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Show E O ' - . - .-' - - By Courtney Rylcy Cooper fcfrrijki r Unit, im c. , room ef the house, and Falrchlld, masking his own footprints In those made hy Rodalne, crept to the porch. Swiftly, silently, protected lay the pad nf snow on the soles of his chin, he intuit the doorway and aoftly tried the lock. It gave beneath his pressure, and he glided within the dark hallway, hall-way, musty and dusty In Its odor, forbidding, for-bidding, evil and dark. Now Fulr-chlld Fulr-chlld could hear voices, and In a moment mo-ment more they became louder, as a door opened. "It don't make any difference! I ain't going to strnd for It I Why didn't you wait until they were both there?" "1 I thought they were, Rnady!" The womnn's voice was whln'ns. pleading. "Ain't you going to kiss me?" "No. I nln't going to kiss you. Yon went and made a mess of things." 'You kissed me the night our boy was born. Remember that, Rondy? Don't you remember how you kissed me then?" That was a long time ago, and yon were a different woman then. You'd do what I'd tell you." "Rut I do now, Rondy. rionest, I do. I'll do anything you tell me to The news already had spread by tbl time he reached there; news travel fnst tn a small mining eamp. Fair-child Fair-child went to the hospital, and to tho side of the cot where Horry had been taken, to find tha doctor there before him. nlrendy bandaging the wound on Harry's head and looking with concern con-cern now and then at the puplla of the unconscious man's eyes. ("Are you going to stay here with himT" the physician asked. "Yes," Falrchlld said. In aplte of aching fatigue and heavy eyts. The doctor nodded. "Good. I don't know whether he's going to pull through or not. Of course, I can't sny but It looks to me from his breathing and his heart a-tlon a-tlon that he's not suffering as much from this wound as he la from some sort of poisoning. "We've given him npomorphlne and it should begin to take effect soon. We're using the batteries loo. Yon say that you're going to be here? That's a help. They're shy a nurse on this floor tonight, and I'm having a pretty busy time of It. I'm very much nfrnld Mint poor old Judje Richmond's going to lay down his cross before morning." "He's dylngr Falrchlld snld It with a clutching sensation at his throat. The physician nodded. "There's hardly a chance for him." The physician went, and Falrchlld took his place beside the bed of the unconscious Harry, his mind divided between concern for his faithful partner, part-ner, nnd the girl who, some time In the night, must say good-by forever to the father she loved. Judge Richmond was dying. What would that meant What effect would it hnve upon the engagement of Anita and the man Falrchlld liopnd that she detested? What then he turned at the entrance of the Interne with the batteries. "If you're going to be here all night," snld the white-coated Individual. Indi-vidual. "It'll help me out a lot If you'll use these batteries for me. Put them on at their full force and apply them to his checks, his hands, his wrists and the soles of his feet alternately. From the way he acts, there's some sort of morphlnlc poisoning. Wt can't tell what It Is xcept that It nets like a narcotic. And at out the only way we run pull him out Is with these applications." appli-cations." The Intern turned over the batteries bat-teries and went on about his work, while Falrchlld. hoping with his heart that he had not placed an Impediment In the way of I lurry's recovery by not telling what he knew of t'raxy Laura and her concoctions, began his task. Midnight came and early morning. With dawn, the figure on the bed stirred slightly and groaned. Falrchlld Falr-chlld looked up, to see the doctor just entering. "I think he's regaining consciousness." conscious-ness." "ticMwI." The physician brought forth his hypodermic "That means a bit of g CHAPTER XVI Continued. 1a ' Bo she was his friend ! So all these days of watting had not been In vnln; all the cutting hopelessness of seeing ber, only to have her turn away her head nnd fall to recognize him, bad been for their purpose after nil. And yet Falrchlld remembered that she was engaged to Maurice Rodalne. and that the time of the wedding must he fast approaching. Perhaps there had been a qnarrel, perhaps Then he auilletC There was 110 perhaps about , Itl .'Anita Richmond waa h's frlenn, she had been forced Into the promise ef marriage to Maurice Rodalne, but '' she bad not been forced Into a relln- t iqiilshment of her desire to reward hlni soiuehow, some way. for the attention flint he had shown, her and the liking x that she knew existed In his heart. 'Hastily Fnlrchlhl folded the paper-nnd paper-nnd stuff ed It Into an InsWe pocket. Then, seeking out one of the workman, tie appointed htm foremen nf the g:in-to g:in-to take charge In his absence. Following Fol-lowing which, he made his way out nf the mine and Into towrC there to hire men of Mother Howard's suggestion and send them to the Rlne Poppy, to take their stations every few feet along the tunnel, to npiear mere spectators, spec-tators, but In reality to be guards who were constantly on the watch for anything any-thing untoward that might occur. FoJrctiild was taking no chances now. 1 An bonr more found him at the Sampler, Sam-pler, watching the ore as It run through the great crusher hoppers, to coin, forth flnHy crumbled powder and he sauidod, ton hy ton. for the assays hy old Undertaker Chastlne and Mire other tnon of his type, without which no sampler pays for we. Blltson a;w pronched. grinning. "Yon guessed Just about right." h announced. "That stuffs running around two hundred dollars a ton. Need any money now?" "All yoa can let me have!" "Four or five hundred? We've gotten hi eight tons of thu stuff nlrendy: s don't guesfl I'd he taking any risk nn that !" he chuckled. Falrchlld reached for the currency eagerly. All but a hundred dollars of It would go o Mother llowa-d for that debt miw be fruld off first. And that accomplished, accom-plished, denying himself the Invitation of rem that his bed held forth for him. be started out Into town, apparently to lUer iibo'it the streets and receive the congratulations of the townspeople: townspeo-ple: hiit In reality to watch for one pcrsim aud one alone Squint Rodalne! Ro-dalne! , "" II now Mm Inte In the afternoon. shambling along, his eyes glaring. !i's lips moving wordlessly, and he too' up the Mull. Rut It led only to the office of-fice of the Silver Queen Development comimny, where the senr-faced mm, doubled at his desk and. stalling a cigar Into his mouth, chewed on It angrily. Instinctively Falrchlld knew that the greatest pnrt of his men temper was due to the strike In Mm Blue Poppy; Instinctively also he felt that Squint Rodalne had known nf the value aU along, that now lie was curbing curb-ing hlmelf fof the failure of M schemes to obtain possesion of wh.it hnd appeared until only a day before to be nothing more than a disappointing, disappoint-ing, iiiriucky. Ill-omened hole In the ground. Falrchlld resumed his loitering, loiter-ing, but evening found lilnl Bear the Bllrer Queen ol'.lce. Anita's note bad told him little, yet hnd !iortled much. Something was fermenting In the seething brain of Squint Itndn'ne, and If the past counted count-ed for anything. It was something that concerned blm. An hour mora, then Fnlrchlld aud-dcia'y aud-dcia'y slunk Into the shadows of a doorway. Squint had snapped out the light nnd was locking the door. Fifty feet. tlen Pnlrrhild stepped from the doorway nnd took up the trail. It V.-118 not a hard one to, follow. Siulnt Rodaine passed the street leading lead-ing to his house without even looking up. Two blocks more, and they earhe! he city limit A mile, and they were In the open count ry, erring and recrossing the !ce-dotpil 1ear creek. A furlong more, tlien Squint Rodalne turned up the lane whfc-h led to a great, shambling, sham-bling, ohl. white build ng that. In the rosy days of the mining game, had bcea n madhouse, but which now. barely funilslunl In only a few of Its rooms, Inluililtcd hy mountain rnts and fluttering bnts and general decay for the nwwf jiart, formed the uncomfortable uncomfort-able uliode of Crar.y Laura! And Fnlrchlld followed. It could mean only one thing when Rodalne sought the wliltf-halred mumbling old bag wiioia once he had callel his wife. It could mean but one outcome, nnd tat of dlwister for some one. Mother Howard bad said that Crnzy Laura ;wtnrtd k!N for Squint. And now that Squint Uodalne was seeklag her. Fair-child Fair-child meant to fiHlow, and to hear If such n thing were within the range of hanmn possibility the evil drippings f hi crooked lips. He crossed to the side of the road where, ran the Inevitable gully and. taking advantage of the shelter, hurried hur-ried forward, amlling grimly In the darhaesn at the memory of the fact that tilings were now reversed; that he wils following Squint Uodalne as Itodtiltto wtca bad followed blm. Swiftly Swift-ly he .no rati, closer -loser; the scar-faA'd scar-faA'd nifia went through tlie tuniMe-loun tuniMe-loun giitn and aiKroached the hmw. rot Uno1nfr that bl.i pursuer was lcs-i thrtn fifty yards away I A uilniKe of cautious waiting then', in which Falrchlld did not nov?. I'hibUr a Kgtit siuiMed la an upstairs breathing wrfs heavy and labored. The form was quite still, the eyes dosed. And the face waa that of Harry 1 CHAPTER XVII. So this explained, after a fashion, Harry's disappearance. This re; vealed why the search through the mountains had failed. This But Falrchlld suddenly realized that now was not a time for conjecturing ujMin the past ' The man on the bed was tinconsclous, Incapable of helping himself. Far below, ,a white-haired woman, her toothless Jaws uttering one weird chant after another, was digging for hlin a quicklime grave. In the Insnne belief that she waa aiding In accomplishing some miracle of Immortality. Im-mortality. In time and Fnlrchlld did not know bow long an lll-vlsnged. scar-faced man would return to help her carry the Inert frame of the unconscious un-conscious man below and bury It. Nor could Falrchlld tell from the conversation conver-sation whether be even Intended to perform the merciful act of killing the jioor, broken being before be covered It with adds and qulck-entlng lime In a grnve that soon would remove all vestige of human Identity forever. Certainly now was not a time for thought; It was one for action! And for caution. Instinct told Fair child that for the present, at least, Rodalne must believe that Harry hnd escaped unaided. There were too many other thlnga In which Robert felt sure Rodalne bad played a part, too n: any other mysterious happenings which must be met nnd coed with, before the man of the blue-white scar could know tbut finally the underling was beginning to show f.ght. that at last the crushed had begun to rise. Falrchlld bent and nnlnced his shoes, taking off also the henvy woolen socks which protected his feet from the biting cold. Steeling, hlnirielf to the ordeal which he must undergo, he tied the laces together and slung the footgear over a shoulder. Then he went to the bed. As carefully na possible, he wrapped Harry In the blankets, seeking to protect pro-tect him In every way against the I cold. With a great efTort, he lifted him. the sick ninn'a frame huddled In his arms like some gigantic baby, and started out of the eerie, darkened house. The stairs the Inndlng the hall! Then a query from below; "Is that yu. ItondyT" The breath pulled sharp Into Fair-"child's Fair-"child's luncs. i He answered In the best Imitation he could give of the voice of Snlnt Rodalne: "Yes. rio on with your digging. Honey. I ll he there soon." "And you'll Iclss mr "Yes. .lust like I kissed you the night our boy was born." It was sulllclent. - The chanting be-gan be-gan again, accompanied by the swish of the spade as It sank Into the earth and the cluddlng roll of the clods as they were thrown to one side. Falrchlld Falr-chlld gained the door. A moment more md he staggered with his burden Into the protecting darkness of the night. The snow crept about bis ankles, seeming to freer.e them at every touch, but Falrchlld did not desist. His original purpose must be carried out If Rodalne were not to know the appearance ap-pearance that Harry had aroused himself him-self sufficiently to wrap the blankets about hlin and wander off by himself. And this could be accomplished only hy the pain and cold and torture of a barefoot trip. Some way. by shifting the big frame of his unconscious partner now am! then. Falrchlld made the trip to the main mad 'and veered toward the pumphnuse of the Diamond J. mine, mnn'ng as It often did without attendance at-tendance while the engineer made a trip with the electric motor Into the hill. Cautiously he peered through the windows. No one was there. Beyond Be-yond lay warmth and comfort and a teUphone. Falrchlld went within nnd placed Harry on the floor. Then he ; reached for the phone nnd called the hospital. "Hello!" be announced In r hnsky, j disguised voice. "This Is Jen Oresliam of Ceorgevllte. I've Just found a man lying by the side of the Diamond J. pumphouse, unconscious, with a big cut In his head. I've brought blm Inside, In-side, You'll Tnd blm there; I've got to go on. Looks like he's liable to d!e unless you can send the ambulance for blm." "We'll make It a rush' trip," enme the answer, and Fnlrchlld bung op the phone, to ruh bis half-frozen, aching feet a moment, then to reel nt he them In the socks and shoes, watching the entrance of the Diamond J. tunnel as be did so. A long minute then he left the pumphouse. made a few tracks In the snow around the entrance, and walked swiftly down the road. Fifteen minutes Inter, from a hiding place at the side of the Clear creek bridge, he saw the lights of the ambulance as It swerved to the pumphouse. Out came the stretcher. The attendants went In search of the Injured man. When they came forth again, they bore the form of Harry Harklns, and the heart of Falrchlld begun to beat once more with something resembig regularity. Hit partner nt leiist such was his hop nnd his prayer was on the way to ild and to recovery, while Squint lti.;n!ne wonld know noHifrvj other than that he had wandered away! Jrafeful, lighter In heart Mian he hud been for days, Fu!r MM plodded nl-mj the roud In the tracks of the n.i.lni lance, as it headtw buck fur town. "Laura Laura, Honey." "Yes, Squint." "Why didn't you tell your aweet-heart aweet-heart about this?" "I mustn't-you've spoiled It now. Rondy." ' "No Honey. I can show you the way. He's nearly gone. What were you going to do when be went?" "He'd have dissolved In air, Rnady I know. The spirits have told me." "Perhaps so." The voice of the scar-faced, scar-faced, mean-vlsaged Squint Rodalne was still honeyed, still cajoling. "Perhaps "Per-haps so but not a't once. Isn't there a barrel of lime In the basement?" "Yes." . "Come downstairs with me." They started downward then, and Falrchlld watched them pass. Rodalne In the lead, carrying a smoking lamp with Its half-broken chimney careening careen-ing on the base. Crazy Laura, mumbling mum-bling her toothless gums, her bag-like hands extended before her, shuffling along In the rear. He heard them gn far to the rear of the house, then descend de-scend more stairs. And be went flat to his stomach on the floor, with his ear against a tiny chink thnt be might hear the better. Squint still was talking talk-ing In bis loving toi es. "See, Ilony." he was saying. "I've I've broken the spell by going In upstairs. up-stairs. You should have told me. I didn't know I Just thought well, I thought there was some one In there you liked, and I got Jealous." ' "Did you, UoadyT ahe cackled. "Did you?" "Yes I didn't know you hnd him there. And you were making blm Immortal?" Im-mortal?" "I found him, Rnady. His eyes were shut, and he was bleeding. It was at dusk, and nobody saw him wfcm I carried car-ried him In here. Tlien I started giving giv-ing n!m the herbs" "Tint you've gathered around at night r "Ys where the dead sleep. I get the red berries most. That's the blood of the dead come to life again." .The quaking, crazy voice from below be-low caused Falrchlld to shiver with a sudden cold that nn warmth could eradicate. Still, however, be lay there listening, fenrful that every move from below mlzht bring a cessation of their conversation. But Roda'ne talked on. "Of course I know. But I've spoiled that now. There's another way. Laura. Cet that spade. See. the flirt's soft here. Dig a hole about four feet deep and six or seven feet long. Then put half that lime from the barrel lu there. Understand V "Whnt for?" "It's the only way now; we'll have to do that. It's the otl'er way to Im-mortality. Im-mortality. You've given, hlin the herhs?" "Yes." "Then this Is the end. See? Now do thnt. won't you, Honey?" "You'll kiss me. Rondy?" "There 1" The faint sound of a kls came from be'ow. "And there's another an-other one. And another 1" "Just like the n'ght our boy wns born. Don't you remember how you bent over nnd kissed ma then and held me In your arms?" "I'm holding you thnt way now. Honey Just the same way that I held you the night our boy was born. And I'll help you with this. You dig the hole and put half the lime In there don't put It all. We'll need the rest to put on top of him. You'll have It done In about two. hours. There's something some-thing else needed some acid that I've got to get. It'll make It all the quicker. quick-er. I'll be back. Honey. Kiss me." Falrchlld, seeking to still the horror-laden quiver of his body, heard the sound of a kiss and then the clatter clat-ter of a man's heavy shoes on the stairs, accompanied by a slight clink from below. He knew that sound the scraping of the steel of a spade against the earth ns It was dragged Into use. A moment more and Ro-dnlne, Ro-dnlne, mumbling to himself, passed the door. But the woman did not come upstnlrs. Falrchlld knew why; her crazed mind wns following the instructions in-structions of the man who knew how to lend the lunatic Intellect Into the channels he desired; she was digging, digging a grave for some one, a grave to be Ikied with quicklime! . Upstairs was some one who hnd been found by this woman In an unconscious un-conscious state and evidently kept In that condition through the potations of the ugly poison-laden drugs she brewed some one who now was doomed to die and to lie In a quicklime quick-lime grave! Carefully Falrchlld gained his feet; then, as silently as possible, he made for the rickety stairs, stopping stop-ping now and again to listen for discovery dis-covery from below. But It did not come; the Insane woman was chanting louder than evor now. Falrchlld went on. He felt his way up the remaining stairs, a rat scampering before hlin ; be sneaked along the wall, hands extended, ex-tended, groping for that broken door, finally to find It. Cautiously he peered within, striving In vain to pierce the darkness. At last, listening Intently for the hinging from beSw. he drew a match from bis pocket and scratched It noiselessly on his trousers. Then, holding It high above bis hend. he ,o ;el toward the bed arid stared In horror 1 A blood-encrusted face showed w the sllpless pillow, while across the forehead was a Jagged, red, untwub-d wound. , The mouth was open, the I "What Have You Got This Door Chut Forr. s ' ' If you'll Just be good to me. Why don't vou hold me In your arms any more ?" A scuffling sound came from above. Falrchlld knew that she had made an effort to clasp him to her. and that he had thrust ber away. The voices came closer. "Vou know what you got us Into, don't you? They made a strike there tmlay same value as In the Silver Queen. If It hadn't been for you " "Hut they get out someway they always get out." The voice was high and weird now. "They're Immortal. That's what they are they're humor-tsl. humor-tsl. They have the gift they can get out M "Bosh I Course they get out when you wait until after they're gone. Why. one of 'em was downtown nt the as-sayer's, as-sayer's, so I understand, when you went In there." T.ut the other he's immortal. He got out " "You're crnsty!" "Yes. crazy !" She suddenly shrieked at the word. "That's what they all call me Crazy Laura. Hut I ain't bear nie I nln't! I know they're Immortal, Im-mortal, Just like the others were Immortal Im-mortal I I can't bold 'em when they've got he spirit thnt rises above I've tried, nln't I and I've only got one!" "Oner Squint's voice became suddenly sud-denly excited. "One what one?" "I'm not going to tell. But I know I know !" There was silence then for a moment, mo-ment, rnd Fnlrchlld. huddled In the darkness behiw. felt the creeping, crawling chill of horror pass over him ns he listened. Above were a rogue and a lunatic, discussing between them what, at times, seemed to concern con-cern him and his partner; more, It seemed to go back to other days, when other men had worked the Blue Poppy and met misfortunes. Squint Rodalae was talking again. "So you're not going to tell me about 'the one', eh? Whnt have you got this door shut far?" "No door's shut." "It Is don't you think I cna see? This door leading Into the front room." The sound of heavy shoes, followed by a lighter tread. Then a scream above which could be Irrard the Jangling Jan-gling nf a rusty lock and Mia bumping of a shoulder against wood. Filch and strident came Crazy Laura's voice: "Stay out of there I tell you. Hoady! Stay out of there! It's something some-thing that mortals shouldn't sne It's something stay out stay out !" "I won't unlock this doorf" "I can't do It the time hasn't come yet I mustn't" "Yon won't well, there's another way." A crash, the suddon. stumbling feet of a mnn, then the scratching of a match and an exclamation: "So this Is your Immortal, eh?" Only a moaning answered, moaning Intermingled with some vujrue form of a weird chant, the word of which Falrchlld In the murfty, dark hall tm-ow tm-ow could not distinguish. At last came Squint's voice ngaln. Mils time In softened toaa: "I Dont Know' Whether He's Going to Pull Through or Net." rest for me. A little shot In the arm. nnd be ought to be out of danger la a few hours.'' Falrchlld watched htm as be boiled the needle over the little gas Jet Nt the head of the ct. then dissolved a white pellet preparatory to sending a resuscltory fluid Into Harry's arm. "You've been to Judge Richmond's? he naked at last. "Yes." Then the doctor stepped close to the bed. "I've Just closed his eyes forever." Ten minutes later, after another examination ex-amination of Hurry's pupils, he was gone, a weary, tired rigure. stumbling home to his rest rest that might he disturbed at any moment the reward of the physician. As for Falrchlld. ha sat a long time In thoit;;ht. striving to find some way to aeml consolation to the girl who was grieving now. atrus-gllng atrus-gllng to figure a means of telling hr that he cared, that ho was rry. and that his heart hurt too. But there wus none. (TO I!B CONTINVED.) |