The Breckenridge news. (Cloverport, Ky.) 1876-1955, 1915-06-30


creatures that were penned within
their compounds for the night Like q
supple panther he scaled the high fence
that guarded the imported. pedlgreed
stock in which Lord Greystoke took
such just pride.
A moment later there was the fright
ened rush of animals to the far side OF
the Enclosure, where they halted to
turn fear filed eyes back toward the
silent beast Of prey that crouched over
the carcass of a plump eve. Within
the pen the killer ate his fill and then,
toward the garden before the bunga-
low.
Out across the plain, down wind from
M, another silent figure moved
stealthily toward the ranch. 1t was a
huge named lion.
Every now and then he would halt
and lift his smiling nose to the gentle
breeze. and his lips lift. barring the
mighty fangs beneath, but no sound
came from his deep throat, for he was
old, and his wisdom was as the wis
dom of the fox.
Once upon a time he would have
coughed and moaned and roared after
the manner Of his hungry brethren,
but much experience with men people
and their deafening thunder sticks had
taught him that he hunted longest who
hunted in silence.
Victoria Custer had gone to her room
much earlier in the evening than was
her custom, but not to sleep. She did
not even disrobe, but sat instead in the
darkness beside her window, looking
out toward the black and mysterious
Jungle in the distance and the shadowy
outlines Of the southern hills.
She was trying to fight down forever
the foolish obsession that had been
growing upon her slowly and insidi-
ously for years. Since the first awak
ening Of developing womanhood with
In her she had been subject TO the
strange dream that was now becoming
an almost nightly occurrence.
At first she had thought nothing of
It other than it was odd that she
should continue to dream the same
thing so many times, but of late these
nightly visions had seemed to hold
more Of reality than formerly and to
presage some happening in her career
some crisis that was to alter the
course Of her life.
Even by day she could not rid her
self Of the vision of the black haired
young giant, and tonight the culmina-
ton had come in the voice she had
heard calling her from the rose thicket.
She knew that he was but a creature
Of her dreams, and it was this knowl-
edge which frightened her so, for It
meant but one thing-her mind was
tottering beneath the burden of the
nervous strain these Authorizations had
imposed upon 1t.
She must gather all the resources of
her nervous energy and throw Off this
terrible obsession forever. She must!
She must!
Rising, the girl paced back and forth
the length of her room. She felt sti-
ning and confined within its narrow
limits. Outside, beneath the open sky,
with no boundaries save the distant
horizon. was the field best fitted for
such battle as was raging within her
Snatching silken scarf. she threw
It about her shoulders-a concession to
habit, for the night was holland, step
hat- xrin 20, hn
that encircled the bungalow. she pass.
ed on into the garden.
Just round the nearest angle Of the
house her brother and Billy Curtiss sat
smoking before the window of their
bedroom. clad In pajamas and slippers
Curtiss was cleaning the rifle he had
used that day, the same that he had
carried into the rose garden earlier In
the evening. Neither heard the girls
light footsteps upon the sward, and the
corner of the building hid her from
their view.
In the open moonlight before the
rose thicket Victoria Custer paced back
md forth A dozen times she reached
pOrtunity upon the morrow to give
Billy Curtiss an affirmative answer to
the question he had asked her the night
before-the night Of the earthquake
but each time that she thought she had
disposed of the matter definitely she
found herself inyoluntarily comparing
him with the heroic figure OF her
dream man. and again she must need
rewage her battle.
As she walked in the moonlight two
pairs Of eyes watched her every move
ment-one pair, clear and black, from
the rose thicket; the other, flaming yell
low green, hidden in "A little clump Of
bushes at the point where she turned
In her pacing to retrace her steps at
the point farthest from the watcher
among the roses.
Twenty times M was on the point