Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1898-10-31


stay to help you. Hope your good la
ey will soon be all right. Good-day,
sir"
The guard signalled the engineer,
Jumped into his compartment, and
once more the train was in motion
and speedily lost to sight.
Count Jura watched it eagerly
THAT was a bold move, he NUT
tered "but it was the only thing.
Now, what to do next? Let her faint
on. 1t is the safest thing that could
happen. She will scream perhaps. If
so, I must gag her.
An ugly look passed over his face,
uhen, after bending over Alice once
again, he stood upright and scanned
the road.
The VILLAGE seemd deserted, but
while he was debating whether it
would be wise to leave the sensele5s
girl alone with the diamonds while he
made enquiries, his eye caught sight
of cart coming lesiurely along.
1t was a millers dray, drawn by
three stout horses and bent in the
same direction as the train had gone.
Count Jura hailed it. and in a few
minutes the driver was beside him.
Bv dint of much elOquence he per-
suaded the man to believe his tale and
to consent to their travelling in the
cart as far as the nearest town. Then
lifting Alice easily between them
they placed her on some sacking at
the bottom of the cart
Count Jura placed his precious dia-
monds beside her, jumped in himself,
and very soon they were numbering
along heavily.
He watched Alice like lynx. The
iolting motion soon began to rouse
her, and he answered the drivers
questions briefly while he kept his
eye upon her.
At the first look of returned con-
seriousness, under pretence of making
her comfortable, he bent over her.
Scream or utter one word" he NUT
tered fiercely, "and I shoot you like
dog"
Alice shrank away from his flash
ing eyes. All that she had undergone
had undermined her strength; the ia
tigue and walking of the night before
made every limb ache; she could not
make any resistance to his cowardly
,nreats; she had grown as weak as a
child, but her brain worked wildly.
What was happening? Where was
she going? Would no one come to
her aid?
She sent up prayer for help and
release-if need be, for death, rather
than be longer in this mans power.
Seeing her lie so quiet, Count Jura
put it down to fright, and was well
satisfied.
This girl was no spitfire like Myra,
he should be able to manage her
we'll.
He talked to the driver leisurely,
and managed to extract the knowledge
he required
The town they were approaching
was some forty miles from Moretown,
and branched off the line that led to
Uxton There he could get a train
that would take him to one of the big
manufacturing towns, lie hidden there
for a day or two, then creep cautiously
to London, and from there hurry
abroad
He reckoned that at the rate they
were going it would be quite midday
before they reached the town, but
he was we'll content.
If the station-master at Moretown
had telegraphed at once to UxtOn to
stop him there, it would be an hour
and a half or nearly two hours before
the news that he had escaped would
reach Moretown, and as, he thought
contemptuously, there would be only
one or two policemen handy, the
chances were the whole thing would
get itno a muddle and he would get
comfortably away.
Not one thought of pity was in his
heart for the girl he was carrying
away. He was lost to everything but
love and desire. No woman had ever
infiamed his heart as this fair, lovely,
slender creature did, and he swore she
should be his. AS for Myra, the wo
man he had ruined, a sense Of gratifi-
cation that she was, perchance, dead
was all her memory brought. He had
long wearied of her, and sought to be
rid of her.
He sat smoking comfortably as the
cart logged along, making his plans
with calm minuteness, while Alice
lay in agony of fear, shame, and
weakness. Her mind was peopled
with many visions. She seemed to go
back to her childhood, and saw once
again the face of that lovely woman
she had spoken of when Roy's mother
had questioned her-then all the cru
city, the harshness of Aunt Martha,
then that dark night, the CHASTITY muir
der in the woods, the memory of
Roy's pale, handsome face, and then
her hurried marriage.
Then her mind went over all the
unhappiness that followed, and vet
strangely through it all ran the pic
ture Of her husbands tender face as
he looked at her the last night they