The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1910-04-07
CHAPTER XII.-(Continued.)


But Betty now tried her wiles on
Meta English. her smattering OF
French and a base maceration of Ger
man were hurled at the black girls
ears. Meta pretended to understand
nothing Betty said to her. Tyoga was
absent, lie Malheureux apparently had
disappeared into thin air. and Betty
was like Gagged lioness. She was per-
mitted to wander through the Castle
for such the ediflce proved to be, put
with Meta ever at her side. The ar
chitecture of the castle was or non
descript type, and ii was rudely fasn-
Toned of granite, moss and vine grown
and surrounded by parked gardens
filled with tropical foliage and flowers.
At the end Of the gardens was a MAS
matte river, thickly green and vile OF
odor. filed with rank reptiles and nau-
seous water plants. Beyond the river
stretched the desert yellow and hard.
All this you could see from the upper
windows of the castle. farther than
radius Of fifty yards around the por-
ticos Betty nor her handmaiden was
not allowed to set foot. Within the
castle was a small sandpacked court
with an asthmatic fountain and neat
wrung plants. There Betty and Meta
sat and Betty read the few books that
were available. tried to teach Meta TO
dance and learned dances Of her in re-
turn; tried. too. to learn Metas gut
! tural speech and failed sadly in teach
ing English to Meta. Which. along
with certain other occurrences that
happened as time went on, made Betty
fairly certain that Meta already spoke
English, or else understood II so per-
fectly that the girl was under instruc-
tons to betray no familiarity with the
foreign tongue. A favorite game OF
these two girls became variation of
lawn tennis. a native game, which they
played seated, hurting over a low net
celluloid balls of light weight and gay
| colorings.
The evening of the third day Betty
grew overwhelmed with such an un-
comfortable loneliness that she could
not help crying. Meta, who had just
brought her supper OF cocoanut. fresh
ly cut. mixed with pineapples and
| guavas. a trussed pigeon. figs. dates,
| and fell sobbing. too. and tried mar
ticulately to find out what she want
| ed.
"Tyoga, Tyoga." walled Betty. Her
nerves were at breaking point and the
| jackal who howled in the hills to the
north was Grazing her with his yowl-
| ing, and she was sick. so sick. of 1t
| all. of the mystery, the silence. the
| loneliness.
Meta hesitated and then ran away
| Ia Oh laH
after an absence Of a quarter of an
hour or So bearing in her hand a wax
tablet on which was written in an old
fashioned slanting hand:
"Tyoga cannot come to you yet. Will
| you be patient but little longer? She
is very busy. She will try ard come
in a FEY. mornings"
| Betty took the tablet to bed with
her, telling herself that she was get
| ting positively foolish.
| Meta went along. caressing her as
much as she dared. Betty began to
| lose sight of the fact that Metals skin
was black She had already done this
with Tyoga. AS Meta al ied Betty TO
disrobe the slaves hand caught in the
slender chain Of the little gold locket
| that Betty wore always round her
throat. and snapped its links asunder.
The chain fell to the floor. and as Il
hit the thing the locket flew open.
disclosing Larry Morris face Meta
| picked 1t up, sighted the face, and
| girl-like. scented the trouble. She
| gazed intently at Larry's counterfeit
presentment. studying it closely. Then
she nodded her approval and shook an
accusing finger at Betty, which moved
Betty TO tears again.
Meta laughed, and with much sim
pering began to finger around within
the capacious flounces of her striped
| kilt With much Precipitation. and
| with what might have been bushes on
| a fairer skin She finally produced an
/ odd little hand. painstakingly carved
from ivory with inlaid nails and veins
of gold She held this high for Betty
| to gaze at, then pointed alternately to
| herself and Larry Morris picture with
such Illuminating pantomimes that
| Betty Immediately estimated that the
ivory hand was the troth-sign OF Meta
and of a somewhere duslSy-beloved,
Tyoga was three days In coming.
Then she was much distraught and
looked like a ragged edition of her
once buxom self. First she called
Meta aside and spoke with her long
and earnestly-Betty would have VOW
I ed it was in French. Then Tyoga came
TO Betty.
you are in danger of your life." she
said. simply. I'VE all are. We are
sorry for this. Miss Lancey. we had
mt expected IT. We had thought all
that all precautions had been taken
| You and Meta must be left alone here
In the castle for weeks. But be not
afraid. Besides the secret entrance
which none knows but Meta. there Is
no approach to the castle save from
that river on the south and to cross
that"-she shuddered-"to cross that il
to swallow death. / have promised
you a safe return TO your people, and
go now to make that assurance doubly
sure. lie Malheureux sends you his
best wishes. and Is sorry he cannon
come in person. and now, FAREWELL"
The negress turned and left the two
girls together. Betty terror stricken
homesick. unnerved, Meta stolid. i'm
mobile as the castle itself
For several weeks the weather was
fine, almost supernatural in its beauty
and glow. Betty trolled the castle over
for hint or trace of any electrical APP
paratus. but none did she find. There
were dozens of chambers similar to the
one she occupied. what might be a
throne room, a great dining hall. a
| mammoth kitchen. and one big room
that possibly was an observatory, but
which was most securely bolted. barred
and cemented shut. Even American
prowess dared not tamper with such
solidity of masonry.
Meta and Betty had finally accom-
plished species of pigeon dialect that
like Crusoe and his man Friday per-
mitted them to signify their wants and
dislikes but prohibited the dangerous
conversation of condolences and per
sonal communications unto which
women are so prone to fail, Betty had
given up the idea of the note in bot
tie, the sensational wireless messaSe
ana such like methods of communica-
4 with fE1 a