The Washington times., 1911-11-07
THE TIMES DAILY SERIAL STORY
The Scarlet Scarab
BY Albert Paon Tene 1ss:! s: .n The ar: & '1s s. % s
Copyright The Frank A. Munsey col
Author Of In the LIONS Mouth" THE I
gftive." and "Blundeirs Last Cues
tcopyrisht. Tn. Frank A. Mun..y Co,

powerless to do aught except to us
there impotent and groaning, awaiting
the moment when the swaying shelf
Of rock should collapse beneath her
weight.
There was but one thing left TO do;
there was tIt one step more in life for
me. gathered myself together to swing
over the steep eaithen precipice that
separated us. Then I started back with
cry, unnerved, trembling.
For up toward her. out of that black
abyss below, was creeping weird grue-
some Thing!
On ali foIrs. 1t crept. indistin,t, shape
less, in the gloom of the fissure. II
form, but to glide upward through tie
drifting smoke on the wings of darkness
Then as 1t drew nearer could see
that It was moving along a narrow
sure by the downward rush of soiue
great boulder. Up the steep crease II
crawlod, cat'ike, writhingly. on a Path
way that looked far too narrow and too
upoert ain to support Being OF half Its
At length It reached the rock ledge
where lay Doris Todd. It paused in Its
wormlike Upward maneuvers and gazcd
at her. To my overwrought brain II
was something unbearably horrible that
this Creature OF Earth and Darkness
rhould profane my dead love with Its
With crablike gesture 1t reached out
, an arm and touched her. Then my self
control fed.
With a scream snatched up a stone
| moment earlier struck the ash-piled
i ground at my side. It was red-h and
burned me to the bone; but / whirled
1t sloft and dashed 1t downward at the
subterranean creature that had dared
modest her.
! My nervous. excited aim was false.
The stone narrowly missed the creature
| and bounded DOWN the n'easureless
| depths Of the fissure. There was no
thud to indicate that 1t ever found a
resting place
But AZ sound of my cry the creature
Eadsed and looked upward The light
and It was Billy GreGg!
Billy Gregg. coated with ashes dirt
and slime almost past recognition. yet
wearing on his pallid. dirt-grimed face
| that old perennial grin.
Pete" he observed. his voice carom-
ing in hollow echoes from side to side
, or the cavern. cavern. Pete: you're cheesy
of a house. But what's your idea in
| maxim me your target?"
The revulsion had turned me dizzy;
but in an instant l was myself again.
rs she aead?" i gasped.
| Dead? Why should she be? Sure she
! amt! Not even hurt. So far's I can see.
| But she's tainted. These Matteucci di-
: VeTSlpIiS are KinO o strcnuOuS WOHl-
en-. He's liable to have an accident on
his hands one of these Gays. Hold on a
second and III bring her up to you"
While / crouched. bTeathless and hor-
| Ior-wrung. Gregg lifted her gently, laid
her across his lumpy. muscular shoul-
ders. and slowly began again his ascent
along the narrow groove. Had the cav
ern's sides been of mere earth they
double weight. But they were of tufa
and clay. solid and compact.
1t must have been boulder of incal-
plowed so sharp furrow in that tough
wall. Yet as 1t was the sides Of the
groove crumbled at Billy's every step.
end great bits of the edge broke loose
and crashed downward into the gulf
! Inch by inch. foot by foot, Gregg
y wriggled his upward way puning and
grunting under the strain that called on
the last reserves of even his hickory
hard muscles.
Above ] waited dumb nnd breathless
IT seemed incredible that any human
being could keep footing and balance
on that narrow and evcr-narrowinG
groove.
He swung out perilously far OVER the
side. More than once he almost lost
his balance-wavered over me brSlk,
and then, scratching and Clawng like u
cat on a wall, recovered nimself.
One lapse of nerve, one instant OF
terror and he must have been lost. But
in intervals of painting he snickered
wheeZily and muttered:
Say. that Metteucci chaps a Won
der! He's got Coney beat 4 mile!
There amt a thing at Luna Park or
Dreamland or Steeplechass that's a
patch on that slide ] took. Pete!
Ground inst opened up and down went
Willie. Bang! I fetched up against a
rock as big as the Statoo of Liberty,
felt my way along lp. follerin' the
scratch in the dirt that the rock made
an pretty soon what do I run across
but Miss Todd, all neatly disposed or
another rock! An then this path all
fixed for climb. 1t beats me how Mat.
teucci could "a framed it all up like
this. I-now what are we up against -
he broke off abruptly. This groove
don't go no farther"
And. indeed. the crease OF clay he'd
terminated six feet below the surface IL
sheer wall. Stamping for precariou.
fonthold BILLY Gregg swore softly.
Continuation of This story VIII
lie Found In TOmOrrOw's