River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1914-09-10

Lucille at the Door OF 7er F1ut'
the bottom of the pit he had caused
his native to dig across the trail.
Suddenly he sprang to his feet. once
more the man of action. Pity this girl
daughter of the woman he loved, he
might, but she was not the sort to lie
supine while he made away with the
papers for which she had gone through
so much already. Suddenly be tore
open the bag. dumping the contents
out before him and running through
them nervously When he looked up
the light of disappointment. almost
fear. was upon his face.
The amulet. the sacred amulet which
had served her SO we'll. would continue
to serve her SO we'll as long as she con-
tinued in this land. was still in her
possession. He had failed to tell the
crone to steal that also. And the old
woman had reported that she was
merely stunned. The sacred amulet
which would make her revered by any
savage she CHANGED to meet was still
hers, while he, Hugo Loubeque, would
find every hand against him.
He moved swiftly now. preparing for
his long journey through the jungle,
away from her jealous pursuit and to-
ward possible relief, for SO long as he
remained here Lucille had every one
for friend and assistant, while he had
only those he might gain through fear.
Lucille stirred, opened her eyes in be-
wilderment, unable to piece together
any connection between the black hole
in which she found herself and the
narrow trail through the jungle along
which she had urged her horse. Grad
ually it all came back to her. Her
hands sought her bosom. and, with
little groan of utter misery, she gave
way to uncomfortable sobs.
The reaction did her good, worked
wonders with her. In that spell Of
self pity father, home, sweetheart
everything, was forgotten before the
horror of her own predicament. Fin
ished with it, she gathered every facul-
ty, mental and physical, and scrambled
L..
her eyes she made out a streak of light
threaded between aisles Of dense leaf
ness-the sun piercing home into the
Jungle She moved forward, her hands
before her, cropping. Something soft
and motionless and so still it caused
her to shudder met the toe of her boot
She drew back in swift alarm, know
ing 1t to be the body Of the horse she
had ridden, a great feeling of grateful
ness at her own escape from a similar
fate warming her through and through.
Mastering the innate repulsion within
her, she stepped upon the corpse, her
hands reaching up and finding the
smooth edge of the hole that had been
dug across the roadway to entrap her.
Her fingers found the roots of a tree.
roots so stout they bore her weight.
For moment she waited, gathering
her failing strength for the supreme
effort. Then she sprang up, gathering
her knees under her, relaxing slightly
before putting forward every ounce of
her strength and drawing herself to
the warm surface of the road.
About her on every side the jungle
breathed. loathsome, fetid, horrible.
Like some giant monster it seemed to
spread it's myriad tentacles in every
direction. barring egress, fastening
upon the one who CHANGED to stray
within it. sucking at ones very vitals.
The chatter of monkeys and the
shrieks of birds filed the air.
But no odds how bleak the prospect.
how forlorn the hope, one always feels
courage renewed when one has just
glimpsed a greater danger and averted
it. Lucille had known within the quar-
ter hour the horror of blindness. and
her heart leaped high with joy at be
inc able to see these things. In this
same jungle with her, in quite as bad
q predicament, was Hugo Loubeque.
and with Hugo Lobeque were the pa
pers she had fought SO hard to recover.
She spoke aloud, her voice trilling
note so foreign to this black abode
that even the animal life was silenced
in amaze. He shall not keep the pa
pers longr' were her words.
The thought braced her as would a
douse of cold water To right, to left.
before her and behind was naught but
jungle. Which way should she turn
to come across the international spy!