Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1920-06-18
CHAPTER VII.
JItendra Disappears.

His excellency, Governor General
Juan Moreno, scowled blackIy into the
sleep-heavy countenance Of Herbert
Hardinge. The two sat in the tenn
porary official headquarters of the pro-
visional government Of Sinaloa. 1t was
little before dawn.
"Your bird has flown, senor," he
tersely observed.
what do you meanw Hardinge's
dismayed face grew gray beneath its
reddish tan.
Moreno shrugged his shoulders.
II have the honor to inform you"
punctilliously sneered the insurrecto,
''that Senior Williams escaped from his
cell some time tonight and is still at
large. have given orders that he
shall be brought in, dead or alive. My
men are searching everywhere for him.
We learned of it an hour ago, when
the officer of the night changed the
guards at the prison"
"Why-it's impossible r. gasped
Hardinge. slow did he manage to do
itT
1--WE do not know. The sentry at
the gate was found with his skull
crushed and the gate open. Williams
was gone. The guard who was on
duty in the corridor, and who was per-
sonally responsible for the security of
the prisoners, Is under suspicion, but
he cannot be found"
did the other prisoner escape also
the one claiming to be British sub
ject7"
mo. I do not understand why. We
found him asleep in the cell. He an
swers no questions. He will be exc
cuted at sunrise, and Williams will be
shot wherever found-those are my
orders"
Hardinge nodded uneaslly.
The escape was thing he had not
counted upon. With El Tigre's owner
at large, his plans for selling the mine
might not be SO easily carried out. The
American government might make
representations to Great Britain or
Mexico, through diplomatic channels.
Hardlnge's position, in that event,
would be far from enviable. The little
brown man who had been In the cell
during his interview with Williams
few hours before might also prove to
be On awkward stumbling block. With
him gone, there would at least be no
confirmatory witness to his threats.
Hardinge rose from his chair.
The first faint simmer of the dawn
was glinting the tops of the hills In the
east. The time for the execution was
near, and the Englishman determined
to observe the removal of, at least, one
possible impeachment to his future
schemes.
"Five million dollars is too big a
stake to take any more chances of
losing" he muttered as he reached the
Jail gate. 81 might have known that
q resolute fighter like Williams would
be up to some trick-probably he
promised that guard enough pesos to
make him rich. IL I'd been at all clever
I would have seen this thing through
myself, even IL l had to walk that foul
smelling corridor all night to make
sure."
He slipped into the jail yard. heed.
less of the glorious beauty OF the new
day. just In time TO see the frail figure
Of the Hindu as he emerged from the
building.
Jitendra was curiously calm-the
face Of Buddha himself could not have
been more inscrutable, nor unmOved
by fear. BE chanted something in a
low, clear tone as he passed Hardinge
without a look of recognition.
The agent for the United Kingdom
Exploration company shivered.
There was a quality in the timbre Of
that voice suggesting q mysterious,
malign presence sense of something
lowering over and around the place of
death, invisible but. nevertheless, very
real. The words, too, we're disquieting.
II the red slayer think he Stays.
Or II the slain think he is slains
They little know the subtle ways
keep. and pass. and turn again.