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Show Captain Sazarac . .a purpose: "Well, I cam to find yoii 1" After Hint he staggered buck and would luive fallen II' I c Alinonnster had not cased him to Hie sand. Then lit nibbed n bloody blind ihtonh 11 Muddy face mid drawled sleepily: "Swords out what's the iniiller? I say I wlui the devil?" He tvlntel nbonl. piilnl'ully. "I'm rim through twice. 1 think" Tim enptnln bud coine swiftly to him. 'Marvin I" lie knelt nnd stern-ly stern-ly nought Hie ollier's eyes. "Mon-sleur "Mon-sleur do Alinoiinsler, will you get tlm brandy from the tent? Wlint Is this, .Inrvls? What of Hie Seraphlne? How mine you here?" "Slio Is coining out on the tide," said .1 ii rvis thickly. "The dons think to save her iim n prize. Knur bouts lire towing. Name o' (.i ill Jennl I hud my light !" "Tell mi! this," retorted the oilier coldly. He looked about. The figure of the woman was dim by the tent. HJr ' '..v,r " vi i(3 mmmr qunrter deck. IUit always If hnH seemed that some laughing spirit wns near me on the Seruphlne a ghost far olT from me, yet ever holding mi! In Ids fancy. Is It not strange? 1 cannot shake this feeling oil'." "It Is strange," he answered. "But come you are going now." "Monsieur Sazarac 1" she cried sharply. "Why do you not speak?" "Of what?" he said simply, In no wonder. "Ah, I do not know I" The stars showed the paleness of her fmM, l:r luminous eyes wide up to him. The web of sIleiit'A that had been woven about hr was n mesh that neither tears nor challenge bad yet pierced. "I, too, am a nameless ghost," ho smiled, "the ghost of a mail wdio might have been I Come, now I Monsieur Mon-sieur Sazarac bids you respect fulb but firmly, to go. You will obey Monsieur Sazarac Is accustomed to being obeyed. . . . The hands of Monsieur Mon-sieur Sazarac have been stained with the blood of those who chose not to obey. Is that vnough about Monsieur Sazarac, Mademoiselle?" He turned away to her little tent. She heard him giving Instructions to the silent black steward who had been charged to her service. The tiny light against the unseen forest shore wns growing plainer. She heard a brushing In the coarse grass. Kaoul de Alnionaster drew out of the starlight and stopped by her with a comment. Apparently he did not notice no-tice Monsieur Sazarac at her tent seeing see-ing to her few belongings. "He came to you, did ho not?" murmured mur-mured ltaoul. "It Is the last moment. I gave him this to speak to you, Louise." "Why, what should he speak?" she whispered. "But then he would not I" The younger mnn misinterpreted. "He loves you, and he would not speak. Eh, well I It Is my honor to keep from him and from you. I wns his first confldnnt from the very first. When he wns nbout to challenge chal-lenge Carr, becnuse of you, I offered to second hi in nt the Oaks. From the first, he spoke of you nnd he had my pledge of honor. Ah, but I did not know then who the lady was the pawn of his game at Maspero's the lady he must retrieve from the Gena-ronl Gena-ronl Monsieur Sazarac at the parting part-ing of the paths, one on to peace, even, perhaps, to honor for a wounded nnme chose this to serve you, though he knew it mennt the abyss opened for him 1 Is not that a love, Mademoiselle, that would hold the friend of Sazarac to his honor?" "Tell me " she whispered swiftly, "the ragged fellow In the emperor's cabin his jests, his love " "A dead man, telling neither love nor jests " Then the young mnn turned hotly on her. "See, here! The boat is making ready ! Well, If Sazarac has your heart, Louise, I will not go !" "Oh, no! no no!" she breathed. "Monsieur " The figure of Monsieur Sazarac loomed against the stars before them. "Pardon," he said smoothly. "It is the time for the longboat." "It Is damnable!" De Alnionaster sprang to grasp his sleeve: "Sir, a woman's part for me! I will not go! I will not go!" Monsieur Sazarac looked from him By Charles Tcuncy Jackson Coryiltlx fcv The BlU Mcitill ComptnT CHAPTER XV Bottle Emperor Returns. Across the mile-wide lagoon In tho till hot dusk the hist buccaneers of Latitte listened to the battle In the forest river the rattle of musketry, ami then the boom of the Seraphlne's carronades. And strange as It fell out, the castaways wished for the Span-lards Span-lards to win. They hud no hope of escape for themselves, but their hatred of t'litckley's mutineers wns stronger than their hereditary feud with the sea power of the Spanish king. So the fugitives lay and listened to the distant battle for the rescue ship of Honnpnrte. At times, behind the fringe of forest swamp, arose the crash of musket fire, and then the bnrk of the Seraphine's guns. And presently this last ceased; the ragged volleys of small anus burst Irregularly, died out. renewed; became single shots blotted out by the tropic silence. si-lence. The Catalan swung to his feet nnd tied his bloody head scarf tighter. "I sny It Is the end. Murillo's men are swarming over." It seemed that a faint burst of cheering came from under the landward stars. Nez Coupe beckoned to his fellows. "The captain will want the word back at the lady's shelter tent. He will send her and the young gentleman to Intercept the Spaniards' boats when they come out the pass to regain the frigate. Now, watch for the fire behind the trees ye see the red ghost of a good ship !" But presently the enptain, himself, and Beluche, the admiral, came through the deep sand and great hummocks to this outlying point of the reef. "You make out that the affair is done?" inquired the former. "No, there is a shot." They waited silently. The low murmur mur-mur of the gentle surf on the outer fringe of sand was all the sound upon the utter calm of the night. "It Is over," muttered Bohon. "I would have given my right hand to have seen Crackley cutlassed and flung to the sharks. And Jarvls, the fool gibing them to the last I The wastrel had his sea fight, eh?" The leader'6 dark face winced. He raised his hand as if to still this jesting jest-ing about the jester of the rue Koyale, the Emperor of the Bottle, who, at last, did sit in the chair they had ordained or-dained for an emperor himself. And now, from the sea, there came a single signal gun. The frigate was invisible, standing off the shoals, but they knew a thousand enemies were there. "Come, sirs," said the chief in quiet authority, "the longboat around the point for the English woman. They shall row to meet the Spaniards in the pass she shall plead that she and Monsieur de AJmonaster were the prisoners of the mutineers." When he had gone from the men who hastened at his bidding, he came upon Mademoiselle Lestron on the highest point of the sand before her shelter-canvas. She was alone, and she saw his quick glance about. "Monsieur de Alnionaster has gone to the beach I sent him away," she said quietly. "Away? Do you see that light, Mademoiselle, against the forest? It means the Spanish boat crews are re- "Swords Out What's the Matter? I Sayl What the Davil?" She was assisting De Alnionaster at the chest of bandages nnd sennty supplies sup-plies given them by the mutineers. "Jarvls! You deserted me but, tell me of the Sernplilne!" "I, alone, escaped. Crnckley's men fought like wild savages when the end came. The Inst of us took overboard to the Jungle whe the Spaninrds swarmed nbonrd. They beheaded Black Mike on a gun-block, and hanged Budge to the shrouds with a fire under him. They chopped old Mariano, arm by arm nnd leg by leg and Crackley shot himself to keep away from them. I wns the last who fell In the river reeds. They did not find me, Jean, nnd when I got sense nfter these wounds, I crawled to the water's edge. I found a dinghy with three dead Spaniards in it, and heaved them out. Then I floated with the tide. It bo-e me to the reef I knew you woulii be here somewhere. Curse me, it wa a fight! There must have been a hutdred of them aud we did for half!" De Alnionaster forced the brandy to his lips. "Thank you, Monsieur," murmured mur-mured the painter of the rue Hoynle. "This thrust through my shouldef I would not hav.i had It, but, after breaking a don'i head, I saw a bottle roll across the deck. I must after It like a cat at the cheese, and some other kinj o' Spain's man put a saber to me. fLh, I dropped the cognac cog-nac with cork undrawn got around and fought agin. What luck one has I" He sighed wet rily. His eyes closed. The English wo'han came nearer, and then at a sign flora Monsieur Sazarac, she went apart Trom them. It would not do for the babbler to talk too much in her blaring. And so, once more, the ragged lover with the new waistcoat did nfit see the lady of the camellia, nor sle him; for when his eyes opened thrtre were but the stars above, and the fivo men's faces watching watch-ing close to his. "Come, gentltfmen!" He struggled to a sitting pasture between them : "I came here with an Idea ! A most excellent Idea I1' "Jarvls," retofted the captain qniet-ly. qniet-ly. "you are dying." "Eh, blen ! Are you a physician, too, Monsieur Siz-a-rnc, as well as a bully swordsmaB, a fellow of pearl-Inlaid pistols; a Hellcate hand at the cards and worflrous speeches on a lady's staircasef He sat up strilghter and shook himself. him-self. "Dying? Now, see!" He kicked out both mud-swathed legs, clapped hla hands, put a thumb to his nose nnd wiggled his fingers at the stnrs. "Let me up," he drawled absently. "I an) to tell you what to do. Where the devil is the boat, and our blusterers? 'tame o' G d ! buccaneers buc-caneers snoozing In the grass, and John Jarvis in a bloody set-to !" And despite their protests he did get to his feet unsteadily. About all they could see were his two eyes sticking out of a muck of wet tangled hair. But these Seemed to smile comfortingly. com-fortingly. "Jarvls, and hl deck o' blood," be mused:- "Now, ccme. The Seraphine Is towing out the fiass. There is hardly hard-ly a man on her except the wounded and the officers, i'or they have every arm at the sweeps in the small boats. I say we shall retake her, gentlemen gentle-men I" (TO BE (JONTTNTJED.) to Mademoiselle Lestron Intently. It was as open to them as a blown rose to the sunshine De Almonaster would not creep away, soved by a woman's skirts among the Spaniards, and ever after see In her eyes that she was holding in memory another man who died for her. Monsieur Sazarac smiled, rubbed his slender, bronzed hands. "Come my children !" "There Is the boat," muttered De Almonaster sullenly. "The blacks at the oars, and Clark at the tiller. The tide is coming out It Is an easy "pull. Here is my handkerchief for the truce flag on a boat-pole." He bowed qulet-'ly: qulet-'ly: "Mademoiselle Lestron is going to the Spanish captain's care." "Sir?" said Sazarac coolly. "You to that boat!" A stealthy slur of steel and leather came In the silence. They saw the point of De Almonaster's rapier flash dimly and then held to the sand. "Monsieur Sazarac, I had the idea long Ago tkat, at some hour, you and I should fight. It was as Inevitable as anything could be. It was written by these stars at the birth of each of us ... as it was written that we each should love a woman whom it has been given us in our lives, to protect. pro-tect. Mademoiselle Lestron to the boat then, draw, with me, Monsieur Mon-sieur !" The older man did not stir. Twice, then, in so short n time, he must decline de-cline a challenge because of her! It was very odd he laughed slowly. Mademoiselle had seemed dumb for the moment. Then she sprang, with a hand raised before De Almonaster's blazing eyes and impetuous arm. "Well, then," went on Monsieur Sazarac quietly, "first, the lady for whom we must fight to the longboat, Monsieur de Ayuonaster." Her cry of terror echoed. There came then, a slow uncertain trudging through the reef grass. The figure of a man quite close. It was stooped; and presently it staggered or stumbled, rather ridiculously, It appeared, ap-peared, over an empty scabbard which got between its knees. "Jarvls I" cried De Almonaster, and sprang to him. "Eh Raoul?" The voice came weakly but gathered strength as If from some choked but over-maBterimj The Low Murmur of the Gentle Surf on the Outer Fringe of Sand Was All the Sound Upon the Utter Calm of the Night. turning. They have taken the Seraphine Sera-phine In the river's mouth. You can guess what has happened? there Is no man living who was upon her." "The ragged man," she answered Intently. In-tently. "The man who sat in the emperor's em-peror's cabin and kissed the bracelet I left there?" "The bracelet?" He was surprised; he had not known of this. "It belonged, once, to Marie Antoinette," An-toinette," she went on passively. "The queen gave It to a member of my family for a service before they put her to the guillotine." "Why, then, did you not speak when we left the ship? He he the man would have given It to you." "I did not think," she murmured. "He had his lips to It." Then she was silent, looking at the empty sea, the savage land. "I Inquired of Monsieur Mon-sieur de Alnionaster . . . he laughed painfully, and would not answer.. I could not see the man's face ftiat night. Nor when he Jested on the |