Show 7 he AM A BMW mear coplit ir irr service SYNOPSIS CHAPTER 1 I nut ut of uniform at the nd of 0 the world war ar with the the rank of major peter afo young american of wealth and fur far afy ly to id urged by an 1 english coni comrade rado in arms Lv overby erby vt benham n h all to visit the denham homo home and meet the English mans s mother and of bitter and incidentally urena delcosa ael sei cosa coss young woman about whom th there re la is an air of my mystery story CHAPTER it II muriel Iten Denh halm iun Evers bys sister becomes w with ich peter but lie ho is ig only in the mysterious urena Se looss en of w whom 11 om he has had only a gl glimpse I 1 1 se A luriel urges him to forbel tier her warning him that if she brena should like him lie he to la in banwer of vanishing 1 like the others CHAPTER III HI at lite hla london hotel ite message from brena asking ing aim to meet her hei 11 ho do daoa so and the meeting results in the formation rr nation friendship shio of a strong bond of friend friendship chapton CHAP TENt IV after a tow few day days doelp tile ahti fooling between peter r and brena ia i into love lit lie asks her to mai r him and she con fosses that she e Is I 1 curried and that tier her husband has ha vanished vast shed V brena s life stor story Is out of the ordinary daughter ut of ft a greek father and an irish mother her childhood and auth youth had been a strange one her father fa thir learned hut but impractical had been forced to lonbo ills his nativo native land because of revolutionary nf at fil lations and all d his death following quickly bickly upon that of hla his wife leaves alrena 1 tactically penniless at dallas texas re x a s sho she secures work and nt at her boa boarding r d ing place infects jim I 1 n 11 ho 0 falls in love with tier lier and in ili her loneliness lonell noss she becomes in a manner attached atta clied to him jim tells her ho he has had a call and ls la going away ili he urges her to meet him in st louis brena goes to that city CHAPTER VT brena biona returns to daltas alone C r Par parmalie malce ilen amplo middle aged and wealthy visits n 1 r v seeking news 0 ot 1 jim who has parma parmalee 1 e i tells brena Honne plus intentions toward her were dishonorable which she had suspected VII some months later parmalee Par maleo makes drena brens an offer of marriage ariage admitting that ho he only her companionship and promising her freedom after reflection she eho accepts accosts the offer offar they are married at the railroad broad station following tile the ceremony Par male malen la Is seized with apparently patently e ly uncontrollable fear in explanation par v antly I 1 on lie accuses drena breno of being in dome way wai the cause of hla his feeling chapton VIII on their wedding journey shows tier her husband a chap of paper had ivan given her on it Is in a future r e abic T i parmalee tolls tells figu her Is tho the kuk u k ul can symbol of the A fayas ile II 11 appears perturbed CHAPTER IX the Parm alees settle down in new york him nervousness and its 0 of f fear Inc increase reuse but he refuses 13 orena rena the cause of ills in nes one night in the darkness lie area fine a shot it at his reflection in a picture telling brena he thought thou glit it was wan a n bur burglar far slit realizes ln lit Is the victim of some gome secret overwhelming fear CHAPTER X unable to purchase a painting of dren brona a br by a famous artist parmalee armalee 11 shows irritation irr t aaion anio amounting a almost to mad madness neso flie I 1 IB e convinced convince I 1 now that he tears fears either or of her or himself but can learn nothing from him lie begins to drink heavily alfr a vliet to hla his lawyer lian Lan trow frow parmalee pai Par maleo malec disappears leavin tr no word of explanation that was three years before peter and brous meet XI brena gives peter the th paper with tile the mysterious symbol ag ae ainest tier her protestations and warn inga of danger r he declares lie he will go to 0 america and solve the mystery CHAPT XII on the voyage 1 ygo dewolfe analyzes brinas stor without finding any key to its polut solution ly 0 n but bul he retains faith in her truthful truthfulness noss CHAPTER at the P parmalee home peter finda among the missing mans papers a hil I 1 ill tor for nn an old book d describing explorations in the mescalero escalero Nt desert beiert for which Par maliu maleu had paid astonished nt at the amount he searches and finds tile the bool book discovering that three pages are missing led by some borne intuition he soaks seeks and finds find another copy of the th same bo book k w with ith athe the same pages ruler ha has s a feeling that somehow lie he IP IF on the right truck track lie he receives a bablo from urging hirn him to give up the quest and announcing she Is on tier her way to 1 america CHAPTER IV peter takes steps to secure a perfect copy of the mull bat labod ed boo books Is nt XV obtaining the per feet copy debolfo finds the missing 9 paged teli tell of a vl vi it centuries ago to a deser deserted tort city tri in the now mexican dagort ile ho IF IB c confident n now he la is on the track crena arrives at new york and to her consternation finds peter gone A cable from him had her tta 7 5 witult it up not in the geography but its in the railroad buldo a way station probably with a n writer water tank on the texas central and new mexico on oll uio the desert noir near tiie the border between the two states mr air TonnIng torri that was nil all that lie he laid lie ile left sonic soine papers to put pat in our safe rind asked mo me to tit oceh them and at attilli tollI to them if lie ho was not net back in tareo weeks thank you said pennington illgas ill inns has nil all fred 11 walt 11 I 1 crena vrena lind had spoken in a low tone but with hint sometimes heard in her tile chief clerk stopped as ag it if tier lier word had been it bullet in ills his lungs will you help mo IUD bile said to peters lawyer 1 I assure you that lie he would wish it copy looked at tier lier no as one would it a new model of some automobile at last livi ho nodded 1 I want to know the first train leaving now new york for st rt loula louis and T texas en site she said bold 1 I want gov some one to go for a ticket and reservations to kremlin wells or the nearest taliu 1 wib rr wan wai unlit it 0 ii I 1 lo 10 d I 1 oo 00 0 ith liiK lit in your power to get lite ino to wills before tile tho twenty fourth it mn t bo be donel done it stared at tier her aci very ul unusual lustin lio lie muttered hut but I 1 sri gelil avei GI do 10 it miss s Sel cuss coss partly because of tho the assistance of ills office force drena was as on tier her way a fo st louis without even hand baggage but within nil all hour pit partly artly because of it mic ilio was ais on afi a train that rolled into dallas through the tit railroad yards with the shabby wooden settlements seen again front tier lier berth through the slit silt of window beneath ben tho the curtain its as slie site raised her weight on oil ono one elbow it had not changed corn coin plemely since site she lind had seen it on tier return after jim lind had ilsan penrod tills this morning began the of the mouth month she had tho the sense of racing lilting to kremlin wells in a contest avith etli deatti death at the final junction point of tier lier long journey tired nerve lacked by bi unremitting heat of night and day and by bi the strain of suspense site she found it necessary to walt alt under tinder a train short shed where lit in the walting waiting room or on tho the platform the mid tiny day humidity created it 11 smothering steam filled with the gases belched front from locomotive stacks and tile the ear smashing explosions front from engine exhausts and the impact of car couplers cou pleis tho the train for the west was three hours late inte she could not leave the station bile walked back find forth tier her weary wear eyes held open wide by will tier her jaw firm and logging dogging every cep she took was waa the fear that she bhe would be too late that when daylight came on the twenty fourth she would not yet ct bo be at tier hei destination the conductor on tho the westbound mall was not of the same mind berti beau alful young women traveling alone do not lot alight every lay dai in holes lit in the th desert its is lie called tile the wells no he con sidereal it less desirable to sot set tier hei town don some soine time lit in the durk dark hour be tween three and four he said the place consisted of a siding a water tank a general store ho five houses two saloons where roulette wheels were going during the sheep her gerders herders herd ders cis season beason an adobe ruin and it hotel with wi th three above aboe a bur bar 1 I ant am sure it will bo be all right said br iviona e III I 1 nut but even if it ft were ere not I 1 would have to leave this train there at about three the porter woke tier her there were ten minutes ini of dressing diessl ng and then she heard tile the whine 0 f tile brakes and with etli muddy sleep boned senses with the ache of stiff bones ant and muscles and nerves neres after tile heat beat the inadequate sleep and the strain she felt out front from the lower loer step with one foot into the bottomless depths det lis of blackness for the boards of the hie platform when the soft night breeze that flowed in it steady stead j stream front from the southwest had blown tile the daze dae nay away as it if it were ere n dust vint that had settled on tier her the train had been swallowed in the dark she could hear the splash of writer anter getil ang from the bottoni bottom of the lie railroad tunk tank and occasion rillY tile the heat bent lightning on the horizon covered tile the desert the south with the alto white lare flare of a photographer s flashlight powder disclosing the vast ast expanse brokon broken by black patches of f desert beiert vegetation eget atlon but tier her rit was ilow held by a dint dim swinging lantern that cattle came toward tier her out of the black of tile dark as if it came with volition and movement ino ement of its own on when lien this light came eloe close to tier site bhe felt an all impulse to leap hick back into the dark as one who ho Is desperate might leap into the depths of black waters illen tho the light was raised her hei fal fae 1 so that its possessor might see tier lier she wished visited that she had fled the face on the other side of the light Ns ns tho the essence of brutality bind pupils in bloodshot eyes tit alio sunbaked sun baked skin drawn taut over immense protruding chock check bones the thin upper lip over a full red trooping drooping wider under lip tho the broad wide nostrils the thick gloaming gleaming muscular inus cular reel cock of thu the halfbreed mexican and indian hrina brenn closed her fingers under tinder cover of the lie dark and 11 inadi lad it the to pressure ot ol nails in tier own p aylm im summon tier her will to put tier lier face ills and to speak bacak before lie he co cold id speak so that she might escape aiu nil all manner of being on tit tho 0 decisive 10 1 lv e anza she said in aarm v voice oice 1 I came to mid find some on one j tile other gr J ted incredulously Incredulous lo Y lie ile came hey e s a day or two the albl 0 one ne da dark rk hand find end pulled t tre 91 long ions lolio of ono one car ills blis ex C 1 w was as 01 abts lie ile said maybe so yulon 10 lo n sabe babe at the U uel let si 0 ma mill tle the lunt lantan rn raised it al I 1 nin in to 0 1 t at tier her lie was a silent ilent and t then ludt jy ily lie ili grinned i a tel ell eh jill alaj 0 I 1 w haeni at the hio hoctel ue llo como aai C by b y hi automobile peter Do DeWolf Wolfe oT tile other shook hla his head ho he did not know lie ile said in a soothing coddling voice sull rl ril missy you yon conic oil ell ile ho beckoned with it linger finger brona nodded and followed him its aa ho walked on before tho the lantor swinging al lite hla knees tho the shadows of his dark short bowed legs scissoring on oil the gravel and the noncommittal dark beyond in every direction squirming and alive with black ning gots of fear suddenly the lantern illumined an all entrance cut in a high adobe wall the wan man turning around said in his bla petting alco voice come brena stepped through into rin an enclosure without root roof tho the stars of tho the sky shone down with their little white alto of light tho the lantern however now throw threw its light upon a little two story wooden building within tile the old walls this structure was dark bolow below except for tile lanter nto light hung flung from the glass its faint two to squares of windows above were crp black on oil either cither side 0 of a doorway reached by narrow rickety wooden stairs built on the exterior of the house up commanded the alexice n with w ith lila hand on oil the rail brena biona hesitated I 1 triko you ou to heem beem slie site began to climb gripping the hand polished rail to steady scendy her nones nerves by the force of tier her own arm muscles itil in this my house I 1 for mister glaub binl site sho pushed by him as aa ain to flattened himself against the door jamb four F our closed doors unpainted and covered corned with penciled signatures dates arithmetic and sera v led faces fa ces and ana verses erses almost filled tho the walls of the tit narrow seven been feet of square wall with a grunt like a the mexican opened one of these doors and plucked at elbow looka what I 1 say athla tit 18 heem heeme the lanterns circle of light rose and widened as lie held it higher until it to looka what I 1 say this covered a cot on which a waking sleeper was pushing himself up on one arm and i reaching caching under a pillow with the other hand A lady the mexican said rind and putting the lantern on the bare bara boards he slid out and closed the door tile man on tho the cot sprang up raised the lantern and at the end of n high exclamation lie ho g gasped for att an other breath find and ejaculated brena arenal Br enal I 1 yes peter thank god peter I 1 came in time oliue time for im all right dear I 1 cabled you to walt valt id ia started peter I 1 get it they told you sou in now new york yes peter they said had a cull call 1 I say so dear I 1 I 1 had bad business here 1 I dont care you forget you are the third I 1 stand it peter it was you different youre tired out lie ile hold held the lantern higher again no im not peter she said bald with a n brisk unconvincing lie ile 1 I want you to be glad I 1 come came lie ile dropped the lantern it went out lie ile put ills arnis around her and bent tier hend head close to ills his shoulder its as he putted patted tier lier hair with alth the open palm of ills his liand ile he sold said glad me mol glad boenit I 1 I 1 cant say it dear tho the cup runs over at tho the brim I 1 ive been in mortal feor fear peter abe whispered hl and shivered in his arms 1 I thought I 1 had sent you away to your end the tiling thing that took the others ot lieis no sold said lie can you tell peterr peter 1 I cant tell sure I 1 can guess gues I 1 guess im going to fix everything if not nol theres something too alg bigwoo too ghastly but if you never came back to me af anything an thing sue abe stopped why peter I 1 lung flung myself down sometimes I 1 prayed to ile be forgiven for ever having spoken to you sou I 1 begged relief trout the hideous idea that 1 I had lot you ou start ut tit all look hore here lie said severely dil did you ion bend me that warning naming to the steamer she was as silent answer yes I 1 thau thought olt I 1 must stop you sou dear had bad buses 3 lie ho said look here elrena eur i jur tile first time in my lite life ive been figuring what ant it real i artner hip filp really mentis means and it cant exist without perfect unbroken truth playing the game oleic not separately but together till nil tho |