Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1913-02-26

Rug, Then. Know Where It Is"
let her see you like this. She mustn't
know"
"You don't understand" replied Ry- |
anne miserably.
81 believe l de- Georges heart |
was heavy. This man was in love !
with her, too.
Ryanne Struck the tears from his
eyes and turned aside his head. He
was sick in soul and body. To have
walked blindly into a trap like this,
of his own making, too! Fool! What
had possessed him, usually so keen,
to trust the copper-hided devil? All
for the sake of one glass of wine!
With an effort entailing no meager
pain in his side, he stilled the strang-
ling hiccoughs, swung round and tried
to smile reassuringly at the girl.
''You are better?" she asked.
There was in the tone of that ques-
ton an answer to all his dreams. One
nights work had given him his ticket
to the land of those weighed and
found wanting. She knew; how much
he did not care; enough to read his
guilt.
1t appeared to George that she was
accepting the situation with philos-
ophy deeper than either his or Ry-
anne's. Not a whimper, not plant,
not a protest so far had she made.
She was a Roland in petticoats.
ooh, I'm Dashed up Bit said Ry-
in r
So Fortune, will you answer one
question:"
CAS- many as you like"
How did you get here?"
Don't you know?"
George wasn't certain, but the girls
voice was cold and accusing.
'T?"
Eyes. Wasn't it the note that you
wrote to me?"
Ryanne took his head in his hands,
YEARLY. 81 wrote you no note, For
| tune; I have never written you note
/ of any kind. You do not know my
1 handwriting from Adams. In Gods
name, why didn't you ask your mother
or your uncle? They would have rec
ogni2ed the forgery at once. Who
gave lit to your"
/ "Mahomed himself"
H Damn himl" Ryanne grew strcr G
h under the passing fit Of rage. mo,
don't teH me to be silent. l don't care
4 about myself. I'm the kind of a man
\ who pulls through, generally. But
1 this takes the spine out of me. I'm
\ to blame; it's all my fault"
] *'Sag no more about it." She be-
\ hewed him. She really hadn't thought
him capable of such baseness, though
! at the time of her abduction she had.
been inclined to accuse him. That.
1 he WAS here, a prisoner like herself,
WAS conclusive evidence, so far as she.
WAS concerned, of his innocence. But
4 she knew him to be responsible for.
\ the presence of Jones; knew him to,
he culpable Of treachery of the mean
aest order: knew him to be lacking in:
generosity and magnanimity toward a,
man who was practically his benefac-
J tor. what does Mahomed want ?'i
'The bally rug, Fortune. And Jones,
here, who had it. says that it is gone"
Vanished, magic-carpet- wise,s sup
plemented George.
AND Jones would have given it up."
NAnd thousand like it, if we could
have Bought you out of this"
Zones and could have managed
to get along"
eve shouldn't have mattered."
"AnG would you have returned to
Mr.. Jones his thousand pounds?"
eyes, and everything else have"
quite honestly.
Don't worry any more about the
rug, then. I know where it is"
your" cried the two men.
"Yes. I stole it. did SO, thinking
to avert this very hour; to save you
from HARM to George, "and you from
doing a contemplate thing" to Ry-
anne. cit is in my room, done up in
the big steamer-roll. And now I am
glad that I stole it,
Ryanne laughed weakly.
Said George soberly: what con-
temptible thing?" He remembered
Mahorned's words in regard to Ry-
anne as the latter lay insensibIe in |
the sand.
Ryanne, quick to seize the opportu-
nifty OF solving, to his own advantage,
the puzzle for George, and at the same
time guiding Fortune away from a
topic, the danger of which she knew
nothing, raised hand. "I bribed Ma
homed to kidnap you, Jones. Don't
be impatient. You laughed at me
when I laid before you the prospectus
OF the United Romance and Adven-
ture Company. I wished to prove to
you that the concern existed. And so
here is your adventure upon approval.
thought, OF course, you still had the
rug. Mahomed was to carry You into