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Show pCT i in limn nn'iii iim iiii-n'm ii i ii iii ' u ni ii hi 111 111 i iiiiiiihiiiiiiimiiiiiii j The Trey O9 Hearts 1 A Novelized Version of tha Motion Picture Drama of the Soma Noma 9 1 Produced by the Universal Film Co. fi I By LOUIS JOSEPH VANCE I I Author tf 'Thm Fortam Harder," "Th Bran Btxcl.""Trm Bijci Bo." I I niattrated with Photographs from Ui Picture Production Copyright, 11)14, by Loul Joseph Vane I SYNOPSIS. The 8 of Hearts Is the "death sign" used by Seneca Trine In the private wax of vengeance, which, through his daughter. daugh-ter. Judith, a woman of vloU'nt and criminal crim-inal temper and questionable sanity, he wages against Alan Law. whose father (now dead) Trine held responsible for the accident which made him a helpless cripple crip-ple Law loves Hose, but under dramatic circumstances saves the, life of Judith, her twin sister, and unwillingly gains her love, also. CHAPTER V. The Hunted Mart. That day was hot and windless with an unclouded sky a day of brass and burning. Long before any sound audible to human ears disturbed the noonday hush, a bobcat sunning on a log In a glade to which no trail led, pricked ears, rose, glanced over shoulder with a snarl and of a sudden was no more t. ...... Perhaps two minutes later a succession succes-sion of remote crashlngs began to be heard, a cumulative volume of sounds made by some heavy body forcing by main strength through the underbrush, aud ceased only when a man broke Into the clearing, pulled up, stood for an instant swaying, then reeled to a seat on the log, pU'cwi. his head on arms folded aci-s his knees and shuddering shud-dering uncontrollably in all his limbs. It Wii a Rose. But even as he strove to calm him-wlf him-wlf and rest, the feeling that some-hiig some-hiig waa peering at him from behind 4 cask of undergrowth grew Intolerably Intoler-ably acute. At length he Jumped up. glared wildly wild-ly at the ppot where that something no longer was, flung himself frantically fran-tically through the brush In pursuit of It. and found nothing. With a great effort he pufled himself him-self together, clamped his teeth upon the promise not again to give way to hallucinations, and turned back to the clearing. i nere, upon me log on which he had rested, he found but refused to believe he saw a playing card, a trey of hearts, face up in the sun-glare. sun-glare. With a gesture of horror, Alan Law fled the place. While the sounds of his flight were still loud, a grinning half-breed guide stole like a shadow to the log. laughed derisively after the fugitive, picked tip and pocketed the card, and set out In tireless, cat-footed pursuit. An hour later, topping a ridge of rising ground, Alan caught from the hollow on Its farther side the music of clanking waters. Tortured by thirst, he began at once to descend in reckless reck-less haste. The shelving moss-beds afforded treacherous footing; AlaD was glad low and then of the support of a cedar, ce-dar, but these grew ever smaller, and more widely spaced and were not nl-ways nl-ways convenient to his hand. He caina abruptly and at headlong pace within sight of the eaves of a cliff -and predaely then the hillside seemetl to slip from under him. His heels flourished In the air. Ills back thumped a bed of pebbles thinly nvergTown with moss. The stones gave, the tnoHB skin broke, he began lo slide grasped at random a youngish cedar which stayed hltn Imperceptibly, coming away with all its puny roots rniKht at another, no more substantial substan-tial -and arnld a shower of loosi stone hot out fiver the edge and down a rop of more than thirty feet. He was Instantaneously aware of I'm sun, a molten ball wheeling madly mad-ly In the clip of the turquoise sky. Then dark Haters closed over him. ill) came up struggling anil gasping, a -id struck out for something dark that rode the walers near at baud unethlng vaguely resembling a c-inoe. ilut his strength was largely spent, Ms breath had been driven out of him by tb force of the fall, and he. had gwalluwej much water while the field f bla consciousness was stricken with confusion. Within a stroke of an outstretched a-i I ' 1 1 k, ho Dung up a hand und weut in'i f. again I Instantly one occupant of the canoe, a young and very beautiful woman wo-man in a man's hunting clothes, epoke a sharp word of command and, as her guide steadisd the vessel with his paddle, rose in her place so Burely that she scarcely disturbed the nice balance of the little craft, and curved her lithe body over the bow, headforemost head-foremost Into the pool. Mr. Law had, In point of fact, endured en-dured more than he knew; more than even a weathered woodsman could have borne without suffering. Forty-eight Forty-eight hours of such heavy woods-walking woods-walking as he had put In to escape the forest fire, would have served to prostrate almost any man; add to this (.ignoring a dozen other mental, nervous nerv-ous and physical strains) merely the fact that he had been half-drowDed. He experienced a little fever, a little delirium, then blank slumbers of ex haustion. He awoke In dark of night, wholly unaware that thirty-six hours had passed since his fall. This last, however, how-ever, and events that had gone before, he recalled with tolerable clearness allowing for the sluggishness of a drowsy mind. Other memories, more vague, of gentle ministering hands, of a face by turns an angel's, a flower's, a fiend's, and a dear woman's, troubled trou-bled him even less materially. He was already sane enough to allow he had probably been a bit out of his head, and since it seemed he had been saved and cared for, he found no reason rea-son to quarrel with present circumstances. circum-stances. Still, he would have been grateful for some explanation of certain phenomena phe-nomena which still haunted him such as a faint, elusive 6cent of roses w ith a vague but importunate sense of a woman's presence in trrat darkened room things manifestly absurd . . . With some dlllieulty, from a dry throat, he spoke, or rather whispered: whis-pered: "Water!" In response he heard someone move over a creaking floor. A sulphur match spluttered Infamously. A candle can-dle caught fire, silhouetting illusion, of course! the figure of a woman in hunting shirt and skirt. Water splashed noisily. Alan became aware of someone who Btood at his side, one hand offering a glass to his lips, the other gently raising his head that he mliht Hrlnlf Tilth au a Draining the glass, ha breathed his thanks and sank back, retaining his grasp on the wrist of that unreal hand. It suffered him without resistance. re-sistance. The hallucination even went so far as to say, In a woman's soft accents: "You are better. Alan?" He sighed Incredulously: "Hose!" The voice responded "Yes!" Then the perfume of roses grew still more strong, Beemlng to fan his cheek like a woman's warm breath. And a miracle- came to pass; for Mr. Law, who realized poignantly that all this was sheer, downright nonsense, distinctly distinct-ly felt lips llko velvet caress bla fore head. He closed Mb eyes, tightened his grasp on that hand of phantasy, and muttered rather inarticulately. The voice asked: "What li It. dear?" He responded: "Delirium Ilut I like It . . . Let me rave!" Then again he Blept. CHAPTER VI. Disclosures. In a little corner office, soberly furnished, fur-nished, on the topmost floor of one of lower Manhattan's loftiest olllce towers, tow-ers, a little mouse brown man sat over a big mahogany desk; a little man of big affairs, sole steward of one of America's most formidable fortunes. Precisely at eleven minutes past noon (or at the Identical Instant chosen chos-en by Alan Law to catapult over the edge of a cliff In northern Maine) the muted signal of the little man's desk telephone clicked and. eagerly lifting receiver to ear. lie nodded with a smile and said in accents of some relief: "Ask her to come In at once, please." Jumping up, he placed a chair In Intimate In-timate Juxtaposition with ills own; nnd the door opened, and a young woman entered. The tnouse ijrow n man bowed. "Miss Hose Trine?" he murmured with a great deal of deference. The young woman returned his how with a show of perplexity: "Mr. Dig-by?" Dig-by?" "You are kind to come in response to my -ah - unconventional invitation," invita-tion," said the little man. "Won't you - ah sit (low n ?" She said. "Thank you," gravely, nnd took lb') chair he Indicated. And Mr. Dlgby, with an admiration he made no effort to conceal, examined the fair face turned so candidly lo him. "It. Is o,ultc comprehensible," he said diffidently "If you will permit me to say so - now that one sees you, MIhb Trine, It la qulto comprehensible why my employer uh - feels toward ytni as he does." The girl flushed. "Mr. Law ha told you ?" "I have the h"or to Ihj his uvuxaal friend, this 6lde the water, as wll as his man of business." He paused wiLt au embarrassed gesture. ges-ture. "So I have ventured to request this ah surreptitious appointment in order to ah take the further liberty liber-ty of asking whether you have recently recent-ly sent Alan a message?" Her look of surprise was answer enough, but she confirmed it with vigorous vig-orous denial: "I have not communicated communi-cated with Mr. Law in mora than a year!" "Precisely as I thought," Mr. Dlgby nodded. "None the less, Mr. Law not long since received what purported to be a message from you; in fact a rose." And as Miss Trine sat forward for-ward with a start of dismay, he aded: "I have the information over Mr. Law's signature a letter received ten days ago from Quebec." "Alan In America!" the girl cried in undisguised distress. "He came in response to ah fJ message of the rose." "But I did not send it!" "I felt sure of that, because," said Mr. Dlgby, watching her narrowly "because of something that accompanied accompa-nied the rose, a symbol of another significance sig-nificance altogether a playing card, a trey of hearts." Her eyes were blank. He pursued with openly sincere reluctance: "I must tell you, 1 Bee, that a trey of hearts Invariably foresignaled an attempt at-tempt by your father on the life of Alan's father." With a Btricken cry the girl crouched back in the chair and covered her face with her hands. "That is why I sent for you," Mr. Digby pursued hastily, as if in hope of getting quickly over a most unhappy unhap-py business. "Alan's letter, written and posted on the steamer, reached me within twenty-four hours of his arrival in Quebec, and detailed his scheme to enter the United States secretly as he puts it, by the back door,' by way of northern Maine--and promised advice ad-vice by telegraph as soon as he reached Moosehead Iake. He should have wired me ere this, I am told by those who know the country he was to cross. Frankly, I am anxious about the boy!" "And I!" the girl exclaimed pitifully. "To think that he should be brought into such peril through me!" - "You can tell me nothing?" "Nothing as yet. I did not dream of this much less that the message of the rose was know n to any but, Alan and myself. I cannot understand!" "Then I may tell you this much more, that your father maintains a very efficient corps of secret agents." "You think he spied upon me?" the girl flamed with Indignation. "I know he did." Mr. Dlgby permitted per-mitted himself a quiet smile. "It haa seemed my business, in the service of my employer, to employ agents of my own. There is no doubt that your father sent you to Europe for the sole purpose of having you meet Alan." "Oh!" she protested. "Hut what earthly motive ?" "That Alan might be won back to America through you and so " There waa no need to finish out his sentence. The girl was silent, pale and staring with wide eyes, visibly mustering her wits to cope with this emergency. "I may depend on you." Mr. Dlgby suggested, "to advise me if you find out anything ?" "For even more." The girl rose and extended a hand whose grasp was firm X-.V,-,l:,'v.yX. ''ji '.. . : , v f- '.,.: v "Oh, Come, Come!" She Cried Wildly. and ltnl on his Angers. A due spirit of resolve set her countenance aglow. "Yon may count on tne for action on my own part. If I find circumstances warrant H 1 promised not to marry Alnn bemuse of the feud between our fat hers - but not to stand by and see III m sacrificed. Tell me how I may communicate secretly with you and let me go as soon as possible!" CHAPTER VII. The Mutineer. Within the hour Itosn Trine stood before tier falher In that somber room wherein he wore out bis crippled days, In that placn of silence nnd shadow w h oho sinister color sclieme of crimson crim-son nnd black was tlm trim lively of bis monomania his passion for veil-uuuucv veil-uuuucv that aluuv kupt warm Ilia tim bers of life In that wasted and moveless move-less frame. An impish malice glimmered in hie sunken eyes as he kept her waiting upon his pleasure. And when at length ho decided to speak. It was with a ring of hateful Irony in that strangely sonorous voice of his. "Rose," he said slowly "my daughter! daugh-ter! I am told you have today been guilty of an act of disloyalty to me." ' She said coolly: "You had me spied upon." "Naturally, with every reason to question your loyalty, I had you watched." She waited a significant moment, then dropped an impassive monosyllable monosyl-lable into the silence: "Well?" "You have visited the man Dlgby, servant and friend of the man I hate and you love." She said, without expression: "Yes." "Repeat what passed between you." "I shall not, but on one condition." "And that Is?" "Tell me first whether It wai you who sent the rose to Alan Law and more, where Judith has been during the last fortnight?" "I shall tell you nothing, my child. Repeat" the resonant voice rang with Inflexible purpose "repeat wha. the man Dlgby told you!" The girl was silent. He endured her stare for a long minute, a spark of rage kindling to flame the evil old eyes. Then his one living member that had power to serve his Iron will, a hand like the claw of a bird of prey, moved toward a row of buttons sunk In the writing-bed of his desk. "I warn you I havo ways to make you speak " With a quick movement the girl bent over and prisoned the bony wrist in her strong fingers. With her other hand, at the same time, she whipped open an upper drawer of the desk and took from it a revolver which sha placed at a safe distance. "To the contrary." she said quietly, "you will remember that the time has passed when you could have me gun-ltshed gun-ltshed for disobedience. You will call nobody: if interrupted. I shan't hesitate hesi-tate to defend myself. And now" laying lay-ing hold of the back of his chair, she moved it some distance from the desk "you may as well be quiet while I find for myself what I wish to know." For a moment he watched In silence as she bent over the desk, rummaging its drawers. Then with an Infuriated gesture of his left hand, he began to curse her. She shuddered a little as the black oatbs blistered his thin old lips, dedicating dedi-cating her and all she loved to sin, Infamy and sorrow; but nothing could stay her In her purpose. He was breathless and exhausted when she Btralghtened up with an exclamation of satisfaction, studied Intently for a moment a Bheaf of papers, and thrust them hastily Into her hand bag, together togeth-er with the revolver. Then touching the pushbutton which released a secret and little-used ffsvif B'll Vinnf a Knuliu-oril irlanpa qKa slipped from the room and, closing the door securely, within another minute had made her way unseen from the house. CHAPTER VIII. The Iniredlble Thing. Proad daylight, the top of a morning morn-ing as rare as ever broke upon the north country: Alan Law opening bewildered be-wildered eyes to realize the substance of a dream come true. True It proved Itself, at leat. In part. He lay between blankets upon a couch of balsam fans. In a corner of somebody's camp a log structure. weatherproof, rudely but adequately furnished. His clothing, rough dried but neatly mended, lay upon a chair at his side. He rose and dressed In haste, at once exulting in his sense of complete rest and renewed well being, a prey to hints of an extraordinary appetite, and provoked by signs that seemed to bear out the weirdest flights of his delirious de-lirious fancies. There were apparently Indisputable evidences of a woman's recent presence pres-ence In tile camp: blankets neatly folded upon a second bed of aromatic balsam In the farther corner; an effect of orderliness not common ' with guides; a pair of dainty buckskin gauntlets depending from a nail In the wall; ami - he stood staring witlessly at It for more than n minute in an old preserve Jar on the table, a single rose, warm and red. dew upon Its petals! There was also fire In the cook stove, with a plentiful display of things to cook; hut despite Ills hunger Alnn didn't stop for that, but rushed to the door nnd threw It open and himself him-self out Into tlm sunshine, only to pause, dashed, chagrined, mystified There was no other living thing In bIkM hut n loon that sported far nn the river and saluted him with a shriek of mocking laughter. The place was a cleft In the hills, a table of level land some few acres In urea, bounded on one hand, beneath be-neath the clIfT from which lie had dropped, by a rushing river fat with recent rains; on the other by a second cliff of equal height. Vpstream the water curved round the shoulder of a towering hill, downstream the lilffa closed upon It until It roared through a narrow gorge. Near the camp, upon a strip of shelving beach that bordered tbo river where it widened Into a deep, dark pool, two canoes were drawn up, bottoms bot-toms to the sun. lVnso thickets of pities, (inks, nnd bnlsatns hedged In the clearing. I In w an, It seemed, to bo left severely severe-ly lo himself, that day; when ho hnd cooked and made way with an enormous enor-mous breakfast, Alan found nothing bettur to do till Uuio (or luncheon thr.n to explore tkli pocket doraaltl. He feasted famously again at noon; whiled away several hours vainly whipping whip-ping the pools with i'od and tacklfl found In the camp, for trout that he really didn't hope would rise beneath that blazing sun; and toward tliree o'clock lounged back to his aromatic couch for a nap. The westering sun had thrown a deep, cool shadow across the cove when he was awakened by importunate importun-ate hands and a voice of magic. Rose Trine w as kneeling beside him, clutching his shoulders, calling on him by name distracted by an inexplica ble anxiety. He wasted no time discriminating between dream and .reality, but gathered gath-ered both Into his arms. And for a moment she rested there unresisting, sobbing quietly. "What is it? What is it, dearestT he questioned, kissing her tears away. "To find you all right. ... I was so afraid!" she cried brokenly. "Of what? Wasn't I all right when you left me here this morning?" She disengaged with an effort roe, and looked down strangely at him. "I did not leave you here this morning. morn-ing. Alan. I wasn't here " That brought him to his own feat in a Jiffy. "You were not!" he stammered. stam-mered. "Then who V "Judith," she Btated with conviction. impossible! You don't understand." under-stand." The girl shook her head. "Yet I know: Judith was here until this wffcs-i irt r TV Precipitating Both Into That Savage Weltar. morning. I tell you I know I saw her only a few hours ago. She pawed us In a canoe with one of her guides. while we watched In hiding on the banks Not that alone, but another of her guides told mine she was here with you. She had sent him to South Portage for quinine. He stopped there to get drunk and that's bow my guide managed to worm the Information Infor-mation from him." Alan passed a hand across his eyes. "I don't understand." he said dully. "It doesn't sem possible she could " A shot Interrupted him. the report of a rifle from a considerable distance upstream, echoed and re-echoed by the cliffs. And at this, clutching frantically fran-tically at his arm, the girl drew him through the door and down toward the i river. "Oh. come, come!" she cried wild ly. "There's no time!" "Put, why? What was that?" "Judith Is returning. I left my guide up the trail to signal us. Don't you know what It means If we don't manage to escape before she gets here?" "Hut how?" "According to the guide the river's Hie only way other than the trail." "1 he current is too strong. Thev could follow pot us at leisure from the batiks." "Hut downstream the current with us" "Those rapids?" "We must shoot them!" "Can It be done?" "It must bo!" Two more shots put a period to his doubts and drove It home. Ho offered no further objection, but turned at once to launch one of the canoes. As soon ns It was In the water. Kose took her place In the bow, paddle In hand, and Alnn was about to step In astern when a fourth shot sounded and a bullet kicked un turf within a dozen feet. A glance discovered two figures debouching Into the clearing, lie dropped Into place and. planting paddle In shallows, sent the canoe well out with n vigorous thrust. Two strokes took it to the middle of the pool where Immediately the current caught the little craft In Its urgent grasp ami sped It smoothly through more narrow mid higher banks. A moment more and the month of the gorge was yawning fr them. With (he clean balance of an ex perlenced catuiemun. Alan rose to his fi'ot for an Instantaneous reconnois-sauoo reconnois-sauoo both forward and astern. Hp looked back first, and groaned lu bis heart to see the sharp prow of the second canoo glide out from th banks. Ho looked abend and groaned iiloud. The rapids were n wildsrness of shouting waters, white and Sreen worse than in, thing he li, aulU J patcd or itw duauicd of, I But there was now do escaping fbii ordeal. The canoe was already spin. ning between walls where the watf ran deep and fat with a glaasy tir "ace. The next Instant It was In th Jawt; and the man settlod down to wor with grim determination, pittins courage cour-age and strength and experience against the ravening waters that tore at the canoe on every hand, whoas mad clamor beat back and forth between be-tween the walla of the gorge like vaat bellowings of Infernal mirth. He fought like one possess. There waa never an Instant's grace for Judgment or execution; the one must be synchronous with the other, both Instantaneous, or else destruo-tion. destruo-tion. The canoe wove this way and that like an iDsane shuttle threading soma satanic loom. Now It hesitated, nui-zllng nui-zllng a gigantic boulder over which the water wove a pale green and gllBtenlng hood, now in the space of a heartbeat It shot forward twice iti length through a sea of creaming waves, now plunged wildly toward what promised Instant annihilation and cheated that only by the timely plunge of a paddle, guided by luck or Instinct or both. The one ray of hope In Alan's mind, when he surveyed before committing himself and the woman he loved to that hideous gauntlet, sprang from the fact that, however rough, the rapids were short. Now, when he had been in their grasp a minute, he seemed to have been there hours. . His laborlngs were tremendous, unbelievable. un-believable. Inspired. In the end they were all but successful. The goal of safety was within thirty seconds' more of quick, hard work, when Alan s paddle broke and the canoe swun? broadside to a boulder, turned turtle and precipitated both headlong into that savage welter- As the next few minutes passed he was fighting like a mad thing against overwhelming edds. Then, of a sudden, sud-den, he found himself rejected, spewed forth from the cataract and swimming mechanically in the smooth water of a wide pool beyond the lowermost eddy, the canoe floating bottom up near by, and Rose supporting herself with one hand on it Her eyes met his, clear with the sanity of her adorable courage. He floundered to her side, panted Instructions In-structions to transfer her hand to h: shoulder, and struck out for the nearer shore. Both found footing at the same time and waded out, to collapse, exhausted, ex-hausted, against the bank. Then, with a sickening qualm, Aian remembered the pursuit. He rose anj looked up the rapid Just in time to view the last swift quarter of the canoe's descent: Judith in the bow, motionless, a rifle across her knees, ia the stern an Indian guide kneeling and fighting the waters with scarcely perceptible effort in contrast with Alan's supreme struggles. I Like a Urine thinp the rsnoA seemed to gather itself together, to poise, to leap with all Its strength: It hurdled the eddy In a bound, took the still water with a mighty sp'.ssX aud shot downstream at diminished speed, the Indian furiously backicg w ater. As though that had been the one moment she had lived for, Judith lifted her rifle and brought it to bear upon her sister. With a cry of horror. Alan f.ung himself before Rose, a living shield, anticipating nothing but Immediate death. This -was not accorded him. For a breathless instant the woman ia 1;:, . .;..v,tv They Found a Footing, the canoe stared along the sijiM- then lowered her weapon and. turning, turn-ing, spoke lndistitii;nishrtbly to th guide, who Instantly began to ply brisk paddle. The canoe sped ou. vanished swlftl round a bend. After n l,ng time. AUn voiced h! unmitigated nmaement ; "Why in the name of hovn! hT?" The girl said dully: "IVn't you know?" And when he shook his head. "Her guide told mine you bad sad her life ou the dam at Spirit Laka. Now do you see"" His countenance wai Maua wonder: "t',t at Itude ?" Kose smiled wearily: "Not (tr( tudo alone, but something more tible . . . " She nu and 014 out her hand. "Not that I fa Nam I'ct. l!t come; If strlk tluoush here we will, I think h1" u a Irnll (tint will bring us to UC Pue7 let ' lenient In d-irk " . |
