The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1919-12-26
RAINBOW'S END
A Novel BY REX BEACH
Copyright " Harper Brothers PubIshers)
A Novel BY REX BEACH

"A ghost, my Colonel nothing else
La cumbre Is no place for an honest
Christian"
| The colonel burst into a hooking
laugh. IAN honest Christian! You!
OF all ms. vile rufians. you are the
yilest. Why, you're thief, a liar,
and an assassin! You are lying to
me now. Come-the truth for once.
before give you the componte."
AS God Is my judge. I'm telling
you the truth" protested the soldier.
"Flog me IL you will-rather the COM
ponte than another night in those
trenches. You know that old quinta -
I Where Pancho Cueto made q goat
OF himselfa Perfectly. Do you mean
| to say that you saw old Esteban Va
roma walking with his head in his
hands,
mo. but / saw that she-devil who
fell in the well and broke her neck -
Eth? When did you behold this
this marvel?"
! Two nights ago. She was there be-
side the well and her face shone
through the night like a lantern.
Christ! There was fire upon II. She
came and went, like a moth in the
lamplight. 1 tell you I repented OF
| my sins. Some of the men laughed al
me when / told them, as they had
laughed at the others. But last night
Swo OF the doubters went up there
Exactly. And they saw nothing -
Your pardon, my Colonel. They
came back in a cold sweat, and they
spent the nisht on their knees. The
woman was there again. You have
1 tho salt az nfChfS Wa1l hQT
face was aglow. like that. so they
said. They heard the clanking OF
chains, too. and the sound Of ham.
mers, coming from the very bowels
of the earth. 1t is all plain enough,
when you know the story. But it Is
| terrifying"
This is indeed amazing" Cobo &C.
knowledged. -''but of course there ia
some simple explanation. Spirits. il
! indeed there are such things, are
made of nothing-they are like thin
air. How. then, could they rattle
chains? You probably saw sons
| wretched pacificos in search of food
and imagined the rest"
Indeed, Then what did hear with
these very ears? Whispers. murmurs
groans. and the clinkety-clink of oIC
Sebastian's chisel. For his sins thai
old slave is chained in some cavern
of the mountain. SoundIess! I'm M
baby! / know when I'm asleep. anc
l know when I'm awake. That place
! is accursed. and ! want no more OF II.
Cobo fell into frowning meditation
allowing his cigarette to smolder dSwr
until it burned his thick fingers. He
was not z suPerstitious man and ne
put no aith in the supernatural
nevertheless he was convinced that
his sergeant WAS not lying. and refer
enCe to Pancho Cueto had set his minC
to working along strange channels
! He had known CUeto well. and th'
latter's stubborn belief in the exist
, ence of that Narona treasure hac
more than once impressed him. lie
I wondered now if others shared that
faith. or IL by chance they had dis
covered a clue to the whereabouts
Of the money and were conducting q
secret search. II was a fantastic idea
nevertheless Cobo told himself that q
people were prying about those de
serted premises it was with som,
object, and their actions would war
rant observation. The presence OF
the woman-a woman-with the glow
Of phosphorus upon her face wal
puzzling. but the whole affair wal
puzzlinH He determined to invest
gate. After a time be murmured. e
should like to see this spirit
The sergeant shrugged. 1t was plair
from his expression that he could no
account for such q desire. Another
night is coming" SAID he.
Good. I shall visit the place. ant
il ] see anything unusual I-well.
shall believe what you have told me
Meanwhile. go see your priest by al
means. 1t will do you no harm"