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Show Flaming .Ljy ROBERT W CHAMPERS Urrmv' OlOQ.0. CEOnCB RDOOAiJ CCU.lUAIfY (Continued i ram Our Lost Essuq) EPISODE m m i he I 'm Bt and Mr. Sard CHAPTER 1 When Jit lust Jose Quintans had Secured Se-cured what h.. had been after for years, his troubles really began. In his pocket lie had two million i dollars worth of gem, Including the : Flaming Jewel. But he was in the middle of a wilderness wild-erness ringed in by hostile men, and obliged to rail for aid n a handful j oi the most desperate criminals in Eu-1 Eu-1 rope. j Another matter worried Jose yuln-ian;i; yuln-ian;i; he was not only short on provisions, provis-ions, but what remained vas cached :)n Drowned Valley; and Mike Clinch land his men wore guarding every out-let out-let to that sinister region, excepting! only the rocky and submerged trail bv which he had made his exit Now, how to keep his tooi; how to get back to Europe With it. was tin-problem tin-problem that confronted Quintana. after af-ter robbing Darragh And he detor-Iminod detor-Iminod to settle, part of that-question : at once. About five mile, from llair.nl I'lace. within a hundred rods ol which he had held up Hal Smith Quintana halted halt-ed seat d himself on a rotting log. and (waited until his liien came up and Leathered around him I Kor a hll-. In utter silence. blS keen eyes traveled n.-m w.,-- t" the next, lrom Henri Plcquet to Victor Vic-tor Qeorglades, to Benches t sard Ills Intent scrutiny focused on bard, lingered. If there anybody he might trust a little way, it would be'Sara. 1 Then a polite, untroubled sml c Smoothed tno pale, dark features of I Jose Quintana; "Bleu, messieurs. tttO coup has been Luccess. Yosv Vesf well; in turn I then III accord with our custom. 1 shall dispose myee'l to listen to your good UdHe'3looked at Hcnrt Plcquei. smllod and nodded invitation to speak p-tcquct shrugged. For me. mon capltaine, eet ees ver' simple s e art, five Therefore. divide into five ie gems After zat. each one for him-elf him-elf to make his way out "Nick Salarar and Hurry Beck are in the Drowned Valley." interrupted , yulntana , . I PicQUet shrugged again; Sanchez laughed; saying: ' H they are there, it li their misfortune. Also, we others I art. in a hurry." PlCQUel added: Also five shares are sufficient division." It is propose, then, that we abandon aban-don oui comrades beck and Salzar to th. rltle i,l Mike Clinch'"' 'Why not?" demanded r.eorgiades sullenly "W0 shall have worse to facr before we see the Place d I'Opera. "There remains, also. Eddie Ab-rams," Ab-rams," remarked Quintana Crooks never betray their attorney. Everbod expressed a willingness to have the fhc shares of the plunder properly assessed to satisfy the fee duo to Mr. Abrams. "Ver" well," nodded Quintana. are you Biitlnfy. messieurs, to divide an' OlsperBc?" Sard saUl heavily that they ought to stick together until they urrlved In Now York. Sanchez, sneered, accusing bard or I wanting a bodyguard to escort him to his own home. "In this accursed tor- !est," he instated, "flvo of us would attract at-tract attention, where one alone; with J sufficient stealth, can slip through into , the opon country." j "Two by two is "better." said Plccjuet You and Sanchez shall travel alone if you dcalrts " "Divide the gems first." growled Georglades. "and then let each do what he plcasetc" 'that.' nodded Quln.'.anu. "is also my opinion. Jt is so settle Attention" Atten-tion" Two pistols were 11 his hands oii. If by magic. With a slight omllo he laid them on the moss beside him. He then spread a largo white handkerchief hand-kerchief on the ground, and, from his pockets ho pound out th glittering i i n i udc. l ot, like a feeding panther, every enso remained alert to the bllgh'test sound or movement elsewhere; else-where; and when Georglades grunt- ed from excess emotion, Quintana's right, iiand held a pistol before the grunt had ceased. It waH a serious business this division divis-ion of loot; every reckless visage reflected re-flected tht strain of the situation. Quintana both pistols in his hands, looked down at the scintillating heap of Jewels "1 estimate two and one-quartalre. million dollalres." h said simply. It has been agrd that I aecep' for me the eroslte gem known as The Flaming Flam-ing Jewel. In addition, messieurs, it has bot-n agr-ed that I accep' for my-se'f my-se'f one part In five of the remainder." A fierce silence reigned. Every wolfish wolf-ish eye was on the leader. He smiled, rested his pair of pistols on either knee. "is there." he asked softly "any gentleman who nhall objeo'?" "Who." demanded Ueorglades hoaraeiy, "Is to dhide for us?" '"It is for such purpose" explained Quintana suavely "that rny fren' Em manuel Sard, has arrive. Monsieur I Surd is a brokalre of dlumwn's. .i all know ver' well. Therefore, It shall be our fren' Sard who will divide Tor us what we have gain today by our In- dustrv." The savage tension oroke with a ! laugh at the word chosen by Quln-Itana Quln-Itana tp express then eforts of the I morning. I Sur:l had been standing with ..ne fat hand flat against the trunk of .i tree. Now at S nod lrom Quintain, in squatted down and, with the same hand that had been resting against the tree, he spread out the pile of Jewels Into a flat layer. As he began to divide this into five parts. Btlll using the flat o:' his pudgy hand, something poked him lightly in the ribs It was the muzzle muz-zle of one of Quintana's plstj'.s. Sard, ghastly pale, looked up. palm, sticky wlih halaam gum, qui-ered qui-ered in Quintana's grasp. "I was going to scrape it off ' ln-gasped ln-gasped "The tree was sticky " uuintuna. with th... muzzle r hu I pistol, detached half a dozen dij-1 dij-1 monds and ruhles that dun? to the gum On Mr. Sard's palm ' Wash!" he said dryl. Sard, sweating with far, washed I his rli-ht hand with whisky from his ! pocket flask, and dried. It for general I inspection "My God," he protested tremulously, tremulous-ly, It was accidental, gentlemen Do you thing I'd try to get away with I anything ilk.- that " Quintana coolly shoved him aside , and with the barrel of his pistol he ! pushed the flat pile of gems into five separate heaps. only he and Oeor-I Oeor-I glad -s knew that a magnificent diamond dia-mond had been lodged In the RlUUle I of his pistol. The eyes of the Greek I flamed with rage ut the trick, but lie I awaited the dHlslon before he should come to any conclusion Quintana coolly picked out The Flaming Jewel and pocketed it Then to each man he Indicated the heap which was to be his portion. A snarling wrangl instantlv b;-k'ati. b;-k'ati. Sanchez objecting to rubles n"j demanding more emeralds, and Plc- iuet complaining violently concerning concern-ing the smallness of tho diamonds ll-lotted ll-lotted him. Sard s trained eyes appraised every allotment Without weighing, an i, lacking time and paraphernalia for expert examination he was Inclined to think the division fair enough. Quintana got to his feot llthely. "For me." he said. "It Is finish With my frlen' Sard I shall now depart. de-part. Messieurs, I embrace and salute sa-lute you A blentot In Paris if It be God's will' Done an revolr, Ins amis et a la bonheur' Allons! Each for himself and gar" aux flics!" Sard, seized with a sort of still terror, regarded Quintana with enormous enor-mous eyes. Torn between dismay f being left alone In the wilderness and a very natural fear of any single companion, he did not know what to say or do. Kn masse, the gang was too distrustful dis-trustful of one another to unite on robbing any Individual But any Individual In-dividual might easily roh a companion w hen alone with him. Why why can't we all go together." to-gether." he stammered "It is safer, I surer " "I go with Quintana and you," ,n-terrupted ,n-terrupted Georglades smilingly; his j mind on the diamond in the muzzle of Quintana's pistol "I do not Invite you.' said Quintana Quin-tana "But come If It pleases you." "I also prefer to come With you others," growled Sunchoz "To roam alone in this filthy forest does not suit me " Plcquct shrugged his shoulde s. turned on his heel In sib nee. T i y watched him moving away all alone, eastward When he had disappear among the trees Quintana looked inquiringly in-quiringly at the others. "Eh, blcn. non alors!" snarled Georglades suddenly "There are too many In your trupeau, rnon capltaine, Bonne chance!" He turned and started nolsiK q the direction taken by Plcquet They watched him out of sight. Intoned In-toned to his careless trample aftor he was lost to view. When at length the lust distant sound of his retreat had died away In tho stillness, Quintana Quin-tana touched Sard with the point cf his pistol. ;o first." he said suavely. "For God's sake, be u little careful care-ful of your gun " "I am, my dear frlen'. It is of you I may bocomn careless. You Will mos' kJn'ly face south, and you will be kid" sufficient to start immedial Tha's what I mean . . 1 thank you Now, my frlen', Sanchez' Tha's correc". You shall follow m, frlen' Sard ver' close. Me, I mar. h in the rear So we shall pass to the eae' of thees star Pon', then between the cross road an' Oho.' Lake; .m' then we shall repose: an' one of us. . n ldette. shall discover if the Constabulary Con-stabulary have patrol beyon' . . . Allons! Al-lons! March!" (fintlnurd in Our 'i't Isncj |