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Show 0ft0iiWl:i Author of "Cardigajf "the Conspirators" " Maids -at -Arms "etc COPYRIGHT ROBT. WCHABBRS COPIOHT gy P.R OOLUER ft SOT woman believes that she has in her pay the communist leader of the re volt, a man called Buckhurst. She is in error. Within the next twenty-four hours. I expect to see Buckhurst a prisoner. And when that happens it will go hard with Mademoiselle Elven, for he will turn on her to save himself. . . . And you know what that means; ... a blank wall, Kelly, and a firing-squad. There is but one sex for spies. She must leave tonight, Kelly. She must try to cross into Spain. Will you help her?" He nodded, striving to say "yes." "You know your own risk?" "Yes." "Her company is death for you both if you are taken." He stood up very straight. In what strange forms comes happiness to man! (TO BE CONTINUED.') U SYNOPSIS. ScarlPtt. an American soldier of fortune for-tune in tile employ of the French Imperial Im-perial 1'olic-e at the outbreak of tile Fran-ro-Prusslan war. is ordered to arrest John Buckhurst. a leader of the Communists Com-munists and suspected of having stolen the Frenc-h crown jewels. While searching search-ing for Buckhurst, Scarlett is ordered to arrest Countess de Vassart and her group of socialists and escort them to the Belgian Bel-gian border. .Scarlett finds Sylvia Elven of the Odeon disguised as a peasant and carries her to J.a Trappe where the countess and her friends are assembled. All are arrested. The countess saves Scarlett from a fatal fall from the roof of the house. He denounces Buckhurst as the leader of the Reds and the countess coun-tess conducts him to where Buckhurst is secreted. German Uhlans descend on the place and Buckhurst escapes during the melee. Scarlett Is wounded. He recovers re-covers consciousness In the countess" house at Morsbronn. where he Is cared for by the countess. A fierce battle is fought in the streets between French and Prussian soldiers. Buckhurst professes pro-fesses repentence and returns the crown lewels to Scarlett. He declares he will give himself up to the authorities. Scarlett Scar-lett doubts his sincerity. Buckhurst urges the countess to go to Paradise. Buck-burst Buck-burst admits that he receives pay from the Prussians for Information which he floes not give. He secures passports to the French lines for Scarlett, the countess coun-tess and himself. Scarlett reports to the secret service In Paris and finds Mor-nac. Mor-nac. shadow of the emperor, in charge. He deposits the crown jewels and later, when making a detailed report, finds that pebbles have been substituted for the real stones. Speed, a comrade in the service, warns Scarlett that Mornao Is dangerous. He also informs him that all the government govern-ment treasure is being transported to the ?oast for shipment out of the country. Scarlett and Speed escape to join a cirrus. cir-rus. The circus arrives at Paradise. An nrder is received by the mayor calling the citizens to arms. Jacqueline, daughter daugh-ter nf the Wzard, offers to join the circus to give exhibitions in the character of a mermaid. Scarlett makes friends with the Lizard. Scarlett calls on the countess nt her home in Paradise. He finds Sylvia Flven also there. He learns the countess has withdrawn from the socialists. They Bwear eternal friendship. The Uzard learns for Scarlett, through one Tric-Trac. Tric-Trac. that Mornac is head of a communistic communis-tic conspiracy. Scarlett learns something nf Svlvia Klven through a fellow performer per-former named Kelly. Orders regarding the treasure trains are changed, owing to the discovery of a plot at Lorient. Orders are received for the expulsion of the circus. cir-cus. Buckhurst appears in Paradise and secures recruits for the red flag. Scarlett admits he is in love with the countess. Scarlett Is injured by the circus Hons and taken to the home of the countess. CHAPTER XIX. Continued. "Preparations for train-wrecking, I should say," he replied, bluntly. "They are tinkering with the trestle. Buck-hurst's Buck-hurst's ragamuffins have just seized the railroad station at Rose-Sainte-Anne, where the main line crosses, you know, near the ravine at Lam-merin. Lam-merin. "That's all I have to report, except that your friend, Robert the Lizard, is out yonder flat on his belly under a gorse bush, and'he wants to sea you." "The Lizard!" I exclaimed. "Come Dn, Speed. Where is he?" "Yonder, clothed in somebody's line uniform. He's one of them. Scarlett, do you trust him? He has a rifle." "Yes, yes," I said, impatiently. "Come on, man! It's all right; the fellow is watching Buckhurst for me." I greeted the poacher frankly, offering offer-ing my hand; he took it, then his hard list fell away and he touched his cap. "1 have done what you wanted," he said, sullenly. "I have the company's rolls here they are." He dragged from his baggy trousers pockets a mass of filthy papers, closely covered with smeared writing. "Here is the mnnpv too." he H&id. fishiner in the rin crosses the ravine below the house of Josephine Tanguy." , Speed looked around at me. "It's the treasure-train from Lorient. They're probably sending the crown diamonds back to Brest in view of the Uhlans being seen near Quimper." "On a false order?" "That is the truth," said the Lizard; "Tric-Trac told me. They have the code book of Mornac." 1 thought quietly for a moment, then asked the poacher whether there was a guard at the semaphore of Saint-Yssel. Saint-Yssel. "Yes, the soldier Rolland, who says he understands the telegraph a sot from Morlaix." He hesitated and looked across the open moor toward Paradise. "I must go," he muttered; "I am on guard yonder." I offered him my hand again; he took it, looking me sincerely in the eyes. "Let your private wrongs wait a little lit-tle longer," I said. "I think we can catch Buckhurst and Mornac alive." "For your sake," said the poacher, clutching my hand in a tightening grip "for your sake I have let Mornac Mor-nac go let him pass me at arm's length, and did not strike. But I swear to you that if you miss him this time, I shall not miss I, Robert the Lizard!" "You mean to kill Mornac?" I asked. His eyes blazed. His strong fingers closed lighter on my hand. "Do you understand that he wronged me me, the soldier Garenne, in garrison at Vincennes; he, the officer, the aristocrat?" aristo-crat?" He choked, crushing my hand in a spasmodic grip. "Ami, the little red deer was beautiful to me. He took her the doe a silly maid of Paradise and I was in irons, m'sieu. for three years." "Your wife?" I asked, quietly. "Yes, ami." He dropped my numbed fingers and rubbed his eyes with the back of his big hand. "Then Jacqueline is not your little daughter?" I asked, gravely. "Hers not mine. That has been the most terrible of all for me since she died died so young, too, m'sieu and all alone in Paris. If he had not done that if he had been kind to her. And she was only a child, ami, yet he left her." All the ferocity in his eyes was gone; he raised a vacant, grief-lined visage to meet mine, and stood stupidly, stupid-ly, heavy hands hanging. Then, shoulders sloping, he shambled sham-bled off into the thicket, trailing his batte-red rifle. When he was very far away I motioned mo-tioned to Speed. "I think," said I, "that we had bet-.ter bet-.ter try to do something at the semaphore sema-phore if we are going to stop that train in time." CHAPTER XX. The Semaphore. The telegraph station at the semaphore sema-phore was a little, square, stone hut, roofed with slate, perched high on the cliffs. As we drew nearer we could arms and my legs, and 1 have been desiring de-siring to see you. Come into the house and read shall we?" Speed turned to me with an explanatory explan-atory smile. "I've been reading the Idyls' aloud to her in English," he said, rather shyly. "She seems to like them; it's the noble music that attracts at-tracts her." She turned away into the house, saying that she would get the book. I went into the house, leaving them seated on the porch, heads together, while in a low monotone Speed read the deathless "Morte d'Athur." Daylight was waning. Sylvia sat reading in the Lutheran Bible by the failing light. "May I speak to you alone a moment, mo-ment, after dinner?" I asked. "If you wish," she replied. I bowed and started on, but she called ihe back. "Did you know that Monsieur Eyre is here?" I was astonished, and asked where Eyre had gone. "He is in your room," she said, "loading "load-ing your revolver. I hope you will not permit him to go alone to Paradise." "I'll see about that," I muttered, and hurried up the stairs and down the hallway to my bedchamber. He sprang to the door as I entered, giving me both hands in boyish greeting. greet-ing. I looked at him keenly but pleasantly. pleas-antly. "Y'ou are going to load my revolver, and go over to Paradise and take that balloon from these bandits?" I asked, smiling. , He shrugged his shoulders with a reckless laugh. "Give me my revolver," I said, coldly. cold-ly. His face fell. "Let me take it, Mr. Scarlett," he pleaded; but I refused, and made him hand me the weapon. "Now," I said, sternly, "I want to know what the devil you mean by attempting at-tempting suicide? Kelly, what's the matter with you? Is life as unattractive unattrac-tive as all that?" His flushed and sullen face darkened. dark-ened. "You appear here," I said, "after the others have sailed from Lorient. Why? To do yourself the pleasure of ending an embittered life under the eye6 of the woman who ruined you. Kelly, I must tel! you the well, something of the truth as much as you need know . . . now. My friend, she is not worth it." "Do you think that makes any difference?" dif-ference?" he said, harshly. "Let me alone, Scarlett. I know! ... I know, I tell you!" "Do you mean to tell me that you know she deliberately betrayed you?" I demanded. "Yes, I know it I tell you I know it!" "And . . . you love her?" "Yes." He dropped his haggard face on his arms a moment, then sat bolt upright. "Truth is better than life," he said, slow;ly. "I wanted to end it, . . . I am tired." "Kelly," I said, "there remains another an-other way to risk your neck, and, I think, a nobler way. There is in this house a woman who is running a terrible ter-rible risk a German spy whose operations opera-tions have been discovered. This you want; you want to go in yonder and use the telegraph. What the devil," he burst out, "do all you bourgeois bour-geois want with that telegraph in there?" "Has anybody else asked to use it?" I inquired, disturbed. "Anybody else?" he mimicked. "Well, I think so; there's somebody in there now here, give your hundred francs or I tell you nothing, you understand!" un-derstand!" "Who is in that hut?" "A lady she comes often she give6 ten francs each time. Zut! what is ten francs when a gentleman gives a hundred! She pays me for my complaisance bon! Place aux dames! You pay me better bon! I'm yours, gentlemen. War is war, but money pulls the trigger!" "Wait here," I said, disgusted, and walked toward the stone station. The side door was partly open; I stepped in noiselessly and found myself my-self in a small, dusky closet, partitioned parti-tioned from the telegraph office. Immediately Im-mediately the rapid clicking ot the Morse instrument came to my ears, and mechanically I read the message by the sound as it rattled on under the fingers of an expert: " Must have already found out that the signals were not authorized by the government. Before the Fer-de-Lance returns to her station the German cruiser ought to intercept her off Groix. Did you arrange for this?" . There was a moment's silence, then back came rattling the reply in the Morse code, but in German: "Yes, all is arranged. The Augusta took a French merchant vessel off Pont Aven yesterday. The Augusta ought to pass Groix this evening. You are to burn three white lights from Point Paradise if a landing-party is needed. It rests with you entirely." Another silence, then the operator in the next room began: "The insurgents here, under an individual indi-vidual in our pay, one John Buckhurst, are preparing to wreck the train at the Lammerin trestle. . "If the Augusta can reach Point Paradise tonight, a landing-party could easily scatter these insurgents, seize the treasures, and re-embark in safety. "There is, you declare, nothing to fear from Lorient; the only thing, then, to be dreaded is the appearance of the Fer-de-Lance off Groix. She is not now in sight; I will notify you if she appears. If she does not come 1 will burn three white lights in triangle on Paradise headland. This is all. Be careful. Good-by." "Good-by," clicked the instrument in the next room. There was a rustle of skirts, a tap of small shoes on the stone floor. I leaned forward and looked through the little partition window; win-dow; Sylvia Elven stood by the table, quietly drawing on her gloves. Her face was flushed and thoughtful. When she had gone, closing the outer out-er door behind her, I sprang to the key, switched on, and at a venture set the switch on the arsenal line, got a quick reply, and succeeded in alarm ing them sufficiently, I think, for in a few moments I was telegraphing directly di-rectly to the governor of Lorient, and the wires grew hot with an interchange inter-change of observations, which resulted in my running to the locker, tumbling out all the signal bunting, cones, and balls, .sorting five flags, two red cones, and a ball, and hastening out to the semaphore. I had set the signal for the Fer-de-Lance to land in force and wipe Buckhurst Buck-hurst and his grotesque crew from the face of the earth. "Rolland," I said, "here is another hundred francs. Watch that halyard and guard it. Tonight you will string seven of those little lamps on this other halyard, light them, hoist them, and then go up that tower and light the three red lamps on the left. That lady will never come here again, I think. If she does, she must not touch those halyards. Do you hear? If she offers you money, remember I will double it. But, Rolland. if you lie to me I will have you killed as the Bretons Bre-tons kill pigs; you understand how that is done?" Walking fast over the springy heath, I told Speed briefly what I had done that the treasure-train would not now leave Lorient, that as soon as the Fer-de-Lance came in sight of the semaphore sema-phore Buekhurst's game must come to an end. ! Far ahead of us we saw the flutter of a light dress on the moor; Sylvia Elven was going home. "A spy!" muttered Sped. "I think." said I, "that she had better bet-ter leave Paradise at once. Mornac knows le.r record. Buckhurst would betray her in a moment if he thought it might save his own skin. She ought to leave beiore the Fer-de-Lance sights the semaphore and reads the signal to land in force." "Then you'll have to tell her," he said gloomily. "I suppose so." I rpplied. not at all pleased. When we entered the court, Jacqueline, Jacque-line, her big, furry cat in her arms, came to the door and greeted Speed with: "You have been away a very long time, and the thorns are all out of my other pocket; and, to my astonishment, astonish-ment, he produced a flattened, soiled mass of bank notes. "Count it," he added, calmly. "What money is that?" I asked, taking tak-ing It reluctantly. "Didn't you warn me to get that box , the steel box that Tric-Trac sat down on when he saw me?" "Is that money from the box?" I exclaimed. "Yes, m'sieu. I could not bring the box. and there had been enough blood shed over it already. Besides, when Buckhurst broke it open there was only a bit of Iron for the scrap heap left." 1 touched Speed's arm to call his attention; at-tention; the poacher shrugged his boulders and continued: "Tric-Trac made no ceremony with me; he told me that he and Huckhurst had settled this Doctor Uclmont, and the other the professor Tavemier." "Murdered them?" muttered Speed. "Dame! the coup du Pere Francois in murder, I suppose." Speed turned to me. "That's the ar-, ar-, gc;t for strangling," he said, grimly. "Go on," I motioned to the poacher. "How did you get the money?" "Oh. pour ca in my turn I turned nonneur," he replied, with a savage mile. A sonneur. In thieves' slang, is a creature of the footpad type who, tripping trip-ping his victim flat, seizes him by the shoulders and beats his head against the pavement until he renders him unconscious un-conscious if be doesn't kill him. I asked the poacher why Buckhurst had come to Paradise, and why his banditti had seized the railroad at Kose-Sainte-Anno. "Ah." cried the Lizard, with a ferocious fero-cious leer, "that is the kernel under the limpet's tent! And I have uncov ered It I, Robert Garenne, bon sang de Jesu! Listen, messieurs! We are to wreck the train for Brest tonight. Do you comprehend?" "Where?" I asked, quietly. "Just where the trestle at Lamme- Quietly Drawing on Her Gloves. see the sentry very distinctly, rifle slung muzzle down, slouching his beat in th sunshine. The soldier left his post as we started start-ed toward him, and advanced, blinking in the strong sunshine, meeting us halfway. "Are you the soldier Rolland?" 1 asked. He admitted that he was with prompt profanity, adding that if we didn't like his name we had only to tell him so and he would arrange the matter. I told him that we approved not only of his name but his personal appearance; ap-pearance; indeed, so great was our admiration for him that we had come clear across the Saint-Yssel moor expressly ex-pressly to pay our compliments to him in the shape of a hundied franc note. I drew it from the soiled roll the Lizard had intrusted to me, and displayed it for the sentinel's inspection. inspec-tion. "Under certain conditions." I said, "these five louis are for you." The soldier winked. "I know what |