St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1909-02-27

New Orleans" he shouted as he
dashed into his room to throw his
clothes out to me to pack.
We reached New Orleans at dusk and
took a cab from the railway station.
AS we drove away looking out of the
cab window | saw sWarthy, roughly
dressed man enter another cab which
Immediately followed us. I thought
nothing of the incident at the time
except to wonder how such a looking
individual happened to be riding in
cabs.
And then the full import Of Clarke's
| devilish cunning. his mastery of the
! minds of men by the use of forces
which bOrdered on the supernatural,
daWned upon me. Here was the pilot
| which would guide us to the lair Of
the wolf and to Thaida, the spy turned
| to account against his own employer
The path lay by water, this evidently
Clarke had discovered.
| Yes, it was absurdly simple" re-
marked Clarke, quietly, divining as he
so often seemed to do my train of
thought.
las soon as found we were watched
| knew | had the master key to the
situation. It was easy to turn from
| the Swallowed to the shadow. | slipped
out of the hotel through the kitchens,
| prepared the way for you, and willie
| our pilot here was watching the front
entrance of the hotel | was within a
step Of him and watching him. You
know my method and it was not long
before | had him in my power and
| knew all that he knows. 1t is not
much except that de Loup has some
sort of rendezvous on an obscure is
land about 80 miles up the coast from
the delta. It is called the lie des
Serpents and we are going to find out
what goes on there. God send we do
not get there too late" Clarke's eyes
took faraway look and l knew he
was thinking of Thaida.
Meanwhile the stoica1 figure held
the wheel and guided us in and out
among the thinning craft, Clarke's
eyes ever upon him, Clarke's brain
ever directing the hand at the tiller.
1t was far from pleasure trip, that
t07-mile ride to the delta, which we
reached about three in the afternoon.
The presence of that silent, stoical
figure at the wheel LAY like load
on the weary eye" 1t tried my nerves
and believe that even the iron nerve
of Clarke was not immune to the in
fluence, for in an hour or two he arose,
and motioning me to take the wheel,
with few passes and a swapping of
the figures he brought our unwill-
ing guest back to a normal state. At
first he sat dazed and aWed, but as his
senses returned his ire rose and he
poured forth in mingled French and
English perfect torrent of abuse.
Clarke watched him, ready to forestall
any attempt at violence.
You have seen what may happen
to you, said my confrere quietly, when
there was at last lull. Nov you can
make your choice of three things.
Either you will guide us willingly to
Tile des Serpents or you will return
to a state of hypnosis and guide us, or
else you will be taken there in irons
and if your master should chance to
get the better of us the last living
act of mine will be to turn you over to
him and brand you as traitor
'Eet look as eef | was what you
say opp against it anyway. Say no
more. / will guide you. But will die
You all viii die. De Loup he ISIS one
devil. / hat been there once, twice
three times in re launch. Dere iss
many men dere. De Loup he tell me
he cut my eyes out eef | ever tell de
way. | hat not been on re island
but | haf seen enough. Dere ISIS nc
coed goes on dere. But Eat ISIS not my
business. | am pay to watch. | will
so but we all will die an dose what
dies first will be de luckiest."
mo. we'll not die replied Clarke
Not if l can help it, and if there is
possible way to do it / will see that
you run no risk. 1t may be you car
land us and then stand off until We
signal you If you are true to us we
will take care of you. You've only
changed employers. my good fellow
and got the best of the bargain"
Clarke's generous tone and the
sparkle of his eye seemed to inspire
sudden confidence in Bloc, as we
learned his name to be- A look sucf
as might have mantled the face of {
sergeant of the "Old Guard" when the
Little Corporal pinched his ear stole
over his features. He arose and look
ing Clarke squarely in the eye
grasped his hand. From the momen
of that action he was one of us and We
had no fear but that he would play hi:
part and play it we'll.
At last we were out on the blue
dancing waters of the gulf, beyond The
low, fiat-lying mud humps" of the del
/. ia.
The wind had now freshened ant
was blowing almost a gale With i
the sea rose, and looking through tht
green sheets of water that dashed owe
our little glass-covered cabin it dit
not seem that our frail craft coult
. live a minute. But fortunately tn
: wind was dead ahead and We wer'
taking the waves transversely, mount
| | ing them gracefully, sliding of int,
/ the trough and taking only the thil
spray of the crest, At last darkness
. fell and with 1t the wind.
Before midnight We make eet,
said Bloc, who was steering by tn
compass. Silently We drew on tn
, larder for a repast consisting of what
ever we could find that needed n