Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1909-10-15

TIC tnlng TnaI naQ happened TO 6Ol-
iingsworth chase. He had been moth
ing to her. He could not have been
anything to her had he escaped the
guns OF the assassins. And yet her
heart was stunned by the stroke that
1t had sustained. Wide eyed and sick.
she made her way to the railing and,
clinging to the vines. stared for she
knew not how long at the dull red
glow on the mountain.
The night was still and ominously
dark. She had eve known a night
since she came to Japat when the birds
and insects were so mute. A somber.
supernatural calm hung over the is
land like a pail. The smell of smoke
hung about her. She could not hell
wondering If his fine. strong body was
lying up there burned to a crisp. 1t
was far past midnight. She was alone
In the garden. Sixty feet below her
was the ground; above. the black dome
of heaven.
She was not to know till long after
ward that one of her faithful Thor
berg men stood guard In the passage
leduiuS up hom thC 6ohASA oAhS
and willing to die. One or the other
slept In front of her door through ali
those nights on the island.
Something hot trickled down her
cheeks from the wide, plying eyes
that stared SO hard. She was
dering now If he had a mother. sis
tiers. How their hearts would be
wrenched by thisl She was thinking
Of him with pity and horror in her
heart, not love.
A question was beginning to form
itself vaguely in her troubled mind.
Were all OF them to die as Chase had
died?
Suddenly there came to her ears the
sound of something swishing through
the air. An instant later a solid OBJ
ject fell almost at her feet. She start
ed back with a cry of alarm. A broad
shaft of light crossed the garden,
thrown by the lamps in the upper hall
of the chateau. Her eyes fell upon 6
wriggling. snakelike thing that lay in
this path of light.
Fascinated, almost paralyzed. she
watched 1t for a full minute before
realizing that 1t was the end of a
thick rope which lost itself In the
heavy shadows at the cliff end Of the
garden. She was standing directly
in the shaft of light. To her surprise.
the wriggling ceased. The next mo-
ment a faint, subdued shout was borne
to her ears. Her flight was checked
by that shout. for her startled. bewil-
dered ears caught the sound of her
own name.
At last, far above, she saw the glim-
mer of a light. 1t was too large to be
a star. and it moved back and forth.
Sharply 1t dawned upon her that 1t
was at the top of the cliff which over
hung<;sr garden and stretched away
to tI Some n was up there
wavi She was thinking
hard breaking In upon
herr like
Joy shot into her being. Who else
could 1t be II not Chase? He alone
would call out her name. He was
alivei
She called out his lame shrilly. her
face raised eagerly to the bobhing
light. Not until hours afterward was
Genevra to resent the use of her Chris
Ian name by the man in the clouds.
Rushing over, she grasped the knot
ted end of the rope. A glance and a
single tug we're sufficient to convince
her that the other end was attached
to a support at the top of the cliff.
It hung limp and heavy. l~ifeless. A
sharp tug from above caused 1t to
tremble violently In her hands. She
dropped it as If 1t were a serpent
Again she heard the shout, and this
time she called out a question.
"Yes," was the answer, far above.
"Can you hear mef" Greatly excited,
she called back that she could hear
and understand. "I'm coming down
the rope. Pray for us-but don't wor-
ryl Please go inside until we land in
the garden. It's a long drop, you
know"
Are you quite sure-is 1t safer" she
called, shuddering at the thought OF
the perilous descent of nearly 300 feet
sheer through the darkness.
"It's safer than stopping here. Please
go inside"
She duly com%prehended his mean
ing. He wanted, to save her from see
ing his fall In the event that the worst
should come to pass. Scarcely know
ing what she did, she moved over into
the shadow near the walls and waited
breathlessly. all the time wondering
why some one did not come from the
chateau to lend assistance.
At last that portion of the rope
which lay In the garden began to jerk
and writhe vigorously. She knew then
that he was coming down hand over
hand through that long. dangerous
stretch of darkness. The cliff reared
itself sheer to the height of $50 feet
directly behind the chateau. At the
summit of this great wall a shelving
lod0a nro{ocfod ovar tho haOOinO gar