Page:Frank Owen - The Actress.djvu/79

Rh Berenice sagely. "Despite this fact, however, it seldom rains. I suppose you are aware," she continued, "that we are helpless prisoners on this island, prisoners of thirst."

"Yes," he replied seriously, "your father has told me of the misfortune but I do not believe it is as bad as it seems. There must be some way out, some solution to the problem."

"I fear there is none."

"There is a solution to every problem, only our minds are not developed to a sufficient extent to work the big things out. I like to tear apart seeming impossibilities. If a thing is easy to do, there is no glory in doing it. There must be some way of getting water on this island. At Bahrein, one of the hottest places in the world, situated about three hundred and fifty miles west of here, the natives have a peculiar way of getting water from copious springs which burst forth from the bottom of the gulf, fully a mile from the shore. There are men there whose sole occupation is to dive down with sheepskin bags for the water. I wonder whether there are such springs in the gulf near Constantine."

"Who would dive for the water, even if there were?"

"I would."

"You?"

"Certainly, why not?"

"It would be dangerous."

Anniston shrugged his shoulders but made no reply.

"And useless also," she continued thoughtfully. "There is not a chance in a million that the springs