University of Santa Clara - Redwood Yearbook (Santa Clara, CA)

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THE REDWOOD it gently past Jack. The girl attempt- ed its recovery, but always out of reach it was wafted gently on. Only fleeter feet could overtake it, ere it plunged over the ship ' s side. Jack volunteered chivalrously. Good morning, said Jack, ap- proaching the girl, here is your hand- kerchief, Miss — Miss. He hesitated oddly. Tevis, added the girl, thanking him. Delighted to know you Miss Tev- is, returned Jack. My name is Sel — er, I mean Miller, Jack Miller. It was so kind of you, Mr. Miller, she said with easy naturalness that made Jack feel perfectly at home. Her voice was of uncommon quality, deep and bell-sweet. Isn ' t it a perfectly wonderful day? ventured Jack. Grand, isn ' t it, just the kind that is especially adapted to steamship flir- tations. Jack smiled. The charming manner of his new friend tempted him to be- come inquisitive. Do you intend travelling abroad in these troublesome times? He put the question as a ground breaker and then was startled by his own temerity. Well, not exactly, she answered, I am going to live in England with my Uncle, who has charge of a con- valescent hospital there. You know there is a demand for nurses now that so many are needed at the front. How loyal you are to your profes- sion, to go so far from home to do your bit. No sacrifice is too great, she con- tinued, when the precious right of freedom is at stake. Quite true. And now, Mr. Miller, may I ask your destination? Her interrogation was natural and an inquisitive sparkle shone in her eye. Over there, ' Jack answered. You know I have a dear sister of whom you remind me so much and it is just the likes of you both, that we able- bodied men must defend. Several days passed. Jack ' s ac- quaintance with Miss Tevis became more intimate and he concluded at length that the sweet little nurse was one he could really learn to like with an affection above ordinary friendship. Their meetings were numerous and frequent. In the twilight, as the baby stars, remote impersonal things, would creep out to their watches in the sky, and as the moon checkered the sea with a restless pattern of black and silver, they would sit and converse upon the deck. So the voyage grew from one of cas- ual friendship into one of love, pure love. It is often said that steamship romances are never sincere, but to see Jack and his sweetheart at parting time, would have changed the skeptical into the most credulous. Ill Six months had flitted by and their passing, found Jack on the firing line.

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THE REDWOOD on those swirling inky waters beneath. He felt guilty of a huge wrong, a crime for not having shared his secret with Elaine. His doubt swayed him in a hopeless whirl, yet out of it there seemed but one way, the noble and righteous way. Elaine needed protec- tion, not from an open enemy but from an unseen lurking foe, a tyrannical despotism, bent on destroying just her kind. His aid in overthrowing this brute was needed. That was why he determined to join the Allies, determ- ined to fulfill his mother ' s dying wish. It was his only means of compensation. True, Elaine was not his sister, but from their long, fond years together, he could not but consider her as such. Oh! I beg your pardon, quickly apologized a young woman, overladen with baggage, who in the uncertain light had bumped into Jack and awak- ened him from his thoughts. Jack turned in surprise. Perfectly alright, he said, polite- ly tipping his hat. Permit me to help you with your baggage ! ' ' My state room, number twenty- nine, is only a short distance up deck, but if you will — Only too glad, interrupted Jack. In the flood of light emitted from twenty-nine, which revealed the two on arriving there, Jack looked into a pale intellectual-looking face, with deep set brown eyes and clustering brown hair. The nose was a little long, but the mouth, chin and jaw were all very fa- vorable. The following day was bright and clear and warm. A perfect anthithesis to the previous night. Cool sea breezes and invigorating sunshine suffused Jack with a tingling elation he found hard to suppress. Stateroom twenty- nine seemed to have a peculiar call for him, a sort of magnetism attracting him to closer acquaintanceship with its occupant. He tripped lightly around to port side, sat in one of the many deck chairs to permit his truant fancies to wander at random. It was wonderful; the limitless expanse of water, the pure salt atmosphere and the thrill of be- ing on a veritable floating palace, pur- ringly cutting through the foaming swells and speeding him on to, Over There that he might pay his debt to Elaine — and humanity! Most of the passengers were prom- enading the decks with a possible view to forming acquaintances. The first day out is usually monotonous and lonely, but when democracy begins to assert itself in the passengers by the intimacy and congeniality of compani- onship, the whole is transformed into one large family, so to speak. Jack rather favored the port side, not how- ever through its superiority in views or the like — for from all points it is the same boundless deep — but somehow the environment there was more intimate and touching. State-room twenty-nine presently sent forth its occupant in all her dazz- ling feminity. A propitious wind was at play, for from the hands of the girl it blew a tiny handkerchief and rolled

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THE REDWOOD It was cold, unimaginably cold and dark and the driving storm was at its height. Thickening into an avalanche it gained impetus every second and drove on as of some malign spirit having at its disposal only a brief space in which to wreck and destroy. Jack drew his coat tightly about him and bent his head to the fury. Progress was low, even painful through the con- coction beneath his sodden foot-gear. A pocket flashlight beaconed him on, deflecting sullen gleams from the inky mass of slushy melting snow. At reg- ular intervals were stationed coated figures with faces steadfast to loop holes in the parapet, seeking out, if possible, through that shifting white wall, any foe who might be wandering aimlessly about in the two hundred yard ribbon of earth that separated the combatants. Now and again he passed narrow rifts in the walls of the trenches, en- trances to dug-outs, betrayed by glim- mers of candle light through the cracks of makeshift doors or the coarse mesh of gunny-sack curtins. Many too, with their bare hands, had patiently dug little alcoves and shelves; these niches contained their most precious belongings, a picture of mother or sweetheart. In these men who lived but to kill there was still left a touch or two of tenderness. The fire along the line swelled to an uproar, augmented by the hellish gib- bering of machine guns. Somewhere back of him a huge gun came into play, barking viciously. Shells whined and shrieked overhead, as a pack of hungry wolves eager for prey. To Jack this was nothing, merely a weird music to which his ear had grown ac- customed, and he moved on as if noth- ing were happening. Coming to a halt in front of his own little alcove, he patiently dug with his hands, — the only tools to be afforded. It had but one possession, a picture of his mother. He flashed his little light in upon it. To look upon those well- loved features, strengthened him and the thought of the millions of other mothers, like his own would have been, mothers whose future happiness de- pended on the outcome of this war, kept his spirits high. It reminded him also of his duty and of his unpaid debt to Elaine. He handled the little card- board square affectionately, kissed it and then tenderly, as if he might in- jure it, put the portrait into the pock- et of his blouse nearest his heart. Well, Jim, old man, said Jack, slapping the shoulder of the man he had come up to relieve, have you found Fritz very inquisitive to-night? No, he ' s been too durned quiet; it sort o ' makes me feel creepy. And with that the doughboy stalked off, melting into the blackness, for he was tired, almost spent, as were all those brave warriors who stood post that day. Propping his rifle against the wall of the trench, its butt on the firing step just out of water, Jack proceeded painstakingly to fix its bayonet. Then