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Show he ia Indeed hard to beat In th game of life. Charlie was feeling unusually bold and light-hearted on this night, which be supposed would be his last on European Eu-ropean soil. Presently he expected to be on board a stanch German liner, viewing the low shores of the old world with complacencyfor com-placencyfor at his side would b Lady Arline; and left behind as a memory of the dead past, such persons as the professor and his wife. Baron Peterhoff, Isolde, Countess Brabant, and Captain Brand of the Hespasla. He Intended giving Capt Brand "the full worth of his money, and then, by a fluke, dropping him in some section of old Antwerp, while'he himself took a fly and drove to the landing stage in time to catch the steamer. Perhaps this might have been carried car-ried out had circumstances not united to arrange events in the captain's favor. Charlie had his fun. He dragged his persistent pursuer over a good part of Antwerp now they were on foot and anon chasing In vehicles at a pace to set the staid old burghers agog with surprise and consternation. con-sternation. Outside a desire to have a little sport with his friend, the captain, his sole purpose in leading Brand this wild-goose chase was to keep his attention at-tention upon, himself, while Lady Ar-line Ar-line and Artemus left the hotel; for somehow Charlie had a vague fear lest the resourceful ex-saflor might use force to prevent his supposed daughter daugh-ter from departing, advancing some daring plea that her mind was affected and having hired experts, who would were walking the deck with Jersey and $otf cape to keep off the stinging chill "I'll go and arouse the sluggard," said Artemus to himself. "His little jaunt about town must have worn him out not the first case of its kind. 1 rather guess," with a sinister tear at his wit So he went below. The door of Charlie's stateroom was Just opposite h! own a single step across the little passage. As he approached he heard the sounds of loud snoring from within. On the spur of the moment hs decided de-cided to arouse his friend with s sudden sud-den shout, or by the advent of a convenient con-venient shoe tossed across the little room. Artemus had never wholly outgrown out-grown his college days, when he gained the reputation of being the J champion practical joker of his class So he quietly opened the door, which was conveniently unlocked. Through the bull's-eye windows enough of the morning light crept to allow a fair survey of the miniature apartment. One of the first things Artemus' saw was a shoe that had been tossed aside. As he seized upon it eagerly, he failed to note its generous proportions as contrasted with the neat footgear which Charlie Stuart affected such trifles do not impress themselves upon the mind when weightier things are demanding recognition. Now for a center shot. He turned his attention to the lower berth, which was occupied by a human form. Just then the nasal sounds came to a sudden stop with a savage snort, and A WARRIOR BOLD. By ST. OEORGE llATffBOIHre, Arnlkt "Little XU, JNffiMJ," 7Yu Spidir-$ W," -Dr. Jm.kt WWW," Jtf;M Cmpritt," ttt. CV7ri(kt 101. Si.ret tod Smith, Nw Yrk. CHAPTER X. The Game of Fox and Geese. Events were crowding upon each other's heels. Charlie, while abroad, had seen somethlngthat gave him quite a start. This was nothing more nor less, than a lovely woman with golden hair and blue eyes in a carriage, taking an air-ilng, air-ilng, while at her side, stiff and stern-looking, stern-looking, the baron sat. Charlie bowed politely. The countess coun-tess gave him a look of curiosity and one of her ravishing smiles. So she passed out of his life lucky man. . The sight of Charlie recalled to the baron's mind the promise he had made with regard to Capt. Brand. Accordingly he took advantage of "his first hour off to set the wires in motion, and learn certain facts regarding regard-ing the worthy captain. Charlie, relying on the baron to corral cor-ral the captain, had made arrangements arrange-ments for sailing upon the next trans-Atlantic trans-Atlantic steamer. He had engaged passage for Arline, her companion, Artemus and himself. The captain, having paid a man to keep upon Stuart's track, found out what was in the wind. He learned that the crisis had ar- perhaps decree that she should be incarcerated in-carcerated in an asylum. These things might appear ridiculous, ridicu-lous, but such happenings have come to pass ere now, and he chanced to have personal knowledge of at least one similar case. Whether or not Charlie were foolish in thus conjuring up phantoms that could not exist, was a question that should not be decided hastily. He believed Brand to be a desperate man, against whom he could as yet hardly appeal to the law, since Arline would not give her consent. He was convinced that Brand did not desire the heiress to get beyond his reach, and would hardly hesitate at any end in order to hold her until his sinister plans could be worked out. Hence it was, after all, in a spirit of self-sacrifice that Charlie undertook to have a little fun with Capt. Brand, and led him this fine chase up and down the crool. ?l streets of Antwerp. All would have been wellbutfor two cronies of Brand. They chanced to be standing at a dark corner v.-here the other had agreed to meet them, and, hearing his signals, sprang upon Charlie ere he comprehended his danger. dan-ger. As a result he was struck senseless by a blow from some blunt weapon. When Capt Brand arrived on the scene his first act was to sprinkle a powdery white pigment in the young man's hair, to give him the appearance appear-ance of age, and to smear his face with a little street dirt in order to disguise his features. Then, for the benefit of the man the sleeper whirled over on his side. ' The act brought his face directly within range of the morning light that struggled through the smalt openings beyond. No wonder Artemus crouched there as if frozen. Talk about the magic touch of the geni! When had such a wonderful transformation ever taken place before? be-fore? For one to retire as Prince Charlie Stuart, gay, handsome and debonair, to awaken in the guise of grim and grizzled old Captain Brand ww a mystery mys-tery that almost paralyzed the seeker after sensations. Artemus took one last fearsome look at the smooth and red physiognomy of the sleeper, passed out, and then softly soft-ly closed the door. Only when safe within his own room did he give vent to his over-wrought feelings in a whistle. "Great Jupiter! That beats everything every-thing I ever saw. InsrcaiTTjl uharlfe" the ogre! What does it mean? There is treachery afloat. I seem to detect it in the very air around. But the question arises, where is Charlie? And shall I have to take his place as her warrior bold, and will it be necessary neces-sary for me to give up my liberty?" Poor fellow! , He did not know whether to look on it as a huge joke or a grim reality. He thought of warning Arline; she ought to know her dear papa was on board, and that he had refused to break the paternal bonds that had be come so very strong since his return from exile. Artemus buckled on his armor. If he was to be pitted against the old ogre, it would be a pretty fight. Capt. Brand might have succeeded in outwitting Charlie, who was too frank for deep diplomacy, but he would find rived. Whatever he proposed doing must be put through with all possible speed, since, ere many hours elapsed, those against whom his schemes were directed would be upon the sea, and, mayhap, beyond his reach. Artemus had heard enough to know the three schemers were planning to do his friend an evil turn, but, strain nds ears as he would, he had not been able to catch the particulars of the game, owing to certain sounds in the hotel that muffled even the bold voices of Captain Brand's champagne-bibbing friends.. All he could do was to warn Stuart on general principles, and it can be set down as an assured fact that he carried car-ried out this dramatic little episode -quite to the queen's taste. It would not have been Artemus oth-rwise. oth-rwise. Charlie promised to keep his weather weath-er eye open for squalls. He hoped his early departure from j werp would serve to entirely dis-v' dis-v' Tt the i beggarty- plans cf his enemies, ene-mies, and leave the fellow in the lurch. About this time there was considerable consider-able hustling being done among the various forces circling around Arline Brand, just as the planets whirl about their central sun. The baron tried to drive from his mind the startling phantoms that had been' conjured into being by the mysterious mys-terious power of Isolde, Countess of Brabant and, as this could only be done by means of work, he gave himself him-self up to the mission of the hour with redoubled zeal. It was really a question what the scramble would result in whether Charlie or the redoubtable captain would come out . of it, in creditable shape, and how Artemus might fare in the shuffle. Lady Arline had an interview with her alleged papa, during which she announced an-nounced her determination of crossing the Atlantic on business, and that she had provided liberally for him during her absence, as he would find upon applying ap-plying In person to her banker in London. Lon-don. The interview was possibly not devoid de-void of dramatic features. Artemus was on guard near by, and heard the old sea dog blustering more or less in "his usual way. But he had evidently lost much of the power he formerly possessed over Lady Arline. He came forth from the rooms looking like an enraged hyena, because diplomacy had forced him to bottle up his wrath. To Artemus Charlie delegated the task of seeing Lady Arline and her maid aboard the ocean greyhound, -where he would join them later. It was night again. Time and tide wait for no man, and ocean steamers have to put out very frequently at unreasonable hours, in order to cross the bar on the flood. The baron and Captain Brand played a game of cross-purposes, as it were, for, while the ex-sailor shadowed Charlie Char-lie with intentions that were both dark and desperate, he was, at the same time, under the surveillance of Peter-hoff's Peter-hoff's emissary the baron himself being be-ing too busily employed catering to .- the comfort of his fair prisoner in reality his captor to personally inject his individuality into the game. Captain Brand knew he was followed, fol-lowed, and perhaps could give a rough guess as to the why and wherefore. But it was not his nature to be despondent de-spondent - He believed in utllzlng whatever came in his way as one of the forces that might bring success. When a man can thus twist threatening threat-ening disasters into favoring factors whom he knew hovered near by, a little lit-tle one-act drama was carried out, the two men chasing Brand hither and yon then, as the baron's spy came in sight, two men running away, while a form lay on the street. It worked like a charm. The emissary emis-sary of Baron Peterhoff hastened up as people began to open the windows of houses to learn what the disturbance might mean. There he found one who appeared to be the old fellow he had been set to watch. The man called a vehicle, placed the limp figure in its interior, entered himself, him-self, and then started to report the astonishing result of his espionage to Baron Peterhoff himself. While Capt. Brand, rejoining his confreres down the shady street, set off In hot haste to get aboard the steamer, which, in another hour or so, would be moving down the River Sheldt, bound for the far-off distant shores of America. Artemus stood on the hurricane deck of the great Red D ocean liner and looked back in the morning sunlight to the distant and fast-receding coast of Belgium. Homeward bound! There is always a pleasure In this thought and Artemus experienced it with enthusiasm. So far as he knew, Charlie's plans had progressed all right, the ogre was left behind, lamenting in the land of the Belgians, and clear sailing seemed ahead. . ' Then his thoughts ran back to the events of the previous night He chuckled to remember the adroitness ' with which he had seen Lady Arline, her companion and their luggage on board the waiting s'oamer, while Charlie Char-lie was leading the ogre a wild-goose chase around Antwerp, partly to amuse himself and at the same time keep Brand occupied up to near the sailing time. By the way, where was Charlie? It was strange that he failed to show up in time to see the last of Belgium's shores. Lady Arline and her companion it quite another thing when he ran up against the new knight who had shied his castor into the ring. Ah! A gentle tap at the door. Artemus almost fell over himself in his eagerness to open a satchel and clutch a little affair of steel and nickel which he carried there, and armed with which he called: "Come!" v The door opened and a figure whisked whisk-ed in. Immediately closing the same again. Artemus gave a cry the half-raised arm fell useless at his side. There was more witchery. He had expected the old ogre, armed with a shoe, and bent upon turning the tables upon him. Instead he saw why, Charlie, of course, though at first Artemus reckoned reck-oned it his ghost! Charlie, with a finger fin-ger pressed mysteriously on his lips, a la Artemus' favorite style of communicating com-municating a secret, and his face wreathed in what appeared to ba a broad grin. At any rate, Barnaby was delighted to see him in the flesh, and as soon as he could get his wits into thinking order or-der he dropped the weapon and held out an eager hand. "This is a treat, my dear boy after seeing that grim old Trojan in your bunk. What have you done? Brought him aboard a prisoner, I reckon? Ah! I didn't give you enough credit, I fear. You see, my first impression was he had outwitted you and turned the tables ta-bles on you." Artemus was boiling over with curiosity curi-osity regarding what had taken place ashore, especially when his friend declared, de-clared, with a wry face, that Capt. Brand had indeed come near proving too much for him. The story was soon told. (To be continued.) |