Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-08-08
LOUIS JOSEPH VANCE

commiseration for him in the complets-
! ness OF his downfall EVIL though he
were, lacking utterly any moral sense.
still he had never shown her aasht but
tesy. But no emotion could with
stand for long her importunate solicitude
J for Crittenden.
You've been ashore she demanded.
abruptly.
| Rhode started out Of his abstraction,
looking down upon her with understand
| ing.
YES" he asserted, briefly. II Seen
! him.
Why" she persisted. with . tremor
in her voice-"why did he stay when
you returned?"
Rhodes reply she had discounted. HE
didn't-that Is. of his own accord. He
! was left. Don't jump on melt amt my
dom: I'm as sore about IL as anybody
as him or you. even. done all l could
for him. but they wouldn't listen to me:
the vote was again him. He'd oughta've
known better. II he'd only had sense
enough TO lay low until"
How do you know what motive he
had for doing what he did," demanded
| the girl, passionately. How dare you
| Judge him."
Excuse me-" Rhode begged. alarmed.
'T don't know nothin' about anythin'.
1t amt any of my business. Only I'm
is. it'd be as much as his LIES worth
| for him to come aboard again. They're
all down on him for what he done
Shootin' Claret up was enough-that puts
| us in a hole, for sure, with nobody else
that knows the channels. barring Hen
bricks Of the Orion. But then he had to
| go and try to gum the whole game UP
by forcin' Thurlow to send out that mes
sage; II Tn Thu. Su, t hadn't 81, been d foxy
like to think what they'd do to him.
But could anything be worse than
this?'
You wouldn't think so. would YOU"
i The red man shook his head, chewing his
| cigar until IL vibrated like an animate
| thing IN abony. ''Still. he's young. and
the chances are mebbe some fisherman'li
come pokin' along-p' rhaps. I don't
know
'Can-can nothing be done for him?'
Again the red man shook his head.
| hopelessly. II done what I could-took
| him a pocketful of cigarettes and slip
ped em to him when they wasn't lookin'.
sss We found him asleep on the beach.
over on the other side of the island. and
Lobb took his gun away before he walked
him up. So. Of course, he couldn't do
nothin' foolish"
"Oh," said Rhode, consolingly. he
| took ii calm enough. Seemed to under
stand how things stood. He amt the
kind to cry over split milk. They talked
go to hell right back again. After
ward he asked me to tell madum and you
not to worry about him; he's got bis
cults enough to last him q long time, and
there's plenty OF fruit. and there'll sure
be a shower or two before his water cask
| runs short. I wouldn't take on about IL,
If were you. II II wasn't for his shoul-
der, he'd be all right
His shoulder Cynthia gasped. What
do you mean?"
Rhode cleared his throat and shuffied.
''Ah. that amt nothin',' he FASTENED to
reassure the girl. Believe me. It's only
a scratch-Claret shot him up that much
| when they mixed In last night, II seems:
| not enough to hurt him any. He man
| aged to swim ashore all right, and he
| won't have any trouble, unless infiamma-
ton
"Oh!' cried Cynthia aghast. And
you-you had the heart to leave him so.
At this point there came an interrupt
ing II beg pardon" in the cool. silken
tones Of the Brazilian. whose face APP
peared simultaneously over the shoulder
OF Rhode.
The latter moved quickly out Of the
mouth Of the alleyway, permitting Perez
and the captain to enter the saloon.
| where they paused, attentive to the evi-
dence of agitation Cynthia made no At
tempt to conceal.
| Lobb showed a countenance almost as
black with disappointment as was that
| of Perez with its native complexion. He.
| for once, discovered scant interest In the
| girl: he had sucked an end OF his over
| large and luxuriant mustache between
his teeth, and was gnawing IL nervously
| and savagely. Perez. however, displayed
| his habitual assurance and impressive
| aplomb regarding Cynthia with q smile
family tainted with sardonic humor.
though bearing himself toward her with
out abatement OF his attitude OF gal-
lantry.
CTo be continued tomorrow)