The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-08-05
ConHAO0dl

SlC It WOuIQ Ue d very simple matter for one of our friends to pick you off with a shot from below. Please let me pull up chair for you.
 She smiled lsnguidly, without trace of uneasiness n her manner.
 Dear officer of the day, do you think they are so foolish as to pick us off in particles? Not at all. They will dis pose of us wholesale, not by the piece By the way, has Neenah been made quite comfortable?
 'I believe so. She and Selim have the room beyond mine, thanks to Lady Deppingham.'
 Agnes tells me that she is very in teresting-quite like a princess out of fairy book. You recall the princesses who were always being captured by ogres and evil princes and afterward satisfactorily rescued by those dear knights admirable? Did Selim steal her in the beginning" You forget the pot of sapphires and | the big ruby"
 '9They say that princesses can be | bought very oheaply." Depends entirely upon the quality | of princess you desire. It's very much | like buying rare gems or old paintings. I'd say. Speaking of princesses and ogres, has it occurred to you that you would bring a fortune in the market?" | "Mr. Chaser
 "You know, it's barely possible that you may be put in a matrimonial shop window if Von Blitz and his friends should capture you alive. Ever think 1 of that? ?"
 Good heavens! You-why, what a horrible thing to sayw 1 ''You won't bring as much in the south sea market as you would in Rapp-Thorberg or Paris, but I dare say you could be sold for''- | Please, MT. Chase, don't suggest ! anything so atrociots," she cried, some thing like terror in her voice.
 "Neenah's father sold her for hand full of gems," said he, with distinct meaning in his voice. She was silent, and he went on after a moment. "Is there so much difference, after all, where one is sold, just so long as the price is satisfactory to all concsrned?''
 "You are very unkind, MT. Chase" she said with quiet dignity. T do not deserve your sarcasm"
 q humbly plead for forgiveness" he said, suddenly contrite. ''It was beast ly."
 American wit, I imagine you call it," she said scornfully. 'I don't care
 to talk with you any longer"
 Wont you forgive me? I'm a poor brute-don't lash me. In two or three
 weeks I'll step down and out of your life; that wN be penalty enough, don't you think?''
 "For whom?' she asked in a voice so
 low that he could scarcely hear the
 words. Then she laughed ironically.
 "I do forgive. It is all that a prince
 or a princess is ever asked to do, I'm
 beginning to believe I also forgive
 you for coming into my life.'
 "If I had been a trife more intelli-
 gent should not have come into it at
 all,'' he said. She turned upon him
 quickly, stung by the remark.
 "Is that the way you feel about ft?''
 she asked sharply
 You don't understand. A man of
 intelligence would never have kicked
 Prince Karl. As a matter of fact, in
 trying to kick Prince Karl out of your
 life I kicked myself into it A very
 simple process, and yet scarcely intel
 lectual. A jackass could have done as
 much"
 "A jackass may kick at a king" she
 paraphrased casually. "A cat may
 only look at him But let us go back
 to realities. Do you mean to tell me
 That they-these wretches-would dare
 10 sell me-us, I mean-into the kind of slavery you mentionT' "Why not?' he asked soberly, aris
 ing and coming quite close to her side
 "You are beautiful. If they should take you alive it would be a very sim pie matter for any one of these men tC purchase you from the others. Yol might easily be kept on this island fol the rest of your days and the world would be none the wiser, or yot could be sold into Persia or Arabia O. Turkey. am not surprised that yol shudder. Won Blitz and Rasula meal to destroy all of us. We are to diSap pear from the face of the earth When our friends come to look for u we will have died from the plague ant our bodies will have been burned, a they always are in Japat. There vii be no one left to deny the story. Afte tomorrow n6ship is due to put in her for three weeks. They will see to that none of us get out to that ShiI nor will the ships officers know O our peril The word will go forth tha the plague has come to the island That is the first step, your highness But there is one obstacle they hay overlooked" he concluded. She looke' up inqliringly.
 My warships," he said, the whimsi cal smile broadening.