The San Francisco call., 1904-04-24
CHAPTER XXI.
NE MAsoUERApERs.

THE MASQUERADERS.
When I regained consciousness, the
sun was in the zenith. The horse to
which 1 was tied was climbing upward
slowly. and behind me rode two men.
We were still ascending rocky ridges
toward the mountain crest, which 1
now saw was not far distant. The men
behind me talked excitedly; now and
then they laughed. My capture evil
IDENTIFY meant much TO them, yet they
may not have been thinking OF me at
all. At any rate. all I knew was that
they talked Chinese-and perhaps i
could not have known anything worse.
OF course I knew nothing OF their des-
tination. though I recognized at once
the stony byroad on which / had come
up from Han Chow to Keinning.
I think no one ever cared less about
the future than did then. I remember
1 wished to "go TO my Gawd like a SOL
der" as the English soldiers sing-not
10 be tortured 10 satiate the hate of a
Chinese mandarin.
] was bound with ropes made of
twisted straw: now and then by raising
myself On. my hands, or by straighten-
ing the muscles % my limbs, was able
I thought Of Dulcine smothering in that
marble tomb. Then I relaxed my mus
cles and let my bonds cut and tear me.
Yet. as time passed the same thoughts
came in spite OF the pain. I remem-
bered the distracted Oranoff, and
prayed God he would believe We had
run away together; and / swore, so far
as i was concerned, that he should
never know otherwise.
But what of Dulcine? Could she live'
Had the concussion Of the falling OF
that tremendous tablet killed her? II
not, was she not alive? / remembered
the great size Of the tomb and knew
she could not exhaust the air-in it in
an hour or q day-no. not in week As
for food, she was buried In it-food to
last a souls lifetime: yet the fragrance
OF that cake and spice, would not that
suffocate her2 And 1 really wondered
II II would not be a blessing to her TO
hope that IL would, and speedily!
With these thoughts came hope-a
hope quite as agonizing es the despair
IN which it was conceived. There was
chance e1ough Of the girls living. be
lieved, T. warrant any attempt to es-
cape even though I had to thread the
finest needle IN the world to do II; il
alive. Dulcine could not live very long,
and IL / would bring assistance must
work quickly. The measure Of my life
measured hers. and the least could do
now was to risk my life generously in
the attempt TO save hers.
We hid that day in a deep valley
where my guides treated me with bet
ter favor than had hoped, and at dark
we started on again. 1t was midnight
. before we came up TO a hut on the
, mountain near to the rocky road, where
my legs were unbound, and, supported
as ] had need to be, by a servant,
was taken into a lighted room and
dropped upon a stool at the end Of a
long table.
The light blinded me. but knew q
man sat opposite. Slowly mis- features
became distinct. / started, for ]
thought at first it was Oranoff. Then il
was all plain-I was facing the mas
querader who had lured me from Dull
cine's side.
He had replaced the false imperial
10 give me a better welcome, and obvi-
ate an introductiOn-and he grinned a
hellish grin as ] stared aghast. Now
saw that his face was too wide Tor Ora
noff's and lacked, on closer view, the
coloneIs color: the black hair and eye
brcws. however, helped the deception.
Mr.. Robert Martyr, / believe" The
wild grimace returned the moment the
words were spoken.
AT your service" answered sharp
ly: / would not hSve the devil outdo
.me and then I blu-ted out quickly and
angrily enough: BY God. you shall pay
dear for this outrage. sir"
q jamie" he replica, drawing the
Quelpartien oath like a native, and
drew the false beard from his face.
Then he rolled cigarette and lighted
il. looking at me out Of the corner of
his eye. Sore as was, and exhausted,
] looked this man over as 1 had never
looked at another. That he was surely
the tool OF Prince Tuen knew; beyond
that I could not get; his nationality