said, "let us go back to the cabin."

"No," she answered. "I cannot believe it; we are both mad. We are
dreaming the same mad dream; let us go down, and when we feel the
spray on our faces, and taste the brine, it will be time enough to
believe."

She began the descent with reckless rapidity, and he followed,
checking and holding her back. The roar of the surf grew momentarily
louder, but though she looked at him with wild, grieved eyes, she went
on. A monster wave dashed up over the rocks and wet them to the skin.
She flung out her arms, and would have fallen headlong into the
greedy, crawling water, but he caught her and made his way back. The
hot, bitter tears on her face brought her to herself, and with one
great sob she broke down, clinging to him and crying till from sheer
exhaustion she fell asleep.

He carried her back to the cottage and laid her gently on the bed in
the tiny room. Her hair was falling about her, and he removed her
dusty shoes, and covered her over as if she had been a child. Then he
went out into the sunlight and sat down on the doorstep and tried to
grasp the situation.

He had been a very ambitious man, and she had been as ambitious for
him as he was for himself; that had been the main bond of union. He
was to have made a great place in the world: the applause of
listening senates was to have been his; wealth, fame, position,
all the possibilities of life were gone; nothing but barely life
itself remained. A living might be wrung from nature, but for
ambition,--what? Surely somewhere on earth there were other human
beings; the destruction, if irreparable, was not universal. Sooner or
later some hardy sailor would find the surviving peaks of this new
Atlantis. At least, if the woman within was not his world, he was
thankful that no one else was; and having looked the grim truth in the
face, he too slept.

It was long past noon when the dog wakened him, and he started to his
feet, determined that, having lost all else, they should keep their
sound, clear brains. He walked about the park, which contained perhaps
five hundred acres. There were half a dozen cows, as many horses, some
burros, and a few chickens. There was a rude stable and a few farm
implements. There was a large tunnel in the mountain-side, and some
mining machinery lying about its entrance. The dog, seeming to realize
some of the responsibilities of life, herded the cattle and drove them
toward the cabin. When they reache