The National tribune., 1901-11-28

ence of Mark RugtoR that repellcd me
His cold. gray eyes, which looked IRON
a pallid. deathly face, sent a nanlei'$'
chill through my being. Yet there was
nothing crafty or malicious IN his glance
hut il was as if the cold s0uliess eyes OF
a corpse were fixed upon YOU
He was a man of some % years OF age
his face always clean-shaYen. his thln nan
streaked with gray. Though an English
man by birth. he had spent nearly all his
life in India l met him first at the Hto
tel Royai, in Bombay, where he was
staying with his HindoO servant
His strange appearance and manner at
tractcd my attention ut once, ana, strive
as | would, | could not Danish him from
my mind Near the hotel was a sort OF
curiosity shop. kept by a man by the name
OF Fits an old sea captain, garfulnus
individual and full of interesting remln-
isccnces of the sea. One day as was
chatting with him as was my custom
Mark Rugton passed. When he had gone
out of hearing the Shop-keeper turned TO
me and said:
Il wouldn't be in that mans place for
all the money in the Bank of England.
Why l asked.
Have you not heardY' he questioned,
looking At me in surprise
No: | have heard nothing.
Then you have missed one of the
strangest stories it may ever be your for
tune-ar misfOrtune-tO hear, he repheu;
'sThere is hardly a person in Bombay. l
venture to say who has been here any
length of time who has not heard the
story of Mark Rugton, the man without a
..'The man without n soul?' I echoed.
yes: lust what / have said-a man
without a soul All, see you smile; but
wait till you have heard the story
Then there is some queer story con
nected with this masculine Undlne: l
.sSptR1n SunpFSFIflOl, per
haps:', Ill, ho
went on with a shake Of the head. nut
when you know him as others know MN
You will change your mind, mark my
word You want me to tell you the story
Very well, but it is a grewsome tale-one
I am not fond of telling. Mark kugton
was not always the man you see hlm to-
day Twenty years ago there was not Il
more kind and generous man IN all the
country of Jijuri. He came of good
family. and his father, who had large IN
terests with the East India Company,
was possessed of vast wealth, all of which
came TO Mark. Shortly after the death
of his father. Mark was making pTepara-
tions to return to England, when, by the
merest chance, he met PatOra Wayne the
beautiful daughter of an American mis-
sionary. He fell deeply in love with her
at first sight, and as she favored his suit
they were soon 10 be married.
.'Now It happened that Hatora had an
other lover. Semir Raajul, half-breed,
the son of an English begun, who had
followed her from a station in the IN
terror He was tall. very dark, and there
was something in the fierce, eager light
that shOne in his restless eyes that ter
rifed Patora and filled her with q name
less fear of him. Though she avoided
him. he followed her like Nemesis. dog
ging her from place to place. When the
4rF0rr mar
riage was made Semir disappeared. II
that had been the last of him. God knows
what misery and despair would have been
ayerted. as well as a dreadful tragedy;
but il was not 10 be.
Il was Captain of the Princess then
as fine q sailing vessel as ever plowed
the waters of the Arabian Sea. II hap
pened that | was ready to sail at the
time of the marriage Of PatOra and Mark,
and they took passage aboard the
Princess for England. As this was soon
after the completion of the SUez Canal,
we looked forward to 4 pleasant voyage
by way Of the Mediterranean; but We
were doomed To disappointment. Con
trary winds struck Us on our way out and
blew us far from our course. Then three
of the sailors were stricken with fever
and by the time We reached the Strait
of Gibraltar two of them had died, and
three more had fallen Tictims to the dis
case. We k&d barely struck the waters
of the Atlantic. after leaving the Strait,
when we encountered one of the worst
storms imaginable, and we were driven
before il as il the Princess had been an
egg-shell
'.The night was as black as a mine pit,
and about an hour after nightfsll, Hast
ings my First Mate, informed me that
the vessel had sprung leak. and that
there was already two feet Of water n
the hold. We set the pumps 70 working,
rrai,s al on
rs steadily, and by daybreak we saw that
the vessel was doomed. The sea ass still
running high. though the storm bad, IN n
manner. ahated. We lowered the boats,
and while this was being done an awful
cry came from the cabin occupied by
Marx Rugton and his bride. We rushed
to the cabin to find Mark standing like
ono bereft of all reason, looking at his
wife who lay dead upon the floor a
dreadful knife wound in her heart
1.-The cry of anguish that came from
the poor mans lips as he stood looking
chill the stouteSt heart. Who had done
the dcedZ No one seemed TO have the
faintest idea But there was no time TO
be lost. and Mark had To be fairly hauled
into the boat, while others brought the
body Of the murdered woman. We man
aged 10 get 10 shore, which was only n
league TO leeward, and not till we were
Gafely landed did we find time to come
to a full realization of the dreadful deed.
1t had come upon us so suddenly, and at
such time, that 30 one stopped to con
slider il in its awful aspect.
Mark walked up and down the shore,
wrineing his hands and moaning under
his breath. We erected a little hut of
palms and there we laid the murdered
bride / had a talk with Hastings, and
we decided to make 4 thorough investigA-
ton of the murder. There was moi enc
among the sailors whom we could sus-
pect. 50 we turned our attention to- the
passengers. Among these was q man of
strenge and striking appearance, Of darll
complexion, with a pair of keen, flashing
eyes. lie had remained in seclusOn since
setting sail and few had caught a glimpse
OF him: but as soon as it was known that
be was none other than Semir Raajul,
the HindoO lover Of PatOra, suspicion at
once pointed to him as the one guilty Of
the terrible murder.
I'VE had no proofs. Of course, and kept
our suspicious TO ourselves. Meantime
we buried PatOra in o little grove OF
palms. After that Mark grew despond-
ent and throwing himself on the grave
lay there till he was forcibly taken away,
de refused 20 eat or drink, and that night
he became dangerously i'll. raving and 90
ing 'i in q mad way that would raise
the hair On ones head. 1t was not till
we learned It from Semir that we knew
he had taken poison. All efforts to save
hiu were futile, and it was shortly after
midnight when Hastings came to me and
told me he was dead
1T was q terrible thing sir, a terrible
ending TO the lives of the happy pair who
had sailed an tho princess ekart tiut