The independent-reporter., 1909-12-30

himself Ia guest - the danse be hun'
Rerd for 90 rr~s<iily -efrsid of kes'
Rhe greet-d him with . new. brighter
light IN her eyes. A CULVER of delight
long IN restraint came into her voice.
lie saw and felt the welcome IN hef
manner. The bleed snrged Go his bead
lie mumbied bis request Then. for
the first time. he WAS ciasping her IN.
gers. touching her waist. dra wing her
gently toward bis heart Once as they
swept around the almost empty hall.
room she looked up inte his eyes
Neither had spoken. His lips parted
suddenly, and his nngcrs closed down
upon hers. She saw the danger light
In his eyes and kew the unuttered
words that struggled to his lips and
stopped THERE. she never knew why
she did II. but she involunta riiy shook
her head before she lowered her eyes.
He knew what she meant His heart
turned cold again. and the distance
widened once more to the old proper.
tons.
He left her with Bobby Browne and
went out upon the cool, starlit bal
cony. There he gently cursed himself
for fool, a dolt, an idiot
The shouts of laughter and the clap
ping of hands on the inside did not
draw him from his unhappy reverie.
He did not know until afterward that
the official announcement Of the en-
gagement of Miss Minnie Pelham and
Thomas Saunders was made by Bobby
Browne and the health OF the couple
drunk in a series OF bumpers.
Chase's bitter reflections were at
last disturbed by a sound that came
sharply to his attention. The noise
came from directly below where he
stood He peered over the stone rail-
ing. The terrace was barely ten feet
below him. A mass Of bushes fringed
the base of the wall. dark. thick. fra
grant. The next moment dark figure
shot out from the shadows and skunk
off into night, followed by another and
another and yet others, seven In all.
Then the truth suddenly dawned
upon him. The prisoners had escaped
from the dungeon!
He dashed into the ballroom and
shouted the alarm. Confusion ensued.
"Theres been treachery," he ex.
planned quickly. "Some one has re-
leased the prisoners. We must keep
them from reaching the walls. They
will overpower our guards and open
the gates to the enemy. Britt. see that
the searchlight Ia trained on the gates.
We must stop those fellows before 1t
is too late. Time enough to hunt for
the traitor later on"
Two minutes later a swarm of arm.
ed men forsook the mock charity ball
and sailed forth to engage In realities.
Firing was soon heard at the western
gate. half a mile away. Thither the
eager pursuers rushed. The wide ray
from the searchlight swung down upon
this gate and revealed the forms of
struggling men.
The prisoners had fallen suddenly
upon the two Greeks who guarded the
western gate, surprising them cleverly
Both fell under the dubbed guns OF
their adversaries.
Chase and Selim were not more than
hundred yards away when the
Greeks went down. The binding
glare of the searchlight aided the pur-
suers, who kept outside its radius. The
fugitives, bewildered. confused by the
bright glare In which they found
themselves. faced the light boldly five
of them kneeling with guns raised to
protect their two companions who
started across the narrow strip. which
separated them from the massive gate
Selim gave shout and stopped sud
denly, throwing his rifle to his shoul.
der
"They have the keys" he cried.
"Shootv'
one of the two men leaped into the
air and fell like log. Chase under
stood the necessity for quick work and
fired an instant later. The second
man fell in heap thirty feet from the
gate. His companions returned the
fire at random In the direction from
which the well aimed shots had come.
'Under covert shouted Chase. He
and Selim dropped into the shrubbery
in time to escape whitening fire from
outside the gates. The searchlight re-
vealed compact mass Of men beyond
the walls. 1t was then that the In
siders realized how near they had
come to being surprised and destroyed
minute more. and the gates would
have been opened to this merciless
horde.
The prisoners. finding themselves
trapped. threw themselves upon the
ground and shrieked for mercy. Lord
Deppingham and the others came up
and. scattering well. began to FIRE at
the mass outside the wall. The island
ers were at disadvantage. They could
not locate the opposing marksmen on
account Of the binding light in their
faces. 1t was but a moment before
they were scampering OF into the dark
wood, shrieking with rage.
The Eve fugitives were compelled to
carry their fallen comrades and the
two Greeks from the open space In
front of the gates to a point where IT
was safe for the defenders to approach
them without coming in line with n