The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1901-03-14

him.
This is Antonio Silva's work." he
told himself. HE is lodging at St. |
Marquerite's and he hired the Arabs to |
do his bidding-to steal the chart and |
put me out of the way. Without doubt |
they are taking me into the interior, to |
sell me as a slave to some sheik. |
Heaven help me to escape from their
clutches
Hours passed and the sun was high
when the little party halted. The cap
tive's limbs were unbound, and he was
relieved of the painful gag. The hood
of the burnoose was lifted, and he saw
that he was in wild place of rocks
and bushes. He was glad to get a
handful of dates and draught of
brackish water from goatskin.
Meanwhile the Arabs. who also par
took of food, slightly relaxed their
vigilance. The mule, advancing by
inches as it cropped the herbage,
stepped on concealed serpent OR scor-
pion and was instantly bitten. 1t
plunged away at a gallop, and the
Ara bs followed with shrill shouts.
The hood fell over Quin's face again,
as he clung with both hands to the
maddened crea lures neck. He was
borne thus for hundred yards or
more, the clamor growing fainter and
fainter behind him, and then a sudden
swerve threw him off. He landed on
grassy slope, rolled over and over.
and dropped into an empty space. Far
far down he shot, before he crashed
into dense foliage and brought up in
the forks of two limbs. He clung there
for a time dizzy and bruised.
Convinced that he had nothing fur
ther to fear from his abductors, and
| that they believed him to be lying
dead and mangled at the very bottom
of the abyss, Quin now climbed to the
| narrow ledge on which the tree grew.
Except for few bruises and
scratches, he was unhurt. For 60 or
| sheer and smooth, and a dense forest
| lay 200 or 800 feet below him. A mo-
ment's reflection, and the sound of
foaming waters, opened Quin's eyes to
| the truth.
| "By Jove, here's a queer coinci-
| dence!" he exclaimed. 1--WE tumbled
over into the baron's valley, but what
cliff. that's certain. must get to the
bottom somehow, and try to find the
| inner mouth of that cave
He clung like cat to the rocky wall
advancing inch by inch, foot by foot
his body at times swaying out over
the dizzy chasm. It was an hour before
he drew near the end. Then the she'll
widened, and as he pushed on rapidly
with light and grateful heart, he
came to a triangular black hole in the
cliff. A peep inside chilled his blood
for he met the gaze of two fiery eye:
and heard the muffled snarl of wilc
beast.
As he looked back a great tawny
creature magnificent Algerian
, panther-wriggled out of the hole
An angry, rasping scream broke tht
!, silence, and ere the echo died away
; Quin had taken to his heels. The for
) est was dense and dark, primeval il
fact, but he tore a passage through
! the luxuriant underground as if i
5 were bracken. The roar of the strean
, was audible and he headed in that di
: rection.
OF sudden, emerging on ittl
open glade, fresh peril CONFRONTED
! him. From the opposite thicket ros
! a grizzly old wild boar, with yellow
f tusks and foam-fecked jaws. Quil
, lodged behind a tree on the left an
t the next instant the pursuing pan
f ther bounded into the clearing. A
once, oblivious to the presence of tn
e man, the two savage creatures en-
= gagged in desperate combat.
t It was brief combat. The par
n ther, pierced and ripped in doze
t places. bleeding profusely from it
l, wounds, relaxed its struggles.
n tried to escape, but vicious thrus
n tore its throat and neck open, and il
life ebbed swiftly as it lay squirmin
+ on the crushed grass.
l. The boar then swung round aler
ly, shifted the air and gazed wit
IS pricked-up ears, not at Quin, but
IS the direction of the stream. 1t We
q about to charge when a rifle cracke
u sharply from the thicket. A secon
II shot followed the first, and over wei
!, the boar, kicking in its death strus
u giles.
u A man stepped into view, holdin
~ his weapon in one hand, and the hi
10 den watcher behind the tree reco
nized Antonia Silva. The Portuguese
'e it seemed, had lost no time in provi.
- the accuracy of his ill-gotten chart.
- At sight of his treacherous betra
= er, whose guilt was no longer
i doubt, Quin's wrath was uncontrc
:. able.
"You traitor!" he cried
I. With that he leaped across the glad
through the still drifting wreaths
powder-smoke, and so sudden was Il
hs attack that he easily wrested the ri
as from the Portuguese. The latt
he evaded a swinging blow, and the
lis having no other weapons, he turn
% and fled for his life, with Quin in b
|