The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1913-12-12

voice SO loud that 1t sounded as a
scrcam-"Up. Samson, up, Samson
up!"
Then It was that Samson found his
voice. a mighty roar shook the loose
ly-sct bars OF the central cagc-thcy
ylbratcd yisibly The roar did not
come as one short sharp note OF de.
iiance; it rose and fell, then rose anew.
varying in the infections of the Yoice
Of slave who dares to threaten. fears
even while he threatens. and gathers
passion from his fear.
At that fearful reverbeTation, the
audience started up, panic-gtricKen.
Hitherto, the last act had been regard.
ed AS a badly-played comedy: now
tragedy was in the air.
Gregory and Grace Noir at that in
slant, became alive to their surround,
ings. Hitherto. despislng the show. re-
bellious at the destiny which had
forced them to attend It, they had
been wholly absorbed in their efforts
to escape observation The roaring OF
the lion startled them to u perception
of the general alarm.
Grace chung to Gregory. oh save
mel" she painted Historically.
The voice OF the woman behind the
bars rang throughout the tent-"Sit
down." The voice was not loud, Now.
but singularly penetrating sit down,
all Of you, and remain absolutely mo.
tionless, or am lost"
Grace Nolr her eyes closed. her
cheeks pallid. leaned her head upon
Gregory's shoulder. quivering convul,
sively.
There. there" Gregory whispered
in her ear. soo'hingly. everything
will be all right"
The masked woman for the second
time addressed the terrified audience
still not yenturing to turn her head In
their direction: Whoever moves, or
speaks or cries aloud will be my muir.
derer, | have only one hope left. and
I'm going TO try 1t now. ask you
people out there to give me just this
one chance for my life. Keep absolute.
ly still"
Again Samson uttered his terrible
roar. 1t alone was audible. Tier above
tier, faces rose TO the tent-roof, white
and set The audience was like one
huge block of stone In which only
faces have been carved.
The penetrating voice addressed the
band boys: Don't play. He can tell
you're frightened"
The agitated music ceased.
Then the woman walked to the far
therest side OF the Enclosure. In do.
ing SO she was obliged to pass the
crouching form Of Hercules. but she
pretended not to know he was there;
she moved slowly backward. always
facing Samson.
At last the vertical bars prevented
farther retreat Then she lifted her
hand slowly, steadily, and drew of her
crimson mask. 1t dropped at her feet
Despite the mufiled street-Doises that
never ceased to rumble from afar, the
whispering sound OF the silken mask,
rs 1t struck the plank floor OF the
Gage, was ulbNlHGltg uuultie.
"Grace!" Gregory whispered in hor-
ror-"it's Franz"
Grace started from his embrace at
the name and glared down upon the
stage. She sat erect, unsupported,
petritied.
Gregorys brow was moisteneh with
n chilled dew. tits Fran" he mum
bled, ats Fran! Grace-pray for her!
Fran looked Samson steadily in th
eyes, and Samson glared back fixedly
For few moments, this culver be
tween life and death remained at the
breaking point Had stranger al
that moment looked under the tent
entrance, he might have thought every
body asleep. There was neither sound
nor movement.
Grace whispered-'Tt Is the hand of
Godl"
Her tone was almost inaudiblo. but
Gregory shrank as from mortal
blow; It's sinister meaning was unmis-
taxable. Swiftly he turned to stare at
her.
In Grace's eyes was n wild and ON
inous glare akin TO that of the threat
ening lion. 1t was n savage conviction
that Fran was ut last confronted by
the Justice of heaven.
Suddenly Fran crouched forward till
her head was almost on level with
her waist, In 30 much that It was n
physical exertion to hold her face up
lifted In this sinuous position she
was the embodiment OF power. II she
felt misgivings concerning this last
resource, there was no look to betray
1t. Straight toward Samson she
rushed. her body 1.-THE and serpentine.
her direction unerring.
To the beast, Fran had become one
OF those mysterious flying serpents
which bite from afar. He felt the
sting OF her terrible eyes and his gaze
grew shifty. It wandered away. and,
on returning. found her teeth barred,
as II feeling for his hear