River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1912-06-20

feet. So doing. his fingers slipped on
the mans greasy skin and he stun
bled off his balance
His object. however, had been &C
complished. The murderer, hurled q
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.
O'Rourke recovered and stepped for
ward. revolver poised to administer
the quietus to the murderer-an ami
able intention which was, however,
doomed to Illustration. With almost
inconceivable swiftness the group of
lascars had become mere tangle of
arms and legs, melange of strug-
Cling limbs and bodies Where he
had thought to find single PROSTATE
form, there were six struggling in con-
fusion on the deck.
For thought he stayed his finger
on the trigger, waiting to pick out the
undermost and STAY him first of all,
e,
| 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 twitching, knife buried in his
J back.
| For thought the tableau held
there in the pure brilliance of the
moonlight; the half dozen standing
figures, O'Rourke space apart from
the rest, and two bodies, the one face
down, Quick with face to the stars
each with its dread background; a
black stain that grew and spread slow.
ly upon the white, dazzling
| planks.
Quietly the tallest of the Iascars
moved forward, knelt and drew the
knife from the back of his dead fel.
low He Strengthened up, facing
O'Rourke without tremor, his eyes
afire, 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.
@ Rourke eyed him coldly through a
| prolonged silence. At length, THAT
| seems quite evident" he admitted
coolly. Pick UP that body and throw
it overheard" he commanded sharply
In obedience to a sign from the Sc
rang, two of the lascars seized the
| body. A subsequent splash oversize
| told the Irishman thai his order had
| been carried out But he heard it
| abstractedly, confronted as he was
with a problem whose difficulty was
not to be underestimated, the problem
embodied in the statuesque, inpertur.
] bable serang.
1t was hard to know what to do
| what to believe, what action to take
/ If he were right in his surmise, the Sc
rang should rightly be shot down in.
stantly, without an instant's respite
Yet the heartless brutality upon which
/ his theory was based made him hest
| tate. 1t was difficult to believe that
| the serang had been able to accom-
| plish what O'Rourke was inclined to
credit him with; that he, the wieldeI
| of the kris, the murderer of Quick
| thrown off his feet by the Irishman's
attack had deliberately involved his
| fellows with him in his fall and profit
ed by the confusion to Stay one upon
whom he could throw the blame foI
all that had happened.
The weapon quivered in O'Rourke's
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 dowr
| W uOlLluS h1OlS IAdA Oh lAoohO VI AL1S
| of crazy Malay, one who, as the Sc
| rang claimed, had run amok."
He had not made up his mind wher
his thoughts were given new turr
by new complication, in the shape
| of Mrs. Prynne herself. That ladA
came up the companion steps with nc
| apparent hesitation, no fear or appre
| hension; quietly and confidently alert
on the other hand, she was visibly
| armed and prepared against danger in
| whatever form she might have to en-
| counter 1t.