The Washington herald., 1914-06-28

shudder and form q half resolution to acouaint
Loubeque with his servants treachery She had
half risen to her feet, stin fighting against the
ludicrous impulse when the shrill hoot of an owl
reached from out the mighty distances Of the
far reaching desert waves. She reseated herself
cold with feeling Of omnipresent evil. It was
not alone her impression of the butler-thief but
there was something deadly and surcharped with
violence in the artificial owls call.
And now the very seconds Jagged. Every
nerve, every muscle fexed for she knew not
what, Lucille waited, her ear against the wall.
her eyes pools Of mirrored terror.
After what seemed an interminable age cans
again the sound. Unable, this time to endure the
long intermission she was charged to undergo,
she softly opened the door, peerin1 ont over fhe
sleeping city that the rebel chieftain had flung
up At mere command. Immediately before her
own abode she made out the less pretentious
shack Of the international spy. dim light from
the partially opened door Gun a segment from
the darkness. Far more sign fcant of slumber
than complete darkness was that light.
tiny droning sound reached her ears. BY
main force piercing the thick veil of night
Lucille made out the shadowy outlines of lean
motor car, dimly silhouetted against q pile of
lava dust. Something shspeless and dark and
furtive of movement crept across the space that
intervened between il and the light-cleavaee of
Loubeque's quarters. Lucille could not resist the
impulse that forced her from the door into the
open.
Times she paused, fearful that her chatter.
ing teeth spell out warning to the marauder
to whom she knew she should feel grateful yet
for whom nothing but hatred and fear would
enter her heart. So silently the man moved 10
seemed at times the earth must have opened and
swallowed him up.
Something tugged at her feet, fairly draw
ing her away from the scene Then q strange
wave Of pity for the unsuspectinR one against
whom this furtive attack was being made urged
her forward. As the dark figure slipped through
the door, Lucille thrust her head cautiously with
in. Upon the cot lay the long figure Of the IN
ternational spy, his face turned toward the sill
ent, motiopless figure that stood in the center
of the room, staring at him. The eyes were
tightly closed but the girl knew that the man
merely feigned slumber.
Thompson turned toward the table upon
which the lamp dimly burned. Lucille allowed
her eyes to wander for a second IN that direo-
tion, her heart thudding violently at sight Of
the diary and papers there that she fearful
she would be heard. Alongside the papers, It's
facets sending out a million flashes of reddest
blood lay the strand of rubies. She marked the
involuntary fexing of the thiefs hands a. hs
tiptoed toward them.
Not g sound disturbed the silence. But some
thing caused her to dart swift glance at tha
sleeper. His eyes were narrowed but open, lights
of amused malice in them she had never sus-
pected could show in mortal eyes, lights
malignant she shuddered even as she would have
opened her lips to cry warming The butler.
thief drew closer to the prize he had worked 50
hard to gain. His thiefs fingers were OUT
stretched TO grasp the necklace, when, with
crash, the lamp darted toward him, smashing
upon the floor and leaving utter blackness in its
wake.
Upon the heels of his startled alarm came Q
chuckling laugh from Loubeque, a laugh that
matched the evil that had glowed from his eyes
so scant before. Came gurgled oath, the heavy
breathing of strong men in combat.
Lucille turned though to run Came Q
swift vision before her. one that made her step
swiftly within the wall of mantled darkness. She
could hear the silent struggle of her enemies
mingled with crashes of sound. Some instinct
held her silent, motionless. The papers and the
necklace had been upon the table, directly before
her.
Between her and that table threshed the
two men. She dared not take the chance. Other
chances had been nothing compared to this.
This was deadly. full of cool thought. She
could not-could not do it.
Eyes met her own, eyes that seemed to
force their way through the dark interior and
cause her to forget everything that had inter
vened, eyes that mirrored a message of love and
faith and hope to her as she looked down from
the window of the mysterious house in San
Francisco into the eyes of her lover, the man
whose happiness could not he insured without
those papers so short space before her,
With the thought she sprang into the room.
Her toe met something soft, soft and wriggling
and silent. She bounded high. clearing the bodies
of the two men and landing squarely against
the table. Her hands groped even she knew
her presence had penetrated the consciousness Of
the combatants, lost they were to outside
things by the fury of their hate. Cropping, CROP
ing, her hands encountered the cold ruhies. She
thrust them swiftly into her bodice, her left hand
continuing the search. Papers rustled under her
fingers. An iron hand upon her shoulder but
she wrenched herself loose and leaped back.
Heavy breathing sounded, heavy breathing
and the catlike tread of the one who CROPPED for
her elusive figure. Along the wall she moved un-
til her body encountered the swaying door. 4
faint light tricked through at her and in that
flash she made out the tall figure of Loubeque.
Even he sprang at her she slapped the
door shut. Came cry of pain and rage, the
stumble of feet backwards
Lucille fed through the night. fed towards
where she had the motor car from which
Thompson had come to this place. It =
chance, no odds what orders the man had been
given.
What commands he had been given? She
stopped a second. She had been warned to wait
for three boots of the owl and but two had been
given. Impulse directing her. She lifted her hands
to her mouth. First sound 4 second
time she made the attempt. Feeble it at
best but the startled silence took it up and
buried back this offender against restfulness.
To her right came the purr of the motor.
From behind sounded a shot. She lunged toward
the first sound. A dark figure leaned from the
seat and drew her beside him. Lucille clung to
the man, sobbing from nervous reaction even az
the car shot through the night.
The whine of a bullet sounded overhead-an-
other and yet again another. She dared not
look back. The white road stretched like a
glistenng, gorged serpent before them. Silence
save for the music of the engine. The wind
slapped her cheeks but she did not heed. She did
NOT even notice the dark heavy figure beside her