The Tabor independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1913-19??, 1918-10-10
THE
TEETH OF THE TIGER
ny i
MAURICE LEBLANC
TRANSLATED by
ALEXANDER TEIXEIRA DE MATTOS
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN CONTINUED


favorable, was it not too late ?
Taking for granted that they
hunted down the wild beast, that
they drove him to bay, would he
not meanwhile have killed his
i. prey? Knowing himself beaten,
would a monster of that kind hes
itate to add one more murder to
the long list of his crimesY
And this, to Don Luis, was the
browning terror. After all the
difficulties which, in his stub
bornly confident imagination, he
had managed to surmount, he was
brought face to face with the hor-
rible vision of Florence being sec
rificed, Of Florence dead!
ooh, the torture of it, he
stammered. | alone could have
succeeded; and they shut me
up"
He hardly put himself out TO
inquire into the reasons for which
M. Desmalions, suddenly chang
ing his mind, had consented to his
arrest, thus bringing back to life
that troublesome Arsene Lupin
with whom the police had not
hitherto cared to hamper them
selves. No, that did not interest
him. Florence alone mattered.
And the minutes passed; and each
minute wasted brought Florence
nearer to her doom.
He remembered a similar oc-
cassion when, some years before,
he waited in the same way for the
door of his cell to open and the
German Emperor to appear. But
how much greater was the sol
emnity of the present moment!
Before, it was at the very most
his liberty that was at stake. This
time it was Forence's life which
fate was about to offer or refuse
him.
Florence! Forence!' he kept
repeating in his despair.
He no longer had a doubt of
her innocence. Nor did he doubt
that the other loved her and had
carried her off mot SO much for
the hostage of a coverted fortune
as for a love spoil, which a man
destroys if he cannot keep it.
Florence! Florence!'
He was suffering from an ex-
traordinary fit of depression. His
defeat seemed irretrievable. There
was no question of Fastening
after Florence, of catching the
murderer. Don Luis was in pris-
on under hi own name of
Arsene Lupin; and the whole
problem lay in knowing how long
he would remain there, for
months or for years.
1t was then that he fully real
lied what his love for Florence
meant. He perceived that it took
the place in his life of his former
passions, his craving for luxury,
his desire for mastery, his pleas
ure in fighting, his ambition, his
revenge. For two months he had
been struggling to win her and
for nothing else. The search after
the truth and the punishment of
the criminal were to him no more
than means Of saving Florence
from the dangers that threatened
her.
If Florence had to die, if it was
too late to snatch her from the
enemy, in that case he might as
well remain in prison. Arsene
Lupin spending the rest of his
days in a convict settlement was
a fitting end 10 the spoilt life OF
a man who had not even hAen able
to win the love of the only woman
he had really loved.
1t was a passing mood and, be.
ing totally opposed 10 Don Luis's
nature, III,lsned abruptly IN d
state of utter confidence which
no longer admitted the least par
ticle OF anxiety or doubt. The
sun had risen. The cell gradual
ly became filled with daylight
And Don Luis remembered that
Ealengiay reached his office OF
the Place Baauveau at Z O'Clock
in the morning.
From this moment he felt abso
lntciy calm. Coming events pre-
seated an entirely different as
pect to him, as though they had
so to speak, turned right round
The contest seemed to him easy
the facts free from complications
He understood as clearly as if th'
actions had beeit. performed thai
his will could not but be obeyed
The deputy chief must inevitably
have made a faithful report t.
the. Project Of Police. The Pre-
feet Of Police must inevitably tina