The Beach of Dreams: A Romance

  CHAPTER XVII

  FRIENDS IN DESOLATION

  She turned her face that way and stood for a moment with the faintbreeze blowing her hair. Then she came running up the beach to thecaves. In the men's cave she stood glancing rapidly about her like aperson in a burning house seeking what he may save.

  She picked up the tinder box and the box of matches and put them in herpocket. Then she began to remove everything from the cave. Making a sackof one of the blankets, she filled it with as much as she could dragalong and brought it to the break in the cliffs where she dumped thecontents.

  It took her three journeys. Then, having collected everything in a bigpile, she sat down for a moment to rest. The things would be safe heretill she could fetch them to her new home, and the weather would nothurt them, except, maybe, the biscuits.

  The thought of the biscuits troubled her, and the picture of them lyingexposed in one of the torrential rains. Then she caught sight of a cleftin the basalt. It was dry and big enough to contain the bags and sheplaced them there having taken out some of their contents.

  These and a couple of tins of meat she placed in one of the blankets,making a sack of it. Then she remembered the knife she had left lying onthe sand before the cave where the dead man lay.

  She fought against the idea of returning for it. Then her will made hergo.

  As she picked up the knife she glanced once again into the cave and onceagain caught a glimpse of the naked foot with the toe dug into the sand;then, placing the knife in its sheath and running like a frightenedchild she reached the break, caught up the sack, the extra blanket andthe axe, which she had hidden among the bushes, and started.

  It was not a heavy load, fortunately. Had it been heavy she would havedropped it, for, once moving, she had to run. The idea that she wasdeserting people who did not want to be deserted pursued her; now andagain she stopped and turned for a moment--nothing; the Lizard rocks layjust the same and the beach and the forsaken boat, just the same, andthe jeering gulls; yet, when she turned again to go on she had to run.

  Near the great skull her right bootlace, getting loose, nearly trippedher. She sat down and tied it and then went on, walking now, butswiftly, till, nearing the river and in full sight of her newcompanions, she found herself suddenly free.

  The hounds of Fear had given up the chase. The great sea elephants haddriven them away. Here was no longer loneliness.

  The great beasts sunning themselves on the flat rocks seemed morenumerous and, as she crossed the river, a monster coming in from the seain a thunder of foam saluted the land with a roar.

  She recognized, or thought she recognized, the great bull that hadfollowed her, he was lying, to-day, half-tilted to one side, he lookeddrunk with sun and laziness and as she came amongst them and sat down,as she had sat that day, she found that though a hundred pairs of eyeswere watching her, scarcely a burly figure moved.

  They had grown used to her, perhaps, or perhaps they recognized that shedid not fear them now in the least, or that she had come for refuge andfriendship.

  Then she rose up and passing amongst them as a friend amongst friendscame towards the caves in the basalt cliffs. They were smaller than thecaves to the west but they were dry and free from water drip. She choseone and put her bundle down with the axe beside it.