The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1911-12-14


He prepared to rise and capture her.
She retreated briskly. Read"
she commanded. Read about the
Pool of Flannel"
He stopp1l short, thunderstruck.
1.-THE Pool Of Flame?" he reiterated
slowly. What dye know about that?"
What the letter tells memo more.
What has become of it,"
But he had already withdrawn the
enclosure and tossed the envelope
aside, and was reading-absorbed, ex-
cited, oblivious to all save that con-
7eyed to his intelligence by the writ
ing beneath his eyes.
1t was a singularly curt, dry and
business-like document for one that
was destined to mold the romance of
his life-strangely terse and tritely
phrased for one that was to exert so
far.reaching an influence over the lives
OF so many men and women. Upon a
single sheet of paper bearing their let
terhead, Messrs. Secretan and Sypher.
solicitors, of Rangoon, Burmah, had
caused to be typed communication
to Colonel Terence O'Rourke, inform
ing him that on behalf of a client who
preferred to preserve his lncognlto
they were prepared to offer a reward
of one hundred thousand pounds ster-
ling for the return, intact and un-
married, of the ruby known az the
Pool of Flame. The said ruby was,
when last heard Of, in the possession
of the said Colonel O'Rourke, who
would receive the reward upon the
delivery of the said stone to the un-
dersigned at their Offices in Rangoon
within six months from date. Said
delivery might be made either in per-
son or by proxy. With which Messrs.
secr:tan and Sypher begged to re-
ular respectfully his.
Thu Irishman read it once and again,
men oriZin2 its import; then deliber-
atcly Shredded il into minute parti-
cles
49,. 80 ~%il heavily, 'just
as the O'Mahoney foretold it would!'
He sank back in his chair, and his
wife went to him and perched herself
upon the arm of it, imprisoning his
head with her arms and laying her
cheek against his.
What has come, my hearth
'One hundred thousand pounds
he said. treble Its worth
double what the O'Mahoney expect
ed.
Who is the O'Mahoney, dear?"
He reused. "An old ffiend, Beatriz
an old comrade He died some years
. back, on the banks of the Tugela
was lonely man, without kith or kin
or many friends beside meself. That
presume, is how he came to leave
the Pool of Flame with me-" He
wound an arm round her and held he1
close. "Hearken, dear, and I'll be
telling ye the story Of it.
Behind them the Internal glare Iii
up the portentous skies. Thunder
echoed between clouds and sea like
heavy cannoning. The wife shranl
close to her beloved. II am not at all
afraid" she declared, when her voice
could be heard-"with you.
Tell me about the Pool of Flame"
''The O'Mahoney left it with me
when he went to South Africa" ex
planned O'Rourke. "'Twas a paste
board box the size of me fist, wrapped
in brown paper and tied with a bit o.
string, that he brought me one even
ing, saying he was about to leave, ant
would care for 1t in his absence.
knew no more of it than that 'twa!
something he valued highly, but I pu
it away in a safe-deposit vault-whicl
scatterbrain-an Irishman. :.
Then he wrote me letter. 60
it weeks after his death-saying ht
felt he was about to 60 out and tha
the Pool of Flame was mine. HI
went on to explain that the box con
tanned a monstrous big ruby and gave
me its history, as far as he knew 1t
1T seems that there's certain
highly respectable temple in one o.
the Shan States of Burmah cts me
self forgets the name of it) and II
that temple there's an idol, a Buddhs
of pure gold, it's said. 1t would be e
perfectly good Buddha, only that II
lacks an eye; there's an empty socket
in it's forehead, and it's there the
Pool of Flame belongs-or come from
In the old days the natives called this
stone the Luck of the State, anc
maybe they were right; for when II
disappeared the state became Brit
ish possession.
I'm the war of 'eighty-f1ve, says the
O'Mahoney, a small detachment Of
British troops out of touch with theil
command, happened upon this temple
we're speaking of and took it, dispos
sessing priests and populace without
so much as days notice. The Officer
In command happened to see this eye
in the Buddha's forehead, pried it Out
and put it in his pocket. In less thar
an hour the natives surrounded the
temple and attacked in force. The