The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1910-01-12

Remember" she cried. you
are not to kill him!"
Peter Brutus had risen from
the floor, half dazed but furious.
He made a vicious leap at King,
his. knife ready for the lunge.
I'm glad it's you," roared
King. leaping aside. His fist shot
out and again Brutus went down.
The men in the doorway actually
laughed.
"A good blow, even if it avails
you nothing" said one of them
|dryly. He is not an especial ia
vorite with us. Return to your
room at once. Miss Platanova,
call your uncle. 1t is now neces-
sary to bind the fellows hands.
They are too dangerous to be al
lowed to roam at large in this
fashion,"
All day long Truxton paced his
little prison, bitterly lamenting his
ill-timed effort. Now he would
be even more carefully guarded.
His hands were bound behind his
back; he was powerless. If he
had only waited! Luck had been
against him. How was he to know
that the guard with the keys had
gone upstairs when Olga brought
his breakfast down? 1t was fate.
The 23d dragged itself into the
past and the oath was following in
the gloomy wake of it's predeces-
sors. Two days more! His own
death was not far away. 1t would
follow that of the prince and of
Olga Platanova, his friend. But
he was not thinking of his own
death; he was thinking of the
princes life!
The atmosphere of suppressed
excitement that characterized the
hushed gatherings in the outer
room did not fail to leave its
impression upon him; he knew
there was murder in the hearts of
these fanatics; he could feel the
strain that held their hitherto We
hement lips to tense whisperings
and mutterings. He could distin-
guish the difference between the
footsteps of today and those of
yesterday; the tread was growing
lighter, unconsciously more
stealthy with each passing hour.
Forty-eight hours! That was
all.
TruXton found himself crying
bitterly from time to time; not be-
cause he was in terror but because
he knew of the thing that hourly
drew nearer despite the fact that
he knew!
Olga Platanova's voice was
heard no more before the Commit
tee of Ten. Something told him
that she was being groomed and
|prlmed in an upstairs room {.
Primed like a gun of war! He
wondered if she could be praying
for courage to do the thing that
had been set down for her to do.
Food now came irregularly to
him. She was no longer prepar-
ing it.
She was making herself ready.
Early that night, as hel ay with
his ear to the crack of the door,
he heard them discussing his own
death. 1t was to come as soon as
Olga had gone to her reward. She
was not there to defend him.
Spantz had said that she was
praying in her room, committing
her soul to God! Truxton King
suddenly pricked up his ears, at
tracted by a sentence that fell
from the lips of one of the men,
"Tullis is ON his way to the
hills of Dawsbergen by this time.
He will be out of the way on the
26th safe enough
Count Marlanx was not to be
satisfied until he had found the
means to draw him away from
Edelweiss,' said another. "This
time it will work like a charm.
Late this afternoon Tullis was
making ready to lead a troop of
cavalry into the hills to effect a
rescue. Sancta Maria! That was
a clever stroke! Not only does he
go himself, but with him goes a !
captain with one hundred SOL
diers from the fort. Ha, ha!
Marlanx is fox! A very excep-
tional fox!"
Tullis off to the hills? With
soldiers, to effect a rescue! Trux-
ton sat up, his brain whirling.
"a wise fox" agreed Brutus,
thickly. His lips were terribly
swollen from Kings final blow.
"Tullis goes off chasing a jack-o'-
lantern in the hills; Marlanx sits
by and laughs at the joke he's
played. tt is good! Almost too
good to be true. l wonder what
our fine prisoner will say to it
when the new prisoner comes to
keep him company over the 26th."
Continued Tomorrow