where curled a
friendly wreath of smoke; nowhere was there sound of any human thing.

They went wearily back. There was nowhere else to go. If the gateway
had been awful in its solitude, the Peak was still more desolate.
There was nothing living there, except themselves and the dog that
followed closely at their heels, making no excursions of its own. The
hour was wearing toward midnight when they sank down by the boulder
once more to watch the darkness disappear, and wait for they knew not
what. The man built a huge fire, so that if any other waifs had been
left by this wreck of a world they might see the beacon, and reply in
some fashion. They did not talk, except now and then, in a half
whisper, they gave monosyllabic queries and replies. The shock that
had obliterated a continent seemed to deprive them of all active use
of their senses. They moved only in circles, returning always to the
place from which they had watched the cataclysm.

It was almost sundown when, with a superhuman effort, they again
entered the sunny, beautiful park. The air was balmy, and there all
remained quite as before. In front of the cabin stood an Alderney; as
they approached her, she lowed uneasily. The woman looked up, and then
spoke aloud with the quick sympathy that had always been her greatest
attraction. She seemed to understand so readily, whether it was a
man's head, a woman's heart, or an animal's wants.

"She needs to be milked," she said, and pushing open the door she
entered the cabin. There were two rooms, the farther of which was
evidently a bedroom. There was a large fireplace at one end of the
main room. At one side of it was a primitive dresser, with such
utensils and china as the place afforded; on the other were some
miner's implements and a shovel. There was a small table and beside it
were placed two chairs. There was a rocker by the one window, and a
pot of geraniums on the sill; forming a kind of window seat was a long
seaman's chest. At the other end of the room there was a desk covered
with green oilcloth, and above it was a shelf containing some books
and a clock.

The woman took off her hat and jacket and brushed back her hair, then
turning back her sleeves went outdoors again. Under the rude porch on
a slab table stood a number of buckets, and there was a stool by the
door. She took a bucket and the stool and walked away a few paces, the
Alderney following. As she began milking she looked over her shoulder
a