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Show I) ' V l 1 0I1APTUE XXXIV. HALLfE ERMFNIE RBVjcS The Temptation. Il'l GIIAPTER XXXII. The WW to Horse Skin. Ij Curiosity bold Jessica until tlio cvnn-I cvnn-I jjoHst closed his melodoon preparatory , to n descent upon tlio dance hall. Then, ; thinkiii of the growing dark with soiuo trepidation; for tho recent "striko" It had brought its influx of nndcsirabio j ehuracters to tho town sho started I! toward tho mountain. I Ahead of her n muffled puff-puff IV sounded, and the dark bulk of an anil an-il toinobilc tho sheriff's, tho ouly one the l town of Smoky Mountain boasted was Ij moving slowly in the same direction, I and sho quickened her pace, clad of this (I quasi-compnny. It soon forced ahead, U but ahe had passed tho outskirts of tho nj town then nnd was not afraid. v A little way up the ascent a cumbrous ;' shadow startled her. Sho saw in :i mo-! mo-! meut that it was the automobile, halted ,at tho sido of the road. Her footsteps 1 1 made- no sound and she was closo upon , it when she saw tho three men it had i carried standing near by. She mado to h pass them, and had crossed half tho l intervening space, when somo instinct I' sent her to the shado of tho trees, j Thoy hud "stopped opposito tho hydraul-J hydraul-J ic concession, whero a side path : left tho main road it was tho samo path by which she and Emmet Prcnder- cast had taken their unconscious bur-! -, don on a night long ago leading along ; the hillside, overlooking the snako-liko !j flume, and forming a steeper Bhort-cut K to the cabin above They were con-! con-! versing jn low tones, and as they talked is they pointed, sho thought, toward it. 4 Jessica had never in her life been J an eavesdropper, but her excited sensca I mado her anxious. Moroovor, sho was in a way committed, for sho could not 1 now emorgo without being seen. As J sho waited, a man camo from the path and joined the others. Tho sk' had j "been overcast and gloomy, but the moon I drew out just then and she saw that tho newcomer, evidently a patrol, car-! car-! ried n rifle in tho hollow of his arm. t She also saw that one of the first three II For somo minutes they conversed in 1 undertones, whose very secrecy iu-;1 iu-;1 flamed her imagination. It seemed to !;) her that the' made some reference to tho flume. Had there been another X robbery of tho sluice boxes, and could 1 thej- still suspect Hugh? iJrcad and indignation made her bold, t When they turned into tho path sho k followed, treading noiselessly, till she ' was closo behind them. They haa 1 stopped again, and wore looking in-1 in-1 tcutly at a shadowy gray something '1 thnt "moved in the bottom below. ' Sho heard tho man who carried tho 5 rifto say, with a smothered laugh. I "It's only Barney McGinn's old ! white horse taking a drink out of the If sluice box. He often docs that.'- ti Then tho sheriff's voice said: "Mc-& "Mc-& Finn's horse is in town tonight, with ft Barney on her back. Horso or no horse, I'm going to" tho rest was lost in k the swift action with which ho snatched . tho firearm from tho first speaker, sight-I' sight-I' ed. and fired. 11 In the still night fcho concussion K seemed to rock the ground, and roused H a hundred echoes. It startled and A shocked the listening girls but not so ' much as the sound that tollowed it a cry that bad nothing animal-like, j and that sent the men running down j xhe slope toward an object that lay , huddled by the sluice box. I In horrified curiosity Jessica followed. J dipping from shadow to. shadow. She j saw the sheriff kneel down and draw I a collapsed" and empty horse's skin j from a figure whose thieving cunning it I -would never cloal: again, j "So it was you, after all, Preudor-I Preudor-I gasfc!" the sheriff said contemptuously. 1 The white face starqd up at them, j venemons and writhing, turning about the circle as though searching for some j one who was not there, j "How did you guess?'' The sheriff, who had been making a i swift examination, answered the panted question. "You have no time to think p of that now," he said. A sinister look darted into the filming I yellow eyes, and hatred and certainty rekindled them. Prondergast struggled to a sitting posture, then fell back, con- vnlsed. "Hugh Stiros! Ho was the only one who know how it was done, j He's clever, but ho can't get the best ( of Prendergast! " A spasm distorted j his features. "Wait wait." He fumbled in his breast and his I fingers brought forth a crumpled pieco of-paper. He thrust it into the sheriff's hands. "Look! Look!" ho gasped. "The man they found murdered on the claim there" he pointed wildly up the hillside hill-side "Dr. Moreau. I found him dying! ' Stires " Strength was fast failing him. no tried again to speak, but only inarticu- late sounds came from his throat. A blind terror had clutched the heart of tho girl leaning from the shadow. "Dr. Moreau" "murdered." Why,, ho had been one of Hugh's friends! jj Why did this man couple Hitch's name I 8 with that worst of crimes? What dreadful dread-ful thing was ho trying to tell? Sho hardly repressed a desire to scream aloud. "Bo careful what yon say, Prendergast," Prender-gast," said the sheriff sternly. The wretched man gathered force for a last effort. His voico came in a. croaking whisper: "It was Stires killed him. Moreau wrote St dowu and I kept the paper. Toll Hugh we break even!" That was all. His head fell back with a shiver,- and Emmet Prendergast was gone on a longer journey than ever his revenge could warm him. CIIAPTER XXXIII. Tho Renegade. Whilo tho man as tho town knev as Hugh Stires listened to the talo ot tho street preacher, another, unliko yet curiously like him in feature, had slowly slow-ly climbed tho hilly slope from tho north b3' tho sanaforium road. Ho walked with a jaunty swagger bred of ,too frequent applications to a flask in his pock o t. Since the evening of the momontons scene in the chapel with Harry Sanderson, Sander-son, Hugh had had more and more ro-coursc ro-coursc to that black comforter. It had grown to be his constant companion. When, late on the night of tho game, some miles away, ho had gloatingly counted tho money in his pockets, ho Iiad found nearly a thousand dollars in doublo eagles, and a single red counter tho last he had had to stake against-Harry's against-Harry's gold. Tic put tho crimsou disk into his pocket, "to remember the bishop by," ho thought with a chuckle, but tho fact that for each of the counters count-ers Harry had won he had sworn to ronder a day of clean and decent living, liv-ing, ho straightwaj forgot. For tho other's position ho had wasted no pity. Harry would find it difficult to explain ex-plain the matter to the bishopl Well, if it "broke" him, served him right! What business had ho to set himself so far above overy one else? For some timo thereafter Hugh had Bcriouslv contemplated going abroad, for a wholesome fea'r had dogged him in his flight from Smoky Mountain. For weeks ho had traveled by night, scanning scan-ning the daily newspapers with a desperate des-perate anxiety, his ears keen for huo and cry. But'with money in his pocket, courago returned, and in the ond fear lulled. There had boon no wituess to that deed on the hillside. There might bo suspicion, but no more! At length tho old-time attraction of tho raco courso had absorbed him. He had followed fol-lowed the horses in " the, circuit," winning win-ning and losing, consorting with the tipstors, growing heavier with generous gener-ous livinc. and welcoming excitemont and chance. But tho ghost of Dr. Moreau haunted him, and would not bo exorcised. Money, however, could not last always, al-ways, and a" persistent run of ill luck depleted his store. When poverty a;aiu was at his elbow a vagrant rumor told him, with the usual exaggerations, tho rich "find" on tho Little Paymaster Pay-master claim on Smoky mountain. Too late he cursod the reasonless panic that, had sent him into flight, nnd the ground been "jumped" by some ouo who now profited? Nevertheless, it was still his own to claim; miners' law gavo him a 3'ear, and he had left enough possessions pos-sessions in the cabin, he thought cunningly, cun-ningly, to disprove abandonment. He i dreaded a return, but want and cupidity at length ovorcame his fears. He had arrived at Smokj' Mountain on this night to claim his own. As ho walked unsteadily along, Hugh drank more than once from the flask to deaden the superstitious dread of tho place which was stealing over him. On the crest of tho ridgo ho skirted Mie sanatorium grounds and at length gained the road that twisted down j toward the lights of the town. In the dubious moonlight ho mistook the nar-i nar-i row trail to the Knob for the lower I path to tho cabin. As ho turned into it, the report of a rifle camo faintly from the gulch below. It seemed to his excited senses like the ghostly echo of a shot he had himself fired thero on a night like this long before a hollow echo from another world. He quickened his stops and stumbled all at once into the little clearing that held the new-made grave and Jessica's statue. The sight terrified his intoxicated intoxi-cated imagination. His hair rose. The name on the headstone was Stires, and there was himself no, a ghost of himself! him-self! sitting near! Ho turned and broke into a run down the steep slope. In his fear for ho imagined the white figure was pursuing him he tripped and fell, regained his feet, rushed across the level space, threw his weight against the cabin door, and' burst into tho room. A dog sprang up with a growl, and in tho light of the fire that burned on the hearth, n man sitting at the rough-hewn rough-hewn table lifted a haggard face frtu his arms and each recognized tho other The ghost was, gone now before the firelight and human presence, an ' Hugh, with a loud laugh of tipsy iu-credulity, iu-credulity, stood staring at the m'an before him. 'I Harry Sanderson!" he cried. "By the' great horn spoon!" His shifty eyes surveyed the other's figure the cdrduroys, the high-laced boots, the eoft blue flannel shirt. "Not exactly in purple pur-ple and fine linen," he said tho impudent im-pudent swageor of intoxication had slipped over him ag.ain, and his boistor-ous boistor-ous laugh broke with a hiccough. "I thought tho gospel game was about played out that night in the chapel. And now you are willing to take a hint from the prodigal. How did you find my nest? And perhaps you can teli me who has been making himself so infdrnally at home here lately?" "I have," said Harry evenly. Kuril's glance, that lind been wavering waver-ing about the neat interior, returned to I Harry, and knowledge and anger leaped into it. "So it was you, was it? You are the one who has been trying his hand as a claim jumper!" Ho lurched toward the table and leaned, upon it. "I've always heard that the devil took care of his own. The runaway rector stumbles on my manor, and 'with his usual luck 'Satan's luck' we called it at college steps in just in timo to strike it rich! " ' He stretched his hand suddenlv and caught a tiny object that glittered against Harry 'a coat the little gold ross, which the other had tied to his v.'itchguard. Tho thong snapped and lugh sont tho pedant rattling across u! doorway. "You wore something of n howling swell as a parson," he said insolently. I "but you don't noed tho jewelry now! " I Harry 'Sanderson 's eyes had not left Hugh's faco: he was thinking swiftlj'. Tho bolt from tho bluo had been so recent that ting sudden apparition I seemed a natural concomitant of tho j situation. Only tho problem was no longer imminent; it was upon him. Jessica Jes-sica was not for him ho had accoptcd : that. Though tho clock might not turn backward, this man must stand between I thorn. Yet his presence now in the ! predicament was ' intolerable. This J drunken, criminal ma'-sner had it in his I power to precipitato the climax for hor i in a coarso and brutal expose. Hugh I had no idea of tho truo tauglo, olso ho I had not been seen in tho town. But if not tonight, then tomorrow! Harry's heart turned cold within him. If "ho could eliminate Hugh from the problem prob-lem till ho could see his way! "Well," said Hugh with a sneer, "what have 3011 got to sa3'?" Harry roso slowly nnd "pushed tho door shut. "When wo last met," ho said, "what you wanted was to lcavo tho country." "I chanced in3' mind," retorted Hugh. "I've got a right to do that, I suppose. I've come back now to get what is mino, and T'll have- it, too!" Ho rapped tho table with his knuckles. Hugh had no recollection now of past generosities. His selfish materialism saw onl3' monej' that might bo his. "I know all about tho strike," ho went on, "and thcro's no green in my cyo" "now much will you take for tho propert3'?" Hugh laughed again joeriugly. "That's your game, is it. 7 But I'm not such a numbskull! Whatover you could offer, it's worth moro to me. You 'vo found a good thing hero, and you'd liko to skin me as a butcher skins a sheep." In the warmer air of tho cabin the liquor ho had-drunk was tiring tir-ing his brain, and an old suspicion leaped to his tonguo. "I know you, Satan Sanderson," ho sneered. "You were 'always tho samo procious li3"pocrito in the oid days, protending pro-tending to bo so almighty virtuous, whilo you looked out for number one. I saw through 'ou then, too, when you wcro posing as" ni3 friend and trying 3'our best all along to queer mo with tho old man! I knew it well enough. I know what tho reason was, too! You wanted Jossica! You " Self-control left Harry suddenly, as a ship's sail is whipped from its gaskets in a white squall. Before tho words could be uttered,, his lingers wero at Hugh 's throat. At that instant thero was tho sound of running foot outside, a hurried knock at the door and an agitated voico thai chilled Harry's blood to ice. His hands relaxed their hold; he dragged Hugh to the door of tho inner room, thrust him inside, uhut and bolted it upon him. Then he went and opened tho door. CIIAPTER XXXIV. Tho Temptation. Jossica -'8 oyos met Harry's in a look he could not translate, save that it held both yearning and anguish. Tho accusation of Prendergast had stunned her faculties. As in an evil dream, with the low breeze murmuring by and tho fitful moon overhead, sho had seen tho sheriff rise to his feet and methodically put tho fragment of paper into his pocketbook. A moment later she was running up tho dark path, her thoughts a confusion in which only one coherent purpose stood distinct to warn him. They would know no need to hasten. If tho man she loved had reached the cabin, sho would bo before them. Not that she believed him guilty; in his lost past there could be no stain so dark as that! She recalled tho look of personal hatred she had once surprised sur-prised on Prendergast 's faco. Ho hated Hugh, and dying, had left this black lie behind to do him a mischief. Ho was innocent, innocent! But would tho charge not be believed 7. They would arrest him, drag him down to tho town, to tho brick jail on the courthouse square. The community was prejudiced. Innocent men had been couvicted before be-fore of crimes they never committed. In those breathless minutes she did not reason further; sho knew onh that a vital danger threatened him, and that he must Uy from it. Tho lighted pane had told hor the occupant or the cabin had returned. Sho stood before the door, her hands clasped tightly, her eyes on 'Harm's face, -even in this crucial moment drinking drink-ing in thirstily what she saw there; for in this crisis, hanging on tho narrow nar-row verge of catastrophe, when he had need to summon all his store of poiso and contained strength, his look melted over her in a mist of tenderness. "What has happened?" he asked. He did not offer to touch or to kiss her, but this she did not remoraber till afterward. In what words could sho tell him? Would ho think she beliovod him 'guilty when sho besought him to fly? Sho answered simpl3'. directly, with onl3' a deep appeal in iicr 0303: "Men will bo hero soon men from tho town. I overheard them. I wanted want-ed to let 3ou know!" sho hesitated; it bad grown all at once difficult to put into words. "Coming here? Why?" "To arrest a man -who is accused of murder." If her c3'cs could havo pierced the bolted door a few feet awa3' If sho could have boon that listening faco behind be-hind it, as her clear tones tell, grow instinct with recognition, amazement, and ovi! suspicion a look that her last words awopt into a sickly gray terror! It she could havo heard tho groan from the wretched man beyond! "Whosu murder f" "Dr. Moreau 's." In all Harry Sanderson '3 life was to be never .such a moment of rovoalment. He knew that sue meant himself. Tho murderer of Dr. Moreau Hugh's one-timo;rony one-timo;rony and loose associate, who had shared in tlio plunder of tlio forged 1 draft, and had then abandoned his ' cat's-paw to discovciy! The man Hugh . had promised to "pay off for it somo 1 tiniol" Had Moreau also mado this his ' stamping-ground? A swift mcmoiy ' swept him of Hugh's hang-do" look, his nervous dread when he had uegged . in tlio chapel study for money with ' which to leave the couutrj. It did not 1 need tho Hmothered gasp from behind ! tlio bolted door to point tho way to ' the swift conclusion Harry's mind was J racing to. A' dull flush spread to' his I forehead. .Jossica waited with caught breath, searching his countenance. It was told now, but he must know that sho had . not credited it that "for bettor, for worse," she must behove in him now- I "I knew, oh, I knew!" sho cried. "Yon nood not tell me!" The hell of two passions that wcro struggling within him a savage exultation exul-tation and a submerging wnve of pit3' for her uttor ignorance, her blind faith, for the painful denouement that was rushing upon her died, and left him cold and still. "No," ho said gravely, grave-ly, "J am not tho man thoy want. It has all come buck to mc tho past that I had lost. Such a crimo has no part in it." At another timo tho abrupt news of this retrieval must havo affected licr strarigoly, for she had wondered much concerning tho roturn of that memory that hold alike their carl3 lovo and his own lraged3' aud shamo. Now, however, how-ever, a greater contingency absorbed hor. Ho must go, and without delay. Her lips wcro opened to speak when ho closed tho door bohind him and stepped quickly toward her. At all odds, ho was thinking, sho muBt not see the man in that inner room I If alio romaiuod ho could not guess what Bhock might result. l Jessica," ho said, " you have tried to savo mc from danger tonight. I need a grontcr sorvicc of 3ou now; it is to ask no questions, but to go at onco. I can not oxplain why. but you must not stay hero a moment." "Oh," she cried bitterly, "3'ou don't intend to lcavo. You chooso to faco it. and 3'ou want to spnro mo. If you rcnll3' want to spare mo, 3-011 will go! WI13', you would havo no chance whero they havo hated you so. Preudercast was killed robbing tho sluice tonight, and ho Hod lied lied I Ho swore you did it, nnd U103' will bclicvo it!" Ho pui back her beseeching hands. How could he explain? Only to get her awa3' to gain timo, to think 1 "Listen!" sho went on wildly. "They will wait to carry him to tlio town. I can go and bring my horso hero for you. Thero is timo! You have onl3 to send mo word, and I will follow fol-low you to tho end of the world I Only saj- 3'on will go! " He caught at tho straw. Tho expedient expedi-ent might serve. "Vcr3' well," ho said; "bring him to the upper trail, and wait thero for me." Sho gave a sob of relief at his acquiescence. acqui-escence. "I will hurr3r, hurr3'l" sho cried, and was gouo, swift as a swallow's swal-low's flight, into tho darkness. As he re-entered the cabin, the calm- ness fell from Harrj" Sanderson as a I mask drops, and the latent passion sprang in its place. Ho crossod tho room and drew tho bolt for tho wretch- I ed man who, after one swift glance at his faco, grovelod on his knees beforo him, sobered and shivering. "For God's sake, Harry, you won't give me up?" Hugh cried. "You can't mean to do that! Why, wo were in college col-lege together 1 I'd boon drinking tonight, to-night, or I wouldn't have talked to you as I did. I'm sober enough now, Harry! You can havo the claim. I'll give it to you and all you'vo got out of it. Outlet Out-let mo go beforo the3 come to take me! " Harrj drow his feet from the frantic bauds that clasped them. "Did you kill Moreau?" he asked shorty. "It was an accident," moaned Hugh. "I never intended to I swear to heaven I didn't! Ho hounded me, and he tried to bleed me. I only meant to frighten him off! Then then I was afraid, nnd I ran for it. That was when I camo to 3'ou at Aniston and we played." Hugh's breath came in gasps and drops or 6wcat stood on his forehead. fore-head. A weird, crowding clamor was sweeping sweep-ing through Harr3''s brain. When, at tho sounu of Jessica 'b voice, he had thrust Hugh into the inner room, it had been only to gain time, to push further back, "if by but a moment, tho shock which was inevitable. Then, in tho twinkling of an 630, fate had swept tho board. Hugh's worthless life was forfeit. Ho would stand no longer between him and Jessica! The enginery of tho law would bo their savior. Neither crimo nor penalty was of his making. He owed Hugh nothing the very mo-w he had taken from the ground, save a bare living, had gone to pay his thievery. Ho could surrender him to the law, then take Jessica far away whero the ' truth would como mercifull3' softened by distanco and lightened by future happiness. It was not his to intorvene, to cozen justice, to compound a felony and defeat a righteous providence! Ho owed morcy to Jessica. He owed none to this cringing, cring-ing, lying thing before him, who now reminded him of that chapel gamo that ruined tho Rev. Henry Sandorson! "When wo played!" ho echoed. "How havo you settled 3'our debt the 'debt of honor' you onco counted so highly? How have you lived siuco then? Have yon paid me those days of decent living you staked, and lost?" Hugh looked past him with hollow, hunted gaze. There was no escape, no woapon to his hand, and those eyes were on him liko unwavering sparks of iron. "But I will!" ho exclaimed, des-pcratol3T. des-pcratol3T. "If 3'ou'll only help me out of this, I'll livo straight to my dying ; day! You don 't know how T'vc suffered, j Harry, or you 'd havo somo mercy on mo now! I can nover get nwa3r from it! That's why I was drunk today. Night and dny I bco him Moreau, as I saw him l'ing here that night on tho hillside. Ho haunts me! You don't know what it means to bo alwa3a afraid, to wake up in tho night with tho feel of handcuffs on 3our wrists, to know that such a thing is bohind you. following 3'ou, following you, uovor letting you rest, never forgottingl " A choking sob burst from his lips. "Lot mo go, Harry," ho pleaded; "for my father's sako!" "Your father is dead," said Harry "Then for old-time's sake!" Ho tried to clasp Harry's knees. "Thoy mn3' bo here at any minute! I must havo been scon as I crossed tho mountain! moun-tain! I thought it would never come out, or I wouldn't have comol I'll go far enough awaj. I'll go to South America, and 3'ou will never sco moj nlivo again, neither 3'ou nor Jessica! I knew her voico just now I know she's hero. I don't caro how or why! You don't nood to give mo up to get; her! I'll give her to you! For God's sake, Harry, listen! Jessica woudn't want to soo mo hung! For her sake!" Harry caught his broath sharply. Tho thrust had gone deep; it had sheared through tho specious arguments he had boon wcavinv. The commandment that an hour bofoio had etched itself in letters let-ters of fire ujvn his oyelids hung again before him. lio had coveted his neighbor's neigh-bor's wife. This man, felon as he was pitiful hound to whom the news of his father's death broucbt no flicker of sorrow or rcmorso, who now offered to barter Jessica for his own flafoty! ho himself, however unwittingly, had irreparably ir-reparably wronged. Between them stood the accusing wraith of ono immortal hour, when tho honrt of lovo had boat against his own. If ho delivered Hugh to tho hangman, would it bo for justice's jus-tice's sake? The scales fell from his eyes. For him, loving Jessica, it could bo only a dastard act. Yet if ho aided tho roal Hugh to escape, ho, tho suppositious Hugh who had played his rolo, must continuo it. Ho must second the villainy, vil-lainy, and in so doing play the cheaply tragic part. He must nose as an ac-cusod ac-cusod murderer before tho town whoso good opinion he had longed to gain beforo Jossica! until Hugh had had timo to win safe away! He might do even moro. The real Hugh would stand small chanco; evon were tho evidence, not flawless, tho old rocord would coa-domn coa-domn him. But ho himsolf had lightened light-ened that rocord. He had gained liking and s.ympath3"; thoro might bo a chanco for him of acquittal. If this might only bel Tlio truth thon need never bo known and Hugh Stires, to all belief having boon put onco in joopard3', noed fear no more. Lifo would bo beforo him again, to pay tho da3s of righteous living ho had played for in the chapel game, to reverse tho record of his selfish and remorseless caroor. If tho trial went against him Hugh would have had his chanco, would bo far awa3 He, Harry Sanderson, would not have betrayed him. A hundred people, if ho choso to summon them, would establish his own identit3. It would bo cheating justice, making a mock of law, but ho was in a position whero human statute must yield to a highor rule of action. Tlio law might punish, but ho would have boon true to his owu soul. Jessica would understand. Tho truth held pain and shamo for her, bnt ho would havo cancelled his debt to Hugh! It was the Harry Sanderson of St. James parish, of tho scrupulous con? scieuco whose collogo career as Satan Sandorson had come to bo a fiery soro in his breast who now spoke: "Get upl" ho said. "Havo you any mone3?" Hugh roso, trembling and ashen. "Hardly ten dollars." he answered. Harry considered hastily. He was almost penniless; nearly all his share of the strike had gone to repay the forged draft. "I havo no ready cash," ; he said, "but tho night wo played in the chapel, I left a thousand dollars in my study safe. I havo not been thero since." He took pencil and paper from his pocket and wrote down some figures hastily. "Hero is the combination. You must try and got that money." "Wait," ho added, as Hugh's hand was on tho latch. He must risk noth- , ing; ho could mako assurance doubly , sure. "A half mile from the foot of -tho mountain, where tho road comes in 1 from Funeral Hollow, wait for mo. I will bring a horso thero for you." t nugh crushed tho paper into his pocket and opened tho door. "I'll wait," ho said. Ho darted out. slipped around tho corner of tho cabin, and stoalthilj' disappeared. Harry sat down upon the doorstep. The strain had been great; in tho reaction, re-action, ho was faint, and a mist was beforo his 03'cs. Tho die was cast. Hugh could cas"ily escape; until ho himself him-self spoke, he would not even be hunted, hunt-ed, lie, Harry Sauderson, was tho scapegoat, left to play his part. How long ho sat thero ho did not know, ne sprang up at a muffled sound. He had still a work to do before be-fore thoy came for Hucbl He faw in an instant, however, that it was Jessica, Jes-sica, leading her borso by the bnulc. "I could not wait," sho breathed. "You did .not come, and I was afraidl" Mounting, he leaned from tho saddle and took both hor hands in his still holid not kiss hor. "Jessica, you boliovo I am inno-cont?" inno-cont?" he asked anxiously. "Yes yea! " "Will you bclicvo what I am doing is for the best?',' ."Alwa3'3j always!" i-no whiKpcrcd, hor voice vibrating. "Onl go!" "Whatever happens?" ' ' Whatever happens I ' ' Ho roleasod hor hands and rodo quickly up the grassy path. A3 Bhe stood lookiug after him, a dog's whine camo from tho cabin. Sho ran and relcasod the spaniel and took him up in her arms. 1 As she did so a snarklo caught hor 03'C. It camo from tho tiny gold cross lying whoro Hugh had flung it, near tho lighted doorway. Sho picked it up, looked at it a moment abstractedly aud thrust it into her pocket scarce con-flcioualj. con-flcioualj. for hor heart was keeping timo to tho silenced hoofbeat that was bearing bear-ing tho man she loved from danger. Whero tho way opened into tho gloomy cut of Funeral Hollow, IIarr3' dismounted and wont forward slowly afoot, leading tho horse, till a figure stepped from a clump of bushes to moot him with an oxclamation of relief. Hugh had waited at tho rendezvous in shivering shiv-ering npprohension and dismal suspicion sus-picion of Harry's intentions, and had not approached until ho had convinced himself that tho other came alone. Ho wrung Harry's hand as he said: "If I got out of this, I'll do hotter tho rest of my lifo, I will, upon my soul, Harry! " "You may not bo able to got into j the chapel," said Uany; "my rooms" ho felt hia check burn asTol "may bo occupied. On tho cSlIB that you fail, take thin." HQ .nJIiR tho ruby ring, whoso intorlaced InP' had onco fortified him in hw !3T, identity "The atone if worth fl' It (To bo contlnnnd jL J( ' |