| OCR Text |
Show i SLTHE MAIDS OF !Sf! PARADISE BlSSHriSSF Robert W. Chambers jBrallSr Author of "CardigaifYhe Conspirators" HHy&aMn) ,UuS,,0n' 5-xJ,r,4ht IM bylWWCIwrfWJ gBwrv lWfft .Q.lrwiN Myera CopyrmhtiMbyPfCdhttiSon (Continued from Last Week.) promptly tried, to hide the box by sitting sit-ting down on It. ' "Flutol" ho snarled. "Llko a mud-rat, mud-rat, you creep with no sound e'est pas polite, nom d'un noml" "What's that box7"' nBked tho Lizard, Liz-ard, abruptly. "Box? I don't see any box." "You'ro Bitting on It," observed the Lizard. "What's In It?" "Don't know," replied Trlc-Trac, with brisk Interest. "I found It" The Lizard wan sllont. "Did you bring me anything to chew on?" Inquired Trlc-Trac, anlfflng at the poachor's'ack. "Dread, cheese, three pheasants, elder moro than I eat In a week," said tho Lizard, quietly.. ".It will cost forty sous," Ho opened his seek and elowly displayed dis-played tho provisions. I looked hard at the Iron-bound box. On ono end wan prlntod tho Ucnevn cross. Doctor Delmont and Professor Tnvernler had disappeared carrylnfj Red Cross funds. Was that tholr boxT Trlc-Trac having devoured tho cheese, bread and an entire pheasant, mado a bundle of tho remaining food, omptled tho elder Jug, wiped his beardless beard-less faco with his cap, nnd announced that ho would be plcaeod to "broil" a cigarette. Tho Lizard laughed, and Trlc-Trac, dlsgUBted, stood up, settled his cap over hlB wldo ears, humming a song as ho loosened his trousers bolt. "Who aro you gaping at?" ho added, abruptly. abrupt-ly. "Don; e'est ma geulo. Et apres? Drop that box I Tho next tlmo you como hero to sell your snared pheasants, pheas-ants, como like a man, nom do Dlcui and not llko a cat of tho Glaclorol or I'll find a way to slop your curloelty." Ho picked up his box and the packet of provisions, dropped hlB revolver Into tho side pocket of his jacket, cocked his greasy cap, blew a kiss to tho Lizard, and started off straight Into In-to tho forest On our way homo I drew from tha poacher that Trlc-Trac had named' Mornac aa head of the communlstlo plot In Drlttany; that 'Mornac was coming to Paradise very soon, and, that then something gay might bo looked for. And that night 1 took Speed Into my confidence and finally Kelly Eyre, our balloonist. CHAPTER XV. Forewarned. . The lions had now begun to glvo mo a great deal at trouble. Oh, they know, and I knew, that mattors hod gono wrong with mo; that I had, for a tlmo, at least, lost tho Intangible some; thing which I onco possessed that occult oc-cult right to dominate. That morning, as I loft tho training-cage training-cage whoro among others, Kelly Eyro tood looking on I suddenly romem-bered romem-bered Sylvia Elven and her mesBage to Byre, which I had never delivered. "My son," said I, polltoly, "do you think you have arrived at an ago sufficiently suf-ficiently mature to warrant my delivering deliv-ering to you a message from a pretty girl?" "There'e no harm In attempting it, my venorablo friend," he replied, laughing. "This Is tho message," I said: "On Sunday tho book Btores aro. closed In ParlB." "Who gave you that message, Scarlett?" Scar-lett?" ho stammered. Ho was so young, so manly, so un-spoiled, un-spoiled, and bo red, that on an Impulse I said: "Kelly, It was Mademoiselle Elven who sent you tho message." HIb faco expressed troubled astonishment. aston-ishment. "In that her name?" he askod. "Well It's one of thorn, anyway," I replied, beginning to fool troubled in my turn. "Soo here. Kelly, It's not my business, but you won't mind If I speak plainly, will you? I know MademolBolIo Elven slightly. I am afraid of her and I havo not yet do-cldod do-cldod why. Don't talk to her." "But I don't know her," ho Bald; "or, at least I don't know her by that namo." "Then who do you bellevo sent you that message, Kelly?" His cheeks began to burn again, and ho gavo mo an uncomrortablo look. A silence, nnd ho Bat down In my dressing room, his boyish head burled In hlB hands. Aftor a glance at hlm-I hlm-I began changing my training suit for rjdlng clothes, whistling tho while soft-ly soft-ly to myself. As I buttoned a fresh collar ho looked up. "Mr. Scarlett I whould llko to tell you about myself; . . . I waa a clerk In the consul's office In Paris when Monsieur Tlssandlor took n fancy to mo, and I entered his balloon ateliers to learn to assist him, Then tha government began to mako much (Contlurd next week ) |
