Las Vegas optic., 1914-12-17


above grew darker. blending insen-
sibly into rare ultramarine with the
slow decline of the sun, by whose al
titude above the horizon the day had
not more than ninety minutes to run.
And she thought drowsily that II
that sun sank without her learning
that her lover lived, 1t would not rise
again upon world tenanted by Rose
Trine
It was not true, she told herself, that
people never die of broken hearts.
She knew that, were he taken from
her, she could no longer live. !.
And sleep overwhelmed her sud
denly like great, dark cloud !.
But its dominion over her faculties
was not of long duration. Slowly,
heavily, mutinously, she was rescued
from its nilvana--came to her senses
with an effect OF one who emerges
from some vast place of bIacknees and
terror, to find Barcus kneeliRg over
and gingerly but persistently shaking
her by the shoulder.
And then she sat up with q cry Of
mystified compassion; for in the brief
time that he had been absent-it had
not been more than an hour-Mr. Bar
Gus had most unquestionably been Sc
verely used.
He had acquired long cut over one
eye, but shallow, upon which blood
had dried, together with bruised and
swollen cheek that was badly
scratched to boot And what simple
articles of clothing remained to him,
after his strenuous experiences Of tSe
last forty-eight hours, had been re-
duced to even greater simplicity; his
shirt, for example, now lacked a sleeve
that had been altogether torn away
at the shoulder.
mol" he told her, as soon as he saw
her wits were awake once more
don't waste time plying me. I'm all
right-and SO is Alan! That's the
main thing for you to understand; he's
still alive and sound"
but where is he? Take me to
him!" she demanded, rising with q
movement Of such grace and vigor
that it seemed hard to believe she had
ever known an instants WEAKNESS.
That's the rub" Barcus confessed,
squatting on the sands and knuckling
his hair. Il dassent take you to him.
Judith might object. Besides, you can
see for yourself II isn't safe to mingle
with the inhabitants of this tight
little island-and you can't get to
where Alan is without mingling con-
siderably. Sit down, and I'll tell you
all about it, and well try to figure out
what's best to be done. Maybe we
can manage a rescue under cover Of
night"
And when the girl rl'had settled her.
self beside him he launched into a
detailed report.
tits Katama island, all right" he
announced, "but a change has come
over the place since l visited 1t some
years ago. Then it was q community
of simple-hearted villagers and fisher
men; now, unless all signs fail, it's a
den of smugglers. | noticed a num-
ber of Chinese about; and that, taken
in connection with the fact that, when
ventured to introduce myself to the
village ginmill and ask a few inno-
cent questions. the entire population,
to child, landed on me like a thou
sand brick-the two circumstances
made me think we'd stumbled on a
settlement of earnest workers at the
gentle art Of helping poor Cinnamon
evade the exclusion laws
With a wry smile, he pursued: "As
for me, / landed out back of the joint,
on the nape Of my neck, and took the
count, surrounded by lot of unsym-
pathetic boxes and barrels that haG
seen better days. And when I came to
and started to crawl uRostentatiously
away, was just in sime to witness the
landing Of your amiable sister, that
gang Of cutthroats she keeps on the
pay roll, and Alan in company with as
choice crew of scoundrels as you'd
care to see. l gathered from few
words that leaked out of the back door
of the barroom, that it was as had
thought-Judith had stolen a boat
from the ship that picked her up, and
rammed it on Norton's reef; and after
she gathered Alan in the schooner of
these smugglers happened along, and
she hailed it and struck bargain with
the captain and signed co-partnership
articles, or something like that. Any
way, her lot and the islanders were
soon as thick as thieves, and tanking
up so sociably that actually got q
chance to whisper word to Alan and
tell him you were all right, and that
he'd find us both down here on the
beach, if luck served him with an es-
cape. That was all got a chance to
say, for Judith marched up just then
and yanked him off to his cell. mean
to say, he's locked up now in a little
stone hut on the edge of the cliff, with
the door guarded and the window over
looking a sheer drop Of thirty feet or
SO to the beach. When I'd seen that
much calculated 1t was about time
for me to get quit of that neighbor-
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