The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1912-07-26
CHAPTER XXI.

lung across his eyes, thinking ex-
citedly, disturbed by formless fore
bodings.
Beside him Danny was packing in
6uetriously, with now and again .
pause during which he would stand
reflective, his gaze fixed upon his en-
ployer's face, q little puzzled and per-
picked.
The Poonah was pausing overnight
to discharge and take aboard cargo;
for this reason O'Rourke in his haste
to get ashore had not delayed to take
his luggage with him. On
deck, fore and aft donkey engines
were putting and chugging and chain
tackles rafting as they lifted freight
to and from the hold and the lighters
alongside.
Abruptly, without moving, O'Rourke
spoke. I'll want evening clothes,
Danny" said he. "'Tis dining | am
tonight with Mr.. Straker and his
niece, Miss Pynsent, who came with us
from Diamond Harbor. Twill save
bit of bother to dress before ! go
ashore"
"Aw-w," said Danny, assimilating.
And the missus?" he said
suddenly, some minutes later Man
In Madam O'Rourke, sor. Did We get
no word from herr"
"FOr what else would I be driving
to every hotel in the town after leav-
ing Mr.. Sypher, Danny, but to inquire
for her? She's not here; but she'll
come. be sure. She's still got several
days-three or four-in which to keep
our tryst. IT'S discontinued ! am not
to find her waiting for me, but I'm
satisfied entirely she'll keep faith"
And" insisted Danny eagerly
"beggin' yer honor's pardon-but what
will ye have to tell her, sor?"
O'Rourke sat up. Have to tell
her? What dye mean?"
Il mean. sor, I'm dyin' wild the wish
to know how uts all turned out.
Phase, yer honor, won't We be tellin'
me? Is ut-is ut all right?"
BLESS your heart. Danny!" laughed
ORourke, Tits SO dazed I've been
that ! never thought to tell ye-think-
ing all the time that We knew. 'Tis
all right, indeed, me boy. The Pool of
Flames in Mr.. Sypher's keeping and
the moneys in mine-in the bank.
Danny, payable to me order. Think of
at-one hundred thousand pounds of
ridiculous, It's absurd. IT'S meself
hardly credits the truth of it all; yet
] was there-saw the man, gave him
the jewel, went 10 the bank with him
and for the space of FIVE minutes sat
at a table, with all that money before
me, counting it over, bill by bill, a
square hundred of them, each for a
thousand pounds, guaranteed by the
Bank of England! Think Of
that-all that belonging to me-to me.
ORourke! :"
Thank Cod" breathed Danny de-
votedly. But did ye Earn nothin'
about the stone?"
Little enough, Danny-only part
Of the meaning of the whole diviish
business; the rest I'm to know to-
night. Mr.. Sypher II be tellin' me
after we've dined; he wants to hear
me own end of the story. too"
Sypher had very explicitly named
his dinner hour, after the formal Eng
lish fashion nowhere and by nobody
more rigidly observed than by the
Englishman in the Orient; eight for
eight-thirty," he had said And as
O'Rourke. very dignified and impos-
Ing O'Rourke in his evening dress,
waited for a sampan on the lower
grating of the Poonahs passenger
gangplank he had round three-quar.
ters for an hour for leeway-ample leis- /.
ure for an interested inspection Of /
that part of Rangoon lying between /
The floating jetty and Sypher's resi- 1
deDce in a suburb near Dalhousie .
Park.
Danny remained aboard ship only ,
temporarily, being instructed to follow /
with O'Rourke's belongings to suitable /
already engaged at .
hotel on the Strand, overlooking the
roadstead; from whose windows
o'Rourke was promising himself the
pleasure of watching the arrival Of
the steamship bearing his wife to his
arms.
BLESS her dear facet" said he soft
ty. "'Tis meself will be desolated if
she's not aboard that Messagerios boat
due tomorrow-now that ] can go
back TO her, a man of property no
longer a pauper ne'erdo-well! Think
Of that. ye lucky dog"
A sampan slid noiselessly in beside
the grating. O'Rourke let himself eau
tiously into 1t and incontinently col.
lapsed upon the rear seat as the boat
slid away toward the shore lights,
yielding TO the vigorous sweeps of the
single long oar welded by the Bur-
man In the bows.
Ashore, a tikkagharry caught him
mp and bore him down the silent road
that winds between the Strand and