Jasper County Democrat, Volume 8, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 April 1905 — the Wings of the Morning [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

the Wings of the Morning

By LOUIS TRACY

SYNOPSIS. Chapter T-Tbe 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. IV—A cave on the island is fitted up as a habitation. A chart of the island, mysteriously marked, is found on the skeleton. V—Jenks finds a hollow filled with human skeletons, the remains of a mining party. He is rescued from an octopus by Iris while recovering rfles from the wreck of the Sirdar. Jenks spoke with quiet bitternesi. The girl’s words had evoked a sudden flood of recollection. For the moment he did not notice how he had been trapped into speaking of himself, nor did he see the quiet content on Iris’ face w’hen she elicited the information that his chief foe was a man. A certain tremulous hesitancy in her manner when she next spoke might have warned him, but bis hungry soul eaught only the warm sympathy of Her words, which fell like rain on parched soil. “You are tired,’’ she said. “Won't you smoke for a little while and talk to me?” He produced his pipe and tobacco. “That is a first rate pipe,” she declared. *‘My father always said that a straight stem, with the bowl at a right angle, was the correct shape. You evidently agree with him.” “Absolutely.” “You will like my father when you meet him. He is the very best man alive, I am sure.” “You two are great friends, then?” “Great friends! He is the only friend I possess in the wotld.” “What! Is that quite accurate?” “Ob, quite. Of course, Mr. Jenks, I can never forget how much I owe to you. I like you immensely, too, although you are so—so gruff to me at times. But—but—you see, my father and I have always been together. I have neither brother nor sister, not even a cousin. My dear mother died from some horrid fever when I was quite a little girl. My father is everything to me." “Dear child!” be murmured, apparently uttering l/.s thoughts aloud rather thaD 'addresslng her directly. “So you find me gruff, eh?” “A regular bear w’hen you lecture me. But that is only occasionally. You can be very nice when you like, when you forget your past troubles. And pray, why do you call me a child?” “Have I done so?” “Not a moment ago. How old are you, Mr. Jenks? I am twenty—twenty last December.”

“And I," he said, “will be twentyeight in August.” “Good gracious!" she gasped. “I am very sorry, but I really thought you were forty at least.” “I look it. no doubt. Let me be equally candid and admit that you, too. show your age markedly.” She smiled nervously. "What a lot of trouble you must have had to—to—to give you those little wrinkles in the corners of your mouth and eyes,” she said. “Wrinkles! How terrible!” “I don’t know. I think they rather suit you. Besides, it was stupid of me to imagine you were so old. I suppose exposure to the sun creates wrinkles, and you must have tired much in the open air.” , “Early rising and late going to bed are bad for the complexion.” he de dared solemnly. “I often wonder how army officers manage to exist,” she said. “They never seem to get enough sleep, in the east at any rate.” “So you assume I have been in the army ?” “I am quite sure of it,” “May I ask why?” “Your manner, your voice, your quiet air of authority, the very way you walk, all betray you.” “Then,” he said sadly, *T will not attempt to deny the fact. I held a commission in the Indian staff corps for nine years. It was a hobby of mine. Miss Deane, to make myself acquainted with the best means of victualing my men and keeping them in good health under all sorts of fanciful conditions and in every kind of climate, especially flfader circumstances when ordinary stores were not available. With that object in view I read up every possible country in which my regiment might lie engaged, learned the local names of common articles of food and ascertained particularly what provision nature made to sustain life. The study interested me. Once, during the Sudan campaign, it was really useful and procured me promotion." “Tell me about it.” “During some operations in the desert it was necessary for my troop to follow up a small party of rebels mounted on camels, which, as you probably know, can go without water much longer than horses. We were almost within striking distance when our horses completely gave out, but I luckily noticed Indications which showed that there was water beneath a portion of the plain much below the general level. Half an hour’s sphde work proved that I was right We took up the pursuit again and ran the quarry ,to earth, and I got my captaincy.” “Was there no flghtr* He paused an appreciable Usxe be-

fore replying. Then Tie evidently made up his mind to perform some disagreeable task. The watching girl could see the change in his face, the sharp transition from eager interest to angry resentment. **Yes,” he went on at last, “there was a fight. It was a ratherwtiff affair, because a troop of British cavalry which should have supported me had turned back owing to the want of water already mentioned. But that did not save' the officer In charge of the Twen-ty-fourth lancers from being Severely reprimanded.” - “The Twenty-fourth lancers!” cried Iris. “Lord Ventnor’s regiment!” “Lord Ventnor was the officer in question.” Her face crimsoned. “Then you know him?” she said. “I do.” “Is he your enemy?” “Yes.” “And that is why you were so agitated that last day on the Sirdar, when poor Lady Tozer asked me if I were engaged to him?” “Yes.” “How could it affect you? You did not even know my name then?” "It affected -me because the sudden mention of his name recalled my own disgrace. I quitted the army six months ago. Miss Deane, under very painful circumstances. A general court martial found me guilty of conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman. I was not even given a chance to resign. I was cashiered.” He pretended to speak with cool truculence. He thought to compel her into shrinking contempt. Yet his face blanched somewhat, and, though he steadily kept the pipe between his teeth and smoked with studied unconcern, his lips twitched a little. And he dared not look at her, for the girl’s wondering eyes were fixed upon him. and the blush had disappeared as quickly aS It came. “I remember scffnething of this,” she said slowly, never once averting her gaze. “There was some gossip concerning it when I first came to Hongkong. You are Captain Robert Anstruther?” / “I am.”

“And you publicly thrashed Lord Vent nor as the result of a quarrel about a woman?” “Your recollection is quite accurate.” “Who was to blame?” “The lady said that I was.” "Was it true?” Robert Anstruther, late captain of Bengal cavalry, rose to his feet. He preferred to take his punishment standing. “The court martial agreed with her, Miss Deane, and I am a prejudiced witness," he replied. “Who was the—lady?* • “The wife of my colonel, Mrs. Costobell.” "Oh!” Long afterward he remembered the agony of that moment and winced even at the remembrance. But he bad decided upon a fixed policy, and he was not a man to flinch from consequences. Miss Deane must be taught to despise him, else —God help them both—she might learn to love him as he now loved her. So. blundering toward his goal, as men always blunder where a woman's heart is concerned, he blindly persisted in allowing her to make such false deductions as she chose from his words. , Iris was the first to regain some measure of self control. “I am glad you have Wen so candid. Captain Anstruther,” she commenced, but be broke in abruptly: “Jenks, if you please. Miss Deane; Robert Jenks. "Certainly, Mr. Jenks. Let me be equally explicit before we quit th'* subject. I have met Mrs. Costobeli. 1 do not like her. I consider her a deceitful woman. Your court martial might have found a different verdict had its members been of her sex. As for Lord Ventnor, he Is nothing to me. It is true he asked my father to W permitted to pay bls addresses to me. but mj- dear old dad left the matter wholly to my decision, and I certainly never gave Lord Ventnor any encourage ment. I believe now that Mrs. Coutobell lied and that Lord Ventnor lied when they attributed any dishonorable action to you, and I am glad that you beat him iu the club. I am quite sure he deserved It.” Not one word did this strange man vouchsafe In reply. He started violently. seized the ax lying at his feet and went straight among the trees, keeping his face turned from Iris so that she might not see the tears in his eyes. As for the girl, she began to scour her cooking utensils with much energy and soon commenced a song. Considering that she was compelled to constantly endure the company of a degraded officer, who had been expelled from the service with ignominy, she Wfs absurdly contented. Indeed, with the happy Inconsequence of youth, she quickly threw all care to the winds and devoted her thoughts to planning a surprise for the next day by preparing some tea, provided she could surreptitiously open the cheet CHAPTER VII. v h

"STI EFORE night closed their third I day on the Island Jenks manill aged to construct a roomy tent house, with a framework of sturdy trees selected on account of their location. To these he nailed or tied crossbeams of felled saplings, and the tarpaulins dragged from the beach supplied roof and walls. It required the united strength of Iris and himself to haul into position the heavy sheet that topped the structure, while he was compelled to desist from active building operations in order to fashion a rough ladder. Without some such contrivance be could not get the topmost supports adjusted at a sufficient height. <■ Although the edifice required at least two more days of hard work before it would be fit for habitation Iris wished to take up her quarters there Immediately. This the sailor would not hear of. “In the cave.” he said, “you are absolutely sheltered from all the winds that blow or ruin that falls. Our villa, however, is painfully leaky and drafty at present. When asleep, the whole body Is relaxed, and you are then most open to the attacks of cold or fever, In which case, Miss Deane, I shall be re--1 uctantly obliged to dose you with a concoction of that tree there.” ’

He pointed to a neighboring cinchona, and Iris naturally asked why he selected that particular brand. “Because it is quinine, not made up in nice little tabloids; but au nature!. It will not be a bad plan If we prepare a strong and take a small quantity every morning on the excellent principle that prevention is better than cure.” The girl laughed. Curiously enough, the lifting of the veil upon the man’s earlier history made these two muclj better friends. With more complete acquaintance there was far less tendency toward certain passages which under ordinary conditions coifld be construed as nothing else than downright flirtation. Thenceforth for ten days they labored unceasingly, starting work at daybreak and stopping only when the light failed, finding the long hours of sunshine all too short for the manifold tasks demanded of them, yet thankful that the night brought rest. The sailor made out a programme to which he rigidly adhered. In the first place, he completed the house, which had two compartments—an inner room, in which Iris slept, and an outer, which served as a shelter for their meals and provided a bedroom for the man. Then he constructed a gigantic sky sign on Summit rock, the small cluster of bowlders on top of the cliff. His chief difficulty was to hoist into place the tall poles he needed, and for this purpose he had to again visit Palm Tree rock in order to secure the pulley. By exercising much ingenuity In devising shear-legs he at last succeeded in lifting the masts into their allotted receptacles, where they were firmly secured. Finally he was able to swing Into air. high above the tops of the neighboring trees, the loftiest of which he felled in order to clear the view on all sides, the name of the ship Sirdar,

fashioned in six foot letters nailed and spliced together in sections and made from the timbers of that ill fated vessel. Meanwhile he taught Iris how to weave a net out of the strands of unraveled cordage. With this, weighted by bullets, he contrived a easting net and caught a lot of small fish in the lagoon. Among the fish caught they hit upon two species which most resembled whiting and haddock, and these turned out to be very palatable and wholesome. Jenks knew a good deal of botany and enough about birds to differentiate between carnivorous species and those fit for human food, while the salt In their most fortunate supply of hams rendered their meals almost epicurean. From the rusty rifles on the reef Jenks brought away the bayonets and secured all the screws, bolts and other small odds and ends which might be serviceable. From the barrels he built a handy grate to facilitate Iris’ cooking operations, and a careful search each morning amid the ashes of any burned wreckage accumulated a store of most useful nails. The pressing need for a safe yet accessible bathing place led him and the girl to devote one afternoon to a complete survey of the coast line. By this time they bad given names to all the chief localities. The northerly promonwgs naturally christened North

cape; the western, Europa point; the portion of the reef between their habitation and Palm Tree rock became, Filey Brig; the other section Northwest reef. The flat sandy passage across the Island, containing the cave, house andl well, was named Prospect park, and the extensive stretch of sand on the southeast, with its guard of broken reefs, was at once dubbed Turtle beach when Jenks discovered that an immense number of green turtles were paying their spring visit to the island to bury their eggs in the sand. The two began their tour of inspection by passing the scene of the first desperate struggle to escape from the clutch of the typhoon. Iris would not be content until the sailor showed her the rock behind which he placed her for shelter while he searched for water. For a moment the recollection of their unfortunate compactions on board ship brought a lump into her throat and dimmed her eyes. “I remember them in my prayers every night,” she confided to him. “It seems so unutterably sad that they should be lost while we are alive and happy?* The man distracted her attention by pointing out the embers of their first fire. It was the only way to choke back the tumultuous feelings that suddenly stormed his heart. Happy! Yes—he had never before known such hap- - ' plness. How long would it last? High up on the cliff swung the signal to anxious searchers of the sea that here would be found the survivors of the Sirdar. And then when rescue came, when Miss Deane became once more the daughter of a wealthy baronet and lie a disgraced and nameless outcast! He set his teeth and savagely struck at a full cup of the* pitcher plant which had so providentially relieved their killing thirst. < — w OlL_why did yon do that?’ pouted Iris. “Poor thing; it was a true friend in need. I wish I could do something for it to make it the best and leafiest plant of its kind on the island.” “Very well,” he answered, “you can gratify your wish. A tinful of fresh water from the well applied daily to its roots will quickly achieve that end.” The moroseness of his tone and manner surprised her. For once her quick intuition failed to divine the source of his irritation. “You give your advice ungraciously,” she said, “but I will adopt it nevertheless,” A harmless Incident, a kindly and quite feminine resolve, yet big with fate for both of them, ~ [to bb continued ]

The name of the ship.