Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1911-08-17
son was e, sir, And what naas m
nutten go aw'y with 'imf~

nutten 60 aw'y with 'imf"
He didn't; he went after him TO
4. Amber caught his tongue On
the verge Of an indiscrotion; no mat
ter what his fears. they were not yet
become q suitable subject for discus
sion with Rutton's servant. Il think
he amended lamely, "he had forgotten
something"
"And 'e's out there nowl Ny Gawd.
what q night" He hung in hesitation
for q little. ibid q wear Is topcoat
and at. sir?"
mo! he went suddenly. I don't
think he intended to be gone long"
"Td better go after I'm. then. Ell
ave pneumonia. . I'll Just jump
into me clothes and He slipped
into the back room. to reappear with
surprisingly little delay, fully dressed
and b~uttoning a long ulster round his
throat. you didn't 'appen to mo-
tice which wy e went, sir?"
'As well as I could Judge, to ths
east"
Doggott took down q second ulstes
and q cap from pegs in the wall. "rn
do my best to find i'm; q might lose
'imself, you know, with no light nor
nothin'."
The door slammed behind him.
Alone, and a prey to misgivings he
scarce dared name to himself, Am.
Der from the window watched the blot
Of light from Doggott's handlamp fade
and vanish in the storm; then, becom-
ing sensible to the cold, went to the
fireplace, kicked the embers together
until they blazed, and piled on moro
fuel.
A coy, cracking sound began to
be audible IN the room, sibilant jets Of
flame, scarlet, yellow, violet, and
green, spurted up from the driftwood.
Under the hypnotic influence Of the
comforting warmth, WEAKNESS de-
scended upon Amber like a burden;
he was afraid to close his eyes o. to
sit down, lest sleep should overcome
him for all his intense excitement and
anxiety. He forced himself to move
steadily round the room, struggling
against a feeling that all that he had
witnessed must have been untrue, an
evil dream, akin to the waking Wis
ions that had beset him between the
loss of Quain and the finding of Rut'
ton. The very mediocrity of the sur
roundings seemed to discredit the
testimony of his wits.
In a setting so hopelessly common
place and everyday, one act Of a
drama of blood and fire had been
played; into these mean premises the
breath Of the storm, as the babu en-
tered, had blown Romance. . .
Incredible!
And yet Amber's hand, dropping
idly in his ~coatpocket, encountered Q
priceless witness to the reality Of
what had passed. Browning, troubled,
he drew forth the ring and slipped 1t
upon his finger; rays Of binding en-
erald light ~coruscated from it, da2-
zling him. With a low cry of wonder
he took 1t to the lamplight. Never
had he looked upon SO fine a stone, SO
strangely cut.
1t was set in rudy soft gold, work
ed and craven with exquisite art in
the semblance of a ~two-headed COBRA
inside the band was an inscription Sc
worn and faint that Amber exper
fenced some difficulty in dicipherini
the word Rao (king) in Devanagari
gaa1,od NV 1uroefiyao Acido from fhI
stone entirely, he ~speculated, thu
value Of the ring as an antique woult
have proven inestimable. AS for the
emerald itself, in its original state
before cutting, 1t must have beer
worth the ransom Of an emperor
much had certainly been sacrificed tc
fashion it in its present form.
To gaze into its depths was like
questioning the inscrutable greer
heart of the sea. Fascinated, Amber
felt his consciousness slip from him
as a mantle might slip from his shout
ders; awake, staring wide-eyed into
the emerald eye, he forgot self, for
got the world, and dreamed, dreamed
: ~curiously. -.
. The crash of the door closing be
!. hind him brought him to the right
, about in a panic 1utter. He glaret
. stupidity for a time before compre
bending that Rutton and Doggott ha(
returned.
2 If there we're anything peculiar II
his manner, Rutton did not remark 1t
Indeed, he seemed unconscious, for
! time, of the presence either Of Amber
or of Doggott. The servant relieved
him of his overcoat and hat, and ht
strobe directly to the fire, bending
over to chafe and warm his frost
, nipped hands. Unquestionably he la
, bored under the influence of an ex
: traordinary agitation. His limb'
q twitched and jerked n%ervously; hi
eyebrows were tensely elevated, hi!
, eyes blazing, his nostrils dilated; hi
face vas ashen gray.
, From across the room Doggott sig
nailed silence to Amber, with a fore
finger to his lips; and with q discre
ton bred of long knowledge OF hi
4 masters temper, siptoed through int
the back room and shut the door.
i Amber respected the admonitiol
throughout a wait that seemed END
less.
GRO BE c~oNTINUED.)