Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1885-10-23

undeterred by fierce heat and the sinister
rumor that cholera had appeared at Toulor
and Marseilles. He searched every town
hamlet ard inlet of picturesque coast
until checked by the frontier and the LAND
quarantine which had been established or
that sultry July day.
Escaping from the land quarantine
John Leggatt FASTENED to Genoa, where
he learned that Roger Hale was in Milan
At Milan he was told the artist had sought
the Turin exhibition. He took the next
train for Turin, but failed to find the
missing heir in the Medieval castle or the
Kermess fair. The hotel secretary was
absolutely sure the object Of enquiry had
returned to Venice. Launching letters
and kilograms, like shower of arrows,
in all directions, John turned his face TO-
ward the Adriatic. A fresh perplexity
awaited him. Venice gained, he lost trace
of Roger Hale altogether. What had be
! come of him9 Piqued, he sought banker
consul, hotels and lodgings in vain. A
lady at the table d'hote stated that party
of artists had gone to Titan country ten
days before. and Roger Hale was of the
number. The lady changed countenance
l,slightly when she learned that the Ameri-
1 can had sped after the artists.
! 81 am sure that was one of the Names
! she unused, ''or was it SMITH"
! The artists cheered John. Roger was
to join them later, and if the lawyer re.
mained in their midst or hung about We
nice. Hale was sure to turn up. The chief
authority recalled, all in sketching fight
of steps, that Hale had sought Florence tc
copy head of Tltian's in Ritti gallery
John journeyed to Florence, discovered a
canvass on which woman's face was out.
lined, and learned that Roger Hale had
left for Leghorn some weeks before. AT
Leghorn the artist was said to have gone
to Sardinia with an Italian. A merchant
promised to telegraph to certain person
at Rome for more accurate information
John waited, fumed with impatience, fast
verging to evaporation. The artist, ever
within reach, perpetually eluded him.
How easy it had seemed to find him. John
began TO fear Roger Hale was myth-s
wilt o'-the- wisp.
LeghorR swarmed with life; groups OF
girls gathered about the fountains; the all
was redolent Of hot oil frizzling on the
domestic altar Of supper in narrow streets
A funeral procession passed along quay,
the candles of the penitents faring; black
prison-van, guarded by royal carbineers
wearing cooked hats, crept behind the
fourth hand Of Greek banker. The sun
set behind the tranquil Mediterranean in a
! fiery disk, dyelng the waves crimson
and gold. john strolled through the gar
dens of the shore, and sought one Of the
piers. On the right the serrated peaks of
the Carara mountains sloped to the brink
of the Spezlan gulf. All about him the
people laughed and talked in babel OF
tongues. A Sicilian princess. with mar
row, Spanish face. enveloped in opalescent
draperies, like the sea at sunset, drank
coffee at the next table. A plquant beau
ty, clad in maize colored satin, claimed
the homage of bevy of cavaliers. One
by one little boats, wreathed with swaying
lanterns, became detached from shore and
fitted over the water to cluster about a
yacht, gemmed with lights in an arch of
green fire. A Venetian fete was trans
piripg, with song and revelry. Suddenly
word, an exclamation, cry wrought
swift change to the fairy spectacle. The
bea uty held telegram in her rigid hand
che princess had started to her feet--the
very walters paused to look and listen. The
cholera had reached and stricken Spezla.
The eyes of adjacent towns turned to the
boundary of mountain in dread of the awful
moment when the pestilence should wing
its noiseless an d fatal way onward tc
strike them as we'll. Panic ensued. The
lights went out, aud the multitude surged
inland to Join the fugitives of Spezia al
Risa in tumult of frenzied haste. The
princess journeyed, enthroned on her own
luggage IN the baggage van, rather thar
be left behind.
At this suspicious moment John learned
that Roger Hale was certainly at Naples.
LET him stay there then,' he cried
wrathfully.
Roger Hale had an idea. When he ha6
an idea he invariably put it into execution