The Tupelo journal., 1912-10-18

was trembling violently; he put his
own palm over it with a strong and
~reassuring pressure.
Steady, dear!" he murmured.
Don't be afraid. "
She shook her head with a futile ef-
fort to smile bravely. only be quiet
f. :" she begged.
A minute passed, and another, and
yet another, the pause filled with the
dull drone of the dynamo and the
steady humming Of the gasoline motor.
Then again the spark began to talk
and
and once more 1t was safe to speak.
He warned me strictly to say moth
ing of this either to you OF to the
servants, but told me to go and call
both you and Chang-that he wanted
you at once
mo explanation-r
None; he seemed to think 1t super
fluous-with me-"
Coasts fears conjured UP . miscar-
riage of Appleyard's plans. Somehow,
perhaps, the little man had failed to
regain Quick's Hole in time to prevent
the escape of either the Corsair or
her crew. In such case the latter
would seek the quickest mode of COM
m%unication with No Mans Land.
But speculation was just then out
side Coasts concerns. His first. his
whole only duty was to Katherine.
Don't worry" he begged her in a
hurried whisper; well find some way
out. Appleyard won't fail us-and ii
he should I'll manage to steal that
boat and get you off. Either that way
or another. . . Now go, while |
see what he wants of me. I'll say l
met you on the way, Go quickly
we've delayed long enough e. :.
heart of my heart!"
This last was in an undertone as
the woman, taking fright because OF a
brusque cessation Of the wireless
racket, ~disengaged her hand. and with
the briefest glance by way Of adieu,
hurried toward the farm house.
Alone, he fingered for q little where
she left him, striving to collect and
train his faculties against this unan-
ticipated turn of events. Thoroughly
mystiied, disturbed and depressed, he
drifted into a deep and sombre reyerie
which might we'll have endured be-
yond his knowledge had not the sta
tionary motor chosen an early moment
to choke up with a series of cultural
snorts and stop dead. The unlocked
for suspension OF it's %contented work
ing song left a distinctly audible void
in the stiffness, in which the key OF
the droning dynamo ran down the
scale to a soul whine ere 1t ceased al
together. Reused by this, Coast
pulled himself together and hurried
round ta-e buiidz-s l;-tensrg 80
shameless citation to the storm of an
ger which followed Blackstock's rec
ognition of the mishap.
A chair scraped roughly On the floor
and fell with a crash; something else
was thrown violently down; Black
stv>a svt his b4Jatn deliberately anu
the doors and windows of the oper-
ating room became damned with bias
phemy. Discreetly Coast paused and
waited until the mans tongue began,
to falter, until the oaths escaped from
him a trickle rather than a deluge,
until he stopped short, his system
wrung dry of profanity. Then Coast
advanced.
He found Blackstock striding to and
fro and mumbling a cigar, the scowl
that darkened his countenance sug
costing a state of perturbation and
anxiety no less acute than Coasts.
Even without Katherine's warning,
and ignoring his pettish rage over the
balky motor, Coast would have been
quick to guess that something had
happened seriously to complicate the
mans schemes. He flew every sign
peculiar to one who to the physical
unhaDDiness following a night of diSSi