The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1922-06-22
By GEORGE GIBBS

l.
scious of his new exertions, he ran
across the log-jam below the pool and
up the path to the cabin. What he
expected to find there he did not
know, but it seemed clear that Beth
had come this way in the morning and
if not to the cabin, where else? Hawk
had been here when she had come
into the woodland path. That was
enough. AS he reached the turn in
the path he saw that the door of the
cabin was open and when he rushed
in. prepared for anything, he saw that
the room was unoccupied. die stood
aghast for a moment, trying to ad-
just his mind to take in logically the
evidence he found there-the over
turned chair, the blankets dragging on
the floor by the bed, the broken water
pitcher, the opened bureau drawers.
the torn bits of hnen-parts of his
own MISUNDERSTANDING the floor
all visible signs of a commOt:on, per-
haps of a struggle. that had taken
place And then under the table he
espied a square of heIotrOpe paper.
He picked it up quickly and took it to
the light of the window. 1t was the
envelope of the letter he had received
from Anastasie Galitzin. And what
was this? A scrawl in Beth's
hand, you left this last night. You'd
better go back to Anastasie."
BewiIdered for a moment, Peter
stared at the forceful characters of the
handwriting, written hurriedly in a
scrawl of lead pencil, and then the
probable sequence of events came to
him with a rush. She had opened the
note of Anastasie Galitzin and read it.
What had it said? He had forgotten
details. But there were phrases that
might have been disconstrued. And
Beth He could see her now
coming up the path, her head high,
tiOnS-and meeting
Hawk!
But where was the letter itself? He
searched for it without success. Hawk!
The answer to all of his questions
was in the personality of the man as
Peter knew him. The bits of torn
linen and Beth's own handkerchief,
which he found in the corner of the
bed against the wall, crump1ed into
a ball and still moist with her tears,
were mute but eloquent evidences of
her suffering and torture in the pres
ence of this man who had not been too
delicate in the means by which he
had accomplished her subjugation
Peter ragged up and down the floor
of the cabin like a Gagged animal
What must he dO-which way turn
That Hawk had gagged and bound
her was obvious But what then?
He rushed outside and examined the
shrubbery around the cabin.
There was nothing to indicate the
direction in which he had taken her
and the forest at his very elbow
stretched for miles in all directions,
a. hiding place that had served other
guilty ones before Hawk-the New
Jersey pines that he had learned to
love, now wrapped in a conspiracy
of silence 1t would be dusk very
soon. A search of the pine barrens
at night would be hopeless. Besides,
Hawk had had the whole of the
morning and most of the afternoon
in which to carry out his purpose.
What was that purpose? Where |
had he taken Beth? Where had he
left her when he had returned to |
Black Rock House to rob Mcclure!
or had he =? Impossible! |
Even Hawk wouldn't have dared
Peter clenched his fists IN |
agony and rage at the terrible |
thoughts that came swarmlng into MS |
brain driving out all reason.
His Hishness had suffered greatly |
+be last few years of his life, the ply |
steal pain of wounds received IN pat
tie the mental pain of falling hopes
of fallen pride, of disbursement put
he could not remember any pain that
had seemed to matter like the an
guish of the present moment The
other sufferings were those of the
Grand Duke Peter NicholaeVitch, ma
terial suffer:ngs born of his high es-
tate But this present suffering was
primitive 1t wrenched at the very
sbers Of the heart for the love that
he had found was a finer thing than
had ever happened in his life, a love
which asked nothing and only craVed
the ioy of giving And this woman
this mate that he had chosen out OF
all the women that he had known IN
the world
Hawk Kennedy would have Jared
bad1v if Peter could have had him
within arms reach at that moment
But after a time. as Peter Went INTO
the cabin, he grew calrner' ana Pac-
ing the floor for a whlle, peSan ~
80 ,,,,ora lucidIv Less than an !
bour ago Hawk Kennedy had been at
R1ack Rock House giving Jonathan
Mcclure and Stryker their unpleasant
ba1fhour. He wouldn't have dared
10 return and accomplish what ne
had done after a deed so terrloie as
that which had entered Peter
+bourhts. He was still a human be-
"a Re1h He couldn't
1--we killed Beth out of hand. The
+l,ourht was monstrouS-even or
Hawk -
ore of his hiding places IN the Wooos.
"a proposed keeping her, the legal
80 IF Ben Cameron, for ransom, as
a part of his plot to win his snare
- +he Mcclure fortune He had
s+o1en the teIltaIe agreement too, ana
NV held all the cards-an of them.
peter paused, standing by the win ,
5oIv seat, looking out at the leaves
IA Hing in the rising wind, his nina
aIraadv resolved--on a plan. He was .
n.o,t TO eurn toward the telephone
--nen he noted a commotiSn II the :
brsbes opposite his window A nash !
- e. almost at the same moment, a | :
.cr.sb of broken glass, and the halr ,
ON his head twitched violently
Instinctvely Peter dropped 10 the :
floor. -
Close shooting. His scalp stung ,
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS aside from that 5
he knew that he was not hurt- \ {
traction of an inch lover {
Hawk, His first impulse had been y
ihN. ~ of | :