The Argosy, Volume XLIV — page 212: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

208 floor she must be there now,” put in Ross. “The house couldn’t take the hole with it.” But the floor was still there. The stone laden boards had withstood the terrific storm. The rest of the house, however, had been torn away and car- ried whither we could not tell. We speedily laid down the litters, ran to the ruin, and shouted for Mary. Receiving no answer, we rushed to the opening that we knew must lead to the hurricane cellar, and opened it. We called Mary again, but once more were met only with silence. “Can you look down?” I asked of Ross, who stood nearest. He fell on his knees and peered downward. “ Nobody there,” he reported, rising again. “ This is a devil of a note. She must have been carried away with the house.” “urrah!” shouted Foster, point- ing. “ Here she comes now.” It was Mary, safe and sound. “Did you go with the house?” I asked. “ And yet escape injury?” “No,” she answered. “I went after the house. I was down in the hurri- eane cellar. I heard the tearing apart of our home, and it went away with a terrible crashing of everything in it. I went to look for it. It stands on its roof only a short distance away. “TI fear we have suffered a sad loss. All the furniture and cooking utensils and other things on which my father worked so long are lost or broken. But it does not matter so much now. We will soon be leaving, shall we not? ”’ This question staggered us. Of all the moments since she had been on the island the girl nceded her house most now. And with the prospect of the vacht being overwhelmed, it was im- possible to tell her when we would leave. As yet she had not seen her father. “T am glad vou came through safely,” he went on. “ My father—he was not injured? ” “We fear that he was seriously hurt, though we cannot yet tell. He and the professor are both unconscious.” She uttered a peculiar little cry of distress. | Ow ge S—SS Go THE ARGOSY. “My father? Injured?” she ex- claimed. “ Oh, where is he? ” We led her to where the two litters lay, and she fell on her knees at her father’s side and burst into violent sob- bing. 7 : “Father! Oh, father!” she cried. “Don’t die and leave me alone! Qh, speak to me, dearest!” In that moment I realized to the fullest extent her terror. Truly would she be alone if his hurts were mortal. Our attention was at that moment called to the professor, who was begin- ning to stir. I took some water from the lake and bathed his face with it. “Oh, oh, is that you, Bayne?” he asked. “ I—didn’t know—where I was. I had a terrible long sail through the air.” “Sail! You did not move a foot,” I answered. ‘ You were lying where you set the big bird free.” “Is that so? It seems impossible. I must have had a sort of delirium. But are all the others well ? ” “No, Mr. Donaldson is injured, we think worse than you. He has not spoken vet.” | “Poor man! What are you doing for him? ” “Nothing. We are all in a muddle. His house has blown away, and we have nothing to work with.” “House blown away! Incredible. But that is, after all, not an uncommon thing. ‘These hurricanes frequently blow houses away. They are so lightly built. And if they can wreck ships of steel, why not a house. Is the yacht safe?” “We don’t know. Balfe signaled something, and we think he took her far enough away to miss the storm. But perhaps not.” “He could not. I fear the yacht is lost. We must depend on the launch, a flimsy thing.” “Decidedly flimsy just now. She would make good kindling wood if we could pick up the pieces.” The professor was gradually pulling himself together, and finally, with my help, rose to his feet. “There seems to be really nothing the matter with me,” he said. “I sup- pose the first rush of the storm threw MICODOO S COLT