The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1912-07-12
Copyright Iat, BY Louis Joseph vanc,
CHAPTER XVIII.

CHAPTER XVIII.
At a small hour of the morning they
made Diamond Harbor In pitch dark.
mess and without misadventure were
lsuccessful in causing themselves to be
ltranshipped, bag and baggage, to the
ltwinscrew steamship Poonah. which
vessel rode at anchor In midstream.
Toward eight o'clock of the white
mot forenoon that followed, O'Rourke,
Idn the shadow Of a long-boat on the
jPoOnah'e promenade deck, stood fin.
fishing matutinal cigar and watching
narrowly q tender ferry out a final
jbOatload Of passengers from the east.
kerp river bank.
Slowly the tender forged toward the
@steamer's side; and as 1t drew near,
IO'Rourke forgot to smoke and bent
iOver the rail to inspect with unremit.
ting interest those upon its decks
The forward deck Of the tender held
shis regard but briefly: those who
waited there, cycling impassively the
towering TANKS Of the liner, were one
and all of the east, of races, creeds
land types too numerous TO catalogue.
tThese the adventurer might not read,
|save Individually upon personal con-
tact. If trouble was to come from
them, collectively or individually, he
Iwould not know until the blow had
fallen. On the other hand, he might
Ibo able to hazard shrewd surmises as
TO the potential animus inherent in
|any one Of the Europeans who were
10 be bis fellow passengers.
The latter were a mere handful;
Aalf a dozen commercial travellers
from London, Paris, Berlin, their avo-
(cations evident beyond dispute; a sal
How English missionary with his with
Sered wife, sombre figures in the stark
1sunlight, q red.faced deputy-sub-some
lthing-or-other of the Indian govern
ln,ent, complacent in white drill and
tnew pith helmet with gay puggaree;
"a lone English girl. and a Frenchman.
The two latter held the Irishman's
attention; the girl because. even at a
distance, her slim white-clad figure
aud well-poised head seemed singu.
pariy fresh and attractive: the man
jbecause-well. because O'Rourke was
susceptible to premonitions.
He was q tall man and broad, the
pfenchman-well.made, well-groomed,
carrying himself with an indefinable
lRir Of distinction. His face was rath-
Ier pale land therefore notable in that
!c0ncourse Of dark skins). its features
strongly modelled, the mouth and chin
masked By . neatly trimmed and
pointed beard and mustache.
' O,Rourke could not have said that
~ had ever seen the man before; yet
lthere was this and that about him
@hIch struck q spark Of remipiscence
from bis memory. A suspicion flashed
through bis mind which he put aside
lXitb disdain, ss absurd and farfetch-
ed. On the other hand. He
knit his brows in puzzlement.
The very fxity Of bis regard drew
,the eyes Of its object upwards. They
encountered O'Rourks's. fingered brief.
~ the Vicomte des Trebes. he was
strangely content to play waiting
game.
Z The lrishman. however, had known
stranger things than that one man
should seem the counterpart OF am
other. And by nothing mere than
this questionable accident 81 resem.
blance did De Hyeres give him reason
to believe him anything but what he
,GlIamed to be. The mans demeanor
was consistently discreet and self.
contained; he moved about the ship
-|Openly and without any apparent at
Aempt to pry upon the doings OF the
adventurer, whom he fell into the
easy ship-board way of greeting ami
ably but coolly. Only in one instance,
indeed. did they exchange more than
but courteous salutations, and then
De Hyeres himself seemed to seek
the interview, approaching O'Rourke
directly.
This was at night. when O'Rourke
occupied a chair on the leeward side
of the saloon deck, consuming meci.
tative after-dinner cigar. De Hyeres
stepped out of the cOmpanionway,
glanced swiftly this way and that. and
sauntered toward the lrisbman with
can unlighted cigarette held conspicu-
Ously between his fingers.
O'Rourke likewise surveyed his sur
rOnndings in two brief glances: and
was contented to find that they were
alone, or as much alone as two can he
upon steamship. For they were,
after all, well matched; and one OF
them he knew to be armed. Shiftine
in his chair SO that his revolver lay
convenient to his hand, as De Hyeret
approached the Irishman removed his
cigar from between his teeth, hicked
away an inch of ash and silently prof
Tered II in the prescribed fashion.
The Frenchman accepted the conr'
tesy with bow, applied the fire to his
cigarette, inhaled deeply and returned
the cigar with formal phrase OF
thanks. He fingered for moment
pufIing and gazing of over the tlack
sstarlit expanse Of the Bay OF Bengal
Ilonolv IN Ito dim and far horizon, tbeI