The Fayette falcon. (Somerville, Tenn.) 190?-current, 1920-03-19
CHAPTER x.-contlnued.

eyes staring In vain pursuit of the In.
credible flight of sound, she stood, q
slim tense figure for once made free
of that domain that is beyond art, be.
yond genius and is called quite simply
Gift Of God. With toss and a back
ward shake of the mans great head
the voice climbed smoothly to that stu,
pendOus high @ that has wrecked the
reputation of many pygmies and
brought fame to daring few. 1t held
and still held until earth and moon and
stars seemed little things that paused
20 listen, INSTRUCTED In unimpOrtant
courses. Breath suspended until her
lungs were near to bursting, Andrea
waited for that note TO come down In
TO the range OF normal benef, but to
her mind at least 1t was destined to
hang eternally In the heavens, for the
man had turned.
Her eyes knew horror for the first
time. The mans face was half obllt-
Grated. II had been plowed by conflu-
ent smallpox and destroyed by worse
disease. The nose was gone, leaving
an ignoble ruin of stripped cartilage,
dried In the air till it was like wealth
er6d parchment. One ear had been
ravaged In clean cut so that Il rose
TO needIe-point. That the wounds
were healed only added an inexorable
finally to their responsiveness.
Only the mans thick red lips and
his blazing eyes seemed to have es-
capped the pestilence. AS his startled
gaze fell upon andrea his mouth
opened to a wide, soundless laugh.
With broad shoulders stopped, his alb
normally low-hanglng hands curved up
like monstr0us talons and his shaggy
beard wagging to that silent laughter,
he advanced upon her, enclrcled her
waist with his fingers and shot her up
lightly so that she fell doubled across
his back and chest. He gave low
whistle and sped from the craal at an
incredible pace. The boat-boys arose
stealthily and fitted after him.
To Andrea's transfixing terror was
added memory-a fleeing glimpse
of Trevor, standing. hands In pockets,
before his door. On his face was an
ger--cOld, white, unforglving anger.
She thought she cried out to MacClos-
ter to stop. to give her but one moment
10 explain, to beg forgiveness, to
grovel at the feet of the one man in
all the world, but no sound came from
her lips,
Not until she stood tottering on the
lcanted bottom of MacCloster's boat did
life come back to her heart and veins
and lungs. She threw up her head
and screamed as she had never known
mortal could scream-a wild, terror
winged wall of desperate appeal. Mac
ICloster snatched tiller from rudder,
struck her across the shoulders,
Knocked her, face down, into fetid
lbilge-water.
The sterch Of the stale water pro-
duced in her reaction; II was so
nauseating that 1t momentarily drove
thoughts of all other things from her
mind. She drew away from It and,
lcrar ling TO the grated floor Of small
cochbit, crouehed In the corner formed
by the gunwale and the after thwart
Just to her left, so close that even
with head bowed she could not avoid
seeing his enormous feet, sat MacClos-
ter.
lie talked to her steadily in a NUT
tering undertone. but a long time
passed before she began to distinguish
one word from another. The mutter-
ing swelled slowly to a clear and
liquid enunciation; the voice became
like music undefiled. But no longer
could 1t drug her senses; she shud-
dered, cringed under Its terrible
lcaress. Its beauty had become forever
leprous.
4Dear, lovely, vile and sullen per-
son." It was saying, ''who would have
thought itf Who would have imagined
that you, Helen among women, pos
sessed of beauty. youth and a really
lovely evening frock, should have
come so far for a manl Cheer up
You've found two; one dunghill ban
tam and-and me-"
He laughed, not silently and still not |
quite aloud It was an extraordinary |
sound 1t awoke In Andrea a chord of |
memoey. II was not the stereotyped |
laughter Of the stage; 1t was more spe-
cializel than that. Then she remem-
bered. His was not the laugh Of an
individual: II was the clipped, stacca-
TO, maddeningly deliberate, "Hal Ha
Ha Hal Hal Hap of chorus and |
consplrators In the "Ballo in Mas
chera."
81 ask you. who could have imagined
itr' he continued; then. his voice
thickening TO a sinister intensity, he
added, II could, d. your soft car
cass. womeni Fair women Ha! Ha
Hal Dreams Of fair wOmenl CARR
Spawn OF hell Pestilence that sleep
By day and lurk in the shadows Of
night ana wine. DamnatiOn Of the
flthy byways Of the world, parading
IN the sweet likeness Of God!"
Andrea suddenly looked up. straight
Enfo his blazing eyes. "YOu yourself
are speaking" she said in clear
voice. Il am a woman. weak. miser-