The Washington herald., 1914-05-31


Like an inferno it was minus the fire
Lucille suddenly made conscious of the fact
that she was very weak, that she had narrowly
escaped death from privation and fever, that she
had shot the woman who attempted her life
that she fugitive in this town, that when
the ransacking of the house in which she had
been SO i'll was finished the wounded woman
would be discovered and search made for her as
Bailant. Nervously she fingered the ruby neck
lace about her throat, trying to think of some
way another of the precious stones might be
madG,to work its magic influence. She could buy
q passage with it, could bribe many aboard the
boat, but she must not be seen by Hugo Lou
beque. Too often had he caught her in the same
place with him working to thwart him for the
man to show any mercy. Tender though he had
been while she was i'll, she knew from his grim
tone, from the expression of relief upon his face
when he discovered the papers were not upon
her person, that he would hesitate at nothing to
injure her did she continue her attacks. No, she
must work secretly, in the dark always.
But work she must and would. Fiercely she
fastened her little teeth in her lower lip. Hugo
Loubeque had the precious papers in his posses
sion else he would never have smiled serenely
to himself he boarded the boat. She had his
diary and how she obtained possession of it and
from whom she had no idea, but it could not be
used against him now. There would come time
when it would prove of the utmost value, but
not now. What could she do?
The rattle of muskets brought her out of the
fit of abstraction into which she had fallen. She
shrank away in the shadow of bale of silk,
sible her breath coming fast she the Of
fcer who commanded the squad of soldiers march
up the gang plank just as the captain descended
to inquire what his business Then the tall
figure of Hugo Loubeque appeared beside the
pair, offering to translate the soldiers words.
Lucille watched his face in abject terror,
studying the swift change of expression on 1t,
the somber lowering of the lashes, the knitting
of the brows, the outcropping of his jaw as he
listened to the mans hurried jibberish.
whats it all about?" impatiently demanded
the captain the spy turned toward him.
"He is hunting an American girl left i'll in
the town. 1t appears she shot and wounded her
nurse and bound Chinese soldier, taking his
clothes and making her escape"
"Well there's no such person aboard" gruf-
fly retorted the officer Of the ship. "Is that
enough for him. -..
Again Loubeque turned to the soldier but
the man shook his head vehemently.
"He must search the vessel. Those are his
orders" interpreted the spy, then, "you really
can't blame him, Captain. The girl is desperate
character and If her kind were allowed to
amuck this way there's no telling where it all
would end" 49,. - ~. .--.--...
The officer nodded consent, adding erimly
that he would stand for anything that did not
entail delaying the boats sailing on schedule.
As the eavesdroppng girl watched the sol
diers march the gangplank and disappear in diff
ferent parts of the boat according the instruc-
tions given them by their superior, her heart
:hudded 20 violently against her ribs she Won
dered that It did not break through What
fortunate thing that her weakness had not al
lowed her to follow her first instinct of follow
in- the spy aboard the boat! And what bless
ing that he did not know she was 80 close at
hand! She could see from his words that he
would not delay his own departure to assist her,
that once more his motive of revenge was all
dominant in his nature, that tenderness for the
daughter OF the woman he loved would never
again interfere with the carrying out of his
plans. And the fsrocious expressions upon these
soldiers the eagerness with which they went
about their task of searching for q mite Of girl
Just of sick bed
Surely, some power greater than that OF
even the international SOY was looking over and
defending heri She bowed her head in mute
gratitude, humbled in recounting the perils she
had undergone in the carrying out Of her pur-
pose and giving the glory to the hand that, all
unseen, was leading her. It impressed her more
than ever with the justice of her fight, the fact
that an outraged Nature-God would not allow o
human being to conquer the best that was in a
man and woman TO satisfy base revenge.
She was reused from the mood by a furried
ciamor aooard the boat. The coolies were work
ing madly now, while upon the deck she saw
dans Of activity that told her the ship was about