Mexico weekly ledger., 1889-09-12

sAN "nS AaSA AM DL1Ds
ed and dazed, his left arm hung limp and
notionless by his side, but his eye, wild and
haggard, shot round the glances of a man
determined and desperate even to death.
Naught! naught! couid he see! Naught,
except u black, ill-omened bird of strange
form and plumagc. Standing motionless on
a crag that overlooked the deeper part of
the cove, it suddenly shrieked out in those
same weird, unearthly, frightened tones
that he had heard before; and, spreading its
wings, sailed YEARLY away toward the
pines.
With an execration, Fairfax hurled a
stone after it. Thrown with unerring aim
and tremendous force, the missile hit the
creature so that it tumbled heavily to the
ground, where it lay fluttering in the
throes of death.
Fairfax glared at it with no other emo
ton than hat of hate and glutted revenge.
A racking pain in his forearm now at
tracted his attention. CHANGING at himself,
he, for the first time, became aware Of
his frightful condition.
Blood was streaming from various bruises
all over his body. His clothing hung about
him in tatters. His forearm was broken
and his shoes cut to pieces.
There was no fresh water at hand.
"Salt water is better than no water at all.
I'll wash my wounds in that-sting
though they may quoth he, grimly shut
ting his lips.
The dying bird fiuttered again.
With a glance of rags at it and an oath,
Fairfax stumbled to the head of the cove
and, tearing OF a fragment of his clothing,
was about to wash and bind up his wounds,
when he CHANGED to look out into the
deeper water beyond.
Utter1ng a cry of horror he at first re-
coiled, but, quickly recovering himself,
sprang into the sea and SWAN out with
strokes vigorous as a broken arm and
MANNED body would allow.
Was il Natalie who lay there so quietly
and peacefully on the heaving water, her
long, dark curling tresses streaming out far
behind her in the cool translucent wave, her
pure, upturned face cleaning like marble in
the moonbeams and her white-robed,
shapely form rising and falling on the long
sea-swen?
Not daring to look at the face, not daring
to verify his horrible suspicion, Fairfax,
with the deep and labored breathing of one
undergoing some terrible excitement, ex-
tended his wounded arm against her
figure and, striking out powerfully with his
other limbs, forced her to the shore.
1OuSt1uS tcEfuy q SfhH, uS blbCu ilCI Dtuliy
and, staggering woefully beneath the
burden, almost fell forward upon the rocks,
slippery with searweed.
Then, for the first time, he found courage
to glance at her face.
She was past reviving, quite dead, and
she uds not the Princess!
Fairfax breathed a fervent "Thank God n
and, Immediately, for the first and only
time in his life, fell in a dead faint, beside
the drowned girl.
How long he lay there, he could not say
probably for three or four hours. The
strain upon his nerves and strength had
been something tremendous. Besides, he had
eaten nothing since breakfast.
When he regained consciousness, dawn
was family shining in the east.
Was it all a horrible dreama
Mol there on the grass beside him, In
the sleep that knows no waking, lay the
figure of the dead maiden. Acutest pains
shot through his arm, and his whole body
seemed a mass of aching bruises.
Faint and weak, he summoned all his
strength and courage and rose slowly to his
feet.
What was to be done7 This was no time
for moping or for sentimental regrets. His
tired energies again must act.
"A~ - sAA, g. AL&N "bkS AS1 AaobSA :
How was she drowned, and why-here in
these remote coasts?
Scarcely more than nineteen seemed
about the age of his own Natalie She
looked like an Orient Princess. Beautiful
and classic as a Greek marble, and almost
as white.
Not a wrinkle or a line showed in that
fair countenance; not a frown, even. But,
quiet and serenely peaceful, she slept.
II am of the house Of Cesari' breathed
forth from every curve and contour of that
marvellous face and form to all who looked
upon her.
"And no Caesar was ever thine equal, Or
ever shall be" fell spontaneously from the
lips of the ravished gazer.
Crescent earrings were pendant to ex-
quisitely-shaped ears, and On her left hand
glittered a brilliant signet-ring of rare and
antique shape, set with a stone of wondrous
beauty and value. A necklace of c~ostliest
pearls, arranged in a manner severe in its
simplicity, encircled the polished throat, and,
hanging from this necklace, a jeweled locket
rested on her barred, ivory bosom.
Again he glanced at that curious, quaint
ring.
Once, and only once before, had he seen
its counterpart.
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| eyes the vision of a pleasant little room in
an old, low house at Tangiers; the grizzled,
weather-beaten captain of his uncle's YES
sci sat in closest conference with q noble
looking. gray-bearded Greek merchant
| prince, whose whole life seemed bent on
money getting; above all, came the mem
DRY of that dark-orbed, olive-hued little
daughter, with her bright, sweet, eager
face, literally hanging upon every word
from his lips, watching his every motion
with those lustrous, melting eyes of hers,
forestalling his every wish, her ~tireless
feet trotting hither and thither for cooling
fruits or drinks.
He recalled the sudden tear, the deathly
pallor of her face and upon his ear smpte
her sob Of despair, when the rough old cap
tain entered and announced his departure
on the morrow, adding:
'Arthur, my lad, you must leave your lit
tie pupil. When we quilted your uncle, !
thought you not long for this world. But
now, thanks to a good sea-voyage, / take
you back to him a youth strong as the
next
Then came the parting with his many
rash promises of returning soon, the two
soft white girlish arms flung tight about
his neck, her hot tears falling fast upon
his cheek and the passionate moan of the
w~arm-hearted, impulsive young Greek
child, as she utterly refused TO let him go;
then the old Moorish seaport faded away in
the distance and, alas so. too, did little
Haydec. lie had scarcely thought Of her
from that day 10 this; and that was eleven
| years ago.
But had she ersr forgotten Kim or his prom
Use 10 retarns
CHAPTER XXI.
MILLIONS o-R-goTHIgG.
With a start, he awoke from his musings
over the past and hastily began to search
for SOME proof of the womanis identity.
As he opened the locket be staggered
backward in amazement. In one side was
the face of an old gray-bearded man, a face
he never could forget. In the other, bent