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TI E AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF
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SSLf 2 ?; I - pr^-tvling agonies of Eotiritudt
jC: v j ' :; ■- ■ b ■■• •:■. feel. Sour Mash never fcavt
z^^y r ' ' ■:■••■■. -he was always able t.. take
"^ ' " ■•■•"- she was .^U-nt:iti<>u*ly vain of
a s $ J »f?V T ' v : ;: " : I-, a degree whichoften made me
■aaaaied ol her mm h as I *-. :<( j tjk-<1 ht-r.
j.. - . ,,..,,, jikt . tQ lu . ve the s<^i«, tv of
:ur: ' " :- summer vacation in the country;
£^~i' . • • " • i*raftlves ihia jilcasiire Ut-ause they
SUNDAY MAGAZINE FOR MARCH 15. 1903
Jove her. she might as well sleep if she could. lie knew
those people ■'.■■■ and he did not care,
or perhaps also was glad. He was a man who could
have only one thought at a time. When he had left
the house of Baraka's father he had been thinking
only of the rubies: but now that he was in danger of
his life he could think only of saving it. if there was
any way. A woman could never be anything but a
toy to him, and he could not play with toys while
death was looking over his shoulder. He was either
too big for that, or too little; every man will decide
which it was according to his own measure. But
Baraka, who had not ... taught to think of her
soul nor to fear death, went quietly to sleep, now
that she was quite sure that the traveler would not
love her.
He had been certain of the distance between his
feet and the water's edge as he sat; it had been a
yard at the most. But now it was more; he was
sure that it was a yard and a half at the least. He
rubbed his eyes, and looked hard at the dark belt
of wet ... was twice as wide as it had been.
The water was still running out somewhere; but it
was no longer running in, and in an hour or two the
pool would be dry.
The traveler was an engineer, nd understood
sooner than an ordinary man could have lone thai
his enemies had intentionally stopped ip the water
entrance through which he had come, both to
make his escape impossible, and to hasten his end
by depriving him of water. The fallen boulder alone
could not have kept out the overflow of ...
effectually. They must have shoveled down masses
of earth, with the plants that grew in it abundantly,
and filled it with twining threadlike roots, and
must have skilfully forced quantities of the
stuff into the penii all round the big stone,
making a regular dam against the spring, which
would soon run down in the opposite direction.
They knew, of course, that Baraka had led him to
the place and had gone in with him. for she had left
all her outer garments outside, nd they meant
that she should die also, with her secret. In a week,
or a fortnight; or a month, they would come and dig
away the dam and pry the boulder aside, and could
get in and rind the white bones of the two on the
sand, alter the vultures had picked them clean; and
they* would take the traveler's good revolver and his
money.
He thought of all these things as he sat there in
the dim light, and watched the slow receding of the
water line, and listened to the girl's soft and regular
breathing. There was no death m her dream; as
she slept away the ... of the night, though
there might not be many more nights tor her. lie
beard her breathe; but he did not heed her, for the
water was sinking before him.— sinking away into the
sand now that it was no longer fed from the opening.
He sat motionless; but his thoughts ran madly
from hope to despair and back again to hope. Ine
MARK TWAIN
The Luxury of White Raiment
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but one between 1
water was going down, beyond question. If it was
merely draining itself through the sand to some sub
terranean channel, he was lost : but ii it was Bowing
away through any passage like the one by which
he had entered, there was still a chance of escape. —
a very small chance. When death is at the gate the
tiniest loophole looks wide enough to crawl through.
The surface of the pool subsided ; but there was
no loophole, and so the traveler watched. Hope
sank in his heart, as the water in the hollow of the
sand; but Baraka slept on peacefully, ..... on
her side like a little wild animal. When the pool
was almost dry the traveler crept down to the edge
and drank his fill; that he might not begin to thirst
sooner than need be; and just then day dawned
suddenly, as it was in the far north, and the warm
darkness gave way to a cold light in a lew moments.
IMMEDIATELY because ii was day. Baraka
■*■ stretched herself on the sand and then sat up ; and
when she saw what the traveler was doing she also
..... as much as she could swallow, for she
had understood why he was drinking as soon as she
saw the pool was nearly dry. When she could drink
no more she looked up at the rocks high overhead,
which were already white and red and yellow in the
light of the risen sun, for in that country there is
........ . dark night and broad day.
Baraka sat down again, ... where she had
slept; but she said nothing. The man was trying
to dig a little hole in the wet sand with his hands,
beyond the .... was still left, for perhaps he
thought that if he could make a pit on one side some
water would stay in it; but the sand ran together
as soon as he moved it; and presently, as he_ bent
over, he felt that he was sinking into it himself, and
understood .... was a sort of quicksand that
would suck him down. He therefore threw himself
flat on his back, stretching out his arms and legs,
and; making movements as if he was swimming, he
worked his way from the dangerous place till he
was safe on the "firm, white beach again. He sat up
then, and bent his head tiil his forehead pressed on
his hands, and shut his eyes' to keep out the light of
day. He had not slept, a* Baraka had; but he was
-not sleepy. — perhaps' he would not be able to sleep
again before the end came.
* Baraka watched him quietly, for she understood
that, he despaired of life, and she wondered what he
would do; and besides he seemed to her the most
beautiful man in the world, ami she loved him, and
was going to die with him. It comforted her to
think that no other woman could get him now. It
was almost worth while to die for that -alone; for
she could not have borne that another woman should
have him. since he despised her, and if it had come
to pass she would have tried to kill that other.
But there was no danger of such a thing now; he
would die first, and she would kiss him many times
Continued an pig" 14
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