Lakeland Evening Telegram Newspaper, April 7, 1915, Page 2

‘The Trey O’ Hearts By Louis Joseph Vance *~Thilled with apprehension, he hesi- tated: Marrophat was up there, he lit- tle doubted; hardly like that one to overlook the ladder-shaft in preparing the tunnel to be a living tomb. “What is 1t?” Rose demanded at his elbow, in a shaken whisper. “Nothing,” he lied instantly, and seizing the bottom rung, swung Mm-l self up. “But wait for me till I signal the coast’s clear,” he warned before committing himself finally to the u-[ As Alan sald his last mute farewell Plainly: cent. the glowing oblong of the window, Mephistophelean profile of Trine, distorted with a grimace of cruelest joy that ever heart of conceived. He saw Marrophat proach his master with a drunken || swagger and a speech which, though bad dropped a flaming wick into & lit- tle heap of bone-dry debris. This last flamed, licked hungrily at the timber- ing that upheld the falls of the tunnel. | The timbering caught fire without de- . lay. In a space ‘of time incredidly | brief the flames were spreading right ; and left, the tunnel was a vault of blistering fury. to Rose and Barcus, the fire spread indistinguishable to the unseen au- ditor, unquestionably afforded both of the other men ample excuse for eo static glee. Toward its conclusion Mr. Marrophat apparently capped the peak of jubilation by fumbling in his coat pocket and bringing forth some- gle playing card. Now when he had contrived to master his mirth, the cripple made & gesture which eloquently abolished imhurd.nmtnnvlldlnflnfl. “All that is finished. The thing has served its purpose! To Marrcphat or no Marrophat at the | out in the bottom of the shaft and in- hell with it!” top, there was nothing for him to do | but to grasp the nettle danger with & vaded the powder room. Alan had guessed aright at Marro- ‘Whereupon, with a smart jerk of his wrist, Mr. Marrophat sent the card spinning and sailing out through the vincing the pair that the motor car was out But the devil takes care of his own: ! within another half hour what seemed {to be sheer, bullheaded, dumb luck { brought a casual automobile to Mes- ‘quite—a two-seated, high-power ! machine of the latest and speediest pattern, driven by two irre- sponsible wayfarers who proved only too susceptible to Marrophat’s offer of double the cost of the car—tf. 0. b. ' thing which strongly resembled a sin- Detroit—for its immediate surrender. i The two piled out promptly enough; Marrophat and Jimmy jumped in; Trine from his bedroom window sped them on their murderous mission with & blast of blasphemy. It must have been an hour later when Alan, checking his motorcycle as it surmounted the summit of a long upgrade, looked back and dis- covered, several miles distant on the far-flung windings of the ‘mountain steady hand, unflinching. Even though ’ s lasting pow- he were shot dead on emerging from z::t:::'l‘::' ,?;k:: :‘1:11!!1 mu?om‘ the shaft, it were better than to die ' explosion could not possibly have ef-! down there, likearat in a trap. . . .'fected the cavein Alan had at first He had climbed not more than half | geqreq. :m““:o rungs when a voice halled| gyt what Marrophat had overlooked m above: “Law—Oh, Mister Law. I say—don't :?.;:o.ar&x:fltz:.::: :‘:::::; / come up—here's & present for you" |, gim of earth that had fallen from Pausing without answer, he looked ¢pg crumbling walls. ; up. A few drops of water -pl-ttarod| When the blasing fuse dropped his face, like heavy rain. Almost im-' .o\ rvy nto the blasting powder this' mediately the blue sky was per- ... ervioded right willingly and the ! manently eclipsed: & heavy cascade of dymml‘t’e took its cue without the! water, almost a solid column, shot ;... delay. down the shaft with terrific force. The resultant detonation was ter Half-drowned and wholly dazed, he ;a0 Tpe bulkhead was crushed in' felt himself picked up and dragged like an eggshell barrier. Part of the' away from the waterfall. walls fell in, but the tunnels and ahaft Then, as his senses cleared, he com- ' pemained intact. The released flood prehended the fact that the tumnel gtreamed out and spread swiftly to the was already fllling; that where they , farthest recesses of the burning tun- stood it was already ankle deep; while e Dense clouds of steam filled that the water continued to fall without pjace of terror as the fires were extin- hint of letup. ! guished. t Swept with the stream as it poured out of the tunnel, Alan contrived SR throughout to retain his hold round Flood and Fire. the waist of Rose. Barcus shot past Screaming to make himself heard ,» ungeen in the darkness. It was above the roar of the deluge, Barcus 1ot until Alan had contrived to catch yammered in Alan's ear: |an unburned timber and stay himself “That devil! He's found the reser-'gnd his almost witless burden beneath voir—opened the sluicegates—turned the mouth of the shaft that he discov-' it into that shaft! We're done for!” i ered Barcus alive, If almost unrecog- ' Alan had no argument with which to ' pizable in his mask of mold and soot, | gainsay him. Silently getting on his ' battling back toward the shaft against | feet, silently he groped for Rose in the the kneedeep tide. darkness, momentarily becoming more | pgif.blinded and stified as,he was by dense as the fall of water shut out tpg reek of steam and powder fumes, the light, and drew her away with him, | Alap struggled with himself until his wits were passably clear. | CHAPTER XLVI. up the slight incline that led back to road, a small crimson shape that g The watcher didn't see it fall, and like & mad thing tirelessly pursu though he spent an unconscionable by a cloud of tawny dust like a gold- en ghost. time searching for it in the deep dust A Rtoe ear, bavosd sl fmeetion, ‘ and one of uncommon road-devouring quality; it might or might not con- tain Marrophat and Jimmy, once more in pursuit. Whether or not. bitter experience had long since educated Alan in the gentle art of taking no chances. open window to lose itself in the night. ' Though it was his life that they sought so pertinaciously, no later than yesterday (and then by no means for the first time), they had proved that it Rose were with Alan they would include her ruthlessly in whatsoever ‘scheme they might contemplate for his personal extermination. | | Nor would Tom Barcus be exempt, "1t they were caught in company— though Judith might be, in view of | Marrophat's infatuation for the girl. These two were far ahead, out of sight, indeed; and must somehow be . overtaken and warned—no easy mat- ,ter, since the machine which bore - them was, If anything, faster than Alan’s, just as the racing automobile It Was a Trey of Hearts. ! was faster than either. of the roadway, he went his way in the Alan kept his gaze steadfast to the end with curiosity unsated: Fate had road before them, daring not once to' reserved that card for a higher pur- look up and round or back. | pose. So sinuous and meandering was its | Undisturbed, it lay where it had course, indeed, that Alan seldom could | fallen, face upward, not a dozen feet see a hundred vards of it ahead, but | i | ‘ from the front door of the Mountain must pelt on in panic flight, hoping house, until another day dawned on for the best—that Judith and Barcus | Mesquite. | would scon show up in front, that Then, in the clear light of that dawn, | something might happen to hinder tho four more strangers straggled into pursuit—never knowing whether the | | stroll round that way and see what its , But it's sure a mighty poor sort of & : canyon that doesn’t lead anywhere— | walt for something to turn up—and the bulkhead. . . . | The hour that followed lived ever in his memory as an hour in hell. No ray of hope lightened its impenetrable ! blackness. He could say nothing to: comfort the girl; bravely though she strove to keep up her heart, time and | again she shook in his arms like a mad | thing, when panic dread caught her| by the neck as a terrier catches a rat. To dle there, in the darkness, like 80 Immediately before him dangled the | hoisting bucket and rope. | Surrendering the care of Rose to Barcus, Alan climbed into the bucket and stared upward, examining the walls of the shaft for a way to the top. There was none other than the most | difficult; gaps too great to be bridged town—two weary and haggard men, two footsore and bedraggled women. One of these last was dressed In a ! suit of man’s clothing, much the worse ©d mountainside the motorcycle swept ' fervently, “forfend!” for wear. At sight of the Mountain house the party betrayed slight symptoms of a latter lost or gained. And thus catastrophe befell X Round the swelling bosom of a wood- | | like a hunted hare, and without the ! Jeast warning came upon Barcus and Judith, dismounted, Barcus bending | more cheerful spirit: rejoicing in its Over his cycle and tinkering with its | promise of food and drinks and beds motor. | by climbing showed in the wooden| Withal wherein to sleep, the four For one horripilating instant colli- them, they had dome likewise, reasoning that they could return and deal with his unfortunate friend at their convenience after overhauling their quarry, whose life they most “1:‘;:: Rose and Alan—heaven alone knew what had happened to them. So Barcus set himself to find out what- ever Providence kmew without more delay. The racing car was barely out of sight when be sprang from the sheltering trees and, Judith at bis heels, pelted headlong down the slope to the spot where the others had van- ished. To find them not only alive Imll practically unscathed affected that loyal soul almost to tears. But when congratulations had been mutually exchanged, there fell an awkward pause. The eyes of the four sought one another’s ruefully, each pair quick with the unuttered but in- exorable inquiry: What next? In the outcome, it was Mr. Barcus who advanced the suggestion which was adopted—though this was its re- ception more through lack of a better than for any actual appeal intrinsic in the proposition. “When we broke down, I saw,” he ventured, with a backward jerk of his thumb to indicate the road, “a can- yon branching off from this one about a quarter of a mile over yonder. If it's all the same to you people, we might natural attractions may be—if any. and nothing could possibly be more fatiguing to our mercurial and rest- less tempers than to squat down here and fold our hands in our laps and anyway we can’t be worse off than we are—and—" “Sufficient!” Mr. Law interrupted with a bleak smile. Crooking a deferential arm, Barcus offered it to Judith. “Everything is lovely in the formal garden,” he insisted—“so sweetly ro:i mantic. Are you game for an idle saunter, just to while the idle hours away? The woman found spirit enough for a wan smile as she tucked her hand gratefully beneath his arm. “You're the cheerfulest soul I ever met,” she said demurely. “What I'm going to do without you when—if ever —we get out ol this awful business, goodness only knows.” “Let's talk of something else,” he suggested hastily. “Unless, of course,” she pursued with unbroken gravity, “I marry you. . o “Heaven,” the young man prayed “That is hardly gallant—" “I mean—heaven forfend that you should throw yourself away!" “Humph!” “Perhaps you're right.” Their banter was not without a she mused. L] L3 4 3 Decisive Influence To The Public:— SaRee man of integrity and thrift in this comm isfactory banking connections, It does not make so much difference to the office; this bank HOW MUCH money a man has in our by we want his NAME on our books. His influence and g, ship are often worth even more to the bank thy | monglyl;e strength of our institution and the standing o offiecrs are such that we have no hestancy in presey our advantages to the largest or amallest depositor, Our ways of satisfactorily serving you are many we invite your account. Yours very truly, a._ % W FIRSTNATIONALBA ANK IS A MEMBER OF THE FEDERy . RESERVE SYSTEM. y S S S ST S S R ST Y P Y VA VO S0 Vol The Financial Crisis O We are now in shape togive you the benefit of our Low Expenses. Let us wire your House and save you money, Lower Insur- ance, Cleanliness and Convenience are the results. . T. L. CARDWELL Phone 3. With Lakeland Sheet Metal Worl 3 Flour! Flour! CHEAP Now is the Time to Lay} | intders. quickened their steps. sion seemed unavoidable. Barcus and ; subtle object, namely, to reassure the many noxious animals trapped in a| well! . The water mounted rapidly. With. in five minutes it drove them back to the elbow in the tunnel; within ten it lapped their ankles as they lingered there, doubting which was the greater peril, to advance or to stand fast and let the flooding tide snuff out the fires of life. To return to the neighbor hood of the bulkhead was to court the death indicated by the fuse and the | keg of blasting powder . . . Of a sudden the thought crossed Alan’s mind that Marrophat had ar ranged the latter solely to keep them away from the bulkhead. Now that he thought of it, he felt certain that the powder room had been deliberately disclosed to him by Jimmy. Probably, ‘then, the keg and fuse were but stage properties—or pos sibly 8 Whether or no. was death In' one form preferable to the other? He was decidedly of the opinion that it were better to be extinguished once and for all time, in the space of a second, annihilated by an explosion, than to die thus lingeringly. On this consideration, he drew Rose with him back to the bulkhead. ‘When they had been some fifteen | The one feasible route was via the rope. And there was nobody at the top to work the windlass—and Alan hoped there would be nobody to op- pose his essay. He addressed himself to the task without murmuring—lifted himself up- on the rope, wound it round one leg, and be_an that heartbreaking climb. How he accomplished it he never knew. That it wmust bo accomplished was his one, all-absorbing thought. And somehow, by some almost super- human effort, it was eventually accom- plished. He arrived at the top of the shaft | far too exhausted to show surprise when, falling in half-fainting condi- tion within two feet of the brink, he saw Judith Trine running like mad across the clearing. But without her ald he would not | within hours have been able to work | the windlass and lift Rose and Bar cus to the surface. CHAPTER XLVIIL The Last Warning. : In the chill, violet-shadowed dusk of that clear evening, a chap-fallen motor car crept sluggishly into the, little mountain town of Mesquite at minutes beside the bulkhead, the wa- ter mounted the head of a slight rise perhaps ten feet behind them, and poured down in ever deeper volume to back up against the barrier. It was waist deep, however, before they rétreated to the head of that rise. Half an hour later it was waist deep there, on the highest spot in the tunne), . In fifteen minutes more it had reached their chins. And they stood with head against the roof of the tun- nel. Holding Rose close to him, Alan kissed her lips, that were as cold as death. Then, fumbling under water, he found the hand of the man at his side. The water lapped his lips like o blind hand . . . - L] o . . In the tunnel that branched off from the main shaft, beyond the bulkhead, some thirty minutes before this junc- Alan Negotiates for the Burros. the heels of two mutinous mules, driv- en by a chauffeur who steered with one hand while the other flourished a crackling whip-lash over the backs of its sole motive power. Its one passenger, a cripple as help- | less as the car itself, huddled in a corner of the rear seat, saluted Mes- quite with a snarl. Though he was in sore need of such rude comforts as' the town stood prepared to afford him, | his demeanor toward it was that of one who suffers an indignity rather than begs accommodation. And now, as the car crawled to a pause before the Mountain house— | Mesquite's one caravanseral—and Mesquite itself, to the last flea-bitten | hound, gathered round to view this wonder, Mr. Trine’s indignation and | chegrin distilled words of poisonous | import. Far from resenting this, Mesquite, | pipe in mouth, hands in pockets, ad- | mired and applauded, and rather re- . sented the change that befell when two other strangers (whose earlier ap- ] : before they waken But of a sudden one of the women Judith and the motorcycle occuplel —she who wore the garments of her MOst of the width of the road; there sex—paused, uttered a low cry, Was little room between them and the a-thrill with terror, and clutching the declivity, less between them and the arm of the man nearest her, pointed forest. To try to pass them on the down to the card that stared up from latter side would be only to dash his the dust at her feet. brains out against the trees; while to It was a trey of heatts. make the attempt on the outside would be to risk leaving the road altogether CHAPTER XLVIll. and dashing off into space . . . - And it was impossible to stop the Full Flight. cycle—so brief was all his warning. “Oh, what can it mean?" Rose whis- In desperation Alan chose the outside pered brokenly, clinging to her lover's of the road; and for the space of a arm. “Surely you don't think + single heartbeat thought that he might Surely, it must be accidental + possibly make it, but with the next Surely it can't mean—" realized that he would not—seeing the “I'm afraid it does,” Alan Law re- front wheel swing off over the lip of sponded gravely, eyeing the front of the slope. the Mountain house. *‘Our luck holds At this he acted sharply and upon consistently—that's all. It wouldn't gheer instinct. As the cycle left the be us if we didn’t pick out the oneé road altogether he risked a broken place where Marrophat and Jimmy knee by releasing his grasp of the chose to stop over night. Fortunate- handlebars and straightening out his ly, it'e early; I doubt they're up. leg .and dciving it down forcibly With half a show we ought to be able against the roadbed. The effect of this to find some way of putting a good was to lift him bodily from the sad- distance between us and this town dle: the machine shot from beneath Tom!"” him like some strange projectile But Mr. Barcus was already at his hurled from the bore of a great gun; elbow, in thorough sympathy with and Rose crashed against him in the Alan’s Interpretation of the signifi- same fraction of a second. cance to be attached to the card that trembled in Rose's hand. the hillside, struck its shelving sur- “Sharp’s the word!” he agreed. face a good twenty feet from the brink “And there’'s a motor car over there, of the road, and flying apart tumbled in front of the blacksmith's. Prob- their separate ways down the re- | ably we can hire her—" mainder of the drop and into the “Trine's car!"” Alan ejaculated. friendly shelter of the underbrush. swinging round and recognizing the Something nearly miraculous saved | automobile at a glance. “Then he's them whole. Beyond a few scratches ! here, as well!” and bruises and a severe shaking up, | “Looks like it," Barcus admitted. they escaped unharmed. And they ! “But so much the better. We'll just , were picking themselves up and re- naturally take the darn' thing off his gaining their breath and re-collecting hands, and I'll bet a dollar there isn't their scattered wits when, with im- another car within a radius of fifty petus no less terrific than their own ' miles! We'll be well out of these had been, the pursuing motor car glddy mountains long before he finds swung round the bend and hurled it- anything to chase us with.” , self directly at the two who remained But his confidence was demon- upon the road above. ‘ strated to be premature by the dis- i | Headlong they plunged as one down ' covery, which rewarded the first cur-! sory examination, that the car was | very thoroughly out of commission. Two minutes later, however, their | earnest inquiries elicited the fact that, although Barcus was justified In his surmise that the neighboring CHAPTER XLIX. Sacrifice. But Tom Barcus hadn't falled to profit by the warning implicit in Alan's | klccldent. Alan, he told himself shrewdly, | Rose's rival have had it otherwise. | 4 She could not have loved him as she | ° | herself that, if opportunity ever of- country was poverty-stricken in re-; spect of motor cars, Mesquite ftself boasted two motorcycles whose own- pearance in town had helped make that one day memorable beyond all others in Mesquite's history) charged ; ers were not indifferent to a chance out of the Mountain house and inter ; to gell them second-hand at a con-, rupted the elder devil with cries of Siderable advance on the retail list) would never have run his cycle at so foolhardy a pace without good rea-' son; and under the circumstances good reason was synonymous solely with pursuit. He was therefore on the alert, quick greeting and jubilation. The leader of these answered to the | name of Marrophat; his companion | was a person named Jimmy. Mes- | quite acquired this information 8 throuch paying close attention to the substarce of their communications f with the cripple. More than this, how- ever, it learned little. Something geemed to have been accomplished by | the two, somethirg that was highly | gratifying to Seacca Trine: for he was (chuckling wulwost wirthtully whea lifted from the car and carried into the hotel. What passed between the trio after they disappeared behind that bed- chamber door Mesquite could by no means guess. But that a celebration of some sort was in progress was evi- denced by the frequency with which Marrophat and Jimmy called on the Ibar for more liquid refreshment. | And toward midnight ope belated price of the machines, when new. And thus it was that, within ten minutes from Rose’s discovery of that chance-flung warning in the dust, the | party was again in rapid motion. Hie hoanty sloen Alctnrhad hv flevnrh;rp b . L Barcus and rovsed n the window secord mo tum Alan stecrir behind Sixty seconds later a flaunting ban- ner of dust was all that remained to remind Mesquite that romance had reca 1 lcoked out of to see the * momen- Rose in the seat " i to see the racing automobile when it { came hurtling round the bend, and in the very nick of time grasped Judith's arm and swung her bodily with him |back out of harm's way, amid the ! trees that bordered the inside of the road. Of necess Abandcne it was suucs 3 | motor car and flung aside as if it had ! been nothing more ponderable than a truss of straw—Ilanding halt-way down | the embankment, a hopeless tangle of shattered tubing and twisted wire. At first blush the circumstance ‘otarevele suffered. passed that way—that, and a series Seemed surprising, that the car did of passionate screams emanating DOt stop. But then Barcus reminded from the bedchamber of Seneca Dimself that Marrophat and Jimmy Trine, where the cripple lay posses- could not possibly have witnessed the sed by seven devils of insensate rage. | 2ccident involving Alan and Rose, who, His screams brought attendance; .to:ether with the wreck of their ma- but it was.a matter.of many precious | chide, remajged..wellcloaked by-the girl who followed, supported by her | & lover’s arm. In the course of the last 24 hours 5' In a Supply Rose's jealousy of her sister's new- | found friendliness with Alan had ' % become acutely evident. The least courtesy which circumstances now and again demanded that he show ' Judith or seem a boor, was enough - | to cloud the countenance of Alan's betrothed. Nor, indeed, was Rose altogether destitute of plausible excuse for this feeling. It was undeniable that be- tween Alan and Judith a bond of sym- pathy had grown out of the trials and hardships they had of late suffered in common. It was undeniable—but even in his most private thoughts Alan denied it flercely. Judith, on the other hand, not only acknowledged it freely to herself, but secretly de. | rived a strangely sweet and poignant pleasure from the knowledge that she ! loved so madly and hopelessly. [ 98 Ib. 24 Ib. 12 Ib. 08 Ib. Sacks Best Plain Flour Sacks Best Plain Flour Sacks Best Plain Flour Srlf-Rising Flour i 40 That her love was hopeless she | ‘ knew but too well. Even though Alan | might not be altogether indifferent to | | her, after all that had passed between | them, his loyalty to Rose was un- shakable. And not for worlds would | did had he not been so unmovably true. As it was, since she could not hope her love might be returned, she was content to love and to promise fered, she would not prove unready to | sacrifice herself for her love. And at times she caught herself praying that such opportunity would be accorded her, and quickly, and that the sacrifice it should demand would be complete. 3 Now prayers are sometimes ane swered when the boon craved is good | for the soul. . Slowly and painfully these four | toiled along an obscure trail tha: fol- lowed the windings of the little river, | until a branch struck into the main | stream and eo discovered to them yet | another trail leading into the west. | ward canyon. Then again slowly and painfully they plodded on following blindly an- other trail blazed by Fates as blind as they. Above them, on the road they had abandoned, the crimscn racer doubled back to the point where it had passed Judith and Barcus; its occupants de- scended, explored, and came present- 1y upon the trail of the fugitives, Bloodhounds could not have set- ! tled down upon a scent with more | 800d will and eagerness than Mr. Mar | rophat and his falthful aide. i The sun was high and blazing above the canyon when the pursnit came within rifle shot of the chase. A spiteful ghot roused the cuar tet from a pause of lethargic dismay due to tardy appreciation of the fact that they had penetrated witlessly al most to the end of a blind ailey. ! A hasty council of war armed Alan with Judith's revolver and posted him behind a bowlider commanding the ap- proaches to the chasm. The weapon, & powerful 45, had a range sufficient L. 6. TWELEDELL! PHONE 59 | HERB RS LIRSS 840404 \ b g $ &% * o0ttt estees NOTICE! Several People Killed by house flics. That is awfu! and could have been avoided hed they had their home screened. You had better let us screen your heme »nd keep out the flies. They are smil to kil you, but they carry manf dreaded germs that can kill vou when least expected. Our prices for this work isgven cheap considering qualityjandjwork marship. "Lakeland Manufacturing Company LAKELAND, FLA. PHONE 75 1 to numb the impetuosity of the n-| sassins and keep them under cover and out of sight of the desperate es- says the fugitives were making to Compass an escape. (To Be Continued.)