Angel Island

A.

Dawn on Angel Island.

A gigantic rose bloomed at the horizon-line; half its satin petals lay

on the iron sea, half on the granite sky. The gold-green morning star

was fading slowly. From the island came a confusion of bird-calls.

Addington emerged from the Clubhouse. Without looking about him, he

staggered down the path to the Camp. The fire was still burning. The

other men lay beside it, moveless, asleep with their clothes on. They

waked as his footsteps drew near. Livid with fatigue, their eyelids

dropping in spite of their efforts, they jerked upright.

"How are they?" Billy asked.

"The turn has come," Ralph answered briefly. As he spoke he crumpled

slowly into a heap beside the fire. "They're going to live."

The others did not speak; they waited.

"Julia did it. She had dozed off. Suddenly in the middle of the night,

she sat upright. She was as white as marble but there was a light back

of her face. And with all that wonderful hair falling down - she looked

like an angel. She called to them one by one. And they answered her, one

by one. You never heard - it was like little birds answering the

mother-bird's call. At first their voices were faint and weak. But she

kept encouraging them until they sat up - God, it was - ."

Ralph could not go on for a while.

"She gave them a long talk - she was so weak she had to keep stopping -

but she went right on - and they listened. Of course I couldn't

understand a word. But I knew what she said. In effect, it was: 'We

cannot die. We must all live. We cannot leave any one of us here alone.

Promise me that you will get well!' She pledged them to it. She made

them take an oath, one after the other. Oh, they were obedient enough.

They took it."

He stopped again.

"That talk made the greatest difference. After it was all over, I gave

them some water. They were different even then. They looked at me - and

they didn't shrink or shudder. When I handed Julia the cup, she made

herself smile. God, you never saw such a smile. I nearly - " he paused,

"I all but went back to the cabin and cut my throat. But the fight's

over. They'll get well. They're sleeping like children now."

"Thank God!" Merrill groaned. "Oh, thank God!"

"I've felt like a murderer ever since - - " Billy said. He stopped and

his voice leaped with a sudden querulousness. "You didn't wake me up;

you've done double guard duty during the night, Ralph."