The Mena weekly star., 1913-06-19

'o olane; it's all my fault"
 Say no more about it." She ba. HeVed him. She really hadn't +bough+ nm capable of such baseness. though at the time of her abduction she had been inclined to accuse him. That 1 ne was here, a prisoner like herself was conclusive evidence, so far as sbe was concerned, of his innocence Rut she Knew him to be responsible for tne presence of Jones; knew him to De culpable of treachery of the mean est order; knew him to be lacking in generosity and magnanimity toward A. man "ho was practically his beuefac- tor. What does Mahomed want ?" The bally rug, Fortune. And Jones here, who had it, says that it is gone" |"
 vanished, magic-carpet-wise," SUD- ! plemented George.
 And Jones would have given it up."
 And a thousand like it, if we could nave bought you out of this"
 Jones and l could have managed to get along"
 We shouldn't have mattered."
 And would you have returned to MT. Jones his thousand pounds9"
 Yes, and everything else I have" quite honestly.
 Don't worry any more about tLe rug, then know where it is."
 "You?' cried the two men.
 Yes. stole it ! did so, thinking 70 avert this very hour; to save you rom harm" to George, "and you from dolng contemptible thing" to Ry- anne. Tt is in my room, done up in the big steamer-roll. And now I am gsad that stole 1t"
 Ryanne laughed weakly.
 Said George soberly: What con. temptible thing?" He remembered Mahomeds words in regard to Rv. anne as the latter lay insensible in the sand.
 hyanne, quick to seize the opportu. nlty or 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. q bribed Ma homtu to kidnap you, Jones. Don't be impatient. You laughed at me when l laid before you the prospectus or the United Romance and Adven- ture Company. l wished to prove to you that the concern existed. And so hene IS your adventure upon approval. thought, of course, you still had the rug. Mahomed was to carry you into the desert for a week, and by that time you would have surrendered the rug, returned to Cairo, the hero of a tull-hedged adventure. Lord! what a mess of 1t I've made. I forgot. next to this bally rug, Mahomed loved me-
 The hitherto credulous George had or late begun to look into facts in. stead of dreams He did not believe word of this amazing confession. de. 1 spite the additional testimony of For tune, relative to Ryannes statements made to her in the bazaars.
 The bitter bitten," was Georges sole comment.
 Ryanne breathed easier.
 Why not tell Mahomed at once and have him send a courier back for the rug?" suggested Fortune.
 By love, that clears up everything. We'll do 1t immediately" George felt better than he had at any stage of the adventure. Here was a simple way out of the difficulty.
 Softly" said Ryanne. Let us come down to the lean facts. If that rug is in your room, Fortune, your mother has discovered 1t long before now. She will turn it over to your estimable uncle. None of us will ever see 1t again, I'm thinking. The Major knows that Jones gave me a thousand pounds for it." Struck by a sense of impending disaster, Ryanne began to tumble in his pockets. Gone Every shilling of it gone! Hes got that too; Mahomed; the cash you gave me Jones. Wait a moment; don't speak things are whirling about some. Over nine hundred pounds; every shilling of it. We mustn't let him know that I've missed it. I've got to play weak in order to grow strong. But they will at least start up row as to your whereabouts, Fortune"
 "No," thoughtfully; "no. l do not think they will"
 The undercurrent was too deep fol George He couldn't see very clearly just then. The United Romance ant Adventure Company; was that all Was there not something sinister behind that name, concerning him? He looked patiently from the girl to the adventurer.
 Ryanne stared at the yellow desert , beyond. His brain was clearing rap idly under the stimulus of thought He himself did not believe that they , would send out search-parties either for him or for Fortune. He could not fathom what had given Fortune hel belief; but he realized that his owI was based upon the recollection ot that savage mood when he had throwr down the gauntlet. Now they would accept it. He had run away with For . tune as he had boldly threatened tC l do. The mother and her precious brother would proceed at once to New York without him. He had made { fine muddle of 1t all. But for a glasi , of wine and a grain too much of con t fdence, he had not been here this day l Mahomed, himself astir by thii l time, came over to the group, leisure s ly. The three looked like pnspira tors to his suspicious eye, but unlike 5 conspirators they made no effort tC separate because he approached. H' !. understood. as yet they were no afraid of him. That was one of tho