Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1912-01-02
He could have cried

his head, revolver dropping from q
nerveless hand, his chin fallen for
ward on his chest, stupid, weary
smile on his face, and dark and hid
eous smear spreading swiftly over the
bosom OF his shirt.
A cry OF horror. despair and rage
stuck in the wanderers throat. Quick,
who had hailed his appearances ION the
Rance at Alden as harbinger OF good
luck, had been foully murdered. His
dominant emotion of the moment, an
intense and pitiful solicitude for the
dying man. threw him off his guard.
Under its influence he forgot the des.
perate case of which this tragedy
brought all aboard the Rance. put out
his arms. received the falling body,
and let it gently to the deck.
But in a trice he was alive again to
his own peril In the twinkling of an
eye he saw a flash of light gliding to-
wards him with resistless impetus.
Intuitively he swung to one side, to
the right, aud leapt to his feet. At
that the knife, kris sinuous and
keen, ran cold upon the flesh OF his
chest, slit through his shirt, caught
In the thong that held the Pool Of
Flame. and tore out, leaving tapping
hole and scraping a hands breadth
Of skin, from his forearm. Needless
Of this, only In. fact subconsciously
aware that, the ehamois 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 off his
feet. So doing, his fingers slipped oD
the mans greasy skin and be STUN
bled off his balance.
His object, however, had been &C
complished The murderer. hurled a
yard or moro through the air. Tell and
sic along the deck into a group Of
i~=rar" mo &c "hou l;s5 n'r"-riD
was knocked over and fell atop OF
him.
~ ItUul Mt iCSSN GU Gnu olCpbSh ~
ward. revolver poised to administer
the uuietuS to the murderer--an ami
able intention which was. however,
doomed to Illustration. With almost
Uncomfortable swiftness the group Of
lascars had become a mere tangle Of
arms and legs, melanse of strug.
Cling limbs and bodies. Where no
had thought to find single PROSTATE
form. there were six struggling in con.
fusion on the deck.
For thought he stayed his finger
on the trigger, waiting to pick out the
undermost and STAY 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 terrible cry of mortal anguish
shrilled loud: and almost at once the
mob seemed to resolve into its orig
inal 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 brlliance of the
moonlight: the half dozen standing
figures. O'Rourke a space apart from
the rest. and two bodies the one face
down, Quick with face to the stars,
each with its dread background: a
black stain that grew and spread slow.
~ upon the white, dazzling
planks.
Quietly the tallest Of the lascars
moved forward. knelt and drew the
knife from the back OF his dead fel
low He Strengthened up, facing
O'Rourke without tremor. his eyes
afre, and wiped the blade Of the kris
on his cummerbund.
do not shoot. sahib," he said
smoothly in excellent English. DO
not shoot. sahib, for it is | who have
avenged. This dog" and with his toe
he stirred the thing al his feet. ran
amok Now he is dead
This was the serang who spoke.
O'Rourke eyed him coldly through a
prolonged silence. AT length. That
seems quite evident" he admitted
coolly. Pick up that body and throw
it overheard" 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 lrshman that his order had
been carried out. But he heard ii
abstractedly. confronted as he was
with a problem whose difficulty was
not TO be underestimate. the problem
embodied in the statuesque, impertur-
bable serang.
1t was hard TO- know what to do.
what 10 believe, what action TO take.
If he we're right in his surmise, the Sc.
rang should rightly be shot down in
stantly, without an instants respite.
Yet the heartless brutality upon which
his theory was based made him hest