The Oakley herald. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1908-1961, 1923-08-17

I Mademoiselle turned to the captain
holly: what is this jestingr
They mean no di~srespect." He no.
toned to the grinnlng crew with a
serious affection "Now, get you gone,
fellowsi See that our wine and little
water Is stored from the sun. Work
| the longboat closer in on the tide"
"~SazaracI" they shouted in hoarss
laughter and went to obey him.
He saw the hurt pride in her eyes.
and the old wonder at his evasion.
She turned to d. Almonaster with a
pathetic little ger ure of despair at
the moods of Monsieur Sazarac. SIZE
could not understand. She sat draw
ing figures in the sand, and when she
raised her dark ey IS, to watch the tall
| figure out by thu sun-wash on the
shoals, the young man saw the great
| tears in them which she presently
wiped away.
She dried her eyes with a final, res
olute little sob Monsieur, do you
know-we,l. once. he came for me
It vas on tne staircase of a court
the 11OiCi Olttdhk III vel a 1C
was going from me. and he had been
all chivalry. He turned away, allow
ing Colonel Carr 10 boast that Sazarac
would not fight, because he wished to
spare my name. He said-ah, 1t was
q silly thing for me to do I-but l
dropped a flower 70 him as he left
and another mad stumbled from the
~k.do,re on1 vfoJ oh ~ NM
Another manT' echoed De Almon-
aster.
'That was before you had come to
me, Raoul, on the Seraphine. AS to
the other man, that was no matter. l
suppose a beggar In the courtyard
caught my camelIie. l don't know-it
was silly to throw a flower to Sazarac.
the river gamester =. 1 was hot
with shame afterward at doing so.
But If he had caught 1t All,
well! 1 thank Heaven he never knew
itl-after / found myself in his hands
upon the Seraphjnel The ragged fell
low who caught IT stared up once and
her hurried after Monsieur Sazarac.
At the area-arch be turned. 1t ap
peared he tried to pose as a-lover,
and hen he fell over his own foot, or
something. very lbsurdly !"
"a ragged flllow," muttered De
Almonaster.
Like one of these old tattered fol-
lowers. A ghost Of a man fading into
moonlight
A shout arose from the exiles who
were dragging The longboat nearer In
the shoals. Monsieur Sazarac had
paused halfway to them. He saw
what had hitherto been hidden by a
low spit of sand
Five armed boats had drawn in
shore, coming from the distant Span
ish frigate, without doubt. They had
crept unnoticed by the refugees on the
reef until they were fair in the break
of forest wall where there had been
the last glimpse of the S~eraphine's
snowy sail.
do you see, Monsieur de Almonas-
teri" said the chief of the exiles qui-
city. 1T was as I reasoned. The
schooner will be taken this night. 1t
is what one would greatly desire. The
dons will have no quarter for Crack
ley's men-there is no escape for them
in the river jungle. After the affair,
sir-you are to 20 with Mademoiselle
and parley with the Spanish captain
"And your" mademoiselle cried again
breathlessly and sprang pom the
sands. "You and your men cannot
stay here to die"
Monsieur Sazarac smiled with a high
serenity. 1.-The sea is wide, Mademoi-
selle Lestron. Wide, and far Is the
way to It's secret places. / have a
mind l said this once to you. o little
a secret may be buried, Mademoiselle-"
He turned to the younger man: you
will make ready to go, Monsieur. when
the hour comes. There are two black
men Of our company who can pull the
.longboat for you under a flag of truce
two black serving men who
will not find the air of Vera Cruz con-
ducive to a fatal malady. The rest of
us, I fear, must do without the min
istrations of the Spanish viceroy's ply
stefan as long al we can-possibly a
day or so more, ere the doctor calls
u.s."
His smile still fingered when De
Almonaster came closer. torn by a
wild bitterness which he, himself,
could not fatho'n. Jean" he whis-
pered: II have not spoken. The choice
Is hers between you and me-and she
save you frots M,n1llo's men
She might plead with the viceroy that
she loved you-even Lahtte Of the
black fag!"
"That is a jest" murmured Sazarac
absently, worthy of John Jarvis, who
the clown to betray me-a plea
for Laftte's life 10 Murilloi !"
CTo BE eONTINUED)