Page:Taylor - In the Dwellings of the Wilderness.djvu/131

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The One Who Went Away


human companionship, and not come to him because of their foolish squabble, fearing scorn and ridicule? Had he fought off his madness by himself, hour after hour in the darkness, and at last given way and wandered into the place he dreaded—and what had happened then? Deane knew that imagination is a terribly real factor in certain crises of life, let it but get its grip upon its victim. And Holloway … at the thought that he might be following in the footsteps of those other two, vanished utterly from the face of the earth, Deane started up to pace the camp in an agony of restlessness.

Ibraheem, scorching himself before the fire in devoted tendance of a covered dish containing dainties saved from supper for

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