The evening world. Newspaper, December 29, 1914, Page 15

The Evening World D Qrrrmeninpinnen: net A STORY OF WAR AND WIRELES BY ARTHUR §S THE GUN-RUNNER (Copyright, 1909, by Street & Manith.) er cane ag EDING CHAPTERS. worean! ns oi Telit, ate tor, sends and ve@ aeverel odd mes Sie fe ig himeeit "“Dulty' and mraal mewas @ large bribe in retum for thie petvil CHAPTER IV. (Contioued.) /KINNON still looked at the other man There was something so placid and in- timate about the tones of the stranger's voice tha: the very purport of his suggestion had seeined robbed of its enormity. "L wouldn't do a thing like that for five hundred dollars!" the operator a@t last declared. The stranger looked back at him without a move of his great body in ‘ air, McKinnon’s glance contempt in no wise dis- turbed him, “L'il give you one thousand dollars if you ao it!” he said. His voice was quiet and casual as he spoke, but again the operator ewung about and binked at him. Me opened nis lips to reply and then suddenly became silent. He shifted in his chair as though to draw away from some tans + Bible and precipitating temptation. “Pi give you one thousand dollars repeated the stranger, “and [ll prom ise to stand between you and any trouble you're afraid of!" “it’s not what I'm afraid of,” the ‘other retorted, “Then what is it? You catch a message or two and no one's the wiser! What of that? Good heavens, man, you're not doing thing crooked! body's cut a thro. back there in } Nobody's trying to get away from your Centre Street peopie! You're not doing any- thing against the Penal Code!” “Why didn't you go to the Captain about thie?’ complained the opera- tor. The tacit note of concession in that complaint did not escape his companion, “Because the Captain has no more to do with this than De Forest him- self! And I imagine he'd rather be @oaking in brandy pawnees than talking business to outsiders! This is @omething between us two. You're not Reeeslnky Bay bony You're not hurting anybody. All you do is to heip me win a big case and get well paid for your trouble. And a twist of the wrist is what it costs For I'm assuming, of course, you can put that machinery of yours out of business, for the time being, without exactly showing how! “That's easy enough!” aaid the op- erator with a stare at hie apparatus. “There are a dozen ways of throwing a complicated thing like that out of Kilter, It's my getting out of kilter with the company that worries me!” “The company doesn’t count, my friend! They're outsiders in this. And you get your thousand dollars in cash, to work on that reed-diak of yours for half @ year if you want tol” McKinnon laughed a little. Then he grew more thoughtful and was about to speak when the quick tread of feet sounded on the deck without. He caught up the phone “set,” hur- riedly, and bent over the pine table. ‘The steps paased on, but the betrayal of disingenuousneas remained a con- eoling and obvious fact to the man in the steamer chair. It left him no longer in doubt. He reached down Into his capa- clous trouser pocket and produced @ rol of treasury notes held together by a double rubber band. He peeled of three orange tinted twenty-dollar bills and folded them neatly across “the middle, lengthwise. Then with yal deliberation he thrust them into cKinnon's still hesitating fingers. The operator looked down at the money doubtfully and then up at the at's just a trio of twenties to bind the bargain,” the latter ex- plained. ‘You've got to get some- thing for me taking up your time lke this.” “But how are you going to clear me—I mean, how are you going to make them ace I haven't been acting against the ship, if it ever comes to @ showdown?" asked the operator. “There'll be nothing to clear and nothing to show,” the other retorted. “All you've got to do is to have a bad ear when a certain message or two nh «vad to come along! But I'll go fui than that, just to put your mind at rest, To-morrow, when I pay over the balance, I'll put it down on paper, with my name to it, that I guarantee to protect you We can both sign a note showing we're act- straight and where we stand. ten you'll have me tied down in Diack and white. That seems equare enough, doesn't it?” “Oh, it’s square enough! But sup- pose this man Ganley comes to me wit! to send out. I've got to show it to you, and, if you don't approve of it, I've got to act the lie that the message has been sent, and keep lying to him, every time he me about it!” ¥ "You're not paid to be a ‘fence’ for @ gun-runner, are you?” The older man laughed a little, Then he rose heavily to his fect, His head almost touched tho cabin ceiling. “There's not much danger he'll ever nsk about it! And when you know the man and his business, you'll never let things like that worry you "Mant doesn't excuse me—hie being & gun-runner!” Of courae, I don't want you to lose either your job or your self-respect, iusi because my official duty’s been jhadow a man!” ing about for an anm quietness of the ship was broken by a sudden sound. It was the Laminian orn, hoarse and mournful throu rknesa, tearing the quiet with ,, ta. slowly repeated call. The two men tond aide by aide, listening, as the Z noted complaint was repeated. ‘re running Into thick weather,” erator, turning to catch up The two men, tm- in thelr own ends and aims, jost all thought of time and en- aa heey snotatene ‘fon the deck, and the captain im the di He stood in an ear oren for - everything in there?’ he demanded, with a scowl of disapproval at the man beside the steamer chair. es, sir,” McKinnon anewered, the ready over his head. The door shut again. McKinnon turned back to the littered pine table. The fog- horn sounded and grew silent; the dynamo purred and buzzed as the 3 starting box lever crossed down on the comtact pin The stranger beside the steamer chair buttoned ‘his coat. Then he crossed the cabin and turned back to peer at the operator, bent low over bis table. “So I can count on you in this?” he asked, in his quiet and reassuring gut. tural, His hand was already on the cabin doorknob. “To the finish,” answered the other man, pregpantly, replacing his ear- phones and holding them close to his head with his muffling handkerchief, CHAPTER V. ‘KINNON was oppressed by M the thought that the hour was late and his body bone- tired. But he did not close communication with the “Royal Mail operator who had “picked him up" through the fog until he had been duly warned of heavy weather southeast of Hatteras. Through the nicit came also the ne that one of the “Royal Mail” passengers, an American consul from Aregua, had broken his thigh bone against a bulkhead, and the Laminian was asked to relay the news to New York. This meant a call for ambu- lance and doctors to be at the landing wharf, together with an order to have f hospital room made ready. So the key was kept busy again, while the beneficent resources of ve were being marsballed so any miles away. The Laminian's operator had just bidden his far-off fellow worker a sleepy “good night,” and was still stooping absently over his tuning box-—-which had not adapted itself to the thick work—when @ knock sounded on bis in door. ‘ Some in!" he said, lifting off his arphones with a little sigh of mingled weariness and resignation. He suspected that his undisclosed caller was a junior officer, much given to garrulity. He began to dread the thought of being kept out of bed for another hour or two. ‘The door opened slowly, and the look of frank annoyance an slowly faded from the operator's face, For standing — ther confronting — him, blinking in the strong glare of his electrics, was a young woman. Her skirts, gathered up in one hand, and held high from the wet deck, showed in a sweeping cascade of white against the gloom behind them. On her head was a blue sea- going cap, swathed in a long, cream colored motor veil. Behind her stood ing a cloak, with the outward and studtous solicitude of a servile nature exalted by the consciousness of hav- ing been handsomely overtipped. She would have made an ideal figure, the operator felt, for the nurse of the Capulets. McKinnon put down his phoneand rone from his seat, still peering atthe figure closer to him, the woman in the doorway, He noticed that she was wearing a gown of dark blue cloth and that she was smaller than he had at first supposed. One of her hands had been thrown out to the door jamb to steady her againat the roll and pitch of the deck. The pale oval of her face—and it seemed more the mature and thoughtful face of a woman than the timid and hesitatin, face of a girl—was shadowed an softened by a crowning mass of brown hair, Her teeth, as she ventured her sober yet oddly conciliating smile, showed very white and small and reg- ular, Her deep lashed eyes were dark and alert, set wide apart under the Jow and thoughtful brow. These eyes carried an inalienable sense of w dom in their almost austere steadi- ness of outlook, McKinnon felt, as the woman still stood in the doorway, puckering her face at the atrong light. Then she atepped boldly in across the high doorsill and held out a tint- ed form pad sheet to the operator, The solicitously purring stewardess, at a gesture from her benefactor, had already disappeared. “You are still sending, are you not?" asked the young womon, step- ping still nearer the operating table, Her voice betrayed no trace of for- eign ortgin, as McKinnon had at first expected it might. The speech was that of a well groomed New York girl, the type of girl that McKinnon had 80 often noted about the Fifth Av nue shops and the theatre lobbies. The voice was the New York voice, yet with a difference, It was the slightest and thinnest substratum of accent, of modulation, that made up thie difference. Yet in doing so it imparted to her words a mild and bewitching gentleness of tone that seemed to hint at some indefinably exotic influence of education or en- vironment. It seemed to impart to her the crisp piquancy of the Pari- sian, persistently vet mysteriously ac- counting for her birdiike alertness of poise and movement, for some con- tinuous suggestion of — schoolgirl youthfulness that belied her actual years, “Then you are sending?” she said, as though in answer to her own question, “I'm sorry.” said McKinnon, backs ine away from the chair that she might take It if she choose, “I'm but I've just stopped for the night! For the first time he was conscious of the fact that he had been at work in his shirtsleevea and these sleeves were wofully soiled, He took down his coat and struggled into it.) The young lady. noticed the. movement, gratefully, and sank into the chair he had abandoned to her. “But can you not get somebody she asked. There was no note ¢ pleading in her voice, but the mute appeal of her eyes as they reated on his made him suddenly change his mind, “I've been having trouble with that tuner of mine,” he explained, “It's rather hard for us to pick "p any- the switch-leve widd, almoat tonehing each other, He | her presence there, im. There was something perversely and insidiously exhilarating in it. It made him forget the hour and the fact that he was bonetired. The orderly like stewardess, fluttering a stewardess, fat and untidy, carry- @pout, he supposed, somewhere beyend the closed door, alone took the ro- mance out of # visit so deliberately secret. He turned to his key again, and again called through th ‘Then he adjusted his phones and list ened, Ho finally put down his “set, with a shake of the head. McKinnon answered, watching 1} she drew the heavy folds of her v close down over her face. She looked back at the door with a timidly auda- cigus nod of the head. The next m ment the door closed and she was gone. ments without moving. Thea ecemsary quarter, this door was opened, and as quic closed again, It was the girl who h just left him. He noticed that she was panting. She leaned against the jamb for a minute or two, as though weak from fright. struggling bra her ¢ startled operator. @ listening attitud voice, “But it was the shock ing him, so~#0 unexpeotedly! better m But if “They were side by un’ aily Magazine, Tuesday, The Water Wagon Is Coming! By Robert Minor caught the key in his fingers and the blue spark once more leaped and ex- ploded across the spark-gap. The girl watched him with intent eyes and slightly parted lips as he fitted the “set” to his head and listened, with the phones pressed against his ear: McKinnon wi keenly conscious of 0 close beside night, “I'm afraid we'll bay to wait until morning,” he said., “If you'll leave the message I'll file It.” The woman handed him the mes- sage-form, with her intent eyes still on his. “Must I pay now?" she asked. “It will be charged against your stateroom; the purser will collect it before you land,” explained the op- erator, us he jabbed the message on his send-hook, with a businesslike sweep of the hand, “But you will see that it's sent?” she asked, as she rose to her feet. “It will be off before you're u 8 A McKinnon, still conscious of the subtle fragrance that filled the room, swung about to his table, He paused only this faint but persistent perfume that seeméd to have charged and effemi- mized the ve Then he reached out to the send-hook and quickly unspeared the me: second, to wonder a littl: at atmosphere about him, y He looked at it for sever: hands over his tired ¢ d the words, — They we addressed to Enrique Luis Carbo, Locombian Consulate, New Orleans, and they said: . pound Advise NTON, Lae JIGIA BOY McKinnon was still peering down at the message in his hand when he was startled by the sound of some one at his door, Even before he could restore the message to the hook ly Vhat is it?” the operator asked "Oh, it's nothing!" she faltered, ely enough to regain mposure. Her answer was no! mvineink appene: * persisted the She moved away from the door, in she tried to ¢ “It was a man plain, inadequately, “He frightened | me!" “But what man?” “A stranger-—-somebody outside “You mean that he dared to 51 to_you?" ‘There was a moment's silence, No," she answered in her low of see- McKinnon stepped across the cabin and stood near her, His efforts to catch some clearer glimpse of the veiled face were fruitiess “Won't you sit down until you feel no, I must go! It's so late. I ust gO But sho still hesitated. : “Shall I take you to your cabin?” he ventured. She showed actual alarm at this. “Oh, no; that ts out of the question! iM tarn down your lights, mh shipped away!" H, paapped out the electrics, He “There woul could hear her, in the darkness, quiet- ly opening the door. looking out “Good night,” she whispered grateful- ly as she slipped across the deck, and scarcely be room,” he She stood there "3 so crowded and shal- It's not the wording: an adventure, inaintained, making due allowance for his lack of humor, He agreed with her that it would, He even laughed at the thought of it, infected a Httle by her spirit of quiet But as he let hi on hers there remained wit t vague impr her presence there was th fe er and undivulged pur- nda lengthened them- ves into a ininute, and still neither They were still gazing at each other, when the sound of a quick step k without fell on their ears, nan stood up, with a little The look on he M greed, mild and indulging, as a doctor might be with a sou saying you wanted to make this every-day work of yours & little more romantic?” He had estopped in front McKinnon stood looking after her, deep in thought. CHAPTER VI. 'T was the next morning that the Laminian ran coastwise gule that left her "YRS “clear of the passen- goers and her funnels white with salt cackle of “static” from the humming “aerials” kept ob- literating the etheric y Laminian's low-powered ship was left inarticulate and on her course, “sneeze” and “cough” of the atmos- pheric electricity there voice within vadfs of commu- studying the faded map of the Carib- ‘The position was perilous. “Where do I sign?” demanded Mec- Kinnon, bringing the other man back to hin side at the table. The ink was ecarcely dry papers before a change intermittent 1 sure of hin nally, who, if a@ relue- was still an ally tho receipt and dropped into his leather wallet, placed the wallet in his breast pocket; were always ponder “What shall " whispered the tor pointed toward It was the only re- He motioned for her to s into it, as he himself crossed the cabin ‘d the outer door, on which some “ one was now impatiently knocking There was a tle ery, & warning pr his clothes el this means a devil of ‘0 depend on eo right thing, when the The weather disturbed much less than did his own state of y, which was ¢ fogging, pitching and tossing about his cabin, left everything with the night before The ship seemed a deserted Capt. Yandel and his officers sat ne before the " ty-odored tables. ting rustle of dr ure of one BI It's not that bad, is it?” the opera. asked, with an effort at humor, as Le pocketed his copy of the paper, ‘lt may be as bad aa either of us Duffy retorted. shaping, I'd mind. The ds and & mome McKinnon aeemed more and n masterfulness. for seyeral seconds. innon could sé his slowly roving ye as it took fffeach detail of the © one ventured on which held his wallet too late for you to draw out of it,” he declared, with heat, of anger went eniy out of hin face. we squabbling He betrayed no surprise uriosity, but across his face a veiled look of apprehension d. casing for his dynamo. deepened inte the wind fell, tion on his Ruhmkortt-coil and he was still studying reed disk apparatus pected tap sounded on his door, nnon nodded he next demanded. ve single word bristh 1 with some- y money out of this, t's an end of it. talk, later on MeKinnon felt that he was not in ap sition to resent 4 of his wireless models, do the box back against t f ty When an uner- And | guess war a veiled Wi his voles me of mockery swer, the door itself was © statervom door, visitor pf the night before back, One intent moment, Dutty, largely, suataly, a8 be stamped He laughed a little as he said “Good up his ear-phones was simply a ‘The gesture was watched or followed, closed the door and as 4. y the brass bolt that stood under the knob, locking herself in the cabin, She smiled # little, yet spiritedly, as she caught sikht of rite of repudiation not lost on the other m MT gues you're busy to-night,” be , “Guod night!” answered the opera- door had scarcely closed before the woman had pushed ndel-case and was out of ( her hiding place, Her face had lost its was to close up that The stateroom agreement of " ci ce became quit face, Then her own face became quite Meo niae pockat ARG his roll of bills, with the business-like unconcern of & contemptuous counted off nine hun- folded them setous of a faint perfume pervading Y “Ob!” she cried, pantingly, and noth- nine to him as the rustling ¢ “Could [ speak to you!” sh a iittle disturbed at the tinued wilence s “Hush!” said the alarmed operator, stening at the cloned door. She stood there, breathing hard, with r hand on her br What ts it?" 1 and forty dollars, " nd flung them on the pine h in which you might. bh The flow of her English seemed as even and natural thinking of the “That man!” the woman exclaimed under the try She looked older now, ing white light of th aura of belated youth hi fallen away from her, do you know who that mi pugving and piquant undercurrent to the ever-me “You do not mind?” argue it out with him, fis strangely 8 plain that quently asked favors Information Bureat , that makes us even “Ot course L don't mind , suddenly remembering he had init like this might be miseon- nt woman in dert- intruder atepped back to She shrugge uously and si McKinnon discreetly the shutter of hia cabin window took the further precaution of dra ‘Then she drew herself up and gazad companion with what seemed: k of mingled wonder and contempt wrinkling her low whit And you two are worl plicate slips « had ponderou ‘king together?” her mild and meditative gage still on the figure before her tioned for him to sit down, ticed his eyes on the door in appr hension, and she smiled a little 6 serious agiin studiously abo “You couldn't put me in there,” she wuggested, with @ satiric ward the operator's closet door. McKinnon seemingly took her query in good faith, for he threw open the door and peered inside, look returned to him, yet something are you actin, was repugnant to bout its wording He did not take tm this feeling; he Was loo oppressed by the thought of the woman and the nearby door, hearted objection, however, as Duffy thrust the pen in his hand “T can’t say | altogether like this he complained. “Where d'you wan’ as he fell to pacing id not seem to discon- “It'y not exactly a partnership. He's simply shadowing a man on this boat I've promised to help him out when the time comes.” “How help him out?” “It you must know, by holding back “But whose despatch manded the woman. ventured on “Despatches for the man he's shad- owing, of course!" “But still you don’t tell me who this man ta!” cried the impatient woman. McKinnon found it hard to fathom the source of her anxieties, “T mean thie man called Ganley,” he explained, concealing pattence. Ganley!" echoed the woman, “You, Ganley,” retorted the other. He noticed that her breath was coming in short gasps by this time and tha’ face was on white ag hin cabin walls, “Ganley!” she cried. “Why, the man who went out of this cadin Ave minutes ago te Ganley!” CHAPTER VII. foolishly repeated the oper- ator, His face, he peered back at the woman, was almost vacuous. He had expected surprises, be had pre- pared himself for emergencies. But this wae more than he had counted on. The frightened-oyed woman still confronted him, her face seeming one of pity touched with fear. When she next moved her gesture was moat that of a person wringing hor bands. “And you have promised to act with this man?” she little more than whispered. “You have taken hie money?” “But he came to me as a man named Duffy. He's the man who's got to turn Ganley over to the au- thoritios the moment we touch at Locombia.”” Still again the woman's wide and pitying eyes reated on hin face, “They are making a tool of you," Was all she said, “Of me? “Of you! They are deceiving you~ they moan to make use of you.” “But how?” The woman remained silent. Mc- Kinnon stood before her, perplexed, Jont in @ moment of troubled thought “Then who are you?” he suddenly demanded, noting her quick glance down at her little jewelled watch. He felt, an she stood there compelling her wolf to calmness, that there was some. pues Loomer) Wg the Easels Phe pe in my uncompre! was pee Ea may jurned slowly about and reloc! the cabin door, Then he sat down oe: posite the broken steamer-chair in pbc | she was already leaning back 20 we po HERE was a ailence of sev- eral seconds. ‘That man was Ganley?” fou want ta know who that mun who sald, at fast. “I want to know who you are,” “That will come later,” she explained. And again she leaned back wearily and fat there with her eyes closed. Me- Kinnon studied her face, line by linc, from the pale ivory of her dark-browed forehead to the tender curve of her al- most statuelike chin, for the y and thick-planted |i did not lift from her cheek until she began to speak again “The man who was tn this room !s Kaiser Ganley--King-maker Ganley they call him everywhere south of Guatemala, iness is to mal revolutions, ents in almont every one of the Central American re- in New York, in Cuba, in New Orleans—everywhere. When he seow signe of unrest he sends a man to strike a bargain with the enemies of the Government. He waits tke a buz- vard on @ housetop, until his meal tx, ready. Then he ts given money, and he brings #0 many inen and so many rarbines, and so many mules and ma- ¢ guns, Sometimes it's for the sometimes it's for railway or for mine rights. Home- u for rubber and coffee con- essions, A more conciliatory man must be made dictator, ‘or a more de- pendable friend muat be net up as f president! ‘That's the way he won the wiqgn; that’ Caqueta Axphalt con in Brasil or why he never dares | be seen in Venosuel She paused for @ moment. Then she added: “And now he has the rebellion in Twcombia, The Locombian Prer' hus been called the ‘Friend of For- he bas been good to the s, He ts modern and pro- crenmive; he is the"—— “Are you a Lecombian?” “Lam not a Locombian,” answered after the slightest pause, interests in that cou my try. me, ( know this man to be ite enemy! He is fighting for the downfajl of its Government, His plan is made, He ix only waiting for the end. Now, to-night, while we ait here, his men~deluded peons and beachcombers and paid mercenaries—- are drawing up cloner and closer on Guariqul, They are to wait thers they are to be moved, like wooden pawns on a chessboard, when be or- sit and in the manner he orders, the thirteenth of the month, a rev- aring the uniform of the Government, is to assault an Ameri- can eltizen in the Prado of Puerto lacombta, A Mobile ore boat ts to olutionist, w tilew are to he flung down on these officers as they pass through the town, Arrests, ef cou the people--they are so foolish in their hate fot the Americanos, And while this is gotag on, many miles up the coast machine suns will be landed nt tubs of cartridges and two thou- wand rifles." “But how do you know all this?” “It became my duty to know itt? “But why?” “Because my brother is Arturo Boynton, the 1 pbian Minister of War,” she answered, after a moment's allence MeKinnon gazed at her in wonder: “Ws Locomman?” “Then why the Arturo?” ‘That was a concesston to local prejudices,” she answered, after still another moment's pause “But why such concessions? You see, you'll have to be perfectly frank with me.” She smiled @ little, It was not a waion, for her earne: eyes were almost deprecative as she looked at him “That will mean a sad lot of family history,” al as 6xotic, almost, as the Southern in- atill de- flection of her voice. He se, will follow, That will arouse © December 29, 1914 PUNE PANE MOLINO Hes! Wee's Gomlele Novel in The Even anxiety that was weighing on bit Miu, You. fee we have. 10 enemee stand each other's position in this.” “My brother went to Guariqul seven years ago," she said, quite sober by this tine. nitrate claima. Your father, then, was an Ameri- ean interrupted McKinnon. He felt glad, in #ome va way, as he w her head-shake of assent, “We are—or rather, we used to be the New Orleans Boyntons,” an- awered. “But father had Intereste ite Argentina, cattle-lands and thi and property in Belgrano, where English-speaking colony is, just owt- side Buenos Ayres, So for nine ‘4 Buenos Ayras was our home--it PM could say we ever had a home. te, as I wanted to tell you, my brother Arturo was a mining engineer. I think, too, he had a good deal of father's spirit of adventure. He great chances in Locombia, but t was more important, he found that the altitude of Guariqul agreed with him. So he stayed on and on, and kept working harder and harder, arid getting newer interests, until finally he undertook to work the abandoned Government mines with Doetor Duran, They were copper mines.” “Do you mean Duran the Presi- dent?” ny but that was before had jade President. Indeed, when Duran first actively entered Locom- bian politics he persuaded my brother to join him. I was at school th in France—but I know that when ¢! party came into power my brother found himself in Duran‘’a Cabinet as salir of War.” “And you are going down there to faco all this?” McKinnon asked, with “ vaguely comprehensive wave of the arm. ya YY she looked der and fragile and unsuited ways of war, above all thi to the ways of Latin-American ila war, “But that seems as brutal, as un- thinkable, as a girl going into a ring with two prize fighters,” he tried to explain to her, "Yes, I know; but 1’ into the ring.” she answered.” “All is underhand work, when there 1s foul play like thie going en.” “Then that brings us straight back to the question of just why you are going back to Locombia at such a time,” McKinnon patiently insisted. “But Guariqui is my home—it is the only home I have now. noticed the fleeting look of concern, that amounted to anxiety, overspread- Ing his face, and hastened to add, with her slow and almost ful amile: “You know, they speak of it as the Paris of America! And there's something appealing in the life when you've got used to it— the stir and colot and movement of it all! “But you see you haven't yet explained why you are going tc Lacombii ‘How van I explain to you whem ‘ea paid agent of Ganley’a?” pon't be too sure of that!” “You mean you may not work with him?" f you like to take it that way!” But he has won you over to his uide—he has captured you against your will!” don't quite understand!’ “No, but Ganley does. Thi hy he has bought you over, and led you into his power In this way." She was speaking more rapidly now; a h - ened color had come into her cl “Rut how am [in his power?” “What was the paper you signed? What have you promised? What was the money paid over to you for?” “To hold back certain messages.” “Yes, to hold back messages. And why do that? : “So that this man ley—the man he calls Ganley—can held at Puerto Locombia. ws “You mean the other man, the mam in the cabin? Then you don't believe what I have sald about the real Game lev" “IL don't know what to believe!” the non-committal McKinnon complained, The studying the woman's fi only conclusion he came to was that twas” « disturbingly beautiful one. She was ailent for 2 moment, ap- parently deep in thought. “1 don't ask you to believe me now it's not fair, But do you realise. where you ay" tise ‘The solemnity of her manner, more than her words, prompted McKinnon to ask: “Where do you think I utand? Before danger you scarcely Qreamy’ of,” anawered the young woman, fe- turning his gaze. “It's not so @ueh that you have formed an alliance with a arming an outlaw, to face a fusillade the e was caught In Guariqui. But ty the fact that he's as treacherous with his friends as with his fo You have declared yourself his parteer. Ite will hold you to it, He will wae this paper you signed as a proof that you accepted hush money If it eulte his purpose to do so. He will claim you agreed to work with him. He vill hold this over you and foree you to act for him.” Hut why should I stand for coer- like that? What would you do? You can't go to your Captain or to your compag: It's to late for that, You've cut your- self off from them. But that isn’t the real danger, The real danger I anley's the actual head of the revo- tionary junta and that he can new how that you too are one of them! ‘That I'm one of them?" echoed the other. He holds a document which pri tically brands vou as a Locomblan revolutionist, We are being carried to a country where things move strangely and quickly, If Duran has the upper hand when we reach Puerto: Tovombia, you dare not make one jove against this man Ganley,’ 1 dare not, you If you do, he will have you handed over to Duran's officers as an enemy of the Government-—and he will have is document to prove it. If Du has been deposed, then Ganley te open and undisputed maste what he orders, you will have’ te ry ou Rut I'm not going down thére te that Governmont's catapaywi!y thas laughed a little, too, for ail the, ’