The Tabor independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1913-19??, 1918-11-28
THE
f OF THE TIGER
MAURICE LEBLANC
TRANSrATEDB Y r
ALEXANDER TEIXEIRA DE MATTOS

46
waiting, you nkow. Hurry mp
Lupin! Florence is dcad!"
He said this with real enjoy
ment, as though the mere wore
OF death appeared to him dele
ious. -
Don Luis had not moved a mus
Gle. He simply nodded his heat
and said:
What a PITY
The cripple seemed petrificd
All his joyous contortions, all his
triumphal %pantOmine, stopped
short. fle blurted out:
'EhY What did you say?"
81 say declared Don Luis
preserving him calm and courte-
GUS dcmcanor and refraining
from echoing the cripple 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
of Mile. Levasseur.~ 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 if such a masterpiece of
wOmanbood had ceased to be-"
The cripple remained astound-
ed. Don Luis's serene manner
dismaycd him. He said, in a blank
voice:
II tell you, she has ceased to
be. Haven't you seen the grottO9
Florence no longer exists! -
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 deadg"
A long silence followed upon
these words. The two enemies,
at three PAGES distance, hooked 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 a 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 s. 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 retreatcd, 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-
chre.
He retreated. Don Luis, who
no longer had his eyes fixed on
him, was busy mwinding "a coil
of rope which he had picked up,
and seemed to pay no further at
tention to him.
He retreatcd.
And suddenly, after a glance mt
his enemy, he spun round, drew
himself up on his slack legs with
an effort, and started running to-
ward the well.
lie was twenty PAGES from it.
He covered one. half three quart
crs Of the distance. Already the
mouth opened before him. lie
put out his'arms, with the move
ment Of a man about TO drive, and
shot forward.
Ills rush was stopped. He
over on the ground, drag
ged back violently, with his arms
liked so rirmly to his body that
he was unable to stir.
1t was Don Luis, who had never
wholly lost sight Of him, who had
made a slip knot to his rope and
who had lassoed the cripple. at
IL -. L. Il