The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1914-05-03

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al word but the gestures of the three had been
unmistakable. She waited quietly while the trio
approached her, feeling that in some way the
problem that had been harassing her was to be
answered without further worry on her part
She smiled at the chiefs efforts to make her
understand what he desired of her, smiled and
shook her head the withered old woman made
an equally unsuccessful attempt. But the little
girl took the situation in hand.
There is bond of understanding between
patient and nurse, between the i'll and the strong
who have watched the approach of death to,
gether even though its attack be directed at onIv
one of them which thereafter gives them a mi;
yersal language. Without much difficulty Lucille
made out from the child that the old woman
came from a chief greater than her father who
lived in a village not far distant; that the won-
der of her curative ability had reached his ears
and he earnestly prayed the white woman be
loaned his own wife for a nurse, that she MIGHT
be cured of an illness which seemed certain to
be fatal.
Lucille saw from the glum expression on the
old chiefs face that, even though it might bring
him into trouble with his neighbor chief he was
more than loath to part with her. She also saw
that the child, with the remembrance of her own
illness fresh upon her, had allowed her heart to
go out to the wife in such sympathy that she
had persuaded her father to permit the loaninp
Her heart gave great throb of delight at
this unexpected answer to her prayer. She had
known there would be trouble getting away lust
as she had determined that she must leave.
There possible chance of regainiag civil
ization from here. There might be no chance in
another place but there was hope and, while it
was meagre' sustenance, anything was better
than the strain of knowing impossibility ANY,
thing appealed to her so long as it embraced
change, for change spelt renewed hope. Then.
too, Hugo Loubeque would be temporarily at
least thrown of the trail.
In an hour she had mounted the chiefs own
horse, her very soul rejoicing at the familiar
feel OF an easy canter. Beside her rode the old
woman, mumbling continually to herself as
though she were keeping track of the devious
turns in the wilderness of vegetation through
which their way led.
Now and then there would be long stretches
where Lucille could let her animal out and she
took advantage of them all, laughing exultantly
at the tingle of the breeze against her cheek
Every stride was step further away from the
place where she had thought herself prisoner;
every stride was stride nearer hope; and hope
meant civilization and civilization meant delivery
of the papers to those who would see that thew
cleared the name of her sweetheart
Her sweetheart Her sweetheart,
The soft pad of the horses hoofs seemed 10
turn into a refrain Of varying sweetness,
a refrain that embraced the two words Hugo
Loubeque was doubtless back in the jungIes.
planning plotting his next move while his
quarry was riding far, far away from him.
She could not feel the menace of his
presence now. The easy motion of the beast
lulled every other sense to sleep save one Of
dreamy contentment. Her predcament alone
upon this savage land. did not occur to her. Be
fore she had been terrified to think of it but
now she accepted il as inevitable thing. using
all her mental energy figuring escape, on that
which lay in the future and casting the past be-
hind her.
Once she conscious of a vague feeling Of
mistrust she looked back at the squat figure
of the old woman, ambling along stolidly
some heather idol only her rat-like eyes omit
ting flashes of fire from between the layers of
wrnkled, brown, dropping lids. She cast it away
from her merely natural feeling, coming
closely as this sense of freedom did upon the de-
pressing environment she leaving behind.
Faster. faster she urged her horse as she
clear stretch of trail opening before her.
She was going away-away-was getting clear
of the village where she might have been held
forever. She still carried the precious papers
about her neck despite every effort the interna-
tional spy had made to steal them. She had
foiled him. had taken them from him and had
managed to hold them against all odds. And
now she was clear of all this.
She clear of all danger from him. Far
behind her. his crafty, inscriptions brain was
mapping out fresh plans of action against VIC
tim who not where he could locate her. And
the pad of the horses hoofs beat out a gentle
rhythm that blended into her joyous mood
wonderfully she could scarcely contain herself.
Faster, faster she urged the horse, her hand
continually reaching up and feeling the precious
burden about her neck, while her laughter rang
out against the Jungle that hedged the trail in
with eerie, alien freshness that seemed to
make it more silky than ever. Then she looked
back for her escort, looked back. still laughing,
from under her mounts hoofs, and send her
hurting down -down-down-she knew not
where nor why-down into blackness at which
her hands clutched vainly, cutching nothing from
the dark-down into a blackness that seemed
sitting her, until it reached up and mercifully
comprised her consciousness.
CHAPTER XVI.
Loubeque OUerlooks One Detail
HUGO LOUBEQUE CURLY dismissed the with
= cred crone who handed him the sack con-
tanning the documents Lucille had worn about
her neck. In his eyes gowed no light of triumph
First they had lighted with strange relief.
But they seemed fastened upon memory,
filled with vague regret, as he visuaized the girl,
lying helpless at the bottom of the pit he had
caused his native to dig across the trail she
must pass in answering the fictitious messages
he had arranged for the old woman to carry.
Suddenly he sprang to his feet once more
the 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 he tore open the bag,
dumping the contents out before him and run
ming 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 well, would continue to serve her
so well as long as she continued in this land,
still in her possession. He had failed TO tell
the crone to stea! that also. And the old woman