The Bourbon news., 1912-01-09
Continued From Pace 81

- ~0'hkAoh M adppCutQ lU See luIS eve
IN the BudGha's forehead, pried 1t out
Rnd put it in his pocket In less than
an hour the natives surrounded the
temple and attacked in force. The
British s,cod them off for three days
and then We're relieved; but in the
meantime the officer had been killed
and the Pool of Flame had vanished.
For several years it stayed
quiet, SO far as is known Then the
Curse of the thing began 10 work, and
Ut came 10 the surface in a drunken
+, brawl in the slums of Port Said The
police, breaking into some dive to
stop row, found nobody in the place
but dead Greek; they say twas
ehambles. One of the police found the
big ruby. in the dead mans fist and
before his companions guessed what
was up slipped away with the stone.
He was murdered some months
later in Genoese bagnio, by French
girl, who got away with it somehow.
. The OMahoney came across
the thing in Algeria. when he was
serving with the Foreign Legion. He
was in Sidi Bel Abbas one night, off
duty and wandering about. when he
heard man cry out for help in one
of the narrow black alleys Of the
place. He thought he recognized a
comrades voice, and surely enough,
when he ran down to aid him, he
found Dutchman, man of his own
regiment, fighting with half a dozen
G.,
Dutchman, when the O'Mahoney came
lup, and so were three of the Arabs.
The O'Mahoney took care of the rest
of them, and left seven dead men be-
hind him when he went away-the
six natives and the Dutchman, who
had died in his arms and given him
the Pool of Flame with his last whis-
per. ..
''Thats how it came to me-" said
O'Rourke.
"And where is it now?"
Back in Algeria, if I'm not mistak-
en-. Ye remember Chambret
The was with us in the desert and
wanted We to marry him afterwards?
He has 1.-THE dear man; love him
like brother. He sickened of
Europe when he found his case with
you was hopeless, and went to AL
giers, joining the Foreign Legion"
But how"
'Well, We were fond of each other
Chambret and /. / helped him out
of some tight corners and he helped
me along when me money ran short
las it always did, and will, I'm
thinking. After a while got to won
dering' how much / owed the man
and figured it up; the sum total
frightened the life out of me, and
made him take the ruby by way of Sc
,curity-and never was able to redeem
1T, for twas only a little after that
that / came into me enormous patri-
mony and squandered it riotously get
ting married to the. most beautiful
woman living.
He warned me to hold the stone,
the O'Mahoney did, saying that the
prince would offer to redeem the Luck
of the State as an act of piety and pa
triotism. He prophesied a reward of
at least fifty thousand pounds. And
now It's come-twice oyer!"
And now what can you do?"
"Do?" cried O'Rourke. Faith,
what would / be doing? Dye realize
what this means to me, dear heart?
1T means you-independence, little
fortune, the right to claim my wife,"
He drew her to him. do? Sure, and
by the first train and boat I'll go to
Algeria, find Chambret, get him to
give me the stone, take it to Rangoon.
claim the reward, repay Chambret
and"
And what, my paladin?"
Dare We ask me that, madame?
Say, will We wait for me?"
She laughed softly. "Have l not
waited, Ulysses?"
"Tell me-" he demanded, have ye
talked with anyone about this letter."
"Only to Clara Plinlimmon!"
Good Lord" groaned the Irishmsn.
eOnly to her. Could We not have
printed broadsides, the better to make
the matter public?"
did / do wrong?"
"'Twas indiscreet-and that's put
ting it mildly, me dear. Dye know
the woman's a walking newspaper?
How much did We tell her? Did We
show her the letter."
NO" She answered his last ques-
tion first And told her very little
only about this reward for a ruby
didn't know you owned. We were
wondering where to find you"
"And she told no one-or who do
you Think"
The woman looked a little fright
ened. "She told-she must have told
that man-Monsieur des Trebes."
THAT blackguard."
.'He was with us on the yacht, one
of Clara's guests"
"She has a pretty taste for COM
pany-my word! How dye know she