The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1918-11-14

which had bees left, or, rather,
hidden there iii = hollow. The
|door was open. The disorder Of
the inside of the err, the rug
hanging over the footboard, a
broken window, a cushion on the
floor, all bore witness te 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 ear, Flor
ence must have clutched at every
thing that offered.
Don Luis at once verified the
lcorrectness 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.
The villain! He doesn't carry
his victim, he drags her!!''
! If he had listened only to his
instinct, he would have rushed to
Florence 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
lngs, and among clumps of shrubs
overtopped 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
Singing 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 a 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. 1.-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 hat 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 rougber. The fallen stones
occasioned more frequent OBJ
stacles On the right the Gothic
arches, the remains of a chapel
stood out against the blue sky
On the left was a strip of wal
with a mantlepiece still clingine
to it.
Twenty steps farther Don Lui.
stopped. He seemed to hear some
thing.
He listened. He was not mis-
t 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 o.
a devil, and SO shrill! 1t wa.
t more like the laugh of a woman
+ Of a mad woman.
t Again silence. Then anothe.
{ noise, the noise Of an implemcn
striking the ground, then silenc'
again.
, And this was happening at