The Washington times., 1913-01-23
CHAPTER XIv.-(Continued.)

~ coyery or its results, / slipped
~ along the shadowed side of the
Westinghouse. l had no de-
sire on earth beyond meeting Mariposa.
The windows of the building were not
much higher than an ordinarily tail
man, so that by standing on tiptoe L
was able to look inside the meeting
house The scene that met my eyes is
stamped until death upon my brain.
The great hall WAS decked with dry
brackens and thistles. Around the
tables sprawled scores of Highlanders,
most of them in the last stages of In
toxication. There were few women
present. but these lay, disheveled and
disgusting, In the arms Of the men
shrieking strange sons. The floor was
strewn with broken dishes, goblets'
fragments of meat, and human beings.
But the first sight my eyes sought,
found and fingered upon the the Mac
donald and his wife. He could hardly
hold up his head or sit upright in his
chair: yet he still endeavored to smile
on the fair bride, with a mouth that
dripped as it slackened, while his head
swung heavily from side to side. She
had shapely arm flung around his
shoulders, and she smiled down into
master and god, the while she hummed
the old Spanish lilt 1 had first heard
from the lips of her father.
My teeth came together. and my fin
gers frightened over the handle Of my
dirk. 1t was in my mind to leap
through the window and fall upon her
and her drunken master there and then.
But the time was not ripe.
There was no need for harry. AT
this rate, there would not be con-
scious man in the c'echan in another
hour. In the meantime, / would 20
back to the vault and close the door
without barring it. There l would await
until the way was clear L blush Tor
shame as I write; but upon the top OF
all had undergone / was ready to
chuckle with myself when / anticI-
pated the interview with Mistress
Mariposa.
/ had not long 10 wait in the dun
geon which had so recently been my
thence made thirty years of as many
minutes, during which the sounds OF
brawling became less and less. L could
keep still no longer. Had one OF my
and eye, he would have found Rorie
Maclean, dirk in hand, peer1ng over the
stone steps. But the first to come there
was Mariposa herself.
She came out of the big door or the
meeting house and stood perfectly still
for a minute, with her face turned ZIP
to the moon. Then, as two women
staggered past. supporting a gigantic
Highlander, she flung at them some
careless quip and laughed 1 sipped
shadow of the wall, crept toward her.
At the same time she herself stepped
from the moonlight and came swiftly
toward me. What did this mean? /
But she could not have seen me. for
she uttered little cry of fear when
suddenly confronted her and seized
her by the wrist.
"Ah, my sweet lady OF the Kyles!"
oh. Rorie-thank God-quick"' she
whispered.
"A word with We first
Then I stopped. Like hunted roe,
she looked into my face. her eyes brim-
ming with the softest tears ever shed.
'Rorie-Rorier' she sobbed. Then she
swallowed hard and looked swiftly
along the wall. Come now," she whis-
pered quickly, to the hills-anywhere!
Oh. aye-I ken-I ken, lad. Dinna stop
now. II did it all for You. Rorie-
for you. lad. I've poisoned the whole
cian!''
/ remember feeling as IL spear had
gone right through me. MY scalp crept,
and my tongue was cleaving To the roof
of my mouth / stood there, looking
down into a face that was lit up with
a sheen of unearthly love. passion, and
sacrifice.
The next thing which / can write in
plain words is that / was running.
clawing, and clambering along steep
mountainside at the heels Of a 1.-THE
figure, which paused not TO look back,
but sped with the grace of an arrow
until the crest of the hill was reached.
Then, behind a boulder. she flung her
self upon her knees and burst into wild
|sobbing
'oh, God, Mariposa"' groaned.
What have We done?'
"N-nothing, Rorie-nothing. / swear
it, swear it," Her hand fell upon the
golden locket on her tempest-tossed
bosom II never loved him-anybody
but you. Forgive me, lad-forgiVe me
forgive me, 1t was for YOU
'Mariposa-"
But she crept forward and chung to
"Dinna ye understand, Rorie? Oh.
lad. We have hurt me sore. Why did
We call his name that mirk-pit? john
John! John-John"'
Nv knees shook and gave way be-
meath me- / gathered her in my arms.
there on the chilly mountain-top. under
the quiet Inoon that fell over valley and
crag and trailed upon the far sea. :
"Hush-hush, Mariposa. L was mad.
This is a fearful thing ye ha' done.
Five hundred O. them. Mariposar'
She suddenly looked up at me with
knitted brows It was clear she did not
catch my meaning, or thought little OF
numbering five hundred souls in cold
blood But she suddenly said, with
kind of relieved gulp:
ITS nothing. That's nothing. 1t was
Daft Leezie showed me. II was in my
mind for Twelfth-night. but l couldna
get to the wassail. They Will sleep
sound and be none the waur in the
morning
silence after