The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1912-06-13
THE POOL Of FLAME
& STORY OF ADVENTURE AND IN
TRIGIE
by Louis Joseph vance,
CHAPTER XII.

CHAPTER Xii.
Early in the dull hot dawn cIat-
ter of winches and hustle OF
shadowy figures on the deck Of
small trading vessel, which had spent
the night between the moles of the
harbor of Algiers, announced that the
anchor was being weighed.
While this was taking place a small
harbor boat, manned by two native
watermen and carrying a single pas
senger, put out from the steamship
quay, the oarsmen rowing with a will
that limited at premium having been
placed upon their speed. The coaster
was barely under way, moving slow
ly in the water, when the boat ran
alongside. A line was thrown from
the ship and caught by one of the
watermen, the boat hauled close in,
and it's passenger taken on deck
An hour later, pipe between his
teeth, O'Rourke stood by the helms
man, staring back over the heaving
expanse, swiftly widening, that lay be-
tween the coaster and the Algerian
littoral The world behind was gray
and wan, but the skies ahead were
golden. "a fair omen!" breathed the
adventurer hopefully.
The bulk of the great ruby in his
pocket brought his thought back in a
wide swing to the girl who would be
waiting for him at Rangoon. Faith,
and l must be getting below and max
ing a dab at writing a letter to her.
|. That was nothing"
He nodded with meaning towards
the bold profile of Algiers.
An i'll wind 1t was that blew Colonel
O'Rourke into Athens. 1t has
blown itself out and been forgotten
this many a day, praises be! but that,
once it had whisked him thither i'm
mediately it subsidized and -stubborRly
it refused to lift again and watt him
forth upon his wanderings, in the
course of time came to be a matter Of
grievous concern to the Irishman.
All of which is equivalent to saying
that the dropping breeze of his
finances died altogether upon his
arrival In the capital of Greece. He
disembarked from a coasting steamer
in the harbor of the Piraeus encum-
bered with hundred francs or so, an
invincible optimism, trunk and a
kit-box, and a kings ransom on his
person in the shape of the Pool of
Flame; which latter was hardly to
be esteemed a negotiable asset. There
after followed days of inaction, while
his hopes diminished
Nearly two months had elapsed
since he had promised two people
himself and one infinitely more dear
to him-to be in Rangoon In ninety
days. In little more than a month
she'd be waiting for him there.
| And where would he be? Still was
he far by many a long and weary
mile from the first gateway to the
East-Suez; and still he lacked many
an aloof and distant dollar the funds
| to finance him thither.
| If only he could contrive to get to
| Alexandria,! Danny was there
| Danny Malone, he of the red, red
head and the ready fists; Danny, who
held the O'Rourke as only second to
| the Pope in dignity and Importance !;
who had been O'Rourkes valet in a
happier time and Of late in his hum
bier way an adventurer like his mas
| ter. He was there, in Alexandria,
| house, by virtue of money borrowed
from O'Rourke long since, at a time
| when money was to be had of the
man for the asking. And
Danny would help.
You must see O'Rourke revolving in
his mind this unhappy predicament of
| his, on the last of the many afternoons
that he spent in Greece. Draw down
the corners of his wide, mobile mouth.
stir up the devils in his eyes until
they flicker and flash their resentment,
place a pucker between the brows of
| his habitually serene and unwrinkled
forehead; and there you have him
who sat beside the little table in the
purple Of the Zappeion, with head
barred to the cool of the evening
breeze, alternately putting at a me-
diocre cigar and slipping black coffee
from the demi-tasse at his elbow
Now just as the sun was sinking be-
hind the mountains and Hymettus was
clothing its long slopes In vague violet
light Of mystery and enchantment for
this view alone ORourke took himself
to the Zappeion daily the Irishman' 6
somber meditations were interrupted
"Phew! 'Otter'n the seven brass
'inges of ELL" remarked a cheerful
voice, not two feet from his ear.
| ORourke turned with an imper
ceptible start-he was not easily sta
tied. True for ye," he assented, TAX
ing stock of him who, with his wealth
er-wise remark for an introduction
calmly possessed himself Of the va
| cant chair at the other side of the
| table and grinned a rubicund grin
across 1t.
| He showed himself a man in stature
no whit inferior to the Irishman, as
to height; and perhaps he was a
stone the heavier of the two. He
lacked, otherwise, O'Rourke's alert
| habit, was of a slower. more stoliG
and beefy build. The eyes that met
| O'Rourke's were gray and bright anC
| hard, and set in a countenance fam
ing red-a color partly natural and
partly the result Of his stroll through
| Athens heated streets