The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1912-07-03
THE POOL Of FLAME
A STORY OF ADVENTURE AND IN
TRIGUE
(By Louis Joseph vance,

-gs Synh6r ndu very explicitly named
his dinner hour, after the formal Eng
nsh fashion, nowhere and by nobody
more rfgidly observed than by the
Englishman in the Orient; eight for
eight-thirty," he had said. And as
O'Rourke, a very dignified and impos-
ing O'Rourke in his evening dress,
waited for a sampan on the lower
grating Of the Poonah's passenger
gangplank he had a round three-Quar-
ters for an hour for leeway-ample leis-
ure for an interested inspection of
that part of Rangoon lying between
the floating jetty and Sypher's resi-
dence in a suburb near Dalhousie
Park
Danny remained aboard ship only
temporarily, being instructed to follow
with ORourke's belongings to suitable
accommodations already engaged at
hotel on the Strand, overlooking the
roadstead: from whose windows
O'Rourke was promising himself the
pleasure of watching the arrival Of
the steamship bearing his wife to his
arms.
BLESS her dear facet" said he soft
| ly. "'Tis meself will be desolated II
she's not aboard that Messageries boat
! due tomorrow-ncw that | can go
back to her, a man of property, no
longer a pauper ne'er-do-well! Think
Of that, We lucky dog!"
A sampan slid noiselessly In beside
! the grating O'Rourke let himself eau
tiously into it and incontinently col
| lapsed upon the rear seat as the boat
slid away toward the shore lights,
yielding to the vigorous sweeps of the
single long oar welded by the Bur-
man in the bows.
| Ashore, a tikkagharry caught him
up and bore him down the silent road
that winds between the Strand and
the rivers edge, then whipped into
Mogul street, where the fluent tide
of life ran broad and deep beneath a
glare of light.
All too quickly the tikka whisked
out of the main channel of the city
life, out beyond the Mohammedan
mosque and the Chetti's hall and the
Christian chapel, and into the soft
world Of darknesssparsely studded with
dim, glowing windows; and all toe
soon, again, 1t swung off from the
highway into private drive. crunched
over gravel and stopped before the
Illuminated veranda of a native bun
galow.
O'Rourke got down, discharged the
ri hn CT Ia
puzzled to find no one waiting to wei
come him, whether Sypher, Miss Pyn
sent, or at worst servant. Surely
he was expected. But nobody
appeared. The grating tires of the
departing tikkagharry had made noise
enough to apprise the household o.
the arrival of guest, one would think
Nevertheless O'Rourke remained un
greeted.
He stroked his chm, perpleXed, won
dering If by mischance the native
driver had brought him to the wrong
bungalow. But 1t was now too late t.
call him back and make sure. AnC
this verandah, still and empty as j
was, softly lighted by lanterns depend
ent from it's roof, was to him a SINAI
oasis in a world of darkness. Will
out advice he was lost, could find hi
way no other where. He would hav
simply to wait until the house
hold came to life, or until by his ow
efforts he succeeded in quickening i
He tried to do this latter to tn
best Of his ability by tapping a sun
mons on the door-jamb. Through tn
. wire insect-screens a broad hallwa
and q staircase rising to the uppe
floor were visible. Limp, cool-lookin
rugs conceived in pleasing colo
schemes protected the hardwood foo
ing. To the right a door stood ala
and permitted broad shaft of ligh
to escape from the room beyond. o
the other hand a similar door, lik,
wise open, showed a DINNER glow
Two other doors were closed
O'Rourke assumed that they led
the kitchen offices.
Having waited few moments will
out event, the Irishman knocked a SCI
ond time, and would have knocked
. third when he thought better of
and glanced at his watch. 1t was onl
a matter of ten minutes after eight
strictly interpreting the intent
Sypher's invitation, he was a trif