The Clovis news. [volume] (Clovis, N.M.) 1907-1929, 1912-07-04

ed the other passengers, one by one
quiet their chatter. yawn, stretch and
slip below to stuny staterooms.
He suffered a dreamy eye to owe
where 1t would. greedy Of the nights
superb illusion.
-Four belis-two o'clock-chimed
upon his consciousness like a physical
shock He verified the hour by his
watch and reluctantly enough, agreed
that It was time he got himself to
bed. He half rose from his chair, then
sank back with an inaudible catch Of
his breath, without warning the ap-
partition OF a white-clad woman had
invaded the promenade deck. For an
instant he hardly credited his eyes.
then, with a nod Of recognition. he
Identified Mrs. Prynne.
Unquestionably unconscious OF his
presence in the shadow, she fell to
pacing to and fro. Now and again,
she stopped, and with chin Graded in
her small hands, elbows on the rail,
watched the approaching cliffs Of
Arabia; then. with perhaps a sigh, re-
turned to her untimely constitutional.
Partly because he had no wish to
startle her, partly because he was
glad to watch unobserved Che had a
rare eye for beauty. the O'Rourke),
the wanderer sat on without moving,
stirred only by active curiosity. The
strangeness Of her appearance upon
deck at such an hour fascinated his
imagination no less than her person
held his eye. He gave himself over
to vain and prohtless speculation.
/. Why, he wondered, should she
keep to her cabin the greater part Of
the evening, only to take the air when
none might be supposed to observe
herr
Why, II not to escape such obserVa-
ton? Then, he told himself, he must
be right in his superstition that she
had something to fear. someone to
avoid. What or whom? What was II
all. what the mystery that, as he
watched her, seemed to grow, to cling
about her like some formless, i'm
palpable garment?
Events %conspired to weave the man
into the warp and wool of her affairs;
more quickly than he could grasp the
reason for his sudden action, he found
himself a-foot and dashing aft at top
speed. But an instant gone Mrs
Prynne had passed him, unmolested
and wrapped in her splendid isola-
ton; and then from the after part OF
the deck he had heard a slight and
guarded cry Of distress, and a small
scufiing sound.
In two breaths he was by her side
and found her struggling desperately
in the arms Of a lascar-a deck-hand
on the steamer.
At first the strangeness of the bust
ness 80 amazed ORourke that he
paused and held his hand, briefly
rooted in action. For although it was
apparent that she had been caught on
her guard, wholly unprepared against
assault, and while she struggled fierce
ly to break the lascar's hold, the won.
an still uttered no cry. A single
scream would have brought her aid
yet she held her tongue.
The two, the woman's slight. white
figure and the lascar's gaunt and sin
envy one, strained and fought. swaying
silently in the shadows. tensely, with
the effect of a fragment Of some dis
ordered nightmare. But then, as thS
lascar seemed about to overpower his
victim, O'Rourke, electrified, spranl
upon the mans back. With one strong
arm deity he embraced the fellow. ar
elbow beneath his chin forcing his
} head up and back, With the otheI
hand O'Rourke none too gently tort
away an arm encircling the woman
Then wrenching the two apart. h'
/ sent a knee crashing into the small o
the lascar's back, all but breaking hin
in two. and so flung him sprawlini
into the scuppers,
Without a word the man slid upoI
his shoulders a full ~half-dozen feet
while O'Rourke had a momentar!
glimpse of his face In the moonligh
-dark-skinned and sinister OF expires
sion with IT'S white. glaring eyeballa
Then. In one bound, he was on hi
feet again end s~pringing ithely back t
: the attack: and as be came on a jag
ged CLEAN Of moonlight ran like light
ming down the sinuous and formidable
+ length Of a kris, most deadly o
knives.
O'Rourke fell back a pace or two
His own hands were empty; be har
. nothing but naked fists and high couI
{ age to pit against the lascar and hi
1 kris. Keenly alert. he threw himsel
into a pose OF defence.
; But O'Rourke had forgotten thI
g woman; It was enough that he haI
made possible her escape, and he bal
Q no thought other than she had aed. I
I was. therefore. with az much surpriH
as relief that be caught the gimme
8 Of her white figure as she thrust hel
8 self before him and saw the lasca
bring up IN the middle Of a leap. hi
o nose not an inch from the muzzle Q