Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1914-05-09
CHAPTER XIX.

FOR three days Lucille kept very near that
camp fire light, furtive any of the animals
that prowled about. guarding herself against
them by the same fire that protected her enemy.
Times, only the watchfulness of Loubeque, his
cat-llte slumber, prevented her carrying out her
audacious plot to steal the little bag in which
he still carried the papers.
1t was the night of the fourth day that she
decided to take desperate chance, the same
night that creeping close upon the camp she
something about the actions of the native that
made her keep very still, her eyes following his
every movement with the alertness of of the
animals that prowled without that zone of light
from the fire. She caught her breath with little
gasp as she saw the man creep noiselessly toward
his master and puroin from about his neck the
precious bag which carried the papers she had
so far to rescue
AS he crept away from his victim, Lucille
slowly rested her feet, her whole soul quiverng
with delight. For there would be no difficulty
with this native compared to the coping of wits
and resources with the powerful brain and body
of Loubeque. Evidently the savage, seeing the
Jealous guard his master kept of the bag, had de-
cided to steal it and
Lucilles trailing of the native was halted
abruptly by wild cry of alarm, followed by
loud screech of pain the thud of bodies falling
heavily horrid ripping sound. Dimly, she
glimpsed the shadowy outlines of magnificent
lion, head lifted as though he listened for some
one, his paw reaching out and resting upon
shapeless, groaning mass she knew for the thiev-
ing servant. For a second she stood, staring at
the spectacle, paralyzed by the horror the swift
retribution which had overtaken the native. Then
without thought of consequence, with nothing
save the primal urge of saving life, she 1eaped
across the narrow space that separated her from
the soys campfire, kicking the embers right and
left, grasping the hardest famed knot of them
all and darting toward the lion, waving the torch
fearlessly
The animal uttered low growl, stood his
ground for a moment before this menace that
darted at him, then tucked his tail between his
legs and skunk back into the jungle from which
he had appeared so unexpectedly. Lucille bent
the wounded man, uttering a low cry of
sympathy as she turned away in terror from the
horribly wounded torso. Gradually it dawned up
on her that the man was dead, quite dead She
could not realize it instantly, then the voice of
Loubeque's revolver spoke and she uttered her
warning cry.
The shot brought everything back to her. She
here, not to sympathize with one
wounded to death, but to save her sweetheart's
honor She fumbed at the mans scant attire
drawing the sack triumphantly forth and look
ing back to where she could see Loubeque adj
vancing.
For just second she paused. Then some
impulse governing her she thrust the burning
knot of wood between the interstices of nearby
lattice work of vines and skunk stealthily to the
right, knowing the spy would follow the light in
stead of herself. Even as she watched his move
ments, glorying in the success of her strategy,
her hand pressed against something cold and
damp. She looked swiftly down at the stone ruins
beside her, along which she had been walking
ruins so covered with the thick tropical vegeta-
UlOn UnaU she m1BnU nave moved TWO IeeG TO the
left and passed them by in complete ignorance of
their existence. She passed her fingers over the
stone she had first encountered, rubbing away the
mud and creepers that covered it SO completely.
There one spot that appeared to have
crumbled more than the rest of the wood and
she scraped industriousy at it, even as her atten-
tion was fastened upon the cropping figure of
Loubeque. Suddenly, without the slightest
ing she saw the ground moving, moving restlessly
as it would move had some monster mole been
burrowing beneath it's surface. 1t was moving,
moving directly under Loubeque. She started
back, wide-eyed at the spectacle of great stone
door suddenly springing wide and hurting the
who had stood upon it to side, COM
pletely out of her sight. She advanced timidly,
staring about for sign of the spy but he was not
to be seen. She peered down the black hole
that had opened, wonderingly, half inclined to
believe herself in trance. For fight of stone
steps reached up to her, reached up from the
blackness, blackness which her eyes could not
pierce, try though they would.
A bit terrified, yet with curiosity irresistible,
Lucille timidy put foot upon the first step,
then halted. She waited a moment then fol-
lowed her right foot with the left. As though
some giant hand urged her down, her reluctant
feet moved slowly, step by STEP down the long
fight. And always would she stare, in nameless
terror, lest the door be suddenly closed and her
means of exit barred And, even as she looked
her premonition of evil was verified.
Slowly. very slowly, the stray light that