Show SERIAL astory THE MAKER s OF BOORS by ROBERT W CHAMBERS 4 i 8 illustrations by J J copi right G P sons A SYNOPSIS the stor opens in new york roy car the stor teller inspecting a ducer owned bv george godfrey 0 B hof and harris and pierpont pont two friends depart on a hunting trip to cardinal a rather obscure local ity harris revealed the fact that he had joined the secret service tor the purpose 0 running down a gang of gold makers prof lagrange on discovering the gangs formula had been mysteriously killed barels received a telegram of instructions he and pierpont pont set out to locate the gold making gang A valet rei re i ported seeing a queer chinaman in the untenanted woods roy went hunting lie fell asleep in a dell on awakening he beheld a beautiful girl at a small lake A birthmark resembling a dragon 8 claw on hoy forehead had a mysterious effect upon the girl who said her name was ysonde suddenly she disappeared fleeing in terror roy beheld a horrible chinese visage peering at him from the woods and pierpont pont returned barels exhibited a reptile like that owned by godfrey A ball of supposed gold he held suddenly became alive he told of the kuen euln a achl nese nation of sorcerers numbering and explained that the moon maker their ruler whose crescent symbol was a dragon claw was supposed to have recently returned to earth baarts pont and roy failed to find ysonde a dell later roy hunting came to the beautiful spot where he found ysonde she told him how her stepfather evidently a chinaman made gold and of his mysterious actions suddenly all turned black and roy awoke to find himself stunned and bleeding on his own doorstep roy recovered quickly karris under a mysterious spell told of his stay among the chinese sorcerers his loie there and its false ending CHAPTER VII continued ylan I 1 have lived there and loved there when the breath of my body shall cease when the dragons claw shall fade from my arm he tore up his sleeve and we saw a white crescent shining above his elbow when the light ot my eyes has faded forever then even then I 1 shall not forget the city of yian why it Is my home mine the river and the thou sand bridges the white peak beyond the sweet scented gardens the lilies the pleasant noise of the summer wind laden with bee music and the music of bells all these are mine do you think because the kuen euln feared the dragon a claw on my arm that my work with them Is ended t do you think because could give that I 1 acknowledge his right to take away Is be dangl in whose shadow the white water lotus dares not raise its bead no no he cried violently it was not from yue laou the cerer the maker of moons that my happiness came it was real it was not a shadow to vanish like a tinted bubble can a sorcerer create and give a man the woman he loves Is yue laou as great as dangl then dangl is god in his own time in his infinite goodness and mercy he will I 1 bring me again to the woman I 1 love and I 1 know she waits for me at god 8 feet in the strained silence that followed could hear my hearts double beat and I 1 saw pierpont pont s face blanched and barels shook himself and raised bis head the change in his ruddy face frightened me heed he said with a terrible glance at me the print of the dragons claw Is on your forehead and yue laou knows it it you must love then love like a man tor you will aut ter like a soul in hell in the end what Is her name again ysonde I 1 answered simply CHAPTER VIII at nine that night we caught of the gold makers I 1 do not know how barris had laid his trap all I 1 saw of the affair can be told in a minute or two we were posted on the cardinal road about a mile below the house pierpont pont and I 1 with drawn revolvers on one side under a butternut tree barels on the other a winchester across bis knees I 1 had just asked pierpont pont the hour and he was feeling tor his watch when far up the road we heard the sound of a galloping horse nearer nearer clattering thundering past then barels rifle spat flame and the dark mass horse and rider crashed into the dust pierpont had the halt stunned horseman by the collar in a second the horse was stone dead and as we lighted a pine knot to ex allne the fellow barels two riders galloped up and drew bridle beside us hal said barris with a scowl its the shiner 1 or im a moon shiner we crowded curiously around to see the shiner he was redheaded tat and filthy and hla little red eyes burned in his head like the eyes of an angry pig barels went through bis pockets methodically while pierpont pont held him and I 1 held the torch the shiner waa a gold mine pockets ehart bootlegs hat even his dirty fists clutched tight and were bursting with lumps of soft yellow gold barris dropped this moonshine gold as we had come to call it into the pockets of bis shooting coat and withdrew to question the prisoner HP came back again in a lew minutes lad motioned his mounted men to bathe shiner in charge e watched them rifle on thigh walking horses slowly away into the bukness the shiner tightly bond shuffling sullenly be tween who Is the shiner asked pier pont slipping the revolver into his pocket again A counterfeiter forger and said karris and probably drummond will be glad to see him and I 1 think it like ly he will be persuaded to confess to him what he refuses to confess to me wouldn t he talk I 1 asked not a sellable pierpont pont there Is nothing more tor you to do I 1 or me to do are you not coming back with us barris iso said nanis nan Is we walked along the dark road la silence for a while I 1 wondering what darris intended to do but be said nothing more until we reached our own veranda here he held out his hand first to then to me saving good by as though be were go ing on a long journey how soon will vou be back I 1 called out to him as he turned away toward the gate he came across the lawn again and again took our hands with a quiet affection that I 1 had never imagined him capable of I 1 am going he said to put an end to his gold making tonight to night I 1 know that you fellows never suspected what 1 was about on my little goll tary evening strolls after dinner I 1 will tell ou already I 1 have unobtrusive ly killed four of these gold makers my men put them under ground just below the new washout wash out at the four mile stone there are three left alive the shiner whom we have another criminal named yellow or yeller in the vernacular and the third the third repeated pierpont ex the third I 1 have never yet seen but I 1 know who and what he Is I 1 know and if he is of human flesh and blood his blood will flow to night As he spoke a slight noise across the turf attracted my attention A mounted man was advancing silently in the starlight over the spongy meadowland then barels rifle spat fire when he came nearer barris struck a match and we caw that he bore a corpse across his saddle bow col barris said the man touching his slouched hat in balate this grim introduction to the corpse made me shudder and after a moments examination of the stiff wide eyed dead man I 1 drew back identified said barris take him to the four mile post and carry his effects to washington under seal mind johnstone away cantered the rider with bis ghastly burden and barris took our hands once more for the last time then he went away gayly with a jest on bis lips and pierpont pont and I 1 turned back into the house for an hour we sat moodily smoking in the hall before the firc saying little until pierpont pont burst out with 1 I wish barris had taken one of ua with him tonight rhe same thought had been run nang in my mind but I 1 said barris knows what bes about this observation neither comforted us nor opened the lane to further con vers atlon and after a few minutes pierpont nf said good night and called for hewlett and hot water when be had been warmly tucked away by hewlett I 1 turned out all but one lamp sent the dogs away with david and dismissed hewlett for the night I 1 was not inclined to retire for I 1 knew I 1 could not sleep there was a book lying open on the table beside the fire and I 1 opened it and read a page or two but my mind was fixed on other things the window shades were raised and I 1 looked out at the star set firmament there was no moon that night but the sky was dusted all over with spar klang stars and a pale rid lince bright cr even than moonlight fell over meadow and wood far away in the forest I 1 beard the voice of the wind a soft warm wind that whispered a name ysonde listen sighed the voice of the wind and listen echoed the swaying trees with every leaf a quiver I 1 listened where the long grasses trembled with the cadence I 1 heard her name ysonde I 1 heard it la the rus aling woodbine where gray moths hovered I 1 heird it in the drip drip of tho dew from tho porch the silent meadow brnoit whispered her namo the rippling woodland streams repeated it ysonde ysonde until all earth and sky were filled with the boft thrill beonde ysonde ysonde A night thrush sang in a thicket by the porch and I 1 stole to the veranda to listen after a while it began again a little further on I 1 ventured out into the road again I 1 heard it tar away in the forest and I 1 followed it tor I 1 knew it was singing ot ysonde when I 1 came to the path that leaves the main road and enters the sweet fern covert below the I 1 hes stated but the beauty of the night lure I 1 roe oh and the night thrushes called me from every thicket in the lallance lad lance shrubs grasses field flowers stood out distinctly for there was no moon to cast shadows meadow and brook giove ard stream were 11 b the pale glow like great lamps lighted the planets hung from the high domed sl y and through their mysterious rays the fixed stars calm serene stared from the heavens like eyes I 1 waded on aalst deep through fields of dewy golden rod through late clover and wild oats wastes through crimson fruited sweetbrier blueberry and wild plum until the low whisper 0 the wier brook warned me that the path had ended but I 1 would not stop tor the night air was heavy with the perfume of water lilies and far away across the low wooded cliffs and the wet meadowland be ond there was a distant gleam ot silver and I 1 heard the murmur ot sleepy waterfowl I 1 would go to the lake the way was clear except for the dense young grow th and the snares of the moose bush the night thrushes had ceased but I 1 did not want for the company of living creatures slender quick dart ing forms crossed my path at inter vals sleek mink that fled like shad aws at my step wiry weasels and fat musk rats hurrying onward to some tryst or hilling I 1 never had seen so many little woodland creatures on the move at night I 1 began to wonder where they all were going so fast why they all hurried on in the same direction now I 1 passed a hare bopping through the brushwood now a rabbit scurrying by flag hoisted As I 1 entered the beech second growth two foxes glided by me a little further on a doe crashed out ot the underbrush and close behind her stole a lynx eyes shining like coals he neither paid attention to the doe or to me but loped away toward the north vas in flight from I 1 asked myself wondering there was no forest fire no cyclone no flood it baarts had passed that way could he have stirred up this sudden exodus impossible even a regiment in alie forest could scarcely have put to rout these frightened creatures what on earth thought I 1 turning to watch the headlong flight of fisher cat what on earth has startled the beasts out at this time ot night I 1 looked up into the sky the placid glow of the fixed stars comforted me and I 1 stepped on through the narrow spruce belt that leads down to the bor dars of the lake of the stars wild cranberry and moose bush en twined my feet dewy branches spat me with moisture and the thick spruce needles scraped my face as I 1 threaded my way over mossy logs and deep spongy tussocks socks down to the level gravel of the lake shore although there was no wind the lit tie waves were hurrying in from the lake and I 1 beard them splashing among the pebbles in the pale star glow thousands of water lilies lifted their half closed chall cea toward the sky I 1 threw myself full length upon the shore and chin on hand looked out across th lake splash aplass came the waves along the shore higher nearer until a film of water thin and glittering as a knife blade crept up to my elbows I 1 could not understand it the lake was rising but there had been no rain all along the shore the water was running up I 1 heard the waves among the sedge grass tho weeds at my side ft ere awash in the ripples the lilies rocked on the tiny waves every wet pod rising n the swells sinking rising again until the whole lake was glim merling with undulating blossoms how sweet and deep was the fragrance from the lilies and now the water was ebbing slowly and the waves re ceded shrinking from the shore rim until the white pebbles appeared again shining like troth on a brim mang glass TO BE CONTINUED |