Baraboo weekly news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1912-197?, 1912-10-24
How did you get here?''

"Dcn't you know?"
George wasn't certain, but the girls
voice was cold and accusing.
"I?.
eyes. Wasn't it the note that you
wrote to me?"
Ryanne took his head in his hands,
YEARLY. 81 wrote you no note, For
tune; / have never written you note
of any kind You do not know my
handwriting from Adams. In Gods
name, why didn't you ask your mother
or your uncle? They would have rec
ognized the forgery at once. Who
gave it to you?"
'Mahomed himself"
Damn him!" Ryanne grew strong
under the passing fit of rage. mo,
don't tell me to be silent. don't care
who pulls through, generally. But
this takes the spine out of me. I'm
to blame; it's all my fault"
''Say no more about it." She be-
1ieved him. She really hadn't thought
him capable of such baseness, though
been inclined to accuse him. That
he was here, a prisoner like herself,
was conclusive evidence, so far as she
was concerned, of his innocence. But
she knew him to be responsible for
the presence Of Jones; knew him to
be culpable of treachery Of the mean
est order; knew him to be lacking in
generosity and magnanimity toward
man who was practically his benefac-
tor. what does Mahomed want?"
"The bally rug, Fortune. And Jones
here, who had it, says that it is gone"
Vanished, magic-carpet-Wise," sup
plemented George.
"And Jones would have given it up"
"And thousand like it, if we could
have bought you out Of this"
Clones and I could have managed
to get along"
eve shouldn't have mattered"
"And would you have returned to
Mr.. Jones his thousand pounds?"
eyes, and everything else 1 have"
quite honestly.
Don't worry any more about the
rug, then. l know where it is"
"You?" cried the two men.
eyes. ! stole it. did sQa thinking
to avert this very hour; to save you
from HARM" to George, "and you from
doing a contemplate thing" to Ry-
anne. "It is in my room, done up in
the big steamer-roll. And now I am
glad that I stole it."
Ryanne laughed weakly.
Said George soberly: "What con-
temptible thing?" He remembered
Mahomed's words in regard to Ry-
anne as the latter lay insensible in
the sand.
Ryanne, quick to seize the opportu-
nifty Of solving, to his own advantage,
the puzzle for George, and at the same
time guiding Fortune away from a
topic, the danger of which she knew
nothing, raised a hand. II bribed Ma
homed to kidnap you, Jones. Don't
be impatient. You laughed at me
when / laid before you the prospectus
Of the United Romance and Adven-
ture Company. I wished to prove to
you that the concern existed. And SO
here is your adventure upon approval.
l thought, of course, you still had the
rug. Mahomed was to carry you into
the desert for a week, and by that
time you would have surrendered the
rug, returned to Cairo, the hero of
fullfiedged adventure. Lord! what a
mess of 1t I've made. l forgot, next
to this bally rug, Mahomed loved me-"
The hitherto credulous George had
Of late begun to look into facts in
stead of dreams. He did not believe
word of this amazing confession, de-
spite the additional testimony Of For
tune, relative to Ryanne's statements
made to her in the bazaars. ~
"The bitter bitten" was Georges
| sole comment.
Ryanne breathed easier.
why not tell Mahomed at once,
and have him send a courier back for
the rug?" suggested Fortune.
"By Jove, that clears up everything
| Well do it Immediately" George felt
better than he had at any stage of the
adventure. Here was a simple way
out of the difficulty.
Softly" said Ryanne. LET us
| come down to the lean facts. If that
rug is in your room, Fortune, your
mother has discovered it long before
| now. She will turn it over to your
| estimable uncle. None of us will ever
see it again, I'm thinking. The Major
knows that Jones gave me thousand
| pounds for it." Struck by a sense of
impending disaster, Ryanne began to
tumble in his pockets. Gone! Every
shilling of it gone! "He's got that,
too; Mahomed; the cash you gave me,
Jones. Wait moment; don't speak;
things are whirling about some. Over
nine hundred pounds; every shilling
of it. We mustn't let him know that
I've missed it. I've got to play weak
in order to grow strong. But
they will at least start up row as
to your whereabouts, Fortune"
NO." thoughtfully; mo, do not
think they will
/