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Show m: Fv )l elleryh.clarkI CHAPTER IX Continued 13 i moment Inter mid I had entered the house, never dreaming that across 1:5 threshold lay the first romantic adventure of m; life. Yet so It was. One Instfint In the open air, thinking, gnraewlint morosely, that the world was filled with cruel and treacherous nd generally unpleasant people, th next inside the entrance, to be greeted, greet-ed, In the cool, dim light, by the loveliest love-liest girl thnt I had ever seen. Even McAllister, at sight of her, displayed, for the first time, a trace of courtesy, explnining, with an air which for hini nas almost genial, "Helen, my nephew Kobert. Kohert, this Is my adopted daughter. You two must be company tor each other." "Company for each other !" I conld have nsked no better fate. For I liad known, up to the present, only our Straltsinouth lasses, healthy buxom girls, and many of them, Indeed, good looking In their way, but now this vision of slender grace, clad all in white, dark-haired, dark-eyed, nnd with a face and form so utterly bewitching be-witching that I could have sworn she was not flesh nnd blood, but an angel descended from the skies. Angel, I say; and that was truly my first impression, though later I was to change it, for though no angel could have been more lovely to the eye, yet her temper was more like that of some mischievous elf. For the first hour of our acquaintance, indeed, she played the kindly hostess to perfection, per-fection, showing me to my room, a pleasant airy chamber at the top of the house, and so fascinating me that later, at luncheon, I could hardly keep air eyes from her face. But presently, as we became better acquainted, nnd as she perceived the conquest she had ciscle, I was to discover, to my sorrow, sor-row, that she had as many moods as (in April day. That afternoon she took me on a tour of the island, and in that time she managed to exalt r.ie to the mountain tops and then to plunge me into despair, first talking to me so gently and gazing at me so sweetly that I fancied she adored me, then, without warning, treating me coldly end with actual disdain, and then quarreling with me fiercely, wilfully distorting whatever I strove to say, aad nearly driving me crazy in my attempts at-tempts to regain her favor. So hopeless, hope-less, indeed, was my infatuation that when it came time to retire, I could ti"t sleep, and knowing thnt the huge door was locked and barred, I knotted a piece of rope, ,ied one end to my hedstead, and thus slipped to the Found and paced the sands in an actual ac-tual fever, with her lovely image before be-fore my eyes. hi the morning, however, I remembered, remem-bered, though reluctantly enough, that lite for me was not a romantic, rose-titned rose-titned dream, hut a gray and sober 'aliiy: and that I had not come to .-he island to carry on a courtship, "wcver delightful, but to gain what knowledge I could regarding McAllis-and McAllis-and his household, his means of defense and his supposed horde of Ireusur?. it wns evident that the house could 'i't b easily taken, for the lower ?'ory, a iUiVe Said, was strongly tm;lt "i stone, and the only entrance as a liiussive door, swinging on ponderous pon-derous hinges, and always, after dark carefully locked and barred. The garrison, too, was equally ini-pressive. ini-pressive. consisting, as it did, of a d"zen swarthy maroons, those fierce fceemliints of the slaves who had hed o the woods when English rule i'Planted that of Spain upon the isiand. Chief among thorn were Cud-.1". Cud-.1". their leader, who kept the best of discipline, Caesar, his second iu coin-"u""l. coin-"u""l. Hig Bill, huge giant, six feet 811,1 a half in height, and Quamino, Clil.v nn inch or two shorter than Bill. Altogether, it was clear enough that he taking of tlie isiallj would 00 no e"v task. Of McAllister himself I saw surpris-"'"y surpris-"'"y little, and this, for a number of asons, suited me exactly. For one lnng. I thoroughly disliked the man, u"d knew that he and I had absolutely ""tiling in common ; for another. I had nit,re lime to be with Helen ; and for ' third 1 very much doubt. If I had en nar" Pt to It by n nood of ques-'iis, ques-'iis, whether I could have played my t1"" as Robert McAllister. Naturally tjugh, he accepted my story as true, no it was easy enough to see, before h ad ben under his roof twenty-four that he was the most thorough- selfish, self-centered man imagin-Andrew imagin-Andrew McAllister, Tor him, was J ()nl' Person In the world ; the rest ei us. I honestly believe, were merely aduwy unrealities. It was evident f' ,T"'"S invitntIon had not been for V Ht nf nephew, but of the , '-;p. niHi t'iat the shrewd Captain ': i.v h,Kl liec.Mi right In surmising ii iv:, s hp nephew's reputation ns Uhi which had so endeared '' l" '''-J uncle's heart Every day, Indeed, McAllister had a drill with the maroons, In which I of course took part, nnd he was constantly calculating on how the island might be nttacked, nnd on the way in which these attacks might best be met. Yet all the time McAllister took pains to convince me that there was no real I danger of being nttacked by anyone, and thnt he merely felt it was wise to be prepared. "For why," he demanded as we sat one evening over a glass of wine, "should anyone wish to hnrni me? I've done no wrong; I hnvennn enemy In the world. Some people" he lowered his voice, nnd with his right hand caressed his chin, a Ta-vorite Ta-vorite gesture when more than usually disturbed "some people think I'm u rich man. But I'm not just a few pounds laid by for a rainy day." You may imagine how all this disgusted dis-gusted me. If he had come straight out with the truth hideous as it was I might have half-endured the man. but this pretense of being all that he was not was too mufn for me to stand. And from his general tnlk of protection of the Island lie went on to speak of the slave trade, explaining artfully enough that while there was much about It that he disliked, still It was the only way In which the tropics could be made fertile, since white men could never stnud the burning heat of the sun. And after more sophistical argument he came ai length to the' point, that he himself dealt directly with Africa, and that he was daily expecting the arrival of his bark, the Ashantee, with a cargo of ivory, gold dust and slaves. In fact, another vessel just arrived, a faster sailer in light airs, had reported passing pass-ing tiie bark three days before, so that she might be expected at anytime. any-time. Meanwhile, ns I quickly assumed my place in the routine of affairs on the island, my friendship with Helen progressed by leaps and bounds. She explained to me, on the second evening eve-ning of my stay, the mystery of her presence upon the island. Twenty years ago, it seems, her father, Eustace Leigh, a young Englishman of birth and breeding, had come to Jamaica to seek his fortune, and had met, on landing, land-ing, one of Kingston's reigning belles, a dark-eyed Castilian beauty of pure Spanish blood. There had followed a volcanic and passionate courtship, a true "affair of tiie heart" on either side, and within a month of their lirsi meeting they were man and wife. Then came a year of purest happiness, and then, like darkness on unclouded skies, the shadow of death, and within a day or two of Helen's birth, Eustace Leigh had found himself, save for his infant daughter, once more alone, un inconsolable and heart-broken man. Of her early life at Kingston she had pleasant though uneventful mem ories, for Eustace Leigh, after his wife 's death, had lost all interest in the companionship of his former friends. Some years afterward Leigh had entered the service of McAllister, and tdius they had lived, on the whole happily enough, until a year ago. Meanwhile, as Helen had blossomed into womanhood, she had, of course, many admirers, umong them a certain planter named Don Manuel, a petty tyrant nnd libertine, whom she had disliked from the first, and whose attentions at-tentions she had sought to discourage in every possible way. But although his courtship had been a distinct an noyance, it had neea no more Ilui. that until the tragic morning when Eustace Leigh had been found in a lonely by-way, stabbed to the heart. Thus left alone, Helen remembered thnt her father had told her, in any emergency, that she could turn to McAllister Mc-Allister for aid. To the Island, therefore, she had come, and at first had been received, as she herself admitted, coldly enough. I could Imagine' the feelings of this selfish old miser, aghast at the prospect pros-pect of having to protect a friendless orphan. But lie had promised her that he would consider the matter, and then, to her surprise, had appeared a day or two later in Kingston, hud dwelt, with a remarkable show of emotion, on his affection for her father, fa-ther, and hnd offered her not only a home on the Island, but adoption as his daughter. Amazed, but only too thankful for this refuge, she had nc-cepted nc-cepted with gratitude, and had lived, ever since, with McAllister. To me, with my greater knowledge, the whole story mnde easy reading. To Helen, considered by herself, or to Helen, had she lacked her benuty, he would have paid no heed; but to Helen as she was, with all her youthful youth-ful loveliness, the ennny Scotchmnn wns disposed to wnrm, seeing in her the attraction thnt might bring young Robert McAllister to Jamaica, not only to strengthen his island gnrrlson. but to further I knew not wdiat other plans besides. Helen continued to treat me as she had done cn the day of my arrival, teasing and afflicting me to her heart's content. Two dnys hnd pnssed, without further fur-ther news of McAllister's bnrk. but It was easy to see wdiere his thoughts were bent, for though the next day 1 UN "Some People Think I'm a Rich Man. But I'm Not." was hot and sultry, so that even the breeze from the sea seemed to blow less refreshingly t'ian usual, he rowed over, with two of his bodyguard, to the western bank of the river, and with telescope under his arm climbed to a hiiitop, remained there until lunch time, and immediately after eat ing, instead of taking his customary siesta, returned to the hill again. Helen and I had strolled, as usual, to our trysting place, but although love, as they say, laughs at locksmiths, it could not make light of the unusual oppressiveness of the afternoon. I had never seen anything like it. Little n-' I knew nf the weather in the Caribbean. Carib-bean. I felt positive that we were on the very brink of a storm. I had not, however, the faintest conception con-ception of what a tropical hurricane Is like. Before many moments had passed, the sky was filled with driving driv-ing clouds, n dark and rapidly advancing advanc-ing line on the water showed the coming com-ing of the wind, and from far out. at sea we could hear a menacing roar which told of the frightful force of tiie impending storm. And then there broke upon us such a turmoil of rush ing wind and ragine: sea as I had never imagined possible. I seized Helen's arm, nnd in the lee of a huge cotton-wood cotton-wood we crouched, breathless, and the next instnnt, tt m.i .oter tiia.:emen; I found the dripping form of McAllis ter beside me. He was like a mai. possessed, his face a dull red from his exertions his rain-soaked clothlnij clinging o Ids meager form. He placed his mouth close to my ear. "Quick!" he shouted, "we've got to man the big boat. The Ashantee is off (lie bar. We must get to her somehow, or she'll founder and we'll lose every slrve on board. Lively now! Bear a hand!" No sooner hnd McAllister uttered Ms words than he must have seen their madness, and as a sturdy young tree to our left suddenly came rushing to the ground, barely clearing us in it? fall, we made our way, half voluntarily, volunta-rily, half blown along like so many withered leaves, until we had gained the protection of the house. Here, for the next few hours, we were forced to stay. Never In my life had I Imagined such a storm as this. But If I, with nothing but the lives of Helen nnd myself to think nbout, was awed and terrified, Imagine the feelings feel-ings of McAllister, the miser and money-lover, wdth the knowledge that somewhere In the storm and darkness, dark-ness, the Ashantee was battling for existence, laden with her precious spoils from the African coast. 1 have never seen a man suffer so; each new wild gust of wind, each boom of the huge breakers on the land seemed to pierce him to the henrt. And when, nbout midnight, we could, for the first time, feel conscious of a diminution In the gale, he urged me to accompany accom-pany him to the point, to see If we could learn anything of the fate of the bark. Once outside the door, I realized immediately im-mediately that though It still blew tremendously, tre-mendously, the wind was steadier, less like a hurricane and more like nn or-dinnry or-dinnry storm. And thus, clinging together, to-gether, and bending over almost double to force our way Into the wind, we pnssed once more through the bell of trees and fought our way out to the point. Iu the darkness we had become separated, sep-arated, nnd I had all that I could do to look out for myself without trying to rejoin McAllister, wdien suddenly 1 was conscious of a strange and terrifying terri-fying sensation, and found thnt without with-out In the least Intending to do so, 1 had whirled nbout and was gazing intently in-tently toward the woods. I nm at a loss, without making myself ridiculous, ridic-ulous, to explain my feelings, but 1 can only sny that without seeing anything any-thing pass me In the intense blackness, at the same time I was conscious that something had passed. This sounds lame enough, nnd perhaps I can make myself more clear by saying that If I believed in ghosts or spirits, I had exactly ex-actly the sensation that something of this kind had passed me, borne on the yelling wind. But at once, with a shake of my head, I dismissed such fancies fan-cies from my mind, and made my way to the very border of the sand. By this time McAllister had rejoined me, and we stood there together trying to pierce the gloom of the night. All at once n huge wave swirled almost to our feet, and when It retreated, drawing draw-ing sand nnd pebbles In its wake, It left behind It n gift from the sea, a dark, shapeless something that lay sprawled before us. Together we bent over It. nnd as the clouds ngain parted, part-ed, allowing the faint and watery radiance of the starlight to filter through, I started back in horror, for the black mass was the bruised and bleeding body of a negro, his clenched teeth and the expression of agony on his face showing the desperation of his fight with the waves.' Beyond all doubt he was dead ; nor could there be further question ns to the fate of the bark. I heard McAllister groan, like a man stricken to the henrt. And strangely enough at such a moment 1 thought of the dying curse of the obi innn. CHAPTER X The Curse of the Obi Man. By noon the next day the hurricane had subsided. Everywhere, however, the gale had left its traces; trees had been uprooted, vessels wrecked, and crops destroyed. Andrew McAllister had suffered heavy losses. To say nothing of the damage to the plantation, planta-tion, not a vestige remained of the bark except the timbers that lined the beach and the corpses of the slaves and of the crew. McAllister hiniseif was like a man who has been dealt a sudden and ter- j rible blow. He seemed visibly bent and withered; could neither eat nor sleep; and in the evenings would sil with me, mourning, over and over again, the slaves, the gold and the ivory, sunk deep at the bottom of the se. Enable to sit still, he would pace Hie room, muttering more to himself him-self than to me, nnd with a half-belief in the superstitions of the blacks, cursing curs-ing his bloodthirsty overseer for causing caus-ing the death of the obi man. And indeed, If it was the ghost of the dead magician with whom we were dealing, he seemed bound for a com plete revenge, for the hurricane and '( the wreck were not our sole misfor- 1 tunes. On the very next day one of the maids, who had been to the beac:.. just before dusk, came flying home half terrified -o death. Something she averred, baa frightened her; sonic ! thing stealthy and shadow.-- had fol 1 lowed her, s'drting the edge of the 1 mangroves, something that had chilled ; her blood in her veins. Had she seen It? She hesitated. No. she had not seen it, and yet she knew that it was there. : Of course I was not Impressed with this wild tale, though Iu spite of my- Se'.f I could not r.cip recalling th; strange sensation 1 had cxi'Orifij.V"' on the night 'if the wreck, a M:!:i;:it. 1 which exactly corresponded to me d" scriptimi of the ;naid. (TO Bii COKTLN'UEIXl ' |