The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1918-11-28
THE
TEETH OF THE TIGER
MAURICE LEBLANC
TRANSLATED 81
ALEXANDER TEIXETRA DE MATTOs

waiting, you nkow. Hurry up
Lupin! Florence is dcad!"
He said this with real enjoy
ment, as though the mere word
OF death appeared to him delic.
lious.
Don Luis had not moved a mus.
Gle. He simply nodded his head
and said:
What a pity!'
The cripple seemed petrified.
All his Joyous contortions, all his
triumphal pantomine, stopped
lshort. He blurted out:
Eth? What did you say?"
II say" declared Don Luis,
preserving him calm and courte-
Gus demeanor and refraining
from echoing the cripple's famili-
arity, II say, my dear sir, that
you have done very wrong. ]
never met a finer natur~ nor one
more worthy of esteem than that
iof Mile. L~eyasseur. The incom-
parable beauty Of her face and
figure, her youth, her charm, all
these deserved a better treatment.
1t would indeed be a matter for
regret il sGch a masterpiece of
womanhood had ceased to be-
The cripple remained astound-
ed. Don Luis's serene manner
,dismayed him. He said, in a blank
voice.
II tell you, she has ceased to
be. Haven't you seen the grottog
}Florencs no longer e%xists!'
II refuse to believe it" said
Don Luis quietly. Eff that were
SO, everything would look differ
ent. The sky would be clouded;
the birds would not be singing;
and nature would wear her
mourning garb. But the birds are
singing, the sky is blue, every
thing is as it should be: the honest
man is alive; and the rascal is
crawling at his feet. How could
Florence be dead?"
A long silence followed upon
these words. The two enemies,
at three PAGES distance, looked in
to each others eyes: Don Luis
still as cool as ever, the cripple
a prey to the maddest anguish.
The monster understood. Obscure
as the truth was, it shone forth
before him with all the light of a
binding certainty: Florence also
was alive! Humanity and physi-
cally speaking, the thing was not
possible but the resurrection of
Don Luis was likewise an impos-
sibility and yet Don Luis was
alive, with not q scratch on his
face, with not a speck Of dust on
his clothes.
The monster felt himself lost.
The man who held him in the hol-
low of his implacable hand was
one Of those men whose power
knows no bounds. He was
one of those men who escape
from the jaws of death and who
triumphantly snatch from death
those Of whom they have taken
charge.
The monster retreated, drag
ging himself slowly backward on
his knees along the little brick
path.
He retreated. He passed by the
confused heap of stones that Gov
cred the place where the grotto
had been, and did not turn his
|eyes in that direction, as if he
Were definitely. convinced that
Florence had come forth safe and
sound from the appalling sepul-
lchre.
He reiterated. Don Luis, who
no longer had his eyes fixed on
him, was busy unwinding a coil
of rope which he had picked up,
and seemed to pay no further at
tentl0n TO hln.
He retreated.
And suddenly, after a glance at
his enemy, he spun round, drew
himself up on his slack legs with
an effort, and started running to-
ward the well.
He was twenty PAGES from it.
He covered one half three quart
ers ofthe distance. Already the
mouth opened before him. He
put out his arms, with the move.
ment Of q man about to drive, and
iIshot forward.
His rush was stopped. He
rolled over OF the ground, drag.
ged back violently with his arms
liked so irmly to his body tina,
he was unable to stir.
t*se ~ ...HA@yN -AaV 80 1IAV s@zeb1a