The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1912-08-01

his own peril. In the twtnkling OF an
eye he saw fash OF light gliding TO-
wards him with resistless impetus.
! Intuitively he swung TO one side, to
the right, and leapt to his feet. At
that the knife, kris siruous and
keen, ran cold upon the flesh of his
chest, slit through his shirt. caught
II the thong that held the Pool or
Flame, and tore out, leaving tapping
hole and scraping hands breadth
of skin from his forearm. Needless
Of this, only In fact subconscfously
aware that the chamois bag had fallen
to the deck, he caught at the hand
that had welded the kris; his fingers
closed about the wrist, and, bracing
himself, he swung the assassin on his
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 a
yard or more through the air. fell and
slid along the deck into group Of
lascars, one Of whom, like nine-pin,
was knocked cs'c 49, -. a;op OF
him
O'Rourke re. .'rs' All stc-De! for
ward, revolver pa.:=.i 10 administer
the qu.etuS TO - @.::::,gIe--an ami
able intention Vic. was. however,
doomed to fr2strGti2n. With almost
inconceivable swiftneSs the group OF
lascars had become mere tangle Of
arms and legs, a melange Of strug-
Cling limbs and bodies. Where he
had thought to find a single PROSTATE
form, there were six struggling in con-
fusion on the deck.
For a thought he stayed his finger
on the trigger, waiting TO pick out the
undermost and slay him first Of all,
unwilling, furthermore, to waste one
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 a terrible cry Of mortal anguish
shrilled loud; and almost at once the
mob seemed to resolve into its orig
lnal elements Five lascars crawled,
arose, or flung themselves away from
the sixth, who lay inert, prone, limbs
still twitching, knife buried in his
back.
For a thought the tableau held,
there in the pure brilliance Of the
moonlight: the half a dozen standing
figures, O'Rourke a space apart from
the rest, and two bodies, the one face
down, Quick with q face to the stars,
each with It's dread background; a
black stain that grew and spread slow
Iy upon the white, dazzling
planks.
Quietly the tallest Of the lascars
moved forward, krelt and drew the
knife from the back Of his dead fel-
low. He Strengthened up, facing
O'Rourke without tremor, his eyes
aflre, and wiped the blade Of the kris
On his cummerbund.
do not shoot, sahib," he said
smoothly in excellent English. do
aot shoot, sahib, for it is I who have
avenged. This dog" and with his toe
ae stirred the thing at his feet, ran
amok. Now he Is dead"
This was the serang who spoke.
0'Rourke eyed him coldly through a
prolonged silence. At length, That
seems quite evident" he admitted
coolly. Pick up that body and throw
It overboard!" 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 that 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, impertur-
bable serang
It was Aard to know what to do,
what to believe, what action to take.
[f he were right In his surmise, the Sc
rang should rightly be shot down in y
stantly, without an instant's respite.
Yet the heartless brutality upon which
his theory was based made him hesi-
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 wielder
of the kris, the murderer of Quick.
thrown off his feet by the IHshman's
attack, had deliberately involved his
fellows with him in his fall and profit
ed by the confusion to slay one upon
whom he could throw the blame for
all that had happened.
The weapon quiyered 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