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I The Per! J } of Flame j f i?W?i i H ? : : 1 i By | LOUIS JOSEPH VANCE i . Illustrations by Ellsworth Young . i. >; * ?/*]' r ^ J Cowri^jot lviJ, by i. CHAPTER XXIV. The night fell clear as crystal and wonderfully bright with stars; the wind went down with the sun, then rose again refreshed and waxed to half a gale. At midnight O'Rourke, leaving the bridge, left the Ranee driving steadily throueh a racins: sea through a world noisy with the crisp rattle and crash of breaking crests. Fortifying himself with strong coffee, the adventurer settled himself in a chair by the foot of the companionway 8.ops leading up from the tiny saloon that served as dining-room foi all b : the crew of the tramp. From thi6 position he commanded both entrances, port and starboard, from the upper deck, as well as the doors that flanked them on either hand, to the quarters occupied by Mrs. Prynne and to Dravos' stateroom, which was empty and would be so until the next change of watch. The succeeding hours dragged inter minably, quiet and unevent ful About six bells the moon got up and its rays, filtering through the heavy-ribbed glass of the skylight, fill*. : saloon with an. opalesceni si;.. :e. that assorted incongruouslj with the dull glow of the electrk bulbs?dull, because there was some thing wrong with the dynamo, accord ing to Dravos. O'Rourke. weary and yawning, watch ed the milky rainbow dance upon the half-opaque glass overhead for several olo&ed upon the grip of his revolver. He pulled the trigger almost before he realized what had happened and jent a bullet winging toward a spot on the gangway above where a pair af long brown legs had been but now were not. On the heels of that fruitless shot he 6ent another, this time with no murderous intent, but to warn the captain on the bridge. Here at last was an Issue foroed, animus proven, assassination indisputably attempted. He sprang for the companionway, was half way up it in a thought, his heart hot within him, mouth dry with thirst for that lascar's blood. Not ^ third time should the man escape his luagment at the hands of O'Rourke, he swore. A stentorian roar saluted him as be gained the deck?a bellow choked and ending In a sickenirg gurgle. O'Rourke In a flash swung on his heel. Simultaneously he came face to face with Quick. He could have cried aloud in pity. The captain swayed before him, a massively built figure clothed all in white, huge ants trembling towards Ms head, revolver dropping from a nerveless hand, his chin fallen for? A V. f.-. ctnrvirl WoflTV Will U Uli lii<3 VylJVCVj U iJVU^'<Uf vyk? ^ smile on his face, and a dark and hideous Bmear spreading swiftly over the bosom of his shirt. A. cry of horror, despair and rage stuck In the wanderer's throat. Quick, who had hailed his appearance on the Ranee at Aden as a harbinger of good hick, had been foully murdered. His dominant emotion of the moment, an Intense and pitiful solicitude for the dying man, threw him off his guard. Under Its influence he forgot the desperate case of which this tragedy brought all aboard the Ranee, put out his arms, reoelved the falling body, and let It gently to the deck. But In a trioe he was alive again to k moments before it conveyed to nun a warning. Then immediately he aban doned his scat and stretched himseli out upon a transom against the after bulkhead, whence he could see some thing less of the upper gangway, but sufficient for his purposes. For hi.? chair had been beneath the skylight, and the wings of that were open for ventilation. " 'Tib safer here," he considered "There'll be no dropping one of those long knives on me now, be premeditated inadvertence. I'm thinking." He gaped tremendously. The peace of the night, the singing of the waves against the Ranee's sides, the deep throb and unbroken surge of her engines, and the sustained, clear note of the monsoon in her wire rigging? these combined with physical fatigue to soothe the man. to lull Mm into fantastic borderland of dreams. Yet such was his command of self that he would not yield to the caressing touch of drowsiness, bat merely lay motionless and at rest, communing with his fancy. And that led him out of the sordid saloon of the Ranee across the aeas that lay ahead of that ship's prow, to the fair land whither he was to convey the Pool of Flame. . . . Abruptly he leapt to his feet, wide awake and raging. A blow was still sounding through the saloon a dull crash. Buried half way to the hilt in the bulkhead back ? of the transom a knife quivered. Initinctively the wanderer's fingers had nis own pern, in tne twinkling o: an eye he saw a flash of light glidirsr towards him with resistless impetus. Intuitively he swung to one side, to the right, and leapt to his feet. At that the knife, a kris slr.uous and i keen, ran cold upon the flesh of his ' chest, slit through his shirt, caught *1 the thong that held the Pool of Flame, and tore out, leaving a flapping I 1?sn1/y eeronincr a hnnrVfc hrAAilth . UU1U OUU OV-JUJ'JUQ V? ?? of skin from his forearm. Heedless of this, only In fact subconsciously aware that the chamois bag had fallen to the deck, he caught at the hand that had wielded the krls; his fingers 1 closed about the wrist, and, bracing himself, he swung the assassin off his feet. So doing, his fingers slipped on the man's greasy skin and he stumbled off his balance. I His object, however, had been accomplished. The murderer, hurled a yard or more through the air. fell and slid along t??e deck into a group of lascars, one of whom, like a nine-pin, was knocked c-.v . t... ..... atop of him O'Rourke re - . v. : pe: for( ward, revolve:- p .; : to administer the quietus to '1. 1 :er?an a; liable intention v wos. hov.evcr, doomed to frustration. With almost | inconceivable swiftness the eroup cf lasears had become a mere tangle of arras ana legs, a meiange ui snuggling limbs and bodies. Where he ' had thought to find a single prostrate form, there were six struggling in con. fusion on the deck. t For a thought he stayed his finger on the trigger, waiting to pick out the t undermost and slay him first of all, unwilling, furthermore, to waste one ' of the four invaluable cartridges reL raaining in his revolver. And then? unexpectedly the tragedy seemed over . and done with altogether. From the bottom of the heap of bod. lea a terrible cry of mortal anguish . shrilled loud; and almost at once the mob seemed to resolve Into Its original elements. Five lascars crawled, > arose, or flung themselves away from t the sixth, who lay inert, prone, limbs j still twitching, a knife buried in his . back. . For a thought the tableau held, . there In the pure brilliance of the . moonlight; the half a dozen standing figures, O'Rourke a space apart from . tlie rest, and two bodies, the one face V( r? fnAA t Ka cto ro i uw v> li, ^uicrw mu a iavr lv_/ luu ouhd, [ sach with its dread background; a L black stain that grew and spread slow. ly upon the white, dazzling > planks. . . . Quietly the tallest of the lascars . moved forward, knelt and drew the knife from the back of his dead fellow. He straightened up, facing O'Kourke without a tremor, his eyes aflre, and wiped the blade of the kris 3n his cummerbund. "Do not shoot, sahib," he said , smoothly in excellent English. "Do . aot! shoot, sahib, for it is I who have avenged. This dog," and with his toe , a? stirred the thing at his feet, "ran amok. Now he is dead." This was the 6erang who spoke. O'Rourke eyed him coldly through a , prolonged silence. At length, "That seems quite evident," he admitted coolly. "Pick up that body and throw , It overboard!" he commanded sharply. In obedence to a sign from the serang, two of the lascars seized the body. A subsequent splash overside told the Irishman that his order had been carried out. But be heard It abstractedly, confronted as he was with a problem whose difficulty was not to be underestimated, the problem embodied in the statuesque, imperturbable serang. It was bard to know what to do, what to believe, what action to take. If he were right in hi3 surmise, the serang should rightly be shot down in stantly, without an instant's respite. Yet the heartless brutality upon which his theory was based made him hesitate. It was difficult to believe that the serang had been able to accomplish what O'Rourke was inclined to credit him with; that he, the wielder of the kris, the murderer of Quick, thrown off his feet by the Irishman's attack, had deliberately involved his fellows with him in his fall and profited by the confusion to slay one upon whom he could throw the blame for all that had happened. The weapon quivered in O'Rourke's grasp. More than once in that brief debate ho was tempted to shoot the fellow on suspicion. Yet he held his hand; he could not bo positive. With every circumstance against him, ho might still be telling the truth. The whole horrible affair might boil down to nothing more than an Insane crime of a crazy Malay, one who, as the serang claimed, had "run amok." He had not made up Lis mind when his thoughts were given a new turn by a new complication, in the shape of Mrs. Prynne herself. That lady came up the companion steps with no apparent hesitation, no fear or apprehension; quietly and confidently alert, on the other hand, she was visibly armed and prepared against danger In whatever form she might have to encounter it. She came directly to the adventurer, without so much as a glacco for the Crnnn lac/?Qrc nr tVifcA crrlro of tragedy upon the deck. O'Rourk? shut Ms teetli with exasperutlen. Whatever he decided to telleve of tho eerang, whether his Judgment said of the man, "Guilty," or "Not Guilty," he dared risk nothing with the woman present. He could not tell what hell of murder and mutiny he might not let , loose upon the Ranee, did he make one ill-adviBed or hasty move. Alone, i he could have fa^ed the situation with ; equanimity; with the woman by hla side, he felt as though handcuffed. , "You are hurt. Colonel O'Rourke?" A mere scratch, madam?an inch of skin shaved off rne arm. Be good enough to return to the saloon, waken Danny and send him to me." ' She ignored the curtness of his tone, even as she ignored his wish. "What has happened?" she demanded, ranging herself by his side. "Who is that ?there on tie deck?" Her voice rising a note, foreboded hysteria. "Quick?stabbed. I didn't want ye to see. A lascar ran amok, cut down the captain, was killed himself?kind- j ness," the irrepressible humorist broke out," of our little brown brother, the serang." His eyes never left the latter; not an instant did he take his attention from the cluster of dark figures; he I was more than every ready to defend j himself should they make any overt | move, deeming his attention distract- | ed. "What will you do?" "How can I say? Do ye, for the love of God, get below and leave me ! to wH'.i tn~. "" 'n . fashion." "Which," ?he r. ' c "iLl; , "is precisely what I v.:.'... v t "If that's the co- h." he : I brusquely. "have the ki\dne.;s to hand me | the revolver by the chain's side, and i ?ye mighi see if 'he poor fellow still i lives." He heard a quick rustle of skirts . and the wo man's hand closed over his, i pressing into his palm the weapon he i had desired. As promptly, without further words, she turned to Quick, j The adventurer deliberated briefly, i while she bent over the captain, maki lng a hurried examination. "He is | badly wounded," O'Rourke heard her ; say, as he arrived at his decision, "but | not dead." "Praise God for that! . . . I i must ask ye, madam, to back me up. j It is necessary to clear the decks. Are 1 ye ready?" He saw, out of the tail ! of his eye, that she had sprung to her 1 feet "Now, ye curs," he thundered, with a menacing pistol In either hand, "get forward, the lot of ye. Move, ye blackguards!" They went expeditiously, crowding between the deck-house and the rail, huddling together as if for mutual protection. The serang was the last to I move, and went reluctantly, or seemed to. Yet that was no time to judge him i for a minor fault. O'Rourke herded I the pack before him, watched them ; Bcramble down the ladder to the forej deck, then backed to the spot where ' the woman stood above the captain, j His arm was paining him somewhat, I with the irritating, stinging ache that | such wounds produce, and he thrust i one revolver Into his pocket, clasping t a hand above the hurt. In a flash realization of his loss I came to him; he clutched the rail with ; a cry. The Pool of Flame, his sacred trust, was gone! His eyes searched the deck wildly, but found no trace of the round leather bag with its precious burden. Despair gripped his heart In a clutch of ice, and for a space the ship reeled about him. . . . He found himself gazing blankly into the woman's solicitous eyes. "What Is it? What is it?" he heard her voice repeating breathlessly. He knew that his own Hps moved for some seconds without sound as he strove to answer her. The words, when they came, should have* been quite unintelligible to her; he realized this almost as soon as he had uttered them: "The Pool of Flame!" Then he stumbled forward, crying aloud for the serang. Half-way to the ladder he halted; that individual's head and ehoulders were lifting above the level of the deck. O'Rourke covered him and called him aft as he again retreated to the scene of the tragedy. Had be been in a condition to think coherently, he might have acted more prudently. But maddened, he was able to grasp bat one fact; that the Pool of Flame was gone and must be recovered at whatever hazard. (TO BE CONTINUED. Indian Killed on Track. Near Rochelle, 111, an Indian went to sleep on a railroad track and was killed by the fast express. He paid for his earelessnees with his life. Often it's that way when people { neglect coughs and colds. Don't ' risk your life when prompt use of i ! l)r King's New Discovery will cure ' them and so prevent a dangerous , throat or lung trouble. "It com- ; pletely cured me, in a short time, of \ a terrible cough that followed a severe attack of Grip." writes J R Watts, Floydada, Tex, "and I regained 15 pounds in weight that I had lost." Quick, safe, reliable and guaranteed. 50c and $1.00. Trial bottle free at M L Allen's. COAL! COAL! ' ' * Don't wait until the cold \ blasts of winter are upon you ; ! to order your supply of coal, j : Give me your order now. I have several carloads or- j dered and will be glad to have your order. The sooner the better. L, G, MONTGOMERY, 7-i8-tf KINGSTREE, S. C. 1 I ? g I I If you are not selling yoi rell's Warehouse, join the cr Every day we are selling: farmers, who go away well ^ prices they received. Our sales are averaging pound. Bring us a load an< Gass, Hopper i PI I LOUIS con" THF ARHAfiF flFPA I Ilk I III VI I I# ti V Bn I s 232 and 234 King Street and 203 Meeting The largest Wholesale and Retail ltt New Spring Tailor New Silk and Lin New Linen Lawn-Lingeri Children's White and New Millinery, New Dress Goods, Ne> Gents' Furnishings, Ne Laces, Embroideries, A request on a postal card for one < Catalogues will bring you < We are members of the Charleston members of which will pay your railroad X. 4~?. TFYi X? \ fj ill-'- ?lr Tobacco at Gor- | | Q\vd and do so. g \ P/iv> o lr?f rvf" fV?Q Kocf 5? i lui a ivt vi tuv^ wuv m a satisfied with the 9 to 11 cents per g i be convinced. i|i ^ & Gorrell, J fcOPRIET ORS. jj in aii 0* i r> in n ->r. ->n in,innniin> 3Sffl^S8s8iMMSl8Mffl88B3i3% ??i # EN & CO. f RTMFNT STdRF k iCSluX rdlll! r<k|^&l V I '* on, And This Is IANCE ' ;| | the RURALIST 3 years, started im- Jj 00 for the three years. When we bill } ^ of premiums just like, you paid cash. 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