The Southern herald., 1912-07-19

Derate case or WHICH LLl-e A-1S-l
brought an aboard the Rance. put out
his arms, received the falling body,
and let it gently to the deck.
But in a trice he was alive again 70
his own peril In the twinkling Of an
eve he saw a fash Of light gliding to-
wards him with resistless impetus.
Intuitively he swung to one side, 70
the right, and leapt to his feet AT
that the knife, a kris sinuous and
keen, ran cold upon the flesh Of his
chest, slit through his shirt. caught
in the thong that held the Pool OF
Flame, and tore out, leaving a tapping
hole and scraping a hands breadth
Of skin from his forearm. Needless
Of this, only in fact subconseiously
aware that the ehamois bag had fallen
to the deck. he caught at the hand
that had welded the kris; his fingers
closed about the wrist, and, bracing
himself, be swung the assassin OF his
feet. So doing. his fingers slipped on
the mans greasy skin and be STUN
bled of his balance.
His object, however, had been 40
complished. The murderer, hurled q
yard or more through the air, fell and
slid along the deck into a group Of
lascars, one of whom, like nine-pln,
was knocked over and fell atop Of
him.
O'Rourke recovered and stepped for
ward, revolver poised to administer
the quietus to the murderer-an ami
able intention which was, however,
doomed to Illustration. With almost
inconeeivable swiftness the group Of
lascars had become a mere tangle Of
arms and legs, a melange of strug-
CLING limbs and bodies. Where he
had thought to find a single PROSTATE
form, there were six struggling in con-
fusion on the deck.
For a thought he stayed his finger
on the trigger, waiting to pick out the
undermost and slay him first Of all.
unwilling, furthermore, to waste one
Of the four invaluable cartridges re-
naming in his revolver. And then
Unexpectedly the tragedy seemed over
and done with altogether.
From the bottom of the heap Of bod.
les a terrible cry of mortal anguish
shrilled loud; and almost at once the
mob seemed to resolve into its orig
inal elements. Five lascars crawled,
arose, or flung themselves away from
the sixth, who lay inert, prone, limbs
still twitching, a knife buried in his
back.
For thought the tableau held.
there in the pure brilliance of the
moonlight; the half a dozen standing
figures, o'Rourke a space apart from
the rest, and two bodies, the one face
down, Quick with face to the stars.
each with its dread background; a
black stain that grew and spread slow.
ly upon the white, dazzling
Quietly the tallest of the lascars
moved forward, knelt and drew the
knife from the back of his dead fol.
low. He Strengthened UP, facing
oRourke without tremor, his eyes
afire, and wiped the blade of the kris
on his cummerbund.
do not shoot, sahib," he said
smoothly in excellent English "Do
not shoot, sahib, for, it is | who have
avenged. This dog" and with his toe
he stirred the thing at his feet, ran
amok. Now he is dead"
This was the serang who spoke.
ORourke eyed him coldly through a
prolonged silence. At length, "That
seems quite evident" he admitted
coolly. "Pick up that body and throw
1t overheard" he commanded sharply.
In obedience to a sign from the Sc
rang, two of the lascars seized the
body A subsequent splash overside
told the lrishman that his order hsd
been carried out But he heard II
abstractedly, confronted as he WINS
with a problem whose difficulty was
not to be underestimated, the problem
embodied in the statuesque impert,lr.
bable serang.
1t was hard to know what to do.
what to believe, what action to take
If he were right in his surmise. the So.
rang should rightly be shot down in.
stantly, without an instants respite
Yet the heartless brutality upon which
MS theory was based made him hesi.
tate, 1t was difficult to believe that
the serang had been able to accom-.
plish what ORourke was inclined Tn
credit him with; that he. the wielder
OF the kris, the murderer of Quick
thrown off his feet by the Irishman,a
attack had deliberately involved bis
FELLOWS with him in his fall and pro0t
ed by the confusion to slay one UPON
whom he could throw the blame fo,
all that had happened.
The weapon quivered in O'Rourke'x
grasp. More than once in taat brief
debate he was tempted to shoot tba
FELLOW on suspicion. Yet he held his
hand; ne could not be positive. With
every circumstance against him. he
might still be telling the truth. Tbs
wnoie horrible affair might boil down