The Argosy, Volume XLIV — page 218: what you’re looking at

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

214 “He has uttered some that ought to kill him,” 1 added. “But say,” sald Foster, “do you know, I believe he did utter a prophecy when he spoke of Mary Donaldson ? ” “What! You too?” I exclaimed. “Qh, have you felt it? One can't help it, Bayne. It’s ridiculous, I know. Here we are, three rich men, our posi- tions in the world high, pitched on this island with a groggy professor, a prob- ably dying man, and a beautiful but un- educated girl. “The girl, taking the view of our be- loved society in New York, 1s impossi- ble. Yet I find mvself thinking about her very much. It is against my will, but I do it just the same.” “So do I,” said Ross. ** Didn't I tell you so?” Now, I knew Foster and _ Koss through and through. I knew them to be fellows of sterling merit. I also knew their moods and tenses. lioss, on the surface, was a rollicking, careless chap, but underneath it all was good sound sense. Foster was of a graver sort, but he, too, liked his joke. Both these men in their serious moods rarely spoke sentimentally. Thev had been known to laugh and joke ‘when some bitter sorrow was eating out their hearts. On the surface Ross was continually in love with some girl. Yet he had never scriously been touched with the divine feeling that 1s said to go with ~ the one great love of a man’s life. Neither had Foster. I knew these men so well that I knew that if they really had fallen in love with Mary Donaldson, thev would not speak of it. Not there and at that time. ““T agree with you,” I said. “ The situation is perhaps such as to lead us naturally to think of the only woman on the island, and one so modest and beautiful could not help winning our respect anywhere. I do not ayree with you that she is impossible. [ think ” “ As I do. that she is fit to be a queen. I only spoke of what our deluded so- ciety would say.” “Damn the deluded society,” said Ross. ‘* But look here, we are only making it worse. We can’t all marrv her, and perhaps she wou't marry any i Y THE ARGOSY. of us. Now, | say it’s wrong to bother a girl with such things now.’ ‘Ross is quite right,” I assented. “The girl has seen no other men. Nat- urally she would look upon either of us with kindly eyes. But it would not be fair to approach the subject of love in this place. It would be springing some- thing upon her that she might regret alter she once got into the whirl of so- ciety. We are not the only ones.” ““Not the only pebbles on_ the beach,’” quoted Ross. “ Plenty up where the kaybees live.” _ “Well, it’s only speculative, any- how,” said ]*oster. “ Let’s drop the subject.” We did so, as far as conversation went. But that night, as I lay under the stars, and thought of my own beau- tiful home in New York, I could not refrain from picturing Mary Donald- son, clad as others of our class werc clad, instead of in the fiber cloth she wore, the gracious, gueenly, and lovely head of that establishment. _ Actually, the prediction of Ross was beginning to reach verification. In the morning we again went at our task of cutting trees, and the softer wood gave us so little trouble that by noon we were ready to split the trunks and branches. This would take some time, and we dropped the work for the remainder of the day and went to the other end of the island. Here we chose a soft wood, and felled a tree with a large trunk. At the sound of our blows there came a tre- mendous squawking, and we could see two kaybees sitting on the rocky pin- nacle. We did not go in mueh for artistic beauty in the construction of that ves- sel. We simply chopped out the trunk so it would accommodate two. “ Now, who goes?” asked Ross. “ I say, as long as only two can go, 1t must be Bavne and the professor. It wus Bavne’s idea, and the professor is the one most interested.” “We can easily arrange that,’ said the professor. “ Let Mr. Bavne and me oo first. and then after that vou can vO. “That's all right. if you see anvthine to eo for. rejoined Ross. awa (GO) ElLOOO (GO) awa