The Tabor independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1913-19??, 1918-11-07
which had been left. or. rather.

~NN ' -
hidden there in a hollow. The
door was open. The disorder of
the inside of the car, the rug
hanging over the f~ootboard, a
broken window, a cushion on the
floor, all bore witness TO a strug-
gle. The scoundrel had no doubt
taken advantage of the fact that
Florence was asleep to tie her up;
and on arriving, when he tried
to take her out of the car, Flor
cnce must have clutched at every
thing that offered.
Don Luis at once verified the
correctness of his theory. As he
went along the very narrow, grass
grown path that led up the slope,
he saw that the grass was uni
formly pressed down.
"Oh, the villain!" he thought.
1.-The villain! He doesn't carry
his victim, he drags her!"
If he had listened only to his
instinct, he would have rushed to
FIorence's rescue. But his pro-
found sense of what to do and
what to avoid saved him from
committing any such imprudence.
At the first alarm, at the least
sound, the tiger would have throt-
tied his prey. To escape this hid
eOus catastrophe, Don Luis must
take him by surprise and then and
there deprive him of his power Of
action. He controlled himself,
therefore, and slowly and cauti-
ously mounted the incline.
The path ran Upward between
heaps of stones and fallen build
ings, and among clumps Of shrubs
overtQpped by beeches and oaks.
The place was evidently the site
of the old feudal castle which had
given the estate its name; and
it was here, near the top, that
the scoundrel had selected one Of
his retreats.
The trail continued over the
trampled heritage. And Don Luis
even caught sight Of something
shinging on the ground, in a tuft
OF grass. 1t was a ring, a tiny
and very simple ring, consisting
of a gold circlet and two small
pears, which he had often noticed
on Florence's finger. And the
fact that caught his attention was
that q blade of grass passed and
repassed and passed a third time
through the inside of the ring,
like a ribbon that had been rolled
round it deliberately.
Its a clear signal" said
Perenna to himself. "The villain
probably stopped here to rest /;
and Florence, bound up, but with
her fingers free, was able to leave
this evidence of her passage"
So the girl still hoped. She ex-
pected assistance. And Don Luis
reflected with emotion that it was
perhaps to him that this last des-
perate appeal was addressed.
Fifty steps farther-and this
detail pointed to the rather cur
ious fatigue experienced by the
scOundrel-there was a second
halt and a second clue, a flower,
a field sage, which the poor little
hand had picked and plucked of
its petals. Next came the print
of the five fingers dug into the
ground, and next a cross drawn
with a pebble. And in this way
he was able to follow, minute by
minute, all the successive stages
of the horrible journey.
The last stopping place was
near. The climb became sleeper
and rougher. The fallen stones
o%ccasioned more frequent OBJ.
s~tacles On the right the Gothic
arches, the remains of a chapel,
stood out against the blue sky.
On the left was a strip of wall
with a mantlepiece still clinging
to it.
Twenty steps farther Don Luis
stopped. He seemed to hear some
thing.
He listened. He was not mis-
taken. The sound was repeated,
and it was the sound of laughter.
But such an awful laugh A strid-
ent laugh, evil as the laughter of
a devil, and so shrill! 1t was
more like the laugh of a woman,
of a mad woman.
Again silence. Then another
noise, the noise of an implement
striking the ground, then silence
again.
And this was happening at a
distance which Don Luis esti-
mated at a hundred yards.
The path ended in three steps
cut in the earth. At the top was
a fairly large plateau, also encum-
bered with rubbish and ruins. In
the center, opposite Don Luis,
stood a screen of immense laurels