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he never would have deserted her. With her means of protection gone, Lys was
now at the mercy of the hatchet-man; nor was it many hours before he had
caught her at the base of the cliff and seized her; but as he bore her triumphantly
aloft toward his cave, she had managed to break loose and escape him.
"For three days he has pursued me," she said, "through this horrible world. How
I have passed through in safety I cannot guess, nor how I have always managed
to outdistance him; yet I have done it, until just as you discovered me. Fate was
kind to us, Bowen."
I nodded my head in assent and crushed her to me. And then we talked and
planned as I cooked antelope-steaks over my fire, and we came to the conclusion
that there was no hope of rescue, that she and I were doomed to live and die
upon Caprona. Well, it might be worse! I would rather live here always with Lys
than to live elsewhere without her; and she, dear girl, says the same of me; but I
am afraid of this life for her. It is a hard, fierce, dangerous life, and I shall pray
always that we shall be rescued from it--for her sake.
That night the clouds broke, and the moon shone down upon our little ledge; and
there, hand in hand, we turned our faces toward heaven and plighted our troth
beneath the eyes of God. No human agency could have married us more sacredly
than we are wed. We are man and wife, and we are content. If God wills it, we
shall live out our lives here. If He wills otherwise, then this manuscript which I
shall now consign to the inscrutable forces of the sea shall fall into friendly
hands. However, we are each without hope. And so we say good-bye in this, our
last message to the world beyond the barrier cliffs.
(Signed) Bowen J. Tyler, Jr. Lys La R. Tyler.
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