ N ever.”
you. I won’t let you ! You . . . It’ll you ns far as Sag Harbor. There I
“ And yet— " he mused craftily.
be yotir death— you’ll drown. I shall lost you— and there I borrowed this
“ N e v e r !" She fell blindly Into his have let you go to your death— ”
outfit from n frlen«’ , nn old-time client
trap.
“ I promised myself long ago
o f mine. We kept cruising, looking up
“ Oh, now, really— ” he protested.
that I f ever I became u w ife— "
"But, Hugh, I know it I I feel it unlikely places. And, at that, we were
on th<> point o f thmwlng up the sponge
when I pick«-«! up a schooner that re-
ported signal fires on No Man's Laud.
. . . I think thut clears everything
up.”
“ Y«*a,” said Whitaker sleepily.
And so str«>ng was his m-ed o f aleep
that It was not until ten o'clock the
following morning, when the yacht lay
at her mooring In the East river, that
Ember succeeded In rousing him by
main siri-ugth und good-will.
Ills w ife hnd gone ashore nn hour
ago, after refusing to listen to u sug WAR ROAD BUILDING POLICY
gestion that Whitaker be disturbed.
The note Ember hamletl him wus brief, In Communication to Highway Offi
but In Whitaker's sight eminently ade
cials, Secrstary Houston Out
quate and compensating.
lines Government Plan.
Dearest Roy: ! won't t*t thsni wake
Secretary Houston of the depart
you, but I must run aw sy. It's early and
t must do some stiopplns Indore people ment of agriculture In a communica
are about. My house h«-re Is closed; Mrs. tion to the American Association of
Het-retan Is In Maine with the only keys
aside from those at Orest W est Hay. and Slate Highway Officials has set forth
I'm a positive fright In a cost and skirt squarely the policy which he thinks
borrowed from the stewardess
I don't should he follow«-«! In highway con
won' even you to see me until I'm decent
Secretary
ly dressed. I shall put up at the W aldorf; struction during the wur.
come there tonight, amt we will dine to Houston says:
gether. E very fiber of my being loves
"So far as tt Is practicable to do so,
you.
MA It Y.
tills department will urge the mainten
Whitaker took n serene ami shining
fact) to tilt- breakfast In the saloon,
under tho eyes of Ember. Toward
noon they parted ashore, each taking
a tuxlcub to his lodgings. The under
standing wns that they were to tllue
together— all three, Whltuker promis
ing for his w ife upon the morrow.
(T O UE C O N T IN U E D .)
COMBINATION SURE TO WIN
With Ideas and Industry Ninety Men
Out of Every Hundred Will
Achieve Success.
ance of the highways already ron-
strurti-d; lit«- const ruction him ! com
pletion of those hlghwn>s which are
vitally iui|Mirtnnt because of their bear
ing upon the war situation or for the
movement o f commodities ; the post
ponement of all highway construction
relatively less essential or not bused
upon Important military or economic
needs. The department Is preparing
to suggest to th<* state highway depart
ments tlie* preparation o f a schedule
o f work for the federul al«l projects for
HUM In line with tills policy.”
In currying out the isillcy thus an
nounced there tuts been sent nut by
the olfiee o f public roads of the de
partment of agriculture schedule forms
on which the states urc requested to
set fortli their propos«*«! fe«lernl aid
work for the 11)18 working season.
These schedules «’nil for tt description
of «‘itch road, tin* character, «piuntlty
ami rail bind of the materials to ho
us«*d. the probable cost, the Hiuount o f
federal funds desired, the specific pur-
| m is «> o f tht* Improvement, Its bearing
upon the war situation, and whnt ef
fect n delay of the work until 1011) or
Inter would huv«*. With the Informa
tion thus assembled and cltissifl<*<l, àn
efficient road construction program Is
assured. Wltlle It Is Impossible tn make
liny definite statement regarding the
transportation of road materials, the
expectations are that the trnns|M>rta-
Mott situation will be Improved nn«t
that th<* shipment of su«*ti materials f (,r
essential projects can
made.
Itoml construction ami maintenance
In the l'nlte«l States Involve nn nnntinl
expenditure of mmm fKXMXMiCOOi and
there Is scarcely n section o f the coun
try thut Is not seriously nffe<-te«l by a
marked disturbance In road work.
Some self-conceited philosopher has
said that genius Is nothing but an In
finite capacity for untiring application.
It would seem that this attempt to de
fine genius would apply more appropri
ately to talent. It la also an obvious
fact that uuiuy people, thoughtful oth
erwise, use lunguuge loosely.
We
would thiuk the remark quoted above
u case In point, observes the Los An
geles Times.
There ts no doubt that tulent, to
make Itself effective, requires untiring
effort ami unlimited application. Giv
en talent nnd application, success to
sure to follow In any man's career.
Many o f us are very much Inclined to
find fault with society and lay all our
fullure to succeed at Its door. Eoclety
Is not u concrete fact. It is simply an
uhstruetton Invented to represent hu
manity in the aggregate. _ Nature has
been very niggardly In her gifts to
mnny of us, und where tills la so no
amount of effort, no matter how con
tinuously It Is applied can lead to large
success.
Those who find fault with society as
the cause o f their failure are wrong.
Given a fair amount o f talent— that Is,
bruins— and untiring application, and
success will he achieved, ninety-nine CONDEMN TYPE OF HIGHWAYS
times out o f every hundred. This may
be proved by reference to any wulk In Layman Often Errs In Passing Judg
life to which human beings apply them
ment on Type When Poor Main
selves to r«*ach success.
tenance Is to Blame.
Deadly Mysterious Disease.
The following Is taken from u paper
The (Tilna Mall reports that a mys by B. II. Plepineler, maintenance en
terious disease which paralyzes the gineer, highway department, stilt«* o f
stomach und ascends to the heart, lllimds.
It touches a subject upon
causing syncope, has overtaken a gang ; which every layman who uses tin* pub
of Knowloon thick Chinese hands who lic roads stiouh! inform himself:
have been engaged In salving the S. 8.
"Many
different types o f roads
Wlsley,
which
ran
aground
off nave been condemned by the public
Saigon a couple o f months ngo. «•hlelly on account of the luck o f prop
The work was delayed through the er maintenance. The proper typ<* o f
dread epidemic, which has taken hold road may be selected by the engineer,
o f the workers. The Blue Funnel 8. hut If he has no means of controlling
8. Telaraachus brought up from Cape maintenance Ids choice may be con-
Barilla a few survivors who were at demnetl by the average layman.
once conveyed to a hospital where
“ Public s«>ntlmcnt Is molded largely
their condition has been watched with by the results that are evident to the
much concern by the medical frater eye, regardless of th«* money actually
nity. So far the disease has not been expended. * It Is not uncommon to
diagnosed. The captain o f the Blue
Funnel bout said when In* called at
Cape Barilla he was Informed that
a virulent disease had broken out
umong the (.’hiñese salvage crew and
seven o f them hu«l died. Fifty-eight
were taken on board and hurried with
all dispatch to Ilong-Kong.
Realize the Good You Desire.
He who knows the spirit o f law It
not forced to stand powerless In an
guish o f heart before wasting sick
ness. Strive with all the power within
you' (and It Is great If you but recog
nize It) to break down the walls of
belief that any evil enn dominate you.
Cast out the terror that stands he-
tween you nnd the greatest gtiod you
desire. As surely as the sunlight o f
day inelts Into the purple twilight o f
evening, so surely do you strike sturdy,
determined blows against the prison
walls o f delusion anti false belief. Not
n pain but will vanish when the wise
tongue gives It the lie. Not u misfor
tune but will give place to peace and
Joy when the wise ttingue speaks truth
concerning It.— Unity. *
American Rice Production F elt
About 2,000,(XX) nntlves o f Slam are
engage«! In the cultivation o f rice,
hut the large Increase In the produc
tion of American rice Is having the
effect o f reducing the 8iam crop.
Eliminating Possibilities.
“ What’s the pipe of peace, Jimmy?”
“ Well, from the way pu and ma
fight about I t It ain't the stove pipe.”
Good Road in Illinois.
hear the layman sHy that certain
roads are very exp«*nslve und unsat
isfactory. He often pnsses judgment
upon n road nml condemns It without
any Investigation of Its cost or how
e«*onomlcnl and satisfactory It might
bo If pr«»perly maintained.
“ The average road engineer Is con
fronted with the problem of educating
the public to an appreciation of the
principles of economy In road Improve
ment as much as with technical mat
ters, such ns the selection o f a type o f
pavement and the method of properly
maintaining after construction."