The evening world. Newspaper, May 13, 1922, Page 14

a for it was a long trail to the Indian’s cabin. ‘The girl felt the insincerity 1a Pe raux, but her task here was well fin ished ang she was eagor for hone and Pierre. She was a brave is big food girl, so she w i ’ her furs, kissed Marie and t gseat on Peraux's sledge She had tittie to say te ux, tu ning at the gee-pole, | ned the dogs, Sho noted their lean fitness, th strength and keeness in every uct They were intelligent machines that worked for the human behind her, be- cause he had them conquered. At this thourht she mentally self. ‘There was somethin: shine, running far out in the lead that was a subtle contradiction Ho afighter, that huge doz, she felt, even though he was always so contained, Never once had she seen him resent Peraux’s brutal treatment yet always she felt that resentment was there in the heart beneath the shaggy coat. Once Peraux stopped fix a loosened strap, und Silvershine looked bank across shoulder. ‘The woman on the sledge smiled and raised a mittened hand, and the husky pointed his sharp ears. That was all but the same electric flash passed be tween them that had passed that first day when Linda stood at the window of her father's store They made the twenty miles Lack to Peraux's well-packed trail almost in wlence. Once he had leaned down with a hand laid lightly on her shoul- d@er under its heavy furs, and Linda had looked up, frownings “The cold—you are of sufficient @omfort, Ma’amselle?"’ he asked. “Very comfortable, thank you,"’ the girl answered shortly, So they ran on, swiftly, lightly, and she fell to wondering at the speed and endur- ance of both the man and the dogs Their fame was well founded, The snow had begun to fall when they reached the true trail, and as they swung into it Linda leaned for- ward with a sharp word “Peraux,” she said, ‘stop! You are turning the wrong way! Where ar your wits? The landing is south.” “Your pardon, Ma'amselle,"’ sald Peraux resepetfully, “but the In- dian's cabin Hes two miles back an’ to the west." True. In her thoughts of home and Pierre she had forgotten that she had Pe) Pe the team to CHAPTER VIL. (Continued.) E lit a cigarette leisurely bo- fore answering and moved into a more comfortable position on the divan, “So ‘you have already told me this noon,” he said at length coolly, ‘with reiteration your remark becomes Jess convincing, ma cherie." Her anger ebbed away, She was too tired to be angry. She was hu+ miliated and hurt, and the man before her had it in his power to hurt her havre, she was at his mercy und to-night she could not fight. She pushed the hair off her forehead with @ heavy sigh and looked at the Sheik’s Jong length stretched out on the couch, the steely strength of his limbs patent even in the indolent atti- tude in which he was lying, at his brown, handsome face, inscrutable as it always was to her, and the feeling of helplessness came back with re- mewed force and with it the sense of her owm pitiful weakness against his force, compelling her to speak, ‘‘Have you never felt pity for a thing that ‘was weaker than yourself? Have you never spared anything or any one in all your life? Have you nothing in your nature but cruelty? Are all Arabs hard like you?"’ she said shak- fly. ‘Has love never even made you merciful ?"" He glanced up at her with a harsh laugh, and shook his head. ‘Love? Connais pas! Yes, I do,” he added with swift mockery, “I love my, horses." ‘When you don’t kill them," she retorted. “I am corrected. When I don't kill them."’ There was something in his voice that made her reckless, that made her want to hurt him. “If you give no Jove to the—the women whom you bring here, do you give love to the ‘women of your harem? You have a harem, I suppose, somewhere?" she braved him with curling lip and scornful yoice, but she knew that she had only hurt herself and her voice faltered. His hand reached out suddenly and he dragged her down into his arms again with a laugh. ‘And if I have, are you jealous? What if the nights 1 spent away from you were passed in my harem—what then?’ ‘Then may Allah put it into the heart of one of your wives to poison You so that you never come back," he said fiercely. ‘Allah! So beautiful and #0 blood- thirsty," he said in bantering re- proof. Then he turned her face up to his, smiling into her angry eycs with amusement. “I have no harem fnd, thanks be to Allah, no wives, Pherie, Does that please you?" “Why should I ca It is nothing fo me,"' she replied sharply, with a Wivid blush. He held her close, looking into her pyes, holding them as he could when he itked, in spite of her efforts to turn them away—« moesmerism she fould not resist. “Shall I make you care? Shall T make you love me? I can make women love me when T choose.”’ \ night to spend before she reached her fathen's roof The team hesitated, all but stopped r the leader swung away to the south ding to his duty, and with ath Poraux unfurted thut dosent it whining for tin unspeakably took the tip of Silvershine's and at the spurt of blood that followed Linda knew with deep nger why th dd ears nged and Without a ar jepered whip wird. The harp, left ear bitter wert yelp or a cringe the splendid animal whirled in his track, falrly Jerking hs team with him, and swung directly away from the dire tion where their usual goal It was pretiy work, she thought pretty work aux was nothing if hot master of his dogs. And yet she thought of that look she had caught in the leader's eyes twice now—that look of a common understanding with herself, a common hatred HE settled low under her f and watched the white curtair becoming thicker over {he landscape It was filling the trail alread —how soon and completely it would cover all trace of their journey At that thought she sat up suddenly They now had turned and were bearing west, with the dogs the unbroken snow “Peraux,” she said this cabin is so far in how will you make it out and down the long jour- ney to the landing, all in the day, to morrow?" he man laughed, and slie fancied there was an odd note in his laughter, a subtle sound of triumph, of excite- ment “Thees dog, Ma’amselle,” he sald, “she's run ail day lak dat—run all night eef Peraux say so." But Linda was not at ease and sho sat in troubled silence ax the snow- shrouded miles drew back. The light from the old, tral: wvay to the floundering in nly, “it faded early and night came down upon them at last. Hour after hour passed, and Linda’s hands were clasped fightly together in their mit- tens, Peraux directed Gilvershine by word and whip thia way and that, and she knew that they were in thick woods. And then, when she was cramped and weary from long sitting in the narrow sledge, the dogs stopped so suddenly that she nodded forward with the arrested impetus. aT “At lus’, sald Peraux from some where in the darkness behind, ‘we arrive, Ma‘umselle She looked sharp! pund, butt there was no liht anywhere rhe Can ime and touched her id The Hi ed the robes about he nd d y picked her up in his Tcan w sald decisively i went fe d through the snow, and she felt the great strength of his body « moved, He put out a hand and » ard it touch # sur- He ra « lateh, opened a and wd inside, ‘The still nbn sudden, iluminating fear floc giv, She knew in stinctively, even before he set her down and lighted a candle on a table, that the cabin was empty When the man by the table straight ened up and looked at her, smiling be- neath his small mu he, he met two blue eyes blazing at him in the flick ering candle-light with such rage and understanding that any explanation was unnecessiry So," he said man's dog—an' hees woman—Ma'amselle—he mus onquer, But you—to you ees Peraux tender, Jus’ so. Be please’ to remove your Ww while 1 mak’ the fire."" The girl did not sp nd Peraus suited the action to the word, and soon a great blaze was roaring com- fortably in the cavernous mouth When he turned and found that she 1 not complied he came and took her furs masterfully from her. Linda did not protest daughter, of calm courage desperately for help of the rude ¢ Ing stupor at Pe She was her father’s n brain, a quick and and she was searching imong her own resources © sat down quietly In one red in seem- about his tasks. He put snow in a pot upon a crane, set a spider near to heat, and went outside, 5! heard him wunharnessing the weary dogs, heard them going into a shed beside the cabin—a lean-to, ap- parently, for the sounds of thelr scratching against the logs as they wded in were distinctly audible He must have thrown them fish, fc she heard them snatch and erunch am snarls as would have brought the heart in the throat of one unaceustomed to the wild wolf-dogs of the country ‘Then Peraux came tack, set tea to brew, sliced steaks from a haunch of savage wi ' zen and put cups and plutes upon the bare table, All the time he was talking lig it she did not cateh a word he tly d Vat—little one," he sald presently; tees good when the cold bite! in the iit Landa took t him straig 1 ite den braids, set black eyes ashine wth adr T break nc Ver S, NOW or ever You rahd «a cheat—that poor thing nong mek which makes war upon a wornat There was sting in the calm we Peraux's dark face flamed. and sat down at the tabl. ou wih” he said, and led eat heartily HEN he had finished he cleared away the dishes and then faced Lit ow, he 8 tone, id with a come sudden kees here ury mast and held out an jt ridus land. For answer the girl put a hand in side ler walst and deliberately drew a knife was no tay, but a re weapon, a fine slim blade, keened and long used by the trapper Josef 16 held the kni in her right hand and felt its edge with her thumb. Peraux, a fighter bofn, saw the play, and his evil face sparkled * he laughed, “Peraux ees so inwelcome that you mus’ fight heem Viola! But come,"* Again he held out his hand, and the girl saw it was trembling “peraux,’ she said, know you'll hang for thi you think Allen Derw will you when them?" “Peraux—an will be far to the ill go down to Thees snow, ro don't yo! 2 What do nt and Mierre this reaches do to s woman—the nort’ before v Linwell's landin she's come to cover ‘aux's trail, Come."* He flung out the reaching hand and toward strode her, contemptuous of the knife. He was a brave man, for the girl was large and strong, and she was well armed dead, cold earnest Also she was in She meant to kill Peraux if it were at all possible. She leaped behind the ble, and he merely leaned across and caught her left wrist, Her right hand was high OST TALKED ABOUT STORY IN TEN YEARS one MALL. MAYNARS U CO, PUBLISHED BY Pmmmisson: CHARACTERS IN THE STORY. DIANA MAYO, nineteen, beautiful, aristocratic English girl, deter- mines to make an expedition into the Arabian desert from Biskra. Her brother, ANTHONY MAYO, by whom she has been brought up, virtually as a boy, tries to dissuade her. So does JIM ARBUTHNOT, who loves Diana and wents to marry her. At a ball even to celebrate her departure she tells him she has none of the no man. Her expedition into MUSTAFA ALI, an Arab with a (Disturbing cigns appear before Diana is captured by eclings of a woman, has never been kissed and can obey the desert is led by fine outfit of well-bred horses. the journey is a day old. SHEIK AHMED BEN HASSEN and taken a prisoner to his caravan, where she is subjected to his passionate attentions. Diana is served by an Arab maid and by GASTON, a young Frenchman who has long been attached to the Sheik’s entourage. flickered. She knew that he was only amusing himself, that he was utterly indifferent to her feelings, that he did not care if she hated or loved him, but it was a new form of torture that was more detestable than anything that had gone before it. It h \ aseiggc sce oe a cathe infuriated her that he could even sug- gest that she could come to care for him, that she could ever look on him as anything but a brutal savage who had committed a hideous outrage, that she could ever have any feeling for him except hatred and loathing. ry white and her eyes “lt HATE YOU! DO YOU UNDERSTAND? | HATE YOU—HATE YOU!" That he should class her with other women he spoke of her, she felt degraded, soiled had never been before, and sli thought that she had felt the humiliation of her position The color rushed back into her face. “I would rather you killed me," she cried passionately, “So would he said dryly, “for if you loved me you would bore me and I should have to let you go. While as it is'’—he laughed softly as it is Ido not regret the chance that took me into Biskra that day." Hoe let her go and got up with a yawn, watching her approvingly as she crossed the tent. The easy swing of her boyish figure and the defiant carriage of her head reminded him of one of his own thoroughbred horses. She was as beautiful and as wild as they were. And as he broke them so would he break her, She was near! tamed now, but not quite, and by. Allah! it should be quite! As he turned his foot struck against the jade necklace lying on the rug where she had thrown it. He picked it up and called her back. She came reluct- antly, slowly, with mutinous eyes. He held out-the necklace silently, and silently she stared not at it but the revolted sh had utmost at him. Her heart began to beat faster, and the color slowly left her face. ‘Take it. I wish it,” he said quietly, “No. Tt was little more than a gasp. “You will wear it to please me,” he went on in the same soft voice, and the old, hateful mockery crept into his eyes, “to please my artistic soul. I have an artistic soul even though I am only an A i “T will not ‘The mockery was wiped out of his eyes in a flash, giving place to the usual ferocity, and his fopehead knit in the dreaded heavy scowl, “Diane, obey me!” She clenched her teeth on her lower Up until a rim of blood stained their whiteness, bluster like the ayerage angry man she felt that she could brave him longer, but the cold, quiet rage that characterized him always was infl- nitely more sinister, and paralyzed hor with its silent fo: She had never heard him raise his voice in anger or quicken his usual slow, soft tone, but there was an inflection that came Into his voice and a look that came into his eyes that was more terrible than any outburst She had seen his men shrink when, standing near him had ‘barely been able to hear what he had sald. he had seen a Ic from him silence a clamorous quarre! that had broken she out among his followers too close to his own tent for his pleasure, And that inflection was in his voice and that look was in his eyes now, It was no longer use to resist \e fear of him was an agony She would have to obey, as in the end he always forced her to obey, SI wrenehed her away from his compelling stare, her bosom heaving nder the soft sill chin quiver- ing, and reached out blindly and took eyes it from him. But the sudden ehill of t against her t hyeast seemed to ive the courage that was not, yet ‘ If he would only shout or ter? ve her, hovering, waiting for the ne chance to strike, Peraux watched that hand, stniling. He flung the table over and they shuffled tensely acrosa the floor, Swiftly as they neared the wall that hovering white nd came down and the knife bit ross the man’s great shoul- de Blood spurted, but Peratx laughe he cried, “han'some " k an’ fine Oh, thees she's goin to be some And he reached for the knife hand, ne. The blade turned down his spread fingers and he drew HERE on the wus y shuffle of feet ugh boards, pant- ng of breath—and the girl felt the man’s great strength In that moment she knew that he but played with her—a little afraid of the knife, to be sure—but contident of the outcome. Why, Peraux snap her around once ind break the wrist he held. He was capable of so doing when the fight become tirgsome, she knew A sick feeling rose inside her: i. swimming took her brain for just \ moment—and in that moment Pa ux caught her other wrist. His inning face was so close now that could feel his breath on her Slowly he squeezed down on st-muscles with his steel bending her backward Linda Derwent was built of good and she would not give up un could shoul the w til the lest. But with that steadily increasing pressure she realized the beginning of the end. One agoniz thought of Pi Whi hold the e and the eabin on Stone Gulch which would never his bride came to her, and for first time she opened her mouth ind gave vent to the anguish in her soul—one long, pitiful wail, deep and quavering. At that sound Destiny stirred Out in the lean-to Silvershine, the unt leader of the team, rose up smong his huddled mate He stood for all the world like a wolf, and he looked it, there in the snow night His legs were spread apart, his lony tail stood straight out from his body rigid, his great head swung low be tween his lifted shoulders where the hackles were raising in a ruff, His pale yellow eyes were changing to black as the pupils spread. In the rushing minute that followed, Linda Derwent caught a sound at the closed door—the bold stroke of nailed paws against the wood—heard an ans- wering thunder from a mighty throat. With all the strength of her big body she lunged forward against Pe- raux and swept him backward along the wall. As they passed the door she flung her ‘body sidewise and struck upward against the simple latch with her right shoulder. There Was a flood of cold air, and a great gray shape sailed up and, forward through the shadows. She saw Pe- raux's face, caught in its heat of passion, change with the swiftness of lightning. Wear flashed across it like a cur- tain, Then the huge gray body swept against her with such impact that she was thrown, tumbling, to roll al- most into the fire upon the hearth— for Peraux had loosed her—and hell let go iaside the cabin, OR years after Linda could close her eyes and live again that unspeakable scene. She saw Peraux go down like a straw, in wind—she saw the & Next Saturday’s Evening World Novelette THE FEMININE SLANT The Fascinating Love Story of a Business Girl | fin- * “*YOU— YOU COWARDLY WHELP!' SHE CRIED, | WISH | WERE A MAN!'" husky's nose thrust down—and ¢ n s he took fresh savage hold—the workings of the enormous jaws— She saw the thrashing of the bodies on the floor And for a merciful time she saw no more When she did become a re of things again thére was silence in the cabin, Beside the upturned table Pe raux lay still, and crouched above him, facing her, was Silvershine. His ruff was up all around his lowered head. His jaws were twitching still and his eyes! Ah; those mad eyes, black with excitement, full of light. Silvershine had paid her seore—and his own and that of all those thirty dogs which had gone to the sifting for Peraux's perfect teantt And then ‘Linda “Derwent covered her face with her hands and fell to weeping, for she was good and tender, and the death of a man was a griey- ous thing—even a man like Peraux. ‘The great gray creature rose, and, stepping gingerly, he came and sat gravely down beside her on his haunches. two Once more they too faced Peraux they two allied against him, and though the blue eyes were this tim dim with tears the yellow ones had all their ancient light and it was temp: ered with contempt Two days later, at candlelight, Lin- da Derwent swept up the little rise at Linwell’s landing. It was Silvershine, the mammoth leader, who took and followed the unfamiliar trail, who set the old pace, and who stopped at Pe- raux’s usual spot for night camp. It was Silvershine who dragooned his By Fannie Kilbourne Illustrated by Will B. Johnstone dead in her, She flung her héad, the transient color flaming into her checks and her lips sprang open, but he drew her to him swiftly and laid his hand over her mouth. “I know, I know," he said coldly, “I am a brute and a beast and a devil. You need not tell me again. It commences to grow te- dious."" His hand slipped to her shoulder, his fingers gripping the dell- cate, rounded arm, low much long- er are you going to fight? Would it not be wiser after what you have seen to-day to recognize that I am mas- “You mean that you will treat me as you treated the colt this after- noon?’ she whispered, her eyes drawn back irresistibly to his in spite of all her efforts. I mean that you must realize that my will is law.’ “And if I do not?’ He guessed rather than heard the words. “Then I will teach you, and I think that you will learn—soon,”’ She quivered in his hands, It was a threat, but how much of {t he meant to be taken literally she did not know. ain iN every ghastly detail of the afternoon passed with lightning speed through her mind. When he pun- ished he punished merciles: To what lengths would he go? The Arab standards were not those of the men amongst whom she had lived, The position of a woman in the desert was a yery precarious one. ‘There were times when she forgot mother that he was an Arab until some chance, as now, drove the hard fact home indisputably He was an Arab, and as a woman she. nee no merey at his hands. looked down gripping her shoulder and she saw them again stained with blood, saw them clenched round the dripping thong, She knew already, by bitter experience the iron grip of his lean fingers and the compelling strength of his arms. Her quick imagination leaped ahead. What she had already suffered would be nothing compared with what would be. The remem- brance of the stained, huddled figure of the servant he had chastised rose before her, And as she battled with herself, still torn In her passionate desire to make her strong will and courageous spirit triumph over her coward wo- man's body that shrank instinctively from physical torture, his arm tight- ened around her and she felt the hard muscles pressing against her shoulders and soft, bare neck, a suggestion of the force lying dormant beside her. She looked up at him slowly His expression was unchanged, his forehead was still drawn together in the heavy frown and there was no softening in his eyes. The eruel lines about his mouth were accentu- ated and the tiger-look in his face was more marked than ever. He was not threatening idly; he meant what he said. “You had better kill me,"" she sald drearily. “That would be to admit my own defeat.’ he ivplied coolly. 1 do not kill a horse until I have proved be- yond all possible doubt that I cannot tame it," With you 1 have na such proof I can tame you and I will But it is for you to choose and to choose to-night if you will obey me willingly or if I must make you, I ave been very patient—for me, he ided, with an odd smile flitting neross his fac “but my patience ts exhausted, Ch we augkly Inaensitty he her closer to him till his arm felt Ike an inflexible steel about her, and she thought with a shudder of the colls of a great serpent closing round its victim. She made a final effort to conquer her- self, but between her and the broad chest so close to her she seemed to see a horse's head held low in agony, blood and foam dripping from his lac- erated mouth, and a horse's flanks heaving piteously, torn with the cruel punishment he had undergone, A sud- den nausea came over her, every- thing seemed to swim before her eyes, and she swayed against the man who was holding her. Her bodily fear overruled her mind. She could not bear any more. “I will obey you,"' she whispered heavily. He took her chin in his fingers and jerked her head up sharply, staring at her intently until she felt he was looking into her very soul. The heavy scowl smoothed away but the fierceness lingered in his eyes. **God!"’ he said at length briefly. ‘You are wise,” he added significantly. He tilted her head further back, bending his own down until his lips were nearly touching hers. She shivered involuntarily, an anguished appeal leaping into her eyes. He smiled ironically “Do su hate them so much, my kisses She swallowed convulsively “You are at least candid if you are not complimentary;" and with that he released ber and turned away, , She reached the curtain that di vided the two rooms, her heart beat~ ing wildly, giddy with the strain that she had gone through, She paused a moment and looked back at him, amazed ut her own temerity, He had unbittened the flap of the tent and wus ing in the entrance looking out inte the night, The scent of the mates to peace a their meal o frozen fish, who pt against the girl's fur bed, who needed neithgs whip nor word to bring her sate last to her own place And all the judgment of the region gave to Linda Derwent, as earnest fo the things she had affered, Silver- shine and his mates, a possession which, in the memory of that night was above 1 price to her (Copyright, All rights reserved. Printed by “arrangement. with Metropolitan Newspaper Service, New York.) ; peculiar tobacco he used drifted to heff with the draught from the open door Her eyes grew puzzled. Would sh ever understand him? ‘To-night hi had given her a choice instead simply enforcing his will, he had mad] her choose to save herself, he hal proved his determination and Wy mastery over h And with his lam words the unexpected gentleness ha) come into his voice again and thi cruel lines about his mouth had laxed in a smile of amusement, was the swift transition from feroelt to gentleness that she could ney fathom, His complex nature was b yond her understanding. She woul] not try to understand him; she cou never know thie depths of his baffli personality, She only knew that f some reason of his own he"had.spanl her, and she feared him more tht i : CHAPTER IX, NDER the awning of the te: Diana was walting for Ge ton and the horses,, pullin on her thick riding gloves ne: vously, She was wrought up to tt utmost pitch of excitement, Ahmé Ben Hassan had been away since th previous day and \t was uncertain he would return that night or ti next, Ho had been vague as to ho long he would he vere hi heen a tant and golr umongst his nessenge riving on horses at « aubsen coming followers: exhausted hours of the day and night, and t Sheik himself had seemed unusual} preoceupied. He had not cond seended to give any reason for t xnecial activity of his people and « vad not asked "him (Continued Mepday.) | |