The Raymer enterprise., 1919-05-29
II Author Of 1.-THE Iron Trail," 1.-THE
u Spoilers," Heart Of the Sunset" Etc.
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contents. but be Judged thsy must rep
resent q fortuna With throbbins
pulses hs next liftsd the Lid Of the
nearest chest Within, he discovered
several compartments, each stored with
neatly wrapped and labeled packages
Of varying shapes and sizes. The wit.
Ing upon the tasA was almost illegible.
but the iirst article which O'Rsilly un-
wrapped proved to b. . goblet Of most
beautiful workmanship. Time had long
since blackensd II to the appearance Of
pewter or some base metal. but he saw
that II was Of solid silver. Evidently
hs had uncovered q store Of old Span
ish plate.
In one corner Of ths chest he saw q
metal box Of tie sort In which valuable
papers are kept and after some effort
be managed to break II open. Turning
back the lid. he found nrst . bundle Of
documents bearing imposing scrolls
and heavy seala Despite the damp
ness. they were In fairly good condi.
ton. and there was enough left Of the
writing to identity them beyond al
question a. the missing deeds Of patent
to the varona lands-those crown
grants for which Donna Isabel had
searched 20 fruitlsssly. But this was
not all that the smaller box contained
Beneath the papers there were numer.
ous leather bag. These had rotted !:
they came apart eanly in O'Reilly's
fingers, displaying . miscellaneous A.
sortment OF unset gsms-some Of them
At nrst sight looked IKE drops Of blood.
others like drops Of purest water. They
were the rubies and the diamonds
which had brought Isabel to her death.
ORsilly waited 10 ses no more.
Candle In hand. hs crept ont into the
well to appriss Rosa Of the truth.
We've got I'll There's gold BY the
barrel and the deeds to your land. Yes,
and the jewels. too-a quart Of them. ]
guess. III can't believe my eyes.s BE
showed her handful a coins. Look
At thatl Doubloons. easiesi There ap-
pear to Be Thousands Of them. Why,
you're the richest girl In Cuba. Rubies,
diamonds-yes. and pearls, too. dare
sayI he choksd and began to laugh
weakly. hysterically.
Tive heard about those pearls" Rosa
cried. shrilly. "Pearls from the Carib-
bean. q large - pluma Isabel used
to babbls about them In her Sleep"
II found those deeds the first thing.
The plantations are yours now. beyond
any question"
Rosa drew back from her prscarious
position. for she had grown limp from
weakness and her head was whiriing.
A. she rose to her feet she brushed
something. somebody. some nesh-and-
blood form which was standing almost
over her. Involuntarily she recoiled,
toppling upon the very brink Of the pit.
whereupon q heavy hand reached forth
and seized her. She found herself
staring upward into q face she had
grown to know In her nightmare q
face the mere memory Of which was
enough to freeze her blood. It was q
hideous visage. thick-lipped. flat-fea.
tured. black: It was disfgured BY
scar from lip to temple and out Of II
cleaned q pair Of eyes distended and
ringed with white. like the eyes Of .
man insane.
For an instant Rosa made no sound
and no effort to escape. The appari.
ton robbed her Of breath. It paralyzed
her In both mind and body. Her first
thought was that she had gone stark
mad, but she had felt Cobo's hands
upon her once before and after her
nrst frozen moment Of amaxement she
realized that she was In her fullest
senses. A shrek sprang to her lips,
she tried to fight the man Oh. but her
weak struggle was like the futterng
Of q bird Cobo crushed her down,
strangling the half.uttered cry.
Terror may Be % intense. 90 appal.
ling as to be unendrrable. In Rosa's
case a merciful oblivion overlook her.
She felt the world grow black, fall
away; felt herself swing dizzily
through space.
Oneilly looked upward. inquiring.
sharply. whats the matterr He
heard a scuffilng Of feet above him, but
received no answer. "Rosal What
frightened your Rosa" There was a
moment Of sickenlng suspense, then be
put his shoulder to the tmbers he had
displaced and, with q violent shove,
succeeded In swinging them back into
place. Laying hold Of the rope, he be-
gan to hoist himself upward. He had
gone but little way, however, when,
without warning. his support gave way
and he fell backward; the rope came
pouring down upon him. 'Rosal" he
called again In q voice thick from
fright Followed an instant Of silence;
then he flattened himself against the
side Of the well and the breath stuck
In his throat
Into the dim circle Of radiance above