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Show hanuKerri.,c,V KigijtOl Tlianks. Bet Nut too tight. Can you stand tliat?' "Yes, load my gun, somebody." Petty, took it. King, esconced be tiind an adjacent pillar, fired at the door. "They seem to be waiting for us om there." lie observed. ''Yes," said J Inch. "Betty, you lie here in the shadows. Don't let air. body r rim-h you, no matter what they say. Keep an eye on Mrs. Illlyei aud llle Russian girl and her brother. See him over there? lie's done in. f..i the time b.-f..!:. but if he comes to maybe vu:im rer tie him mi." (To Be Continued) , : SlterT TREASURE best to' rival nature's forces. Suddenly, I sensed that our opponents oppo-nents were bracing for a combined effort. ef-fort. There was a rapid-fire exchange of exclamations In the thieves' French and Tzigane dialect they used for confidential con-fidential communication. I heard an empty cartridge clip jiugle on the floor. But in the shifting of light r d smote It was impossible now to tell real men from the shadows. I stuck my head around a pillar, crouched and slipped aside. Then, while I was unprotected, the rush came. "Go!" called Hilyer's voice. The shadows were pricked with pistol pis-tol flashes. Serge Vassilievich leaped for the piilar behind which I had stood, his gun blazing, knife in hand. He did not see me, on my knees, four feet to the right, and I put my first bullet in his thigh. He stopped i CHAPTER XII Continued. rh his nerves under contror, i " J parted the folds of the cur-with cur-with his Pistol muzzle. The atri-! atri-! g brilliantly lighted. He and J She made; a violent effort to regain her self-control. . , "Z r the last time," she said quietly . 'will you heed the opinion of your colleagues and leave this girl alone?" "No," he growled savagely. "Go' you " "Look out," cried Betty, who alone of us all could see clearly what Tou-tou Tou-tou was doing with his right hand "His knife!" Helene snatched a pistol from her blouse; but he was too quick for her. As the flame spurted from the barrel he leaped aside, and his immensely long arm curled out and slashed down. The blood frothed over the hilt of his knife as it clicked on her collarbone, and she dropped, choking, to the floor. In the same instant Hugh fired, but one of us josteled him and the bullet missed. Toutou turned, saw the curtain cur-tain swaying as we charged, and ran for the door. I fired once, and the bullet chipped his arm and side, but he was out before we could shoot again. From the courtyard came a crash and a ripple of shots that vied with the thunder. A chorus of yells pierced thinly the howling of the gale. Nikka, hearing Helene's pistol, had accepted it as the long overdue signal sig-nal for his attack. ''Take care of Betty, professor!" Hugh called to King. "See if you can help this poor girl. Come on, Jack, Watty I" as n a giant s nana had been shoved against his breast, tottered and fell backward. As he fell, one of the burning burn-ing oil pools ignited a bundle of blankets, and the rising flames sketched us both clearly against the darkness that shrouded the far end of the room. There was a scream. 1 recognized Sandra's voice, but I could not see her. Instead, 1 saw Hilmi Bey sneaking sneak-ing on Watkins, who was holding back Toutou. I drove the Levantine away with my first shot. Then the hammer clicked, and I knew the magazine was empty. I dropped to my knee again, thinking I was concealed by a patch of shadow, and fumbled for a fresh clip. But the treacherous light flared upward, the shadow disappeared and I was left defenseless. I saw a raging figure, hail flying, pistol raised, running run-ning at me. I saw the pistol flash, felt a numbing blow on my shoulder and tumbled in a heap. For a second my eyes misted, the room danced before me. Then I heard a chatter of Russian and Watkins, mildly disapproving. "None of that 'ere, miss. If you please, now ! I don't want to 'urt you, but" I looked up. Sandra, her face contorted con-torted with demoniac rage, her empty pistol shaking in her hand, was backing back-ing away before Watty's menacing crowbar. A woman screamed again, horribly, so that it rasped your heart-strings. It was Maude Hilyer. She stood, with hands clutching her clippt-s hpr c-nvp j 'There's Plenty of Time, You Fool," i Hissed. Muld see perfectly. On a divan heaped with cushions lay Betty. Her hand3 ma bound behind her, and her feet itere tied loosely. Her hair was rum-W, rum-W, and her blouse ripped off at Ine shoulder. But her eyes sparked "lire as she stared fearlessly at the iaonsler who stood beside her. Toutou v,as in a different mood from my I knew, or, rather, I should say, from (he one I knew. His sinisterly lieimliful face revealed the latent ferocity that was the salient feature of lils character, but with It there was something else, something difficult to Mne. The tigerish glare in his eyes was replaced by a softer light ; the Mills were expanded. His mouth was slack. Ills movements were uncertain. He hovered over Betty, looking almost fearfully at Helene. She stood just inside the door that communicated with the large outer chamber. She was dressed in a sports suit and high boots. Her hat was off, Md her face showed pinched and wan. Inwe were shadows under her eyes. "Say I am jealous," she answered steadily. 'I have a right to be. You ate never had a woman who did more 'f J'ou than I. Do you think Miss Innocence In-nocence here Wnnlrl rln , T 1 CHAPTER XIII Under the Red Stone The big room was a maze of shadows. shad-ows. Stable lanterns, flickering in the drafts, hung from hooks in walls and pillars. Toutou stayed his flight by the door to the courtyard, one ear inclined to the bedlam of shots and outcries that threaded the roar of the storm. As we burst in he raised a pistol and sprayed us with bullets as rapidly as he could pull the trigger. But he had the knife-fighter's inability to shoot straight. Bullets "phutted" all around ns, yet none of us was hit Several men and women stared a us. Hilmi Bey peered from behind n pillar next to the courtyard door. He had plainly taken shelter at the crack of Helene's pistol. Montey Hilyer and Serge Vassilievich stood some distance dis-tance to the right of us, paralyzed with surprise: Maude Hilyer and Sandra Vassilievna had risen from seats at the other end. Apparently they had supposed Toutou was engaged only with Helene. He screamed at them, Insensate In his fury. His knife still dripped blood. a - - - - r 1 - on the center of the room where Montey Mon-tey staggered against a pillar, the blood from a punctured lung gurgling in his throat, bravely trying for the last time to raise the smoking muzzle of his automatic. Hugh, relieved of the Englishman's attack, was taking pot shots at Toutou Tou-tou and Hilmi. I saw Tokaljl slip through the door into the rain, and as Vernon King ran up the stairs from the atrium Hilmi followed the Tzigane and Toutou jumped through a window, squawling like the big cat be was. Behind Be-hind me Watkins was scientifically roping Sandra, hand and foot, regardless regard-less of the curses she spat in three languages. Vassilievich had fainted from the pain of his wound. Maude Hilyer sat on the dirty floor, under the single wobbling lantern that remained re-mained Intact, and cradled the head of her dying husband. We had swept the House of the Married. Or had we? As I tried unsuccessfully unsuccessful-ly with one hand to reload my pistol, I felt a pressure at my back. I turned and very nearly impaled myself on a long knife blade. A tense, willowy figure, bare-footed and tumble-haired, He flung his empty pistol at us. "Fools!" he shrieked. "We are be-; be-; trayed !" The door to the courtyard was open, and he spun on his heel and .' dodged behind a pillar. Tokalji reeled in. "Strange Tzigane folk have burst the Street door," he bellowed. "We " He gaped at sight of us. "Quick I" nugh shouted. "Scatter ! before they shoot I" Watkins and I Jumped right and left. Hugh sought the shelter of a pillar. : "Shoot 1" yelled Toutou. "Shoot 1 j Fools ! Swine 1 Dogs I" And he babbled on obscenely, dart- ing catlike from pilar to pillar toward Watty. Hilyer and Serge simultane-; simultane-; ously came to life and made for us, I guns spurting, throwing pieces of fur-1 fur-1 niture to confuse us. Things happened so fast that It was impossible to keep , track of everything, but I found my-j my-j self in a pistol duel with Serge. Hugh I and Watkins were blazing away at ; Hilmi, Hilyer and Tokaljl, and Tou-' Tou-' tou was weaving through the smoke, j seeking an oportunlty to close with ; one of ns. I raid no attention to the I women until a bullet spatted on a pll-' pll-' Inr by my ear. I knew It could not have tome from the front, and star-i star-i tied, I turned to the left In time to stood over me. "You are Jakka," said Kara In the Tzigane dialect I could understand simple phrases after my experience with Nikka's tribespeople. "Where Is Nlkka?" Dumfounded, I pointed to the courtyard. court-yard. She glided toward the door, but Hugh intervened. "Not so fast," he said. "Whose friend are you?" She did cot understand him, and raised her knife. "She's all right, Hugh," 1 called. "She's trying to find Nikka must have been asleep upstairs. Let her go." But she did not wait for him to stand aside. With a single leap, she put one of the pillars between him and herself, and vaulted from the window win-dow Toutou had escaped by. "Nothing slow abo it that girl," said Hugh. "Everybody whole?" A pistol cracked in the doorway, and the bullet sang by his ear. "They're still after us," he commented, comment-ed, dropping beside me. "Have to load my gun." "Then load mine, too," I said. "My left shoulder's hit whole arm is no use." He laid down his automatic. "We'll carry you Inside with Betty. I see Watty has made a prisoner, ' dono?" " ""al IJave "That Is why 1 want her," returned 'wlou, his voice singularly hoarse, tired of you. I am tired of all I hunger for innocence. I wish Jnl J!rm f!1Ue nnc evil- When we I this joblnui going to take this ri'.-w-ywheToutoa will I Joutou UFitte a reformed cbarac-; cbarac-; Hoene inghed sarcastfca I cltknowwhatyou are talking it. ou Lave nothing in common ""I luuoceuce." "Who knows?" I Jutou frowned 'nt her. isrr boimy' ne :W'aE?nmny ,Wngs can do, c 1 Vo;! ei"d' "And are ;w 1 V'e others are afld 4 that you: miSs.it5na to sec,,re wbat left hi. rJ0 contract- The ' see Sandra aiming deliberately 'at me. ! I dodged, and thereby opened myself to her brother's attack. lie was nn expert marksman, and 1 realized there could be only one result re-sult for me if I continued exposed In flank. So I tore a lantern from Its hook and flung it on the floor. The burning oil vomited forth a cloud ol thick black smoke, and under cover of this, I changed my rosition, gaining gain-ing the protection of another pillar. Ilere I was safe from Sandra; but her brother knew where I was and our duel continued. It was no steady stream of bullets, but a pot shot whenever when-ever one of us thought he raw an opportunity. op-portunity. All around us others were doing the same thing, and the vaulted roof rang to the reports, while the acrid fumes of the powder and the smukj from broken lamps stung the eyes. And outside the thunder was pealing and the lightning splitting the heavens and Nikka's men and Tokal-Jl's Tokal-Jl's gypsies were trying their feeble and vassilievich had better be watched. You can " "I will not." 1 returned. "We'll need . every man before we finish tonight, j Hear that 1' : The courtyard had become an In- -ferno yells, screams, howls, shots, the ' beat of the rain and the din of the storm. l "Tie my arm to my side, and I'll be . O. K. I urged. e Betty crawled between us. r "Did I bear you call me?" she asked. 1 "My word!" grunted Hugh. "Get back, Bet. This is" ' t "Touch and go," she supplemented his sentence. "I have Helene's gun. You boys had better help Nikka. 0 can guard this place." f A whistle shrilled in the courtyard. 11 "finch!" It was Nikka's voice. "Jack !" I There was a racket of shots. t, "Yes, lie must be badly outnumbered." outnum-bered." muttered Hugh. "No time to p to lose. Ilere, Jack, Where's your d 0rlca'..ce 100 feared he Ioa C h,8h t0 see "gain. BDt 1 thOUBh 1 1CaVe tte bfln3-" band ' ther9 wns t0 be no tt0,-,t Tout ered ne,ene- "I ",t b WM t0 b'e an : "Vou shall3?0'!' ,tb dove-cot-" 1311 Aln knife," he barked rfi''oelj-ourknlfer she ; you led from her wfi'fr?116 with e' 'Oilier 8S nl fraQie seemed to draw ; . , ai aimaI does ? hore C8-hIUIs 'S arms 0swbeiht:3 right band " S'tTan tires I- 1 |