Darkness and Dawn by George Allan England
page 53 of 857 (06%)
page 53 of 857 (06%)
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Before daybreak the engineer was up again, and active. Now that he faced the light of morning, with a thousand difficult problems closing in on every hand, he put aside his softer moods, his visions and desires, and--like the scientific man he was--addressed himself to the urgent matters in hand. "The girl's safe enough alone, here, for a while," thought he, looking in upon her where she lay, calm as a child, folded within the clinging masses of the tiger-skin. "I must be out and away for two or three hours, at the very least. I hope she'll sleep till I get back. If not--what then?" He thought a moment; then, coming over to the charred remnants of last night's fire, chose a bit of burnt wood. With this he scrawled in large, rough letters on a fairly smooth stretch of the wall: "Back soon. All O. K. Don't worry." Then, turning, he set out on the long, painful descent again to the earth-level. Garish now, and doubly terrible, since seen with more than double clearness by the graying dawn, the world-ruin seemed to him. Strong of body and of nerve as he was, he could not help but shudder at the numberless traces of sudden and pitiless death which met his gaze. |
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