Show penwan 0 0 kale houane by OPIE READ copyright the bell syndicate ine inc LA VITTE I 1 SYNOPSIS the time Is the late we or early and the a steamboat on the api ppl river all the types of the period are present and the floating palace Is distinguished by merriment dane ing and gallantry tl TI ere aro are tl e customary drinking and gambling also virg I 1 D drace ace a young north ern man Is oni on his way south on a n isslyn of revenge H meets an eccentric character in the of one liberty who Is con scantly tempting the goddess ot of chance they agree to io a singular pa pact t drace seeing an opportunity case to use confides to him that his mission Is s to find a certain ex guerrilla estepho la vitte who had murdered drace s father it Is his determination to hang la vitte as h high I 1 gh a as s hainan haman drace falls in lo 10 e fw with 1 th a striking young beauty on the boat boal the steamer reaches new orleans at that time in the somewhat turbulent throes of car petrag government the young men attend the french hall and drace unexpectedly meets the girl she 16 accompanied by one boyce apparently her fiance flance learns that tile name of the girt girl la is nadine la atte V tte drace passes an uneasy night torn by the suspicion that nad ne Is the daughter of old estepho la vitte now an admitted outlaw now more than ever Is he resolved to find where the girl lives and to find estepho drace and sl ottle begin a search of the city drace takes a hand in a carpetbagger riot he catches a gl apse of one he Is sure is nadine drace and get into bad standing with the author ties and are given until the next day to board a steamer bound north re turning to tl e house where he thought he had glimpsed the girl drace finds tl ti e place abandoned disco discovers ers that a case of wine on the steamer Is addressed to estepho la vitte at farnum a land ng mississippi it Is the next stop below bethpage Beth page s land ng n and general bethpage Beth page la is liberty shot tie a uncle they decide to visit him liberty goes broke again and swears ot off again on betting they are cordially received by the gen eral and his wife chapter VI cent cont aued 41 oh not very much I 1 am fond of I 1 lin im too and I 1 belies bellen e he Is going to be of much help tb me well lie lost five hundred this n orning but I 1 can stand it I 1 have or derd tl e mules h tel ed up and am fc I 1 s g to drive with you about 11 e plantation plantation I 1 am going to sl RI ow you a government here in the delta inuring during the drive the old gentleman was ras talkative talla tall tive sometimes with rath tie school mans hesitating precision but more often as the free companion agreeable gree able rather than discursive drace evinced in everything a keen in tret but it was ras not real his ills heart was ras not with I 1 allm im it was ras in new oi 01 leai jew s in a narrow street where boards were nailed across a door from what he I 1 ad been able to gather from the general and by talk ing in seeming idleness to boatmen and to men along the river drace confirmed the information ed bv hv from the label on the french mans alne case namely that oil stepi 0 had a haunt ere in the helgi borl A shrewd old negro h id said aid that the lived in the vamp in a house built of periwinkle shells on the opposite shore an tin 1 several miles below the general generals a home tl ti ere lay a great v w of c cy Y press and a thick tangle of salt cedar a sort of everglade a marsh with hun deeds of knoll islands here and there rising among the t here v as in deed an outlaws paradise for drace was told tl ti at not nearly all its lanes and crooked byways of brown water I 1 ad been explored herein he lie began his search for old day after lay penetrating farther and farther in to this moss hanging wild vold he ile did not confide in general betl page for I 1 11 N mission ni as sacred unto himself alone and bv himself alone must it be ac co apt blied at his feet in the canoe lay a rope one end of it a hangman s noose an aej I 1 he smiled at it grim and firm of faith sometimes his canoe would stall la in ohp carpet of scum but he forced his way through into a narrow and junob strutted ted channel now he paddled swiftly in front of I 1 mm im a great alii allf gator arose and sank the canoe ing his ills scaly back with a chilek great birds flew ciappi g 1 ip v their long legs stretched tr etched out behind them hem drace v nis is aimed with a re revolver volNer but did not wish to fire it caution warning I 1 allm im when he ceased for a time to paddle 1 I 1 ow still everything was I 1 ahe adventurer liked to feel that no one had ever been there before but now suddenly something caught his ee la in the green tangle on a low I 1 ank he saw a pole with 1 ith NN wires ires 0 o it a sort of gate the wires m ere covered with vines nines trained about them but for what hat purpose here in this I 1 rust rusl v tangle he caught hold of a weed reed and pulled the canoe up closer took hold of tl e pole and now he found a loa lower er slat to which the wires N ires were acre also attached farther along he discovered a sort of hinge attached to a e snag almost hidden by briers ru 11 open iu a 2 gate and see what lies beyond he mused drawing th tha canoe back to the other end he pulled at the pole and it yielded the gate opened and through tl rough the weed weeds that op ppe ired to have been bent by the passing parsing of a boat he saw a narrow athaniel hannel it was easy enough to shove through we reeds und and to enter eater the new canal I 1 1 Y V t soon tt it broadened winding g about among the enormous cypress trees now he came upon a widening that looked like a millpond except that in the midst of it arose an island of tall cane it was ras an attractive sight and he ceased paddling to look slowly he lie drifted to toward N ard the islands island s sl ore he took hold of a cane root and pulled the nose of tl e canoe hard into the bank tl TI en he got out parting the stiff and stubborn cane in a shade as dense as t but now tl ti rough th s parting hallway he could see sunlight beyond and knew that he was ras about to come into an open space and out into it he looked with a start for there a few feet from the edge of the fringe of cane stood a small house made of minute shells cemented peri perl winkles its roof was of thatch the long rusl es gathered from the swamp and about the door was ras a cypress vine nine its red blooms dazzling in the sun and then a bended cane drace held was crushed in his hand for through the door and out beneath the vine came tl ti e bar barbaric birle rose maid nadine it ii vitte CHAPTER vil she did not take fright when she saw him she was ras startled but dil dl 1 not run into the house she stood dazed I 1 er marvelous eyes in wide ulde stare slowly he came forward gaz ing his hat lint in his hand lie ile dropped the hat stooped caught it up and now stood before her it if she were agitated he could not dis discover coNer it she stood where the red blood s brosl ed her brow he ile he I 1 I 1 forth his hand and slowly she shook 1 ler er head monsieur how foolish to come cornel I 1 if you do not go now in a short time yoi NN will III die sly my father I 1 he v will III shoot you I 1 should like it not to see yo you U dead you are so brave my aly father he will think vou come for him put rut I 1 will tell him that I 1 did not I 1 lie moved nearer but with her hand raised palm toward him she motioned him away you do not know what you talk nothing could you tell him tor for the I 1 I 1 through the door and out beneath the vine came the barbaric rose maid nad ne la vitte gun fire and you will vill be no more please go away now oh it Is because you want to get rid of me no no no it Is not that I 1 like vou on much lou IOU are so brave an ana I 1 handsome it Is because I 1 fear for you my father would be angry to have hane me talk with a northern man go now and for my sake rake come no more air boyce said drace then Is not a bortl ern man ale sl e shot a sudden startled look at him mr boyce but he Is my fa ther b friend my father expects me to marry mr air boyce and if my father sl come b back bick ick and find me here talking with you he would please mr drace go at once before it Is too late see the sun Is almost set the stars cone soon and then through the cane he cone co ne oh won t you please be kind to me and go at once I 1 kind rind to you god bless you I 1 would die for you oh you mal e love soon I 1 but won t vou on please go no v I 1 quick I 1 hear something lou IOU hear my heart let me stay ten minutes and then I 1 go ah ali but why ully would you give me ten minutes of fear he saw that her anxiety was re real reil il and his heart smote him for cruelty to this dazzling creature whose father he would rould hang hing h ing with a rope brought from the north les es I 1 will go I 1 wanted to tell vou something but my regret at going is so deep that I 1 forget what it N was as but I 1 must come again when the sun Is not so low io no ml tell me please when that shall be never nener would a man before talk like tl 6 ls to me but it if you must come when rhen I 1 beg you no let it be next thic thursday aay mv MY father then will be in the bills hills to I 1 ly cattle this is friday and that will be a I 1 jk week eck lacking one day ton you have set doomsday for my return if vou you come before yon you will not find me and now it Is the good by she drew back quickly through the door and down into the fringe of tall cane he went vent parting his ills dav av to the canoe that lay jay nosing the mossy bani only now that sl e was gone and night had come did he remember ren ember vat tl at girl nio had be nitchel the swift minutes with nith him was ras the daughter of his sworn enemy estepho la in vitte A voice called him as he was curs cuts ing hai iseff for a traitor to his father s memory on a point of land he saw taree tl ree men standing stand ng one of them beckoned him and he turned in to ward tl em one of them spoke would you be kind to set us across TI tie e night I 1 ie e comes and R we q would v not be lost in the s scamp N amp we will 1111 get to ta tie e river would you please yes but I 1 don t know that my ca noe will voll hold four we may get a ducking lie ile pulled alongside and steadied the canoe while they got in now he pa I 1 die diel carefully the I 1 he man alo wl hil hii talked failed and whom hom the other two ad dressed as toi tol ez requested to be set on a buhy shore where n here the th water was ras so that the canoe was almost stud in the ooze with his paddle drace propped his craft steady for tl em to get out bonez got out an I 1 with alth the quietness qui quid elness ness of a cit sn atchel a rope from beneath his coat and threw a noose about drace s arms then the two men in the boat threw ta themselves tiem esseln selves es ul on hin there was a hard struggle in the canoe and then out into the water rater but they brought him ore wound about with Itri the rope now they made haste to tie him se aurely the canoe was ras dr dragged aggei ashore drace strete led ed out in it and now they took it on their shoulders and hastened through the tangled un der brush he ile had fought hard but had not cried out but as he was ras carried he swore bitterly at himself for not looking at first with suspicion on the brutes who mho now had him in their power ah ali you would steal about and spy said bonez but you steal about no more the carpetbaggers they say you brave brane and you say siy yes I 1 am brave brane then they say I 1 iou on find 01 oil 1 estepho and you go to find him he Is not at home but his men they come just in time iou are liars I 1 was ah ali you come with the jol e tomorrow we A e R will ill laugh will you no you will not laugh drace lay quietly tugging at the ropes that bound him if he could spring out free what nhat a scattering he would w mal male e of them I 1 they stopped entering some sort of doorway ani rested the canoe on the ground bonez lighted a candle and drace saw that he was in an old cabin almost ready to fall they rolled him out on the floor face down and beneath his arms they passed the paddle of the canoe so that I 1 e could not turn over then the others went out leaving tonea holding the candle does the kind gentleman know why they gone they go to get the dry rushes and the dead bark for why to make the fire it Is s not cold no but they will make the fire of the cabin and when villen the morning come there N will nill ill be the ashes of the kind gentleman and the people they will mill say ah ali he lie ile down dorn to sleep and burn up drace heard them piling their mur derous fuel into a corner again I 1 e appealed to them tried thre threats its told tl ti em ern that his friends would bans hang them but they laughed bonez bend ing over him with the candle in a few minutes I 1 light the blaze and take the candle away imay boj talk of estepho s daughter remember she may love ione me some too you spanish devil devill the kind gentleman he come close I 1 im in I 1 portuguese guese but no mitter matter when estepho come we vie tell him what we do and he pit us on the back an I 1 give gine us money put the light would hurt the kind gent gentleman lemans s eyes wien vien he lie ile thit avav on his jiw I 1 will not stoop tool so u low with the can lie ile oh wl it a fine pile they get I 1 it will make the tho blaze beautiful all ready yes I 1 will to ich it off drace could not see him but he heard tie tl e first crackle of the arlel 1 rushes saw the alii e dim the can lie light 10 0 o v he cr er ed alo rio 11 i I 1 tl ti e me i laughing tl e mounting flame crabl ling iou ler bonez came b hick bick ick to 1 im we leave leaie iou ou noi a iou m will not need this candle to light you to bed so I 1 blo v it out see and I 1 take it with me they hastened out and he I 1 ear I 1 them laughing as they ran through the underbrush with all h hs 4 h hir ir nessel riesse I 1 might I 1 e strove to break the pad lie 14 that he might roll tor toward ard the d or hut but it was as strong and he brol e only ta tip e tip of the blade A lo 10 i ler let end cmel I 1 n told him tint the dry I 1 oar Is 14 abon were catching soon the roof would fall in greit sparks woul I 1 fly unwar I 1 fall and hiss in tl e water IN why by should hould I 1 ie e lie there seeing alt till this in I 1 is min I 1 he won lere ere I 1 he lie hs lis I 1 read that men approach ln in de tl tf sometimes speak f fish ish nals a I 1 here he la with his mind on trivial tl ings boon soon he abild writhe in furnace how all till about hin bluel he lie v ho v I 1 hg fig it N w I 1 11 I 1 he be I 1 t tore fore a tongue of flame sho sheild ild lick I 1 11 I 1 with its agon and tl en hu hw spoke god bless you nad nell ne I 1 tto BID 4 i |