The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1925-05-28

his forehead stared into the chimney
back.
During the voyage he had failed t.
think to a result of any kind, and the
reasons were two. He defined then
now readily enough they were the in
nuence of the sea and the memory OF
Brena. There had been the spell of the
seattle sea that Peter loved so well
the personality of the sea that coulC
be a basin Of iridescent oil in q tropiC
calm, an enigma of chill gray mist
enveloped soul, a fury of glorious rae
ing rage, a beam of strange quiet mes
sages from whining, grooming lands al
the other ends of the earth, a voice
from far and unseen peoples, a yieldei
of mysteries belched forth from its
amethyst and beryl depths, a thing
able to cover, with a superb superior
ity to the t~rivialties of life and death,
the last race Of all that it takes into
the confidence Of its eternal peace.
The sea had invited Peter to more
musing upon his problem but it had
erased days with its sweep of sunlight
and its salt spray and with it's miracle
of oblfterating hours in the flow of q
great eternity.
The memory of Brena, whose per-
sonality had seemed as everlasting as
that of the sea itself, had done its part.
She had appeared, but with irritating
indistinctness, before his eyes and
| seeking to feel by reaction the touch
of her lips, to see again with all the
definition of reality, her dark eyes and
her red-gold hair, to hear her voice, to
sense the warmth of her 1.-THE, flexible
body, to recall the miracle by which
for the first time in his life spiritual
love, the love of companionship and
the love of wOman had been all woven
into one fabric, he had realized more
thar when he had been with her, the
stability Of an affection that had come
upon him with a fierce, impetuous de-
scent. Peter now realized that he had
been dreaming away the days Of his
Journey lost in the spirit of the sea
and in the memories of the strange
girl whose future might depend upon
his success or failure in striking off
the shackles of fear. To avert the
haunting destiny, to dissipate the shad-
owing mystery that followed In her
track, dealing its fatal dark thrusts in
the dark to the men who played a part
in her life had been a job he had be-
gun badly.
Once more Peter reviewed the evil
dence already In his hands with the
vague hope that from 1t a conclusion
would suddenly stand forth, just as
one again looks through a pile of pa
pers for the twentieth time for one
paper that the sense have proclaimed
repeatedly is not there.
AS on other occasions when he
weighed the facts he was not disposed
to give weight to the idea that any
secret band, acting perhaps under oath
of vengeance or of loyalty, was exer-
cising an influence upon the life Of
Brena Selcoss. Her fathers connec-
ron with the secret society revolutions
aries in Greece and the political plot
tings Of her maternal grandfather, the
famous Tom Vaughn, might have ap-
JCdlGd " XIV in 0O1OI " liz Abtts
but Peter knew that the arm of a Sc
cret band. no matter how long it might
be at its full development, no matter
how it might deliver knife thrusts at
the ends of the earth on behalf Of a
cause, withers quickly when its inspi-
ration is gone. It was not likely that
after a lapse of more than half a CEN
fury the power of such an arm would
survive nor that it would extend far
away and across the years either to
protect or blast the life of a girl, who,
whatever she had since become in her
wonderful development, was, at first,
humble and forgotten and alone.
To be sure, Peter thought the last
words of her father had made refer
ence to an unnamed assurance that If
Brena were t. be menaced, a protect
inc force would aid her. These, how
ever, were the words of an impractical
1reamer who having failed to provide
all dangers to his orphaned
laughter might naturally enough, when
facing death, have voiced a vehement
faith, hoping that it would help to
make M in part for a lack of works.
Peter put this evidence behind him us
belonging to that class of improbable
ties that only those who love to make
more mystery rather than to lessen il.
seize with all the Joy Of the amateur
secret service men who had amused
Peter so much during the war.
The vital facts as Peter saw them
we're to be found among those which
the disappearance Of men
nen of different types who at moments
ome years apart had sunk to the bot
ON of noneXistence like two plum
nets.
One of these men, Jim Hennepin,
lad gone to his end without fear; he
ad only shown excitement. He had
inted that some call or message Of
reat advantage had come to him. At
he time he left he had given, appar-
ntly without intention, a scrap Of pa
or hearing thp hp1ra of the