The San Francisco call., 1904-04-24

his manner served only to arouse my
anger, and again it got the better Of
me.
And what am I. sir 1 snarled. "the
captive OF a bandit or a prisoner Of
WARP"
That will be for you to determine.
my dear Martyr" he said with yawn;
and he called a boy, who brought a
bottle of cognac and a wine glass. At
a word my wrists were freed, and a
glass was filled and placed before me.
The liquor gave me strength to be sem
sible and keep still. 1t made the exas-
perating smile on his face return; at
last he threw back his head and
laughed outright and heartily. 1 glared
across the table, insane to seize that
white throat. but / kept still. Finally
when he realized / would amuse him no
longer, he sobered ard drank again.
NO, captain. I IA no bandit, nor are
you 4 prisoner of war. In fact, this is
quite irregular, / W you will allow me
the liberty TO say that you have pro-
pensity for acting in the way" and he
smiled and put his cigarette to his lips.
cooking his head to avoid the smoke.
and locked at me.
"A bad habit of trying to do what
am bid" / answered hotly. though I
was attempting now TO meet him on
his own ground OF supercilious indiffer-
ence: "I do not play imposror. tn, --gh, :"
added casually; II know something
besides deceit"
Par Dieu." he growled suddenly,
''but / th1 NgSt that your long suit
and / knew ne meant the travesty Of
the funeral just completed l had, at
last. touched the man to the quick. 1
probed deeper now. mad with fear for
Dulcine.
You corrupted the priests at Lynx
Island; you destroyed the temple, and
the hlSCd of a score of better men than
you is on your head You are now
numbering q helpless girl by making
way with me. And by the God in
heaven your quarters shall swim in
blood for that
The man began laughing again. and
it was plain now that my fear for the
girl had buried all~e was the cause OF
his hilarity. 1 certainly had got my
self in a devilish plight. the more so as
my captors had much to avenge them
selves for. But then, suddenly, the
black eyes narrowed on me, and the
light of laughter died down, smothered
by hate.
Jamie, boy, how came you into all
this? What have you been doing? l viii;
tell you, so you may know with whom
you are dealing. You sailed from Lynx
Island in the night TO Han Chow. The
coward Kepneff failed you. and the
or1 n Kair1ninc Won
told Oranoff the Queens body was in
the new sarcophagus. At midnight you
met Dulcine Oranoff and induced her to
make good your failure. Lieutenant
Kim and you placed her in the sarcoph-
agus at daylight that morning.
Aghast as I was at this mans knowl-
edge, 1 played my part as best could
and smiled, when he paused. indiffer-
entity.
And what have you gained" 1
sneered presently, for all your spy
ing?"
He started up quickly, for this was a
tender spot-his failure-and he cried:
Il have gained all you have lost
knew he meant Dulcine, and trem-
bled. Did he mean anything more?
My Cod" thought land here /
sprang to my feet with a gasp-"did he
release Dulcine himself and take her
captive tco?''
Promptly the villain laid revolver
on the table before him and /
sat down, my head in my
hands. 1t was bad enough to
believe Dulcine to be in that
marble tomb, but held a cap
tive in a den of this mans
choOsing-ohi this broke my
spirit utterly, and 1 groaned
aloud.
"Come, come, lad. groans
will not save fair lady" he
said presently with mocking
hilarity; but follow me. and
1 will tell yo \ what will"
We went out "Sahib," his
servant, and myself, and
mounted three Korean po- 4
nies. I was sent on in front, +
and for half an hour we fol- e
lowed little path over a l.