Show CHAPTER XVI Continued So they spring off their horses and t dear old Monsieur Staffe recognizing the American Is about to offer them II i II rooms when they both suddenly question ques-tion him and learn to their concern I that no lady has arrived from the Interior In-terior this day at his hotel She Is drawn by two horses driven by an old Corsican with a board several sev-eral weeks old says Barnes It doesnt matter how sho was driven no lady has arrived here gentlemen gen-tlemen Then Marina must have gone to inquire In-quire at the steamer offices na to when Ill arrive cries Edwin Mon Dleu ejaculates Monsieur Staffe his eyes lighting up you are the young English naval officer whose wedding to Mademoiselle Paoll created such an excitement In the Island two f weeks ago Believe me Monsieur your wife Is not In Bastla or I should have heard of It Everybody hero honors hon-ors the name of Paoliand your sweet spouse Is very much loved for her own dear self Despite Monsieur Staffes assertions the two young men stride out of his hotel and though desperately fatigued make Inquiries at the offices of the Fralsslnm and the Florlo Huballlnlo companies but no lady asking for arriving ar-riving boats has been there at all c events none answering Marinas description de-scription We may have passed her on tho road remarks Barnes sympathetically sympathetical-ly his anguish making him feel for his companion Well give her two hours to come In and overtake ustwo hours of rest the poor follow stretches his limbs wearily Im flesh and blood Austruther You didnt climb mountains moun-tains all yesterday as I did But Edwin being unaccustomed to horseback exorcise th < igh wiry enough upon the ships deck Is stll and sore Compelled from very fa f tlftuo tho young men contrive to limp back to the Hotel do France where they are very well taken care of and dsva hours sleep measurably revive them Barnes has had a shave and would look almost debonair when he comes down to breakfast at noon but the cavities which hold his eyes abnormally ab-normally brightened by anxiety give the Ho to any appearance of lightness Anstruther Ib even more worried than before and now as tho day draw on without his wife appearing n look of fear comes Into the young man face that is horrible Gazing at him Barnes mutters Are you rood for another ride Yeswhere We must take the back track says tho American Wo rode too rapidly this morning thinking Marina was just ahead of us for a critical Investigation Investi-gation Jet under way answers the lieutenant lieu-tenant and the two rldo out of Bnstla making Inquiries at every village and learning nothing In fact tho peasants as they get nearer PonteallaLccchla are too much excited over the election of the morrow to talk about much false Voting dny Is to be enlivened by a I race riot of tho Lucchese says one i whom names Is questioning on the highway just where the Morosaglla road leaves It loading to thoTuscan souEdwin Edwin has dismounted and Is slouching slouch-ing morosely about tho road to ease his tortured legs Why dont they wipe out theso mu tlnous Lucchese says tho officer In quarterdeck tones as they got on their horses again Then tho native Corsicans would have to work These Lucchese come over here from Italy and do tho mau tal labor for them But I can find no trace of your loved one or of mine adds Barnes almost despairingly as they ride along tho road their inquiries In-quiries growing more close and persistent per-sistent till they reach Corte Together disconsolately the poor fellows force themselves to try to eat The election excitement Is growing higher a brass band comes past at its head a placard Vote for Sallcotl and Barnes gnashes his teeth But turning from this ho rather curiously says suddenly Anstruther youve got a flower In your buttonhole button-hole Oh yes I was so miserable I hardl knew what I was doing I picked up this crimson thing In tho road when you were talking to the peasant who was telling you of the Lucchese riots down at Orezza There was no tree bearing tho flower flow-er whare you picked It up asks the American suddenly No I think not I dont believe there was a shrub of any kind within a hundred feet of It Why do you ask for the others tono Is oxclted Why because thats the cyclamen flower one of the kind of which Marina Ma-rina bore whole branches In her carriage car-riage Was there a branch attached to It ItI I think there was Hang It I remember re-member I pulled It off Iwhat are you driving at Well could that flower have been dropped at the entrance of the Moro saglla road with design by your wife out of her carriage The English seaman gasps for breath but tired as he Is and stiff as ho Is he staggers up and says hurriedly Come and the two through the night again for It has grown very dark rldo down to PonteallaLecchla By heaven I wish we had hope of t my sister also says Edwin as they V goo mll Iii milII 1 I Gp I d 1 I JI I p l t A r 1 IJ i + It Doesnt Matter How She Was Driven No Lady Has Arrived Here Gentlemen hurry along though the poor sailor has difficulty In keeping himself In the saddle I have a little answers Barnes You think Enid might be with Marina Ma-rina Yes If Cipriano Danella has her He apparently wants a chance at my life If Sallcett misses It Ho may have taken Enid to some out of the way place so that striving to find her I may die In his vendetta So hn and Edwin walk their horses up to the junction of the Morosaglla roadDid Did you find that flower here he asks Edwin Yes pretty well toward tho middle of tho path Thowh tho moon has just risen they can fines no more cyclamen blossoms and hero a sudden complication confronts con-fronts them Another road leading toward to-ward tho northwest and running to Novella Belgodere and the Ho Housse also leaves the Baetla road at the same point It Is just as probable i that Marinas course was directed toward tho northwest north-west as toward the east In fact It Is a tossup which way your wife went remarks Barnes Now there is only one way to settle It If this cyclamen flower means anything That Is for you to Investigate one road and I tho other So It Is arranged that Barnes takes the road toward tho lie Houssc and Edwin follows tho path leading to tho east toward Morosaglla If I find no more of theso flowers going toward tho northwest Ill return I here and follow you remarks Burton After giving these fllrcctloni the American desperately fatigued and mightily sleepy Jogs his steed In the dIrection of Ho Housso 20 miles to tho northwest In the moonlight tho distracted dis-tracted man though he dismounts often discovers no cyclamen flowers lying In tho road But ho doggedly keeps on hoping to find some of tho lowers that may Indicate ho Is following follow-ing Marina Its the only I clew wo have now to Marina and It may lead mo to Clprl ano ho mutters us he struggle to keep himself In the saddle Finally arriving at Belgodore tho early morning and teaming from the Innkeeper that no carriage has passed through exhausted worn out and disappointed dis-appointed oven Barnes succumbs to nature Ho has been 4S hours under headway 30 of these on horseback and eight of them climbing precipices and despite despair and anxiety slgep claims himtho terrible sleep of utter exhaustion It Is Into when ho opens his eyes again and with a start wonders where ho Is He looks over the brilliant mountains he sees tho vines and only a few miles away the waters beside which stands Isola Kossa Tho innkeeper inn-keeper says Breakfast Signore and serves him with crabs and lobsters from the Gulf of Fiorenzo Mine hosts little daughter places a bouquet of wild flowers on the table In It gleams tho red cyclamen Barnes remembers re-members and orders a fresh horse While this Is being saddled ho forces himself to cat Anstruther has not followed me ho reasons Ill have along a-long ride to overtake him and when we meet Cipriano Danella I want to bo litto kill Mounting a fresh steed he gallops oft retracing his steps all the time tn his heart one question I Where Is my stolen bride The night before Edwin turning to the east begins to climb the awful hill leading to the Morosaglla A few minutes min-utes after he has left the Corte road In the faint glow of the coming moonlight moon-light ho springs oft his horse and utters an exclamation of delight As he pulls himself sailor fashion into the saddle he has a branch of crimson flowers In his hand He Is not certain oven now that they Indicate Marina though they have fallen from no overhanging overhang-ing bough only beech und Larrlccio illS being near him he knows cyclamen cycla-men flowers are very common In the Island and tho little barefooted boys and girls sometimes carry them In their hands In the group of hamlets on the hillsides hill-sides called Morosaglla Anstruther docs not pause But as he reaches the confines ol the village the young husband starts and his eyes which fatigue had dulled glisten with hope Here are two paths a trail leading to the north the other and broader one pointing east toward the Tuscan sea Along the latter cyclamen cyc-lamen branches have been dropped several times In a short hundred yards Their number Is significant they have been strewn quite continuously from the forks of the road My darlings dar-lings message to mo murmurs An struther and rides as hastily as his tired though wiry little horse will take himTho Tho branches of the sweet smeliing posies ho still encounters on the trail hurry him up hill and down hill overrunning over-running mountain streams through wooded vales Yet at least Nature must have Its meed desplto all efforts of the rider his head droops and his figure becomes lax In the saddle His steed with a whinny of joy almost al-most runs down Into a little valley and drawing suddenly up before a high campanile stone building Anstruther falls off his horse Into the arms of a good Monk of the Convent of Pledl croce who mutters Thank tho Saints you got hero alive in time to drink the water of Orezza For An struthors appearance between fearful fear-ful fatigue and racking anxiety Is now that of a man nigh onto death The hospitable friars put the Invalid to bed and at high noon the next day the invalid after another glass or two of tho famous youthgiving Oreiza water wa-ter which here springs bubbling from the earth eats the noonday meal the good friars set before him rises give them the blessing ofa strong man and hurries on onTO TO BE CONTINUED |