Mexico weekly ledger., 1889-07-18

Rights Reserrea.l
CHAPTER XII.-CoNTINUED.
The others of the household were for send
ing out Immediately to search the neighbor-
hood and discover some trace of the lost
Princess. All The available males were
accordingly pressed into the service, and
sent out TO scour the country in every direc-
ton. The first objective point, of course,
was the road in the vicinity of the pool.
But not the slightest clue could there be
discovered. The heavy rains had obliterated
all the wheeltracks made by the wagon
into the wood, where the Princess had first
been carried. Searching far and wide, they
could find positively nothing in the way of a
trace of their lost mistress.
| Meanwhile, Dimitri returned from an in
terview with the carriers, and these individ-
Iuals all agreed in saying that they had seen
q horsewoman emerge from the cliff road
and ride rapidly toward the village on the
public road. From their description Of the
woman and her horse, it could DC none other
than the Princess herself.
They met with no stranger, excepting
huntsman who hailed them near the cliff
road, and got them sll into some angry
dispute with regard to the land thereabouts.
They, too, observed the loud whistle, but
supposed it that Of some hunter calling his
dogs.
Ere Dimitri left the inn, farmer, also
living in the neighborhood, entered,
drenched through and through by the
storm. On his way to st. Malo, he had be-
come alarmed at the severity of the storm,
and, supposing it an alI-night affair, turned
back to the inn of the village.
Dimitri remembered meeting with him,
off fath md al =
pool
Here now was clue.
The wagoners We're not to be diverted
from their idea that they saw the Princess
going toward the pool.
Had this farmer, on the opposite side of the
pool, seen her2 No, he had not. He saw
no one, excepting a stranger whom he found
sitting by the roadside. This man and him.
self enjoyed long talk about crops-a talk
OF perhaps one quarter of an hour in length.
No E=oman passed them. OF that he was
sure-at least no woman excepting the one
with that man, pointing to Dimitri and
referring, of course, to Catherine He, too,
observed the sharp calls of the whistle.
Lydia listened quietly to Dimitri's story.
Here, at last, was a trace to Natalie-the
only clue, perhaps, to her disappearance.
"Send for all the wagoners and the farm
er, immediately" said she, authoritatively.
The dripping band of peasants soon ap-
peared in the hall, little riyulets trickiing
down from their drenched garments and
covering the floor with miniature ponds.
They stood huddled together, awe-strucls
and awkward.
Questioning them, Lydia found that Nata-
lie must have been lost between the wagon
CTS On one side of the pool and the farmer
I'm nea Nft ftInv- tyfIa n.
neighborhood OF, and very probably at, the
pool itself; and that the stranger who
oonversed with the farmer, and also the
huntsman who disputed with the carriers,
were, undoubtedly, accessories to the ab-
duction-for they both disappeared almost
Immediately after the second whistle
The wegoners said that the first call was
heard Just before they saw the Princess
The mystery of Natalie's disappearance
now became clear to Lydia.
The huntsman-ah. would she have be-
Eeved her ears had she been told who he
wasE-must have been on the watch for the
Ipoor girl The warning signal of her ap-
lproach toward the abductors was the first
blast OF his whistle. This, too, warned the
Ioutpost on the opposite side of the pool and
both outposts stopped all passengers upon
1.-THE road, thus preventing interference with
the capture of Natalie.
As soon as the Princess had been secured,
her captors, in turn, gave the signal to their
nccomplices that the deed was done and the
coast clear.
Unless Natalie was still in the neighbor.
hood Of the pool-which was highly improb-
able-she must have been carried toward
the sea-coast; for that she and her captors
did not come toward the village was quite
certain from the statement of the peasants
the abductors must, therefore, have fol.
lowed the opposite direction-so reasoned
Lydia; and correctly. But her intuition
told her it was too late now for rescuing her
friend.
A full hour and half had elapsed since
Natahe's disappearance, and it was now al
most eight o'clock. To the sea-coast from
the pool was drive of perhaps three-quar.
GERS OF an hour. Therefore, if Natalie had
been carried thither, she was by this hour
far at sea, undoubtedly.
Stu, as the storm gave signs of abating
Lydia ordered her carriage to follow, while
sde herself, with Dimitri and others, has.
tened forward on horseback to the coast
Dimitrf had always imagined his mistress
Q peerless rider, but found Lydia quite her
IequaL Do their best, the men were always
isome distance behind her.
They met several of the searching party
who declared that every nook and creyice
bad been examined-more especially in the
tneaghborhood Of the brook All efforts
Jailed to discover any thing like the faintes,
ciue-beyond grove In which there had
oeen recent encampment. Bits of bread
were strewn about upon the turf that bore
TIE imprints Of horses feet, as they could
see ey the light of their lanterns. Lydia
perceived that it had been the hiding-place
OF the abductors.
inward she dashed toward the sea-coast,
the men following her.
Each person with whom they met was
closely questioned, but not one lad seen O.