Daily British Whig (1850), 7 Nov 1914, p. 14

The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

sfore. any sound audible to 8 disturbed the noonday & bobcat sunning on a log in a de to which no trail led, pricked rose, glanced over shoulder with 1 and---of a sudden was no more ot chaps two minutes later a succes 'of remote crashings began to be a cumulative volume of sounds le by some heavy body foreing by in strength through the underbrush, ceased only when a men broke the clearing, pulled up, stood for Mi instant swaying, then reeled to a It on the log, pillowing his head on Fms folded across his knees and shud- reping uncontrollably fn all his limbs. » He was a young man wlio had peen would again be very personable. St now he wore the look of one bunded by furies. lis face was crim- ; } With congested blood and streaked AWith sweat and grime: bluish veins robbed in high relfer upon his tem- Sy i his lips were cracked and swol- 4 hig eves haggard, his hands torn 'Maid bleeding. His shirt and trousers Wd "cruisers" were wracks, the latter MMeorched, charred, and broken in a places. Woods equipment he 5 It Was a Rose. flame beyond a hunting knife belt, AF the small of his back. All else Deen either consumed in the for- ite or stolen by his Indian guide-- Nad subsequeritly died while at: ting to murder his employer. Since that event, the man had suc eded in losing himself completely. Seeking shelter from the thunder- Bh, he had lost touch with his only Known and none too clearly located ks. Then, after a night passed dthout a fire in the lee of a ragged Diuft, he had waked to discover the rising In the west and the rest of 6 universe sympathetically upside- i. and aimlessly aver since he had ibled and blundered in the maze grimly reticent, fastnesses, for t few hours haunted by a fear ng reason---possessed by a no- gthat' he was dogged by furtive jiiles--and within the last hour the of blind, witless panic. even as he strove to calm him and rest, the feeling that some ing was peering at him trom behind i mask of undergrowth grew intoler iy acute. At length be juniped up, glared wild (fy at the spot where that something no longer wae, flung 'himself fran through the brush in pursuit of nd---found nothing, h & great. effort 'he pulled him. self together, glamped his teeth upon [BOS promise not again to give way to cinations, and turned back to the > 11 'her 8, upon the lag on which he ted, be found-but refused to he sawn playing card, a of hearts, face up in the sun. h a gesture of horror, Alan Law é place. hille the sounds of his flight were id, & grinning half-breed-guide Jike a shadow to the log, laughed ely after the fugitive, picked up y ad' tHe card and wet out reless, cat-footed pursuit. 0. hour later, topping a ridge of IX ground, Alan ealight from the on its farther side the music of : ) Tortured by thirst, 10 descend in reck- } Taste. ' ' What was at first a gentle slops coy: With waist-deep brush and car ith leaf-mold, grew swiftly re declivitous, a mossy hiliside, as EBp as a roof. bare of underbrush, Bid 'sparely sown with small cedars pugh whose ranks cool blue water far beluw. 3 shelving moss-beds afforded Wrous footing; Alan was glad : on of the support of a ce- V0 the sun, a molten ball wheeling mad- ly In the cup of the turguoise sky. Then dark waters dlosed over him. He came up struggling.and gasping, and struek outs for something dark that rode the waters near at band-- something vaguely 'resembling a canoe, irae But his strength' was largely spent, his breath had been driven out of him by the force of 'the fall, and he had 'swallowed much water-~while the field of his consciousness 'Was stricken with confusion. ¥2 Within a stroke of-an 'outstretched paddle, he flung up: a hand and went down again. . a Instantly one eectpant of the cance, a young and very beautiful wo man in a man's hunting clothes, spoke a sharp word of command and, as her guide steadied the vessel with his paddle, rose. in her place so surely that she scarcely disturbed the nice balance of the litle craft, and curved ber lithe body over the bow, head- foremost into the pool. . -. . ¥ ' * * Mr~Law had, In point of fact, en: dured more that he knew; more than even. a weathered. woodaman could have borne without suffering. Forty: eight hours of such heavy woods walking as ke had put in to escape the forest fire, would have served to prostrate glmast.any man; add to this (ignoring a dozen other mental, nerv. ous and physical strains) merely the fact that he had been half-drowned He experienced a little fever, a little delirium, then' blank slumbers of ex haustion. He awoke in dark of might, wholly unaware that thirty-six hours had | passed since his fall. © This last, how- | ever, and events that had gone before, ; Be recalled with tolerable clearness-- | allowing for the sluggishness of a drowsy mind. Other memories, more vague, of gentle ministering hands, of "a face by turns an angel's, a flower's, a fiend's, and a dear woman's, trou bled him even less materially. He was already sane crough to allow he had probably becn a bit out of his herd, and since it seemed he had beer faved and cared for, he found no rea Son to quarrel with present circum: stances, | Still, he would have been grateful for some explanation of certain phe- | nomena which still haunted him---sueh as a faint, elusive scent of roses with % vague but importunate semse of a Woman's preseiice in that darkened room---things manifestly absurd With some difficulty, from a dry throat, he "spoke, or rather whis pered: "Water!" In response he heard someone move over a creaking floor. A sulphur match splitteréd Tatutioidly. A can dle catfight five, wilhouetiig--itiusion, of course!--the figure of a woman in hunting shirt. and skirt. Water splashed noisily. Alan bécame aware of someone wlhe stood at his side, one hand offering a glass (o his lips, the other gently raising his head that he might drink with ease. Draining the glass, he breathed hie thanks and "sank. back; retaining his grasp on the wrist of that unreal hand. It suffered "Nim without re sistance. The - hallucination - even went so far as to say, in a woman's soft accents: # "You are better, Alan?" He sighed incredulously: "Rose!" The voice responded: "Yes!" Then the perfume of roses grew still more Strong, seeming to fan his cheek like A Woman's warm breath. And a mir acle came to pass; for Mr. Law, who realized poignantly that all this was sheer, downright nonsense, distinct ly felt lips like velvet caress his fore head. He closed his eyes, tightened his grasp on that hand of phantasy, and muttered rather inarticulately. The voice asked: "What dear?" He responded "Delirium But 1 Hike it Let ma rave!" Then again he slept. CHAPTER vi, Disclosures. In a little corner oMce, soberly tur nighed, on the topmost floor of one of lower Manhattan's loftiest office-tow- ers, a little mouse-brown man sat over A big mahogany desk: a little man of big affairs, sole steward of one of America's most formidable fortunes. Precisely at eleven minutes past i : is it, en by Alan Law to catapult over the edge of & cliff in northern Maine) the telephone clicked and, eagerly lifting receiver io ear. he nodded with a smile and sald in 'accents of some relief: "Ask her to coms in at once, please." Jumping up. he placed a chair in in- timate juxtaposition with his own; and the door opened, and a young woman entered. The mouse-brown man bowed. "Miss Rose Trine?" he murmured with a great deal of deference. The young woman seturned his bow with a show of perplexity: "Mr. Dig- by?" von are kind to coms in response to my-ah--uncomventional invita tion," said the 'little man. "Won't noon (or at the identical instant chos<! muted signal of the little man's desk} ~~ friend, this side the water, as well #8 his man of business." . He paused with an embarrassed ges- ture, "So I have ventured to request this--ah--surreptitious appointment in order to--ah--take the further liber- ty of asking' whether you have recent ly sent Alan a message?' Her look of surprise was answer enough, but she confirmed it with vig- orous denial: "I have not communi. cated with Mr. Law in more than 'a year!" {. "Precisely as I thought," Mr. Digby nodded.. "None the less, Mr. Law not long since received what purported to be a message from you; in fact--a rose." And as Miss Trine sat for ward with a start of dismay, he aded: "I have the information over Mr, Law's sighature--a letter received ten days ago---from Quebec." "Alan in America!" the girl cried in undisguised distress. "He came in response fo--ah--the message of the rose." "But I did not send it!" "I felt sure of that, because," said Mr. Digby, watching her narrowly-- "because of something that accompa- nied the rose, a symbol of another sig: nificance altogether--a playing card, a trey of hearts." . Her eves were blank. He pursued with openly sincere reluctance: "1 mist tell you, 1 see, that a trey of hearts invariably foresignaled an at. tempt by your father on the life of Alan's father. With a stricken cry the girl crouched back In the chair and covered her face with her hands. "That is. why I sent for you," Mr. Digby pursued hastily, as if in hope | of getting quickly over a most unhap- PY business. "Alan's letter, written and posted on the steamer, reached me Within twenty-four hours of his arrival in Quebec, and detailed his scheme to enter the United States secretly--as he puts it, 'by the back door. by w ay of ngrthcrn: Maine--and promised ad- vice by telegraph as soon as he reached Moosehead Lake. He should have wired mé ere this, I am told by those who know the country he was to Cross. Frankly, I am anxious about the boy!" "And I'"" the girl exclaimed pitifully "To think that he should be brought into such peril through me! "You can tell me nothing?' 2 "Nofhing--as vet. 1 didgnot dream of this--much less that the message of the rose was known to any but Alan and myself. 1 cannot understand!" "Than I. may tell you this much More. that your father maintains a very efficient corps of secret agents." "You think he spied upon me?" the girl famed with indignation. "I know he did" Mr. Digby per mitted himself a quiet smile. "It has seemed my business, in the service of my employer, to employ agents of my own. There is no doubt that your father sent you to Europe Yor the sole purpose of having you meet Alan." "Oh!" she protested. * "But what earthly motive---?" "That Alan might be won back to America through you--and so--" There was no need to finish out his #enience. The girl was silent, pale and staring with wide eyes, visibly mustering her wits to cope with this emergency. "L may depend on you" Mr. Digby suggested, "to advise me if you find out anything? > "For even more." The gir! rose and extefided a hand whose grasp was firm t "Oh, Come, Come!" She Cried Wildly. and vital on his fingers. A fine spirit of resolve set her countenance aglow. "You may count on me for action on my own pat, if 1 find circumstances warrant it. | promised not te marry Alan becanse of the feud between our fathers--but not to stand by and see him sacrificed. Tell me how I may communicafe secretly with you--and let me go &s xoon as possible" CHAPTER VIL The Muginesr. Within the hor Rose Trine stood, before her father in that somber room wherein he wore out his crippled days, in that place) of silence and shadows whose ister color-scheme of crim- s the true livery of recent rains; on the other by a second DAILY BRITISH WHIG, SATURDAY, NO EARTS bers of life In that wasted and move less frame. An impish malice glimmered in his sunkéy eyes as he kept her waiting upon his pleasure. And when at length he decided to speak, it was with a ring of hateful irony in that strangely sonorous voice of his. - "Rose," he said slowly--"my daugh- ter!--I am told you have today been guilty of an aét of disloyalty to me." She said coolly: "You had me spled upon." 'Naturally, with every reason to question your loyalty, I had you watched," : a, She waited » significant moment, they dropped impassive monosyl- lable into the silénce; "Well?" "You have visited the man Digby, servant and friend of 'tha man I hate --and you love." She said, without expression: "Yas." "Repeat what passed between you." "I shall not, but on one condition." "And that is?" : "Tell me first whether it was you who sent the rose to Alan Law--and more, where Judith has been during tho last fortnight?" vs si "I shall tell you nothing, my child. Repeat" --the yoige rang with inflexible purpose--'repeat what the man Digby told youl"... .% .. « The girl was silent. He endured her store for a |) minute, & spark. of rage kindling to Same the evil old eyes. Then his one. Nyiug member that had power to serve his. from 'will, a Land like the claw of a bird of prey, moved toward a row of buttons sunk in the writing-bed of his desk. "I warn you I have.ways to make you speak--" With a quick movement the girl bent over and prisoned the bony wrist in her strong fingers. With her other hand, at the same time, she whipped open an ywpper drawer of the desk and took from it a revolver which she placed at a safe distance. "To the contrary," she said quietly, "you will remember that the time has ssed when you could have me pun- ighed for disobedience. You will call nobody: if interrupted, I shan't hesi- tate to defénd myself. And now" --lay- iug hold of the back of his chair, she nioved it some distance from the desk vou may as well be quiet while I find for, myself what I wish to know." For a moment he watched in silence as she bent over the desk, rummaging its drawers. Then with an infuriated gesture of his left 'hand, he began to curse her. She shuddered a little as the black oathd blistered his thin old lips, dedi- caling her and all she loved to sin, infamy and sorrow; but nothing could stay her fu her purpose. He was breathless and exhausted when she | straightened up with an exclamation of satisfaction, studied intently for a moment a sheaf of papers, and thrust them hastily into her hand-bag, togéth- er with the revolver. Then touching the push-button which released a secret and little-used door, without a backward glance she slipped from the room and, closing the door securely, within another' minute had made her way unseen from the house. | CHAPTER VIII. The Incredible Thing. Rroad daylight, the top of a morn- ing as rare as ever broke upon the north obuntry: Alan Law opening be- wildered eyes tn realize the substance of a dream coms true. True It proved itself, at least, in part. He lay between blankets upon a couch of balsam fans, in a corner of somebody's camp---a | structure, weather-proof, rudely' hit adeqiately furnished. His clothing, rough-dried but neatly mended, lgy upon a chair at his side. He rose and dressed in haste, at once exulting ia his sense of complete reet and remewed well-being, a prey to hints of an Extraordinary appetite, and provoked by signs that seemed to bear out the weirdest flights of his de- lirious fancies. There ware apparently indisputable Svidences of a woman's recent pres- in the camp: blankets neatly folded 'upon & second bed of aromatic balsam in the farther corner; an effect of aorderlingss not common with guides: a pair of dainty buckskin gauntists depending froma nail in the wall; and--he stood staring witlessly af it for more than a minute--in an old preserve jar on the table, a single rose. warm and red, dew upon fts petals! There was also fire in the cook stove, with a plentiful display of things to cook: but despite his hunger Alan didn't stop for that, but rushed to the door and threw it open and him- self out into 'the sunshine, only to pause, dashed, chagrined, mystified. There was no other living thing In sight but a loon that sported far up. the river, and saluted him with » shriek of mocking laughter. The place was a cleft in the hills, 8 table of level land some few acres in area, bounded on one hand, be- neath the cliff from which he had dropped, by a rushing river fat with cli of equal height. water curved round houlder of a towering hill, down m the cliffs closed npon it until ft roared through a narrow Near the pstréam the mse thickets of and balsams hedged In clearing. © | & . Hp VEMBER 7, 1914. than to explore this pocket domain. He feasted famously again at noon; whiled away several hours vainly whip- ping the pools with rod and tackle found in thé camp, for frout that hé really didn't hope would rise beneath that blazing sun; and toward three o'clock lounged back to his aromatic couch for a nap. The westering sun had thrown. a deep, oool shadow across the cove when he was awakened by importun- ate hands and a voice of magic. Rosé Trine was kneeling béside him, clutebing bis shoulders, calling on him by name--distracted by an inexplica- ble anxiety. He. wasted no time discriminating between dream and reality, but gath: erad both into his arms. And for a moment she rested there unresisting, sobbing quietly. "What is {t? What is it, dearest?" he questioned, kissing her tears away. "To find you all right. I was so afraid!" she cried brokenly, "Of what? Wasn't 1 all right when you left me here this morning?" She disengaged with an effort, rose, and looked down strangely at him. "I did not leave you here this morn- ing, Alan. I waen't here--" : That brought bim to his own feet in a jiffy. "You were not!" he stam- mered. "Then who--7" "Judith," she stated with conviction. "Impossible! You don't under- stand." But there was now no escaping that ordedl. The canoe was already spin- ning between walls wherp the water ran deep and fast with a glassy sur face. The next instant it was in the jaws; and the man settled down to work with grim determination, pitting cour age and strength and experience againet the ravening waters that tore at the canoe on every hand, whose mad clémor beat back and forth' be- tween the walls of the gorge like vast bellowings of infernal mirth. He fought like one. possessed. There was never an, instant's grace for judgment or execution; the one must be sxnchronous with"the other, both instantaneous, or else--destruc- tion. The canoe wove this way and that like an insane shuttle threading some satanio loom, Now it hesitated, nis sling a gigantic boulder over which the water wove a pale green and glistening hood, now in the space of 8 heartbeat it shot forward twice its length through a sea of creaming waves, now plunged wildly toward what promised instant annihilation and cheated that only by the timely plunge of a paddle, guided by luck or instinct or both. The one ray of hope in Alan's mind, when he surveyed before committing himself aud the woman he loved to that hideous gauntlet, sprang from the fact that.- however. rough, the rapids were short. Now, when he had The girl shook her head. "Yet I know Judith was "here until this Precipitating Both Into That Savage Welter, morning. I tell you I know--I saw her only a few hours ago. She paseed us in a canoe with ong of her guides, while we watched in hiding on: the banks. Not that alone, but another of her guides told mine she was here with vou. She had sent him to South Portage for quinine. He stopped there to get drunk--and that's. how my. guide managed to worm the infor. mation from him." Alan passed a hand across his eyes. "I con't understand," he said: 'dully. "It . doesn't seem possible she could" A shot interrupted him, the réport of a rifle from a considerable distances upstream, echoed and re-echoed by the cliffs. And at this, clutching. fran- tically at his arm, the girl drew him through the door and down toward the river, "Oh, come, come!" shes cried wild: "There's no time!" : "Rut, why? What was that? "Judith is retorning. guide up the trail to signal us. Don't ¥ou know what it means if we don't manage to escape before she gets here?" "Fut how? Sig "According to the guide the rive the only way other than the tral." "The ourrent is too strong. T could follow--pot us at leisure from the banks." : "Fut downstream; --the cirrent with) ug--~" "Those rapide?" ; "Wa must shoot them]" "Can it be done? "It. must be!" LR Two more shots put a peri his doubts and drove At. ham. | offered no further objection, turned at once to canoes. ; As soon as it was in the water, Ross took her place in. the. bow, ein hand, and Alan wis about 10 stép in astern when a feurth ot sounded and a bullet Ricked up tu dozen feet. A gl di figures debouching into. th He dropped into place paddle in shallows, seit the well out with a vigorous t ly Two strokes took it to the middle of the pool whete § current caught mmediate through more naffo banks. A moment more mouth of the o Wan them, Tg With the clean balance * I loft my} ot to] i launch one. of the | 4 ing, spoke guide, r | Why-- been' ini their grasp a minute, he seemed to have been there hours. His laborings were tremendous, un. believable, inspired. In the end they were all but successful. - The goal of safety was within thirty seconds' more of quick, hard work, when Alan's paddle broke and the canoe swung broadside to a boulder, turned turtle and precipitated both headlong into that savage welter. As the next few minutes passed he was fighting like a mad thing against overwhelming odds. Then, of a sud- den, he found himself rejected, spewed forth from the cataract and swimming mechanically in the smooth water of & wide pool beyond the lowermost eddy, the canoe floating bottom up near by, and Rose supporting herself with one hand on ft. Her eyes met his, clear with the sanity ef her adorable courage. He floundered to her side, panted in- structions to transfer her hand to his shoulder, and struck out for the "nearer shore. Both' found footing ' at the same tinle and waded out, to collapse, ex- hausted, against the bank. Then, with a sickening qualm, Alan remembered the pursuit, He rose and lgoked up ihe rapid just in time to view the last swift quarter of the canoe"s descent: Judith in the bow, motionless, a rifle across her knees, in the stern an Indian' guide kneeling and fighting the waters with scarcely perceptible effort in contrast with Alan's supreme struggles. Like a living thing the cance seemed to gather itself together, to poise, to leap with all its strength; it hurdled the eddy in a bound, took the gatill water with & mighty splash, and shot downstream at diminished fpeed, the Indian furiously backing water. As though that had been the one moment she had lived for, Judith liftad her rifis and brought it to bear --upon her sister. With a"cry of horror, Alan "flung himself before Rose, a living shield, anticipating nothing but immediate death. This was not accorded him. For a breathless hless instant the woman in [BR rv ha . They Found a Footing. the, canoe stared along the sights, then lowered her weapon and, turm- "After 8 long time, Alan volosd his of heaven! i 'unmitigated amagement: "Why--in the name See The Motion Pictures Of This Story At The IDEAL THEATRE On Mondays And Tuesdays PERRIN. CHEESE WAFER The bit of cheese baked into these crisp biscuits produces a flavor that is ag.enjoy- able as itis unigue. For picnic luncheons and al fresco teas nothing could be better, SEND FOR THE PERRIN "SAMPLER" PACKAGE It contains many delicious biscuit surprises-«-- * and it's yours for 10c. (stampa or coin) end your grocer's name. Every Package Guaranteed. D. S. PERRIN & COMPANY LIMITER LONDON -- CANADA R k Malz, 420 6th St., y "My wife sudde uly fell very sick with infin goa, 1 called in the doctor, but he failed ta delp her any. We have no time to be sick. So I became iy own dortor and with Rad- war's Ready Relief and Pi} I gave her ac. fording to Radway's directing, and she weal back to work two days later." LDS AND COUGHS YApply the Relief to the throat and chest wntfl the surface smarts and Give Rudway's Pills in such doses as will freoly move the Dowels. For a sudden cold take a large dose Radway's Pills and a tea of Rellef with a teas i of agave, 8 tumbler of hot wafer. Retire at once 4 bed, In the morning the cold will be S000, RADWAY & C0., Montresl, Can. - ay lief

Powered by / Alimenté par VITA Toolkit
Privacy Policy