The circle banner., 1915-11-26

e tim, since the end would be the same
no matter what the reason for it?
I But now they added the last touc
E of cruelty in their torture of her, tha
1 of delay. They did not carry her, re
signed to the worst, at once to NEE
her fate; but on the contrary led he
away and left her alone for a time,
prey to her own reflections, the vic
tim of her own imaginations.
Only at times her strong will, he
strong body, rebelled at the though
: of death. Then she would cry out
"Roleau! Roleaul" she would exclaim
raising her hands; Help, help! Come
to mel" But more often than his
name, she invoked that of another
She heard her own voice, almost with.
out her own will, calling aloud for
Count Frederick, the man SO late her
enemy, yet SO ready and so powerful
in any time of stress or dangeri
Frederick" she moaned, again and
again. Where are you? Why do you
not Gomez"
But to all this, only the bowling
derision of her captors made answer
She must, then. diel
| In the last moment of their caprice,
or in the full time of their decision,
| they hailed her once more forth from
the hut, up to the brink of the sacri-
ficial pit itself, where now she saw
the awakening flames.
Facing this elimination of their
heather rites, whatever were their
purposes, their innocent victim again
made such battle as she could against
her captors. Shrieking she called
again and again upon those names
with which once she could conjure-
called also upon the last name
spoken by human hearts in despair.
Who shall tell whether or not there
be higher powers controlling circum-
stances such as these? At least, at
this crucial moment there came a |
rescue, if rescue it might be called.
There burst from the corner of the |
nearby forest strange, ill-shapen,
half-clad figure, whether or not human
Kitty scarce could tell 1t was a man,
white man, clad in tattered frag-
ments of what once had been a white
mans garment. Brawny, hairy, re-
pulsive indeed, of cultural and inco-
herent speech, he seemed like no
white man Kitty Gray ever had seen.
A swift conviction came to her that
he was uemented, that he was a luna
preserved from death by
the very reason of his 1unacy.
Whoever or whatever he was, his
design now seemed not unfriendly to
The victim of these savage ceremonies
already in progress. Sweeping aside
with blows of his great arms the saw
iges who clustered about her, he
Taught Kitty up in a gorillalike en-
'race, and with hoarse cries of de- !
lance made his way with her to the :
,over of the woods. ID
The natives did not pursue them 1
Kitty could not tell why. Indeed, she i
icarce had time to reason. in this +
lew terror at the formidable appari- {
ion which now had her in charge
Then slowly, finding him not un- t
riendly, she found time to ponder and
o plan. Certainly this being was, or t
ad been, a white man. Certainly he L
ould or once could have employed in Fl
eligible speech-might again be able t
D do so.
But speech of ineligible sort she fl
i'd not hear. Only he bore her away 81
, some distance, until at length safe a
the cover of the forest, he set her tt
OWN. tt
Kitty looked about her. She found
arself in a situation which she could hi
ken to nothing else in all her expe- N
ence. W
A steep trail led down the declivity c,
a craterlike opening, evidently the es
outh of great cavern reaching W
.ck under the hill. The opening be
ould not easily have been guessed of
a stranger in those parts, even so
ough passing close by in the forest bl
was, in short, the mouth of one of an
e vaultlike series of caverns formed do
the lava rock of what had once
en- a volcanic hill no
Below, within, all seemed dark, cold, ho
ent. 1t was refuge-though what pll
refuge. She was rcscued-but by ev
lat rescueri tul
He beckoned to her now, and she at
lowed him down the steep slope.
me then long stretches of under by
,und passages, how many, how long, fol
tty could not tell. tai
At least she lived. In spite of all ha'
: terrors, in spite of all these addi- int
nal doubts; she still lived. She fol
ght have been more disposed to dis
Ike some effort in her own behalf, say
she not felt full upon her that pal
ange oppression always expert T
ed by any human being finding apI
lself deep beneath the surface of me
t earth upon which, and not under yor
Ich, he was born to walk. to :
o far as she could see, her captor egr
no plan save that of safety fror, teri
suit. And she still lived-she could WHIT
so much as that, if no more! to
| 1sI l.