The San Francisco call., 1908-05-31
CHAPTER xIx-Contlnued.

THE man opened his old leathern
bag, and his stained hands
fumbled in Il. among irons that
were brown but not rusty. and
thong plated with wire and strangely
shaped tools in which there wero well
creased screws that turned easily.
But all these his knotty fingers re-
5ected. He knew each by the touch.
They. were good enough for ordinary
slaves. or perhaps for a double dealing
steward. or even 4 lying courtier. For
= high born maiden victim he had an
Instrument Far more refined and ex-
quisitely keen than any of these things,
and he treasured il as a very rare
possession which never left him day
or night; for 1t had been sent to him
from very far away in the south as a
present OF great value; and IT was alive
and needed the warmth Of his body
constantly lest it should die. But there
was something in the bag that be-
longed TO il and must be found before
II could be taken from its little cage
OF silver fligree in the bosom OF the
corpse faced man.
He found IL. His stained hand drew
from the bag a dry walnut. With the
point OF the knife he wore at his belt
he split it carefully and turned the
MT out of one OF the half shells. toss
h1g the other into the bag
The Greek minister watched him with
5ns
orummed impatiently, with his gioved
fingers on the high gilt pornmel OF his
saddle. Yet it was all very quickly
done, and though there was less light
there was still enough; and while he
waited the emperor read the letter
Zoe had dropped.
But she watched him, calm and fear
less. and ready 70 face death II need
be; she wondered what sort of hold
Carlo Zeno would take on his neck.
when al was known. And she saw red
all around him and behind him and
beside him up TO his knees, the red of
the guards tunics that were like scar
let stains in the twilight air.
Once more the restless horse neighed,
far of another answered him.
Then the man was ready He took
his knife and ripped Zoe's blue cotton
tunic from her throat to her left shoul-
der and down her side She tried not
even 20 shudder. for she did not know
what was coming. but she would die
bravely; and when she was dead zeno
would come and Gorlias. and they
would avenge her. Death was but
death. even BY torture, and there were
worse things in life which had been
spared her.
Furthermore, if she died. it would be
for good cause. as we'll as to help
zeno TO be free. Therefore. now that
IL was all decided. she looked a last
time az the face OF Andronicus, loose
Tipped and cruel, and then shut her
eyes and prayed God that she might
neither finch nor utter one word that
as she still hoped.
She felt the chilly air on her shoul-
der and side. and then something small
and hard was pressed against her, just
under her arm; and hands that felt like
horns but we're horribly quick and skill
fui put a bsndsge round her and drew
IL tight. and il kept the thing in its
place.
But under that thing, which was the
half walnut shell. something small was
alive and moved slowly round and
round. There was no real pain at first,
but she felt that the slow and delicate
irritation might drive her mad.
Then suddenly thrill OF wild agony
ran through her and convulsed her
body against her will. but many hands
held her now and she could not move.
The horrible borer-beetle had begun TO
work its way into her flesh under the
walnut shell.
The corpse faced man had watched
her sttentively, and when he saw her
start his ereaking voice was heard in
tle stiffness.
.iFlfe will speak before you can count