The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1912-08-15


But in a trIce he was alive again tr
his own peril In the twinklins OF an
eye he saw fash Of light gliding to.
wards him with reslstles3 impetus.
lntuitively he swung, to one side, 10
the right. and leapt TO his feet. Az
that the knife. 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 Mapping
hole and scraping hands breadth
OF skin from his forearm. Needless
OF this, only in fact subconsciously
aware that the chamois bag had fallen
to the deck, he caught at the hand
that had welded the kris; his fingers
closed about the wrist, and. braclng
himself, he swung the assassin of his
feet, So doing, his fingers slipped on
the mans greasy skin and he stun.
bled of his balance
His object, however, had been &C.
complished. The murderer. hurled O
yard or more through the air, fell and
slid along the deck into a group OF
lascars, one OF whom. like a nine.pin
was knocked over and fell atop OF
him.
ORourke recovered and stepped for
ward. revolver poised TO administer
the quietus to the murderer-an amt
able intention which was. however,
doomed to Illustration. With almost
uncomfortable swiftness the group OF
lascars had become n mere tangle OF
arms and legs, n melange OF strug
CLING limbs and bodies Where he
had thought to find a single PROSTATE
form, there We're 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 Stay 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 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 twitchng 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 n face TO the stars,
each with Its dread background;
black stain that grew and spread slow.
iy upon the white, dazzling
planks.
Quietly the tallest of the ascars
moved forward, knelt and drew the
knife from the back Of his dead fel.
low. He Strengthened up, facing
ORourke without tremor, his eyes
aiire, 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.
o Rourke eyed him coldly through
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 sign from the Sc.
rang, two OF the lascars seized the
body. A subsequent splash oversize
told tho lrishman tina: his order had
been carried out. But he heard Il
abstractedly. confronted as he was
with a problem whose difficulty was
not to be underestimated. the problem
embodied In the statuesque, impertur.
bable serang
II was hard to know what to do,
what to believe, what action to take.
II he were right in his surmlse, the Sc
rang should rightly be shot down in.
stantly. without an instants respite.
Yet the heartless brutality upon which
his theory was based made him hssi.
tate. 1t was difflcult to believe that
the serang. had been able to accom-.
plish what O'Rourke was inclined to
credit him with; that he, the wielder
OF the kris. the murderer OF Quick,
thrown of his feet by the lrishman's
attack had deliberately involved his
fellows with him in his fall and profit |
ed by the confusion to Stay one upon |
whom no could throw the blame for
all that had happened
The weapon quivered in ORourkes
grasp. More than once in that brief
debate he was tempted to shoot the
fellow on suspicion. Yet he held his |
hand; he could not be positive. With |
every circumstance against him. he
might still be telling the truth. The
whole horrible affair might boil down
to nothing moro than an insane crime
of crazy Malay. one who. as the Sc.
gang claimed, had run amok"
He had not made up his mind when
his thoughts we're given new turn
by a new complication. in the shape
OF Mrs. Prynne herself. That lady
came I'D the Communion stems with no