The Logan Republican. [volume] (Logan, Utah) 1902-1924, 1912-02-08

Have had time, sweetheart OF
miner"
There was an interlude.
In the distance the thunder rolled
and rumbled.
! Resolutely the young woman dis
engaged herself and withdrew to a lit
tie distance.
I Read. monsieur" she insisted. per.
emptorily.
I've better things to do, me dear"
he retorted with composure.
You'll find 1t interesting"
Il find me wife more interesting
than How dye know will?"
Perhaps / have read IT,"
O'Rourke turned the letter over in
his hand and noted what had thereto
fore escaped his attention-the fact
that the envelope, badly frayed on the
edges through much handling, was
open at the top.
80 We may" he admitted
1T was that way when ! received 1t.
And | have read It. How could help
it,"
Then we've saved me the bother"
He prepared to rise and capture her.
She retreated briskly. Read"
she commanded. Read about the
Pool of Flame!"
He stopped short, thunderstruck.
. The Pool of Flame?" he reiterated
slowly. What dye know about that?"
What the letter tells memo more.
What has become of it?"
But he had already withdrawn the
enclosure and tossed the envelope
aside, and was reading-absorbed ex-
cited, oblivious to all save that con-
veyed I'd his intelligence by the writ
ing beneath his eyes.
II was a singularly curt, dry and
business-like document for one that
was destined to mold the romance OF
his life strangely terse and tritely
phrased for one that was to exert so
farreaching an influence over the lives
of so many men and women. Upon a
single sheet of paper bearing their let
terhead, Messrs. Secretan and Sypher.
solicitors, of Rangoon, Burmah, had
caused to be typed communication
to Colonel Terence O'Rourke, inform
ing him that on behalf Of client who
preferred to preserve his incognito
they were prepared TO offer reward
OF one hundred thousand pounds ster-
ling for the return. intact and I'M
y marred, of the ruby known as the
Pool Of Flame. The said ruby was,
). when last heard Of, in the possession
I OF the said Colonel O'Rourke, who
T. would receive the reward upon the
I delivery of the said stone to the un'
4 dersigned at their Offices in Rangoon
within six months from date. Said
/. delivery might be made either in per
, son or by proxy. With which Messrs
p Secretan and Sypher begged to re
q main respectfully his.
I The lrishman read IL once and again
4 memorizing its import; then deliber
/, ately shredded 1t into minute parti
q cles.
so it's come" he said heavily, Jus
" as the O'Mahoney foretold It would!
He sank back in his chair, and hi
q wife went to him and perched hersel
II upon the arm of it, imprisoning hi
II head with her arms and laying he
le cheek against his.
q What has come, my hearth"
II "One hundred thousand pounds,
n he said. Treble its worth
n double what the O'Mahoney expect
|, ed. p. :"
who is the O'Mahoney, dear?"
"a He reused AN old friend Beatri,
(. an old comrade. He died some year
N back, on the banks OF the Tugela
"a fighting with a Boer commando. IL
X. was lonely man, without kith or xii
IS or many friends beside meself That
O. j presume, is how he came to leav
H. the Pool OF Flame with me-" II
I'd wound an arm round her and held he
lie close "liearken, dear, and I'll b
IL telling We the story OF It,"
Behind them the internal glare II
up the portentous skies. Thunde
II. echoed between clouds and sea lik
heavy cannoning The wife shran
y? close to her beloved. Il am not at a.
to afraid" she declared, when her voic
could be heard-"with you.
d. Tell me about the Pool OF Flame
Ia, "The O'Mahoney left It with m
ne when he went to South Africa" e,
planned O'Rourke. Twas past,
:" board box the size of me fist, wrappe
X. In brown paper and tied with a bit q
string, that he brought me one ever
OF ing, saying he was about to leave, an
,e, would care for II in his absence.
nd knew no more OF II than that 'twa
something he valued highly, but pr
II away in a safe-deposit vault-whlc
ed he might've done II he hadn't been
We scatterbrain-an lrishman.
Then he wrote me letter. &c
NO 1t weeks after his death-saying h
ra felt he was about TO go out, and ths
IN, the Pool Of Flame was mine. II
went on to explain that the box col
tanned a monstrous big ruby and gay