The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1911-03-08

cold, demented fury. Unhealthy spots
of red sprang in his white cheeks; his
|eyes dilated to the mania of the para
nOiac.
Hatless he rushed through the little
garden, cleared the rear hedge at a
bound, and fed, like a runaway from
hell, toward the darkness of the vast
parade ground.
CHAPTER XLVIII.
The Laugh.
AS Bersonin stood by the wistaria
gate beside the pulsing motor, con-
fused thoughts rushed through his
mind into an eddying phantasmagoria,
The fear and agitation which he had
kept under only by an immense self
control returned with double weight.
All was known-thanks to the brain.
less fool in whom he had relied! The
government knew. The wild tale the
Japanese girl had told had been be.
lieved! Had there been suspicious
before? He thought of the espionage
he had fancied had been kept of late
on his movements, of the silent, sat
urnine faces he had imagined logged
his footsteps. Even his servants, even
Ishida, with his blank visage and fan.
tastic English, might be
He looked sharply at the chauffeur.
He was lighting a cigarette in the
hollow of his hand; the ruddy flare of
the match lit the brown placid face,
the narrow, secret-keeping eyes.
He tried to force his mind to a
measure of control, to look the situa.
ton in the face.
If Phil failed. If the aeroplane won
against darkness and wind-if the
bungalow was reached in time, and the
machine made harmless. Nothing
would happen. Who, then, would be-
lieve the girls wild story? Who could
show that he had made it? He had
worked at night, alone in his locked
laboratory. Besides, it would tell moth
ing. 1t would yield it's secret only to
the master mind. And if it's presence
on the roof damned anybody, it would
not be him. He had not put it there.
He had not been in Yokohama in three
days!
Ii the aeroplane did not start-he
remembered the look on Phil's face
when he rushed away!-or if it failed.
With its own deadly ray, the very ma
chine would vanish. Phil had not
known this-could not have told. The
searchers would find nothing! The
news would have flashed along the
cables that must roll up for him vast
sums in the panic of markets. And
there would be nothing to bring the
deed home to him!
Nothing? The warning had been
given before the fact. The govern
ment had taken alarm. Bureaus were
buzzing already. Sooner or later the
accusation would be running through
the street, swiftly and stealthily, from
noble to merchant, from coolie to beg
gar, from end to end of this seething
oriental city-wherein he was mark
ed man! What mattered it whether
there were evidence on which court
would condemn him? The story of his
huge coup in the bourses would be
told-would rise up against him. He
remembered suddenly tale he had
heard-of traitor to Japan cut to
pieces in tea house. An icy sweat
broke out on his limbs.
Where was there any refuge? On a
foreign ship? There were many in
the bay. He longed with desperate
longing for the touch of deck be-
meath his feet, a bulwark of blue wa
ter between him and possible ven
geance. At Kisaraz' on the Chiba
road, dozen miles to the north in the
curve of the bay, was his summer
villa, his lTeQucuI itSOiC lOI Wcch-
end. His naphtha launch lay there, al
ways ready for use. He could reach
it in an hour.
Get into the tonneau," he said to
the chauffeur, "l'll drive myself"
He took the wheel the other re-
signed, threw on the clutch, and the
clamorous monster moved off down the
quiet lane. Past ranks of darkened
shoji, with here and there barred
yellow square; by lanterned tea hous-
es, alight and tinkling, past stolid,
pacing watchmen in white duck cloth
ing, and sauntering groups of night
hawk students chanting lugubrious
songs-faster and faster, till the
chauffeur clutched the seat with I'M
easiness.
The fever of flight was on his mas
ter now. He began to imagine voices
were calling after him. From police
box ahead man stepped into the
roadway waving hand II was no