The Washington herald., 1914-05-24

~ the Uni0sSsaf Film Msnr6s 6setuias Compunv uko
s's. infnnssmsnts seW b pisesessly psosseutsa.
reached the pass when chose between your life
and the papers, and your life was to pay And
nov now-now thst choice has been spared me and
the face OF the woman loved shall never look
into my eyes with that reproach in her own No.
Destiny has intervened, Lucille. know it, feel
h-in my heart.
rose and examined the provisions apportioned
them, counting each biscuit, testing the water
keg. For just second she fancied shadow
crossed his face, then he turned and smiled re-
by stinting there il enough for three days."
he said quietly. Il think it would be better to
wait till morning." He drew his coat of and
passed it to her, frowning down her remon-
strances at the deprivation The warmth of it
made her realize for the first time that she had
been chilled through by the cold night air and
she flashed him q look Of gratitude, watching him
as he bent over slip of paper and compass, max
ing strange marks now and then upon the paper
after a long scrutiny of the stars Never moving
mis- splendid body, absolutely absorbed in making
his crude reckonings, Hugo Loubeque worked,
while the eyes of Lucille closed drowsily, OPEN
ing and shutting as though she would fight away
the slumber that would come, and finally clos
ing softly in profound sleep.
She woke to a sensation of pain in her head,
as though some giant weight rested there, press
ing down as though to crunch the forehead. For
moment she did not realize where she was,
stared about her perplexedly tried to identify the
sweeping sound Of the waters. Then her eyes met
the melancholy ones of Hugo Loubeque fastened
upon her as though he had not stirred from the
position she had marked him in when she went
to sleep. There was something in their depths
which alarmed her now, something of forebod-
ing which made her rise hastily. The spy smiled
The sun was beating down upon them fer
ociously as though it would consume those hardy
intruders. Heat rays danced blindingly in every
direction, mirroring the waves tantazingly Her
head ached, when she would have spoken, she
found her tongue swollen, her voice thick, her
lips parched.
water she stammered, then
glared in horror at the international spys down.
cast face She half rose, then sank back to her
elbow again Loubeque moved carefully to her
side, placing his hand upon her arm.
There is no water" he said gently. TN
their hurry they put an empty keg in the boat"
NO - wat-er-" She repeated the
words slowly, as does q child interpreting a les
son, meaningless to him. "No water"
''There-there" he murmured soothingly.
1T is the test of Fate, my dear. Try not to
think of it-try-"
He did not finish for the pity within him at
her brave struggle not to show her fear. her pain
Her lips trembled she tried bravely to smile,
then, with determined effort, she sat upright.
When she would have spoken he shook his head
negatively and she knew he wished to conserve
even the strength that words would expend Her
head aehed maddeningly and the seemed to
fairly sizzle down upon her. Times, when she al
lowed their dreadful predicament to burst upon
her fully she would shake as one with the ague
LAST night, when discovered the keg was
empty, Loubeque said reassuringly, 81 started
working out our reckoning. We are well within
the fishing zone of the coast. There is always
a chance of being picked up. Don't fear, Lucille"
She smiled bravely, the effort only making
her realize that the heat was parayzing her facial
muscles. After that, she sat quite STILL enduring
in silence the maddening heat, the worse thirst
Times, she thought she would be unable to stand
it longer, that she must reach into this end
less expanse of ocean and drink-drnk; that she
nlrn fha h0ax ~ ILL A.
salt water to be absorbed by her body. From
watching the heat waves and enduring the sun
her head was spinning like a top, mirages of daz-
zling beauty were dancing before her only to re-
cede and intensity her agony by their illusion.
Sanity toppled. reeled but always would she fight
it back, inspired by the silent figure of her
enemy.
Night and the stars but night and stars from
which all kindliness had fed. Night that should
have veiled the endless reach of water that COM
passed them about, stars that coldy stared upon
the pair and brutaly revealed their dire catastro-
phe. Lucille felt something suddenly snap with
in her throbbing forehead, little accident that
seemed to instantly stop the agony and suffuse
her with a delicious coolness that changed slowly
to more intense heat than even the had
brought. She knew it would be impossible to
endure the strain longer. Her brain seemed
whirling in another direction like a clock whose
springs had suddenly gone mad. She could feel
q strange desire to laugh aloud as she looked
over the boats side and dabbled her fingers into
the cooling water. Loubeque's silent figure was
motionless. In one long, gliding motion she half
rose then dropped swiftly from the boat, the wa
ter encircling her, cooling her. tapping at her
ears in soothing refrain that lulled her senses to
a glorious sleep, visionless, profound. sleep in
which there were no voices save a shrill male
voice that banged at her ear drums; in which
there was no force save the tender grip of the
ocean and a minute, alien Tightening upon her
arm; such sleep as she had never dreamed of
having; q sleep from which all incentive for
wakefulness had departed and into which only the
panic-stricken, agonized face of her enemy Hugo
Loubeque, intruded. She fought to open her eyes
as the spy pinched her arm. tried to shake her
head reproyingly at him. And then she succeeded
and in flash of sanity shuddered at the horri-'
fed face Of the man who was dragging her back
into the boat, a face wherein the features were
distorted, the teeth barred from the strain of her
weight upon his shoulders. Darkness, blank, i'm
penetrable-s u m ber, goblin -haunted-sun and
desert with mirages of water that receded before
CHAPTER XIII
The Mystery of Voice
TINE is meaningless word when divided into
its decimals. 1t may have been seconds, min
utes, months or years. the time that Lucille sub
divided in her delirium by two measures
nightmare-haunted fever and blank, icy chill
uOh all a. fans