Nedra

  CHAPTER XX

  THE SIGN OF DISTRESS

  The next morning before she was awake he arose and made a tour of thebeach in quest of shell fish, took a plunge in the cool waters of thebay, and again inspected the little footprints in the sand. He smiled ashe placed his own foot, a number nine, beside the dainty imprint. On hisway back to the cave he killed a huge turtle, the meat of which hepromised should keep them alive for several days, if nothing bettercould be found. As he turned the bend he saw her standing on the ledgeat the mouth of the cave, the wind blowing her hair and skirts freely.He called to her, and she turned her face eagerly in his direction. Theymet among the trees some distance from the spring.

  "Where have you been?" she cried, her cheeks glowing.

  "Hunting wild beasts," he replied valiantly.

  "Pooh! Wild flowers, you mean. I thought perhaps you had gone off tojoin the monkeys for an old-time frolic in the trees."

  "You won't be so frivolous when I tell you of the narrow escape I havehad. See that trusty club? See the blood on it?" They were standingclose to each other as he held up the blood-spattered stick.

  "Oh, Hugh," she gasped, "is it blood?"

  "Life's blood," he answered laconically.

  "Not yours, Hugh? You are not hurt?" she cried.

  "This is the beast's blood, Tennys. I am not so much as scratched, butit was a frightful encounter," he went on, with well-assumed gravity.

  "Tell me about it. Where was it? What was it? Tell me everything," shebegged. He took her arm and together they proceeded toward theirwild home.

  "After breakfast I'll take you around the bend and prove to you myvalor."

  "But I cannot wait and, besides, you have proved your valor. Do tell mewhere the blood came from."

  "That awful thing plunged from the underbrush upon me so suddenly that Iwas almost paralyzed," he said soberly. "I didn't have much time tothink, and I don't know what I should have done if it had not been forthis excellent club, which I had cut for a rather inglorious purpose.With one of the very best strokes a golfer ever made I crackedhis skull."

  "His skull!"

  "Likewise his neck. Then I cut his throat."

  "Oh, Hugh!" breathlessly.

  "And I'm going back after breakfast to carve him up into roasts, steaksand soups enough to last us for a month."

  "Oh, it must have been something gigantic. Was it a rhinoceros?" shecried ecstatically.

  "Rhinoceros soup!" he exclaimed in disgust. She was properly contrite."I'll tell you what I killed, if you'll promise to endure the shock--andnot tell any one else." He placed his lips close to her little ear andwhispered in awe-struck tones, "A turtle!"

  "A turtle! Why, a baby could kill a turtle. You are no longer a hero.Enough to last a month! Hugh Ridgeway, are you delirious?" she exclaimedin fine scorn.

  "Wait till you see him. He weighs a ton," he said proudly.

  After their breakfast of nuts, fruit and water they started for thelittle beach, Lady Tennys vastly excited. Her exclamations on seeing thesea monster amused Hugh beyond measure.

  "I never dreamed a turtle could be so immense," she cried. "This onemust be a thousand years old."

  "If he is, we'll have tough steaks," observed he grimly. Later on hecarved several fine steaks from the turtle and cleaned the upper shellcarefully, wisely concluding to retain it for the usefulness it was sureto afford sooner or later. "There is one thing to be done," said he,when they sat down to rest. "I must climb up that mountain and plant awhite flag to show that we are here if a ship should pass. I'll do thatas soon as I have rested, provided I can find anything white that islarge enough to be seen from a distance."

  She looked far out over the harbor for a minute, a tinge of red runningto her ears.

  "A handkerchief would be too small, wouldn't it?" she asked.

  "I'm afraid so," he answered glumly.

  Soon afterward she left him and went to the cave, bidding him to awaither return. When she came back she carried in her hand a broad piece ofwhite cloth, which she laid before him on the grass. There was a look ofmodest reluctance in her eyes when he glanced quickly up at them. Acherished underskirt, ripped ruthlessly from waistband to ruffle, makingone broad white flag of the finest texture, was her offering.

  "Use that, Hugh." She could not resist smiling as she pointed to it.

  "It will be the very thing," he said, arising and taking the garmentfrom the ground somewhat carefully.

  "It won't hurt you," she said, laughing frankly; whereupon he waved itrudely above his head and pointed to the pinnacle of the rock.

  "With this I shall scale the rock and skirt the bay!"

  Within ten minutes he was on his way up the incline, carrying his stoutstick in his hand, another heavier and stronger one being bound to hisback with the white signal attached. She accompanied him to the pointwhere the ascent became difficult and full of danger.

  "Be careful, Hugh," she said; "it looks so dangerous. If you find thereis any possibility of falling, don't attempt to go to the top. You areso daring, you Americans, that you do not recognize peril at all Promiseme, or I shall not allow you to go on."

  He looked down into her serious upturned eyes and promised. Then heresumed the ascent, with a queer flutter of adulation in his heart.

  From time to time he paused to rest. In each instance he looked below,waving his hand encouragingly to the anxious one who watched him soclosely. On, over fierce crags, around grim towers, along steep walls,higher and higher he crawled. Twice he slipped and fell back severalfeet. When he glanced down, cold perspiration standing on his forehead,he saw her bending with averted face, her hands pressed to her eyes asif she expected his body to come crashing to her feet. With recoveredenergy he shouted to her, and the quick, glad glance upward was enoughto make the remainder of the ascent glorious to him. At last, his handsand knees bleeding, he crawled upon the small, flat top of the mountain,five hundred feet above the breakers, three hundred feet above the womanhe had left behind.

  The sea wind whistled in his ears as he arose to his feet. His kneestrembled and he grew momentarily dizzy as he looked out over the vast,blue plain before him. Fear seized upon him; there came a wild desire toplant his flag and hurry from the death-like summit. Sitting down, henervously unfastened the pole and flag, looking about as he did so for aplace to plant the beacon. For one moment his heart sank only to boundwith joy in the next. Almost at his elbow ran a crevasse in the rock,deep and narrow. It was but an instant's work to jam the pole into thiscrevasse, and the white flag was fluttering to the breeze. He wascertain it would be days before the winds could whip it to shreds.

  A feeling of helplessness and dismay came over him as he gave thought tothe descent. In his eagerness to begin the hazardous attempt, he almostforgot the chief object of his climb to the top--the survey of thesurrounding country. As far as he could see there stretched the carpetof forest land, the streak of beach and the expanse of water. In theview there was not one atom of proof that humanity existed within aradius of many miles. Growing calmer, he scanned the wonderful sceneclosely, intently, hoping to discover the faintest trace of aught savevegetable life, all without reward. He was about to begin the descentwhen a faint cry came to him from far below. Clinging to the edge of thetopmost rock, he looked downward.

  Lady Tennys was pointing excitedly toward the little bay on his left. Asingle glance in that direction filled him with amazement, thenconsternation. Recklessly he entered upon the descent. Obstacles thathad seemed impassable as he thought of them on the summit were passedsafely and hurriedly.

  How he reached her side so quickly, he could not have explained if hetried, but in less than five minutes he stood with her, clasping herhand and looking anxiously toward the sands on which the great back ofthe turtle lay upward to the sun.