Jasper County Democrat, Volume 8, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 April 1905 — the Wings of the Morning By LOUIS TRACY Copyright.1903. by Edward J. Clode [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

the Wings of the Morning By LOUIS TRACY Copyright.1903. by Edward J. Clode

By LOUIS TRACY

SYNOPSIS. Chapter I-The Sirdar, having among her passengers Iris Deane, daughter of the owner of the ship, and Robert Jenks, who is working as a waiter, is wrecked. ll—All are lost save Miss Deane and Jenks. who are cast ashore on an islet in the Pacific. Jenkins recovers stores and weapons from the wrecked vessel. He finds the skeleton of a European on the island. IY— A cave on the island is fitted up as a habitation. A chart of the Island, mysteriously marked, is found on the skeleton. Y—Jenks finds a hollow fill* ed with human skeletons, the remains of a ming party. Wbatelse “was There In thin storehouse thrust by Neptune from the ocean bed? A chest of tea, seemingly undamaged; three barrels of flour, utterly ruined; a saloon chair, smashed from Its pivot; a battered chronometer. For the rest, fragments of timber intermingled with pulverized coral and broken crockery. A little farther on the deep water entrance to the lagoon curved between sunken rocks. On one of them rested the Sirdar’s huge funnel. The northwest section of the reef was bare. Among the wreckage he found a coll of stout rope and a pulley. He Instantly conceived the Idea of constructing an aerial line to ferry the chest of tea across the channel he had forded. He threaded the pulley with the rope and climbed the tree, adding a touch of artistic completeness to the ruin of his trousers by the operation. He had fastened the pulley high up the trunk before he realized how much more simple it would be to break open the chest where It lay and transport its contents in small parcels. He laughed lightly. “I am becoming addle headed,” he said to himself. “Anyhow, now the job Is done, I may as well make use of It.” Recoiling the rope ends, he cast them across to the reef. In such small ways do men throw Invisible dice with death. With those two lines he would within a few fleeting seconds drag himself back from eternity. Picking up the ax, he carelessly stepped Into the water, not knowing that Iris, having welded the incipient sago into a flat pancake, had strolled to the beach and was watching him. The water was hardly above his knees when there came a swirling rush from the seaweed. A long tentacle shot out like a lasso and gripped his right leg. Another coiled around his waist. “My God!” he gurgled as a horrid sucker closed over his mouth and nose. He was In the grip of a devilfish! A deadly sensation of nausea almost overpowered him, but the love of life came to his aid and he tore the suffocating feeler from his face. Then the ax whirled, and one of the eight arms of the octopus lost some of its length. Yet a fourth flung Itself around his left ankle. A few feet away, out of range of the ax and lifting itself bodily out of the water, was the dread form of the cuttle, apparently all head, with distended gills and monstrous eyes. The sailor's feet were planted wide apart With frenzied effort he hacked at the murderous tentacles, but the water hindered him, and he was forced to lean back in superhuman strain to avoid losing his balance. If once this terrible assailant got him down lie knew he was lost. The very need to keep his feet prevented him from attempting to deal a mortal blow. The cuttle was anchored by three of Its tentacles. Its remaining arm darted

with sinuous activity to ngaln clutch the man’s face or neck. With the ax he suiote madly at the curling feeler, diverting its aim time and again, but failing to deliver an effective stroke. With agonized prescience the sailor knew that he was yielding. Were the devilfish a giant of Its tribe he could not have held out so long. As it was, the creature could afford to wait, strengthening its grasp, tightening its colls, pulling and pumping at its prey with remorseless certainty. He was nearly spent. In a paroxysm

of despair he resolved to give way and with one mad effort seek to bury The iax in the monster's brain. But ere he could execute this fatal project, for the cuttle would have instantly swept him into the trailing weeds, five revolver shots rang out in quick succession. Iris had reached the nearest rock. The third bullet gave the octopus cause to reflect. It squirted forth a torrent of dark colored fluid. Instantly the water became black, opaque. The tentacle, flourishing in air, thrashed the surface with impotent fury. That around Jenks’ waist grew taut and rigid. The ax flashed with the inspiration of hope. Another arm was severed. The huge dismembered coll slackened and fell away. ~ Yet was he anchored Immovably. He turned to look at Iris. She never forgot the fleeting expression of his face. So might Lazarus have looked from the tomb. “The rope!” she screamed, dropping the revolver and seizing the loose ends lying at her feet. She drew them tight and leaned back, pulling with all her strength. The sailor flung the ax to the rocks and grasped the two ropes. He raised himself and plunged wildly. He was free. With two convulsive strides he was at the girl’s side. He stumbled to a bowlder and dropped In complete collapse. After a time he felt Iris’ hand placed timidly on his shoulder. He raised his head and saw her eyes shining. “Thank you,” he said. “We are quits now.” CHAPTER VI. EIERCE emotions are necessarily transient, but for the hour they exhaust the psychic capacity. The sailor had gone through such mental stress before It was yet noon that he was benumbed, wholly incapable of further sensation. Being In good condition, he soon recovered his physical powers. He was outwardly little the worse for the encounter with the devilfish. The skin around his mouth was sore. His waist and legs were bruised. One sweep of the ax had cut clean through the bulging leather of his left boot without touching the flesh. In a word, he was practically uninjured. He had the doglike habit of shaking himself at the close of a fray. He did so now when he stood up. Iris showed clearer signs of the ordeal. Her face was drawn and haggard, the pupils of her eyes dilated. She was gazing into depths illimitable, unexplored. Compassion awoke at sight of her. “Come,” said Jenks gently. “Let us get back to the island.” He quietly resumed predominance, helping her over the rough pathway of the reef, almost lifting her when the difficulties were great. He did not ask her how it happened that she caroj so speedily to his assistance. Enough that she had done it. daring all for his sake. She was weak and trembling. Reaching the firm sand, she could walk alone. “Did—the thing—grip you?” she nervously Inquired. “All over at once, it felt like. The beast attacked me with five arms.” She shuddered. “I don’t know how you could fight it,” she said. “How strong, how brave, you must be!”

This amused him. “The veriest coward will try to save his owu life,” he answered. “If you use such adjectives to me, what words can I find to do Justice to you, who dared to come close to such a vile looking creature and kill it I must thank my stars that you carried the revolver.” “Ah?” she said. “That reminds me. You do not practice what you preach. I found your pistol lying on the stone •in the cave. That Is one reason why I followed you.” It was quite true. He laid the weapon nslde when delving at the rock and forgot to replace it in his belt. “It was stupid of me,” he admitted, “but I am not sorry.” “Why?” “Because, as It is, I owe you my life.” “You owe me nothing,” she snapped. "It is very thoughtless of you to run such risks. What’will become of me If anything happens to you? My point of view is purely selfish, you see.” “Quite so. Purely selfish.” He Bmlled sadly. “Selfish people of your type are somewVat rare, Miss Deane.” She moved toward the cave, but he cried: “Walt one minute. I want to get a couple of crowbars.” “What for?” “I must go back there.” He jerked his head in the direction of the reef. She uttered a little sob of dismay. “I will incur no danger this time,” he explained. “I found rifles there. We must have them; they may mean salvation.” When Iris was determined about anything her chin dimpled. It puckered delightfully now. “I wtU come with you,” she announced. “Very well. I will wait for you. The tide will serve for another hour.” He knew he had decided rightly. She could not bear to be Soon th,e crowbars were secured, and they

returned to the reef. Scrambling now with difficulty over the rough and dangerous track. Iris was secretly amazed by the remembrance of the daring activity she displayed daring her earlier passage along the same precarious - roadway. Then she darted from rock to rock with the fearless certainty of a chamois. Her only stumble was caused, she recollected, by an absurd effort to avoid wetting her dress. She laughed nervously when they reached the place. This time Jenks lifted her across the intervening channel. They were standing on the landward side of the shallow water In which he fought the octopus. Already the dark fluid emitted by his assailant In its final discomfiture was passing away owing to the slight movement of the tide. “Now that you have brought me here with so much difficulty, what are you going to do?” she said. “It will be madness for you to attempt to ford that passage again. Where there is one of those horrible things there are others, I suppose.” “That Is one reason why I brought the crowbars,” he explained. “If you will sit down for a little while I will have everything properly fixed.” He delved with one of the bars until It lodged in a crevice of the coral. Then a few powerful blows with the back of the ax wedged it firmly enough to bear any ordinary strain. The rope ends reeved through the pulley on the tree were lying where they fell from the girl’s hand at the close of the struggle. He deftly knotted them to the rigid bar, and a few rapid turps of a piece of wreckage passed between the two lines strung them Into a tautuess that could not be attained by any amount of pulling. Iris watched the operation in silence. The sailor always looked at his best when hard at work. The half sullen, wholly self contained expression left his face, which lit up with enthusiasm and concentrated intelligence. That which he essayed he did with all his might He, toiling with steady persistence, felt not the Inward spur which sought relief In speech, but Iris was compelled to say something. “I suppose,” she commented with an air of much wisdom, “you are contriving an overhead railway for the safe transit of yourself and the goods?” “Y-yes.” “Why are you so doubtful about It?” “Because I personally Intended to walk across. The ropes will serve to convey the packages.” She rose Imperiously. “I absolutely forbid you to enter the water again. Such a suggestion on your part Is quite shameful. You are taking a grave risk for no very great gain that I can see, and if anything happens to you I shall be left all alone in this awful place.” She could think of no better argument. Her only resource was a woman’s expedient—a plea for protection against threatening ills. The sailor seemed to be puzzled how best to act.

“Miss Deane,” he said, “there is no such serious danger as you Imagine. Last time the cuttle caught me napping. He will not do so again. Those rifles I must have. If it will serve to reassure you, I will go along the line myself.” Without another word he commenced operations. There was plenty of rope, and the plan he adopted was simplicity itself. When each package was securely fastened he attached It to a loop that passed over the line stretched from the tree to the crowbar. To this loop he tied the lightest rope he could find and threw the other end to Iris. By pulling slightly she was able to land at her feet even the cumbrous rifle chest, for the traveling angle was so acute that the heavier the article the more readily it sought the lower level. They tolled in silence until Jenks could lay hands on nothing more of value. Then, observing due care, he quickly passed the channel. For an Instant the girl gazed affrlghtedly at the sea until the sailor stood at her side again. The tide had turned. In a few minutes the reef would be partly submerged. To carry the case of rifles to the mainland was a manifestly impossible feat, so Jenks now did that which done earlier would have saved him some labor. He broke open the chest and found that the weapons were apparently In excellent order. He snapped the locks and squinted down the barrels of half a dozen to test them. These he laid on one side. Then he rapidly constructed a small raft from loose timbers, binding them roughly with rope, and to this argosy he fastened the box, of .tea, the barrels of flour, the broken saloon chair and other small articles which might be of use. He avoided any difficulty in launching the raft by building It close to the water’s edge. When all was ready the rising tide floated it for him. He secured it to his longest rope and gave It a vigorous push off Into the lagoon. Then he slung four rifles across his shoulders, asked Iris to carry the remaining two In like manner and began to maneuver the- raft landward. “While you land the goods I will prepare dlnuer,” announced the girl. “Please be careful not to slip on the rocks,” he said. “I am concerned about the rifles. If you fell you might damage them, and the Incoming tide will so hopelessly rust those I leave behind that they will b 6 useless.” “I will preserve them at any cost, though with six In our possession there Is a margin for accidents. However, to reassure you, I will go back quickly.” Before he cold protest she started off at a run, Jumping lightly from rock to rock. Disregarding his shouts, she persevered until she stood safely on the sands. Then, saucily w*aving a farewell. she set off toward the cave.

_ • « - ... • .“TtKm Had she seen the look of fierce despair that settled down upon Jenks’ face as he turned to his task of guiding the raft ashore she might have wondered what it meant In any case she would certainly have behaved differently. , By the time the sailor had safely landed his cargo Iris had cooked their midday meal. She achieved a fresh culinary triumph. The eggs were fried! “I am seriously thinking of trying to boil a ham,” she stated gravely. “Have you any Idea how long It takes to cook one properly?" “A quarter of an hour for each pound.” * “Admirable! But we can (neasure neither hours nor pounds.” “I think we can do both. I will construct a balance of some kind. Then, with a ham slung to one end and a rifle and some cartridges to the other, I will tell you the weight df the hum to an ounce. To ascertain the time I have already determined to fashion a sundial. I remember the requisite divisions with reasonable accuracy, and a little observation will enable ns to correct any mistakes.” “You are really very clever, Mr. Jenks,” said Iris, with childlike candor. "Have yon spent several years of your life in preparing for residence on a desert island?’ “Something of the sort. I have led a queer kind of existence; fail us less purposes. Fate has driven me into a corner where my odds and ends of knowledge are actually valuable. Such accidents make men millionaires.” “Useless purposes!” she repeated. “I can hardly credit that. One uses such a phrase to describe fussy people, alive with foolish activity. Your worst enemy would not place you In such a category.” “My worst enemy made the phrase effective at any rate, Miss Deane.” “You mean that he ruined your career?” “Well—er—yes. I suppose that describes the position with fair aCCUta- ~ ~ : : —4 “Was he a very great scoundrel?” “He was and is.” [to be continued ] See Baughman & Williams for farm and city loans.

Its remaining arm darted to again clutch the man's face and neck.