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yLOUIS JOSEPH VA( ILLUSTRATIONS YB ' ELSWOR O1N G cOPYRICRT 1909 ry LOU4OSEPHV SYNOPSIS. CHAPTER I.-The story opens at Monte Carlo with Col. Terence O'Rourke In' his hotel. O'Rourke, a military free lance and something of a gambler, is dressing for appearance in the restaurant below when the sound of a girlish voice singing attracts his attention. Leaning out on the balcony he sees a beautiful girl who suddenly disappears. He rushes to the corridor to see a neatly gowned form enter the elevator and pass from sight. CHAPTER II.-O'Rourke's mind is filled with thoughts of the girl, and when he goes to the gaming table he allows his remarkable winnings to accumulate in differently. He notices two men watch lag him. One Is the Hen.. Bertie Glynn, while his companion is Viscount Des Trebes, a noted duelist. When O'Rourke leaves the table the viscount tells him he represents the French government and that he has been directed to O'Rourke as a man who we.uI undertake a secret aission. CHAPTER III.-At his room O'Rourke, who had agreed to undertake the mission, awaits the viscount. O'Rourke finds a Muysterious letter in his apartment. The viscount arrives, hands a sealed package to O'Rourke, who is not to open it until on the ocean. He says the French gov ernment will pay O'Rourke 25,000 francs for his services. A pair of dainty slip pers are seen protruding from under a doorway curtain and the viscount charges O'Rourke with having a spy secreted there. CHAPTER IV.-When the Irishman goes to his room he finds there the own er of the mysterious feet. It is his wife, Beatrix, from whom he had run away a year previous. They are reconciled, and aening the letter he had received. he ![nds that a law firm In Rangoon, India, ers him 10,M6 pounds for an Indian el known as the Pool of Flame and t to him by a dying friend. O'Rourke. s his wife that it Is In the keeping friend named Chambret In Algeria. APTER V.-.O'Rourke is forced to tight a duel with the viscount The brag gart nobleman is worsted in the combat and acts the peltroon. CHAPTER VI.-The loyal wife bids Q'Rourke farewell and he promises to abon return with the reward offered for e Pool of Flame. He discovers both" nn and the viscount on board the which takes him to Algeria. CHAPTER TI.-Chambret has left Al seria and O'Rourke has to gain a mill tary detachment going across the desert to reach his friend. As he finds the latter ~ere is an attack by bandits and amrtis shot. CHAPTER VIII.--Chamibret dies te..ing O'Rourke that he has left the Pool of Flame with the governor general of Al-1 gerla. He gives the colonel a signet ring at the aight of which he says the official will deliver over the jewel. CHAPTER IX.-O'Rourke is attacked by Glynn and the viscount who ransack his luggage, but he worsts them in the conflict. CHAPTER X.-When he arrives at Al geria the Irishman finds the governor general away. He receives a note from Des Trebes making a mysterious appoint ment. CHAPTER XI.-The viscount te'lls O'Rourke that he has gained possession of the jewel by stealing it from the safe of the governor general. He does notg however, know who has offered the re,~ ward for it. He sugges+s a duel with rapiers. the victor to get that information an|d.the .jewel. .. - UHAPTEIR XII.-In the duel O'Rourke masters his adversary and secures pos ssson of the Pool of Flame. U HAPTER XIII. - The efforts of O'Rourke are now directed toward speed 117 getting to Rangoon with the jewel and_he starts by_shi_p,_ i CHAPTEI, ~T~V.-'e finds the captain of the vessel to be a smuggler who ties to steal the jewel_from him. _ CH~APTER XV.-The jewel is finally se cured by the ship's captain and O'Rourke sescapes to land.I CHAPTER XVI.-With the aid of one Danny and his sweetheart, O'Rourke re covers the Pool of Flame. CHAPTER XVII. - O'Rourke again forms his plans to pursue his journey to 3angoon~. *CHAPTER XVIII.-On board ship once more a mysterious lady appears who puz sies and interests the Irishman. CHAPTER XIX.-O'Rourke comes up on a lascar about to attack the lady,P who Is a Mrs. Prynne. He kicks the man into the hold. CHAPTER XX.-Mrs. Prynne claims shie is en route for India on a mission CHAPTER XXI.-The ship captain is ~ered money to Increase the speed of te vessel toward its destination. CHAPTER XXII.-There are suspicious, occurrences on board, and a lascar seems t be watching O'Rourke and Mrs. Prnne. CHAPTER XXIII. The day came out of the East with[ a windy swagger; as Quick had fore. told, a series et thunderstorms swept 4(ie sea before dawn, so that .it, like the sky, seemed newly washed, clean sid brilliant. O'Rourke ratieted Quick at four t1J1s of the morning watch and kept tedeck for the remainder of the day, hsmeals being brought to him on the bridge. His duties were simple eough, requiring nttle more than a -dsplay of the habit of authority which sat so well on his broad shour-I ders. It was no great trick to keep the crew in order: they went about their work' peaceably enough and showed no signs of desiring to renew their disputations. Otherwise he had to keep an eye upon the helmsman~ and see that he held the Ranee to the course prescribed by Quick; and that was nothing difficult to a man of av erage intelligence. Naught but deep water lay between them and Bombay,. so long as a direct course was shaped and maintained. As the sunlit watches wore out and *iothing untoward too1k plrae O'Rourke's grim apprehensions dissi pated into shadows. He e r + be lieve with Quick that the :.ntar er th winged knife was mer&y in'; nu'nt 3.ccident, quite unprownr1'a - Below decks, DL - were standing watenl-a?.-I saommor egmnr, where th for LI mer's beloved engines were justifying his confidence and pride in them and clicking off their twenty knots with Dut a hitch. Now Danny happened to have "off" the first afternoon watch. O'Rourke from the bridge saw him come up the engine-room companion ladder, dive Into the messroom for his dinner, and later emerge, picking his teeth and grinning self-complacency until his master could have kicked him, had such a course been politic before the crew, or even consistent with the dig nity of his office. "A word to say to ye, sor, if I may make so bold." O'Rourke glanced at the helmsman, and having long since made up his mind that the man wa* competent, left him in possession of the bridge for a space, and joined Danny below. "What is it?" Danny lowered his voice to a hoarse whisper. "Kape yer eye on thot black He Continued to Watch the Serang. divvle up there, sor, for the love 01 Hiven, and don't look surprised at' anything-" O'Rourke moved a few paces aft, along the rail, to a point whence he could see the head and shoulders of1 the helmsman. "Well?" "'Tis nawthin' I cud swear to, sor but 'tis meself thot's mortal leary ai these naygurs-rapspicts to ye-and and-" "Come, come! Out with it, Danny.' "Sure, sor, 'tis the serang. Havt ye chanced to notice him, sor?" O'Rourke glanced down to the fort deck, where the personage in questiot was standing at ease. "What of him?'~ e inquired, running his eye over the ellow's superb proportions. "'Tis nawthin' I'd take me oath to1t sor, but I'm thinkin' he's the man whc boarded the Panjnab at Suez, sort And as for the naygur I run againsi n the s'loon deck, yer honor, he's hiE mnortal twin." "Ah," commented O'Rourke. "Thani you, Danny." He continued to watch the serang' until the latter, as if influenced by the fxity of the Irishman's regard, turned and stared directly into O'Rourke's eyes. For a full minute he gave hin look for look, dark eyes steadfast and! unyielding abocve his fine aquiline nose, then cdhinly turned his back, re suming his contemplation of the tur, bulent horizon. An instant later Quick came up tc relieve O'Rourke, and, eight belle sounding, Danny dived below to take! Dravos' place. O'Rourke, unpleasant ly impressed by the incident, still for. bo-e to mention it to either of the ship's owners; he retired to think it over, and spent a long hour consum-~ ing an indifferent cigar and studying, the cracks in the bulkhead betweeD his room and the cabin. . Without profit, however. Lacking more substantial proof than Danny's suspicions, he could arrive at no defi nite conclusion. The night passed without incident; the second day dawned the counter. part of its predecessor, and wore away quietly enough. It fell to O'Rourke to stand the first dog-watch, from feur to six in the* evening. Shortly after he ascended the bridge, it was his happiness to be joined by Mrs. Prynne, who improved the moment to express her gratifica, tion with the propitious tide in her af fairs. The King's courier was pleased to declare herself very well pleased indeed, though she admitted, under jocular pressure, that she considered she was roughing it. Captain Quick's quarters were by no means palatial, and the bill of fare, while substantial ly composed, lacked something of va riety; but that was all a part of the great and fascinating game she played -the game of secret service to His Majesty, Edward VII. Not that alone, but she was comn forted by the assurance that her voy-I age would soon be over, her mission discharged, her responsibilty a th~ ng of the past. She would be glad Lo ese Bobay. "QOn n.ever k-ows. yu: im. w '8o) nel O'Rourhe." she said with a litt:e gesture expressive of her allowancei ctre hunfor:senm O'Rourke divined she had something on her mind which she hesitated to voice, though they were practically alone; the man at the wheel was a nonentity- bronze statue in a faded shirt, ragged turban and soiled cum n1 frhblld. "Then Nis yourself will be glad, I gc>. rid of us, madam?" She smiled, deprecatory. "What would you?" she asked in French, with a significant glance up into O'Rourke's eyes. "It's not precisely pleasant to be constantly apprehensive," the woman continued in the same tongue, "even when one has a Colonel O'Rourke to look to for protection." "Ah, madame!" expostulated the wanderer. "But what makes ye so positive I'd not turn tail and run away from any real danger?" She gave him a look that brimmed with mirth. "A man who is a cow ard," she said slowly, "doesn't stand still and draw a revolver when a heavy knife is thrown at his head." "Quick told ye, madam?" "No, I saw-heard the quarrelling on the forward deck and got to the companionway in time to see what happened. Had you not been so in tent on your search for the knife, you would have seen me. As it was, I slipped below again without attracting attention." "But why?" "To get my revolver, monsieur le colonel." "'Twas naught but an accident-" "You do not believe that yourself, colonel dear; for my part, I-" "Well?" "Someone tried my door last night, after you'd retired." "Ye are sure?" doubted O'Rourke, disturbed. "Quite. I was awake-thinking; I f heard you come below and close your door at eight bells; long after there 1 were footsteps-someone walking in I his bare feet-in the saloon. Then the knob was turned, very gently. Fortunately, the door was bolted; someone put a shoulder to it, but it held fast. I paught up my revolver indeed and I am very reckless with it, sir!-and opened the door myself. The saloon was quite empty." "Ye shouldn't have risked that-" "I had to know, with so much at stake," she said simply. O'Rourke endeavored to manufac ture a plausible and reassuring explan ation to the fact. "Quick, Danny, or Dravos, mistaking their rooms-" "It was none of them. Captain Quick was on deck; I heard his voice almost simultaneously. surely I couldn't mistake that." She laughed. "Nor would your man or Mr. Dravos b.ave been so stealthy, so instant to escape." "But-but-" "My theory, if you will have It, Is that mine enemy of the Pan.inab is one of the crew of the- Rahee, mon sieur." Mrs. Prynne made this statement as uietly as though she were c'omment ing on the weather. But her belief chimed so exactly with his own that D'Rourke was -stricken witless~ and at a loss to frame a satisfactory refuta tion. He was silent for some mo ments, his lips a thin hard line, a rinkle of anxiety between his brows.I "If ye'd only permitted me to attend to him-" he growled at length. "You are right," she admitted, "but -I am desolated-the mischief's one.". "Faith, yes!" he sighed dejectedly. is gaze roved the deck and fastened upon the serang. "It might be any ne of them," he considered aloud. "Any one. For instance, though the serang?" "Why d'ye suspect him more than* another?" he demanded, startled. "Call it feminine intuition, if you like. The man looks capable of any thing." "Yes. But sure, there's no telling t all." "No telling," she concurred quietly. "We can but wait, watch, hope that I imagined the hand at my door." "There might be something in that" "I am neithei- nervous nor an im aginative woman." "At all events, I'll go bail 'twill not happen a second time." "How do you propose to prevent' it?" "Sure, the simplest way in the world. I myself will stand guard in the saloon, madam." "But no, monsieur; I can better a! ford to lose a little sleep than have you forfeit your rest. Besides, I ha,. Cecile. .. .." There ensued an argument without termination; he remained obdurate, she insistent. Only the appearance of Quick on the stroke of four bells forced them to shelve the subject, It was resumed at the dinner table1 and carried out in a light manner of banter for a time, dropped and for-' gotten, apparently by all but O'Rourke. (TO BE CONTINUED.) N(OTICE OF ANNUAL 1MEETING. The annual meeting of the stock holders of the People's National Bank, of Prosperity, S. C., will be held at the 'bank on Tuesday, Feb. 13, 1912,1 at 1 o'clock p. in., at which time the election of directors will be held, and such other business transacted as! may come before the meeting. R. Tr. PUGH, -2-3t. Cash. lHas Million's of Friends. How would you like to numoer your rieds by mnilions as Bucklen's Arnica Save does? Its astounding cures in tne paist forty vGars mim~' themn its the bs sav. in tthe world for sore~s, ul !, ! itII i f,! II Fi e Unique St< PLA3 FO' TM CMAMPION EAR "Just a countryman-that's all," i the way the grower of this remarkabl ear of corn, Mr. Fred. C. Palin, style himself. Though he is admitted to b one of the leading corn experts in th country-one whose services ar greatly in demand as a judge of cor: exhibits, Mr. Plain asl's for no great er honor or distinction than to b known as a plain Hoosier farmer, an while he openly professes a reason able pride in the achievement o growing the famous ear of corn whic: was adjudged the most perfect eve grown, it is without a shadowi o ostentation. The champion ear of corn was no an accident. There can be no greate The World's Gr< VARIETY-Palin's Col after winning the W. A HYBRID-The seven PARENT PLANTS DIMENSIONS-Length ference, 73 inches. N of Kernels, 3 of an in< 0 of an inch, Thicki Arrangement, very u: straight rows the enti a misplaced grain, holi ends of the ear, tip bei grains. Weight, 20 tions-corn, 92 per ce: proof of this fact, here is the story a e told it himself: "It was in November, 1910, and w were just harvesting our crop. Th weather had been good, but we wer a little late with the harvest. Th men were going through the field with the wagon in the usual way gath ering the corn, and the harvest was promising one. "We have a sort of corn show a my farm all the time, and there is al ways an award for exceptionally goe ears of corn-ears sufficiently true t type to permit of their being exhibite< FRED. C. PALIN. There is a small box on every cor wagon in which the most perfect ear are thrown. These, when 'properly se lected, constitute the seed corn, an mong these more perfect ears we oc caionally find an ear that we are will ing to exhibit in a contest. "On the day the chamDion ear wa found, I was at the house and at dir ner time one of the men brought it;i and laid it, with a -oumber of -othe ears, upon the window sill in the wel room for me to take and put away i: the seed house. "'Well,' I said, 'do you think you'v got a good ear there? "'It looks to me like a good ear,' h said., 'What do you think of it?' "I picked it up and looked it ove: 'Well,' I said finally, 'I think it is th most perfect ear of corn I ever sas It's good enough to win the W. E Kellogg, $1,000 trophy this year a maha.' "And I was confident the momen saw it, and looked it over, that held the trophy winner in my hand So much so that when I left for Omna ha to exhibit the ear, I took it out C my grip and showed it to the statio agent with the words, 'That's th ca I'm gonre in win the $1,000 troph f I 'j t I i ~ ry of its Discovery it. TOE OREAT THIW .KEi.OGc TRO ifV S lesson in the value of careful study e and painstaking selection of seed and s breeding than the experiences of this e same Palin. The farmer who thinks e he stands a chance to go into his corn e field and by a piece of luck pick out a an ear which nature has fashioned - I even more perfectly and with it wrest e the honors from this Indiana man, I cannot do better to disabuse his mind - of this fallacious notion than to read f the story of Palin and his champion a ear. r In the first place, Palin knows corn. E If there were no more proof of this fact than the bare story of the devel t opment and discovery of the cham r pion ear, it would be enough. And in eatest Ear of Corn -n Flake Yellow. (Named K. Kellogg $1,000 Trophy) th year production. Male-Reid's Yellow Dent Female-Alex's. Gold St'd. 10% inches. Circum umber of rows, 20.. Length ;h. Width of kernels, about ess of kernels, 34 of an inch. aiform, kernels running in ie length of the ear without ling their length well to the ng well covered with dented ounces. Estimate propor at; cob, 8 per cent. Championa* s So there's the sory of the champion ear as Palin told it himself. And on e the strength of it who will say that e Fred C. Palin doesn't justly merit the title, "The Man who Knows Corn"? e iBut that's not all of Palin's story. sHe tells it willingly, though modestly, Sfor he knows that his story whenever a told is a source of great encourage-: meat of ,the thousands of farmers who tnever had a better chance than he had himself. Palin was born and brought d up on a farm near Newtown, Ind. He o . has never owned a foot of farm land .J in his life, and the 360-acre farm on which the champion ear of corn which won the Kellogg Trophy was grown is a rented farm. Mr. Palin's real experience as a ?a mer began about sixteen years ago. He had been on the road as a grocery 4.. e J ,AD BYTF.A Y Twic Awrdd To beCom t peilt oalsanowe.ho ooo notion th anat hewudrther nexanag t riculturist, so he took a few short I courses at Purdue university and rent .ed a portion of the farm he now occu - jpies. Nine years ago he began care-1 f fully breeding this new variety of corn. ,For two years he planted two. rows of Reid's Yellow Dent, then two of Alexander's Gold Standard, detas-. seling the Gold Standard. From the detasseled rows he picked for seed only the ears carrying the character istics he wanted to reproduce, plant ing these in breeding plots and main taining carefui selection, so that in 9 years' time he had developed a well settled type. The Palin champion ear was the first winner of the W. K. Kellogg Na tional Corn Trophy, a handsome sil ver and enamel cup made by Tiffany, of New York, at a cost of $1,000. Mr. Kellogg as the originator and manu facturer of Toasted Corn Flakes na turally has a deep interest in the de velopment of the higher grades of corn, for the company of which he is president, the Kellogg Toasted Corn Flake company, requires ten thousand bushels of corn a day for the making of its product. The Kellogg trophy was offered to be awarded in annual competition for the best single ear of corn until won twice by the same pro ducer. The fact that the Kellogg pro duct is 'made only from selected white corn, while the winning ear was of a pronounced yellow type, was a peen liar feature. The Kellogg trophy was won in 1910 at Columbus, Ohio, by R. A. James, of Charleston, Ill., with a magnificent ear of Reid's Yellow Dent, but not se parfect an ear as that which origin ally won the trophy and which has become known as "the best ear of corn ever grown." The next award of this trophy will be made at the nAxt National Cora Exposition, which will be held in February, 1913, at Columbia, S. C. It is planned -to .-make this exposition much broader in scope than 'any held in the past, and consequently a longer time will be required for prepara tion. Special buildings are being erect ed for the exposition, the main build Ing to be 400 by 167 feet, ground measurements. The show will last ten days. The State of South Carolina has appropriated $40,000 for the ex penses of the exposition and. the pros pect is that Dixie will "do herself proud" in an effort to make this ez-. position the greatest of its kind ever held. Wood's Seeds For 1912. Our New Descriptive Catale is fully up.to-date, and tells a about the best Garden and Farm Seeds. 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