Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-08-29

her. sweeping her from crown to feet
with a movement of his head. Then
he turned to the crowd of natives
around him. summoned the chieftain
of the dog tooth necklace and tend
cred him a handful of loose silver.
turned an unheeding shoulder
against those other palms that shot
out instantly before him and APP
preached Richenda.
Come along" he said tersely
She followed him without n word
She felt curiously helpless 1t was
impossible to refuse to obey his or
der. She could not remain behind
with these people who had held her
captive.
Twenty yards from the camp she
halted as sudden remembrance came
back to her
Those brutes have my rifle. They
stole IT,
Pathways gave short laugh.
You'll find 1t in your own tent"
She stared at him in dumb amaze
ment.
But. but" she began.
Well. if you must know. Jeroge
was the thief,"
"Jeroge." Her eyes shot fire at the
grinning boy.
"Since you apparently did your
level best to pump every bullet YOU
possessed into him last evening, one
can scarcely blame the fellow for do
ing his best to draw your sting.
Light dawned upon her.
DO YOU mean to tell me-" she de-
handed. that Jeroge tracked me
down like that"
Il don't" he answered. There
was no tracking about 1t. He never
lost sight of you from the first mo-
ment you left the camp. He merely
followed some fifty or sixty yards be-
hind you. and, when he thought your
esca pade had proceeded far enough
and that you were getting scared.
he came closer, meaning to bring YOU
back to the encampment by shorter,
less dangerous. way. Then, accord
ing to his dramatic account. YOU i'm
mediately turned upon him with
blood-curdling yells and did your
best to send him winging up TO
Paradise
She gave vent to little giggle.
'I think the blood curdling yells
came from Jeroge's magination and
Jeroge's mouth in equal proportion"
she said.
AT any rate. he was venturing no
further within reach of your unde-
pendabls rifle"
WAS 1t by Jeroge's orders that
these wretches held me prisoner"
"Of course it was" he answered
shortly "Jeroge Is convinced you are
mad as a halter. Bitten by the sun.
he calls 1t. He can imagine no other
reason for a woman to go galloping
off into the forest like that. To him
it points clearly to sheer lack of
sense. He is not far off the mark
either" he ended dryly.
She bit her lip. All her endeavor
had gone for nothing. She was back
at this mans side, his captive as be-
fore. She wondered vaguely how the
thing would end.
Pathways explanation shed the
light of understa nding now on many
things that had puzzled her
Those kindly smiling creatures they
had left behind had thought her mad,
not fit to be allowed to wander out
alone. So they had kept her. guarded
her till Jeroge, who went off to sum-
mon his ma ster as soon as dawn had
made the return journey safe, should
reappear with Pathways To relieve
them of their charge.
And Pathways had set a native hoy
to watch her. Her cheeks burned
with the insult of it. To what low
position had she sunk that he dared
her in the eyes of an .ele-
servant.
Jeroge. following behind. wondered
vaguely at the vicious glance she shot
back across her shoulder at him.
Truly. he reflected compIacently, he
had drnA uAll "rrok after the MON,
sahib See that no harm comes to
her" The bwana had said that And
he had obeyed the order, had seen