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Show I The Trey O Hearts H A Novelized Version of the Motion Picture Drama of the Same Name B Produced by the Universal Film Co. I By LOUIS JOSEPH VANCE H Author tf "The Fortune Hunler." "The Brm Bovl,""The Black Bag," etc. Illustrated with Photographs from the Pictura Production Copyright, 1914, by Louis Joseph Vance SYNOPSIS. The 8 O' Hearts Is the "death slftn" niployed by Seneca Trine In the private s war ot vengeance which, through the agoncy of his daughter, Judith, a woman of violent passions like his own, he wages agalnat Alan Law, son of the man (now dead) who was unintentionally responsible responsi-ble for the accident which rendered Trine a helpless cripple. Alan la in love with and Is in turn loved bv Rose, Judith's win and double, but In all else her opposite. oppo-site. Judith vows to compass Alan's death, but under dramatic circumstances he saves her life and so. unwillingly wins tier love. Thereafter Judith Is Dy ium actuated by the old hatred, the new love, and Jcalousv of her Bister, Rose. The latter Is kidnaped by her father's orders and conveyed to a low dive in the slunio of New Jersey, from which Alan rescues her alter accidentally setting the tenement tene-ment on fire. CHAPTER XXIX. Jailbird. The period of restraint In durance Tile suffered by one Thomas Barcus In consequence ot conduct riotous, unseemly, un-seemly, and in general prejudiced to the public peace of the New Bedford waterfront at half-past four in the morning, proved in the upshot far more brief than had been fondly hoped, not only by his just judge, but, singularly enough, by the misdemeanant misdemean-ant himself. Taking everything gravely Into consideration, con-sideration, including a person anything any-thing but prepossessing, the judge reckoned that, in default of a fine of one hundred dollars, a ten-day layup for repairs and repentance was not too much to mete out to the prisoner at the bar. He was sentenced at 10 a. m. and It was little short of 10 p. m. when his post-prandial repose was disturbed by the rattle of a key in the lock of the door to his cell. Conducted with every evidence of dlsesteem on the part of his jailers to the office of the warden, he was acquainted ac-quainted with the fact that his fine had been paid by no one less than the judge himself: then present in portly and solicitous person. "If only you had told me you were a friend of Mr. Digby's," the judge hastened to say as soon as the two were ensconsed in the privacy of the Judicial limousine, "I would have known better how to guide myself in this unfortunate affair. "And if you will be good enough to indicate how else I may serve you . . .?" "Digby didn't offer any suggestions n his wire, I gather?" "One moment: I have it here." "Naturally I'd like a bath and a change of clothes," Barcus pursued while the judicial breast-pocket was being explored; "and I could do with transportation to New York by the first train out of this God-forsaken hole, and " "This is what Mr. Digby says," the judge interrupted, laboriously deciphering de-ciphering the message by the light of -i F 'W. )' ' A The Hydroaeroplane Is Forced to Land. a match: "Please see to Immediate release of one Thomas Barcus, probably prob-ably In Jail In your Jurisdiction for rioting riot-ing on waterfront this morning. Pay ills fine and Instruct him to report to me in New York at earliest feasible hour. Give him all the money he wants and look to me for remuneration' remunera-tion' " "Eh?" Barcus Interrupted, sitting up smartly; "what's that last again?" J'atlmitly the Judge ' reneuted the sentence from the message. "Thanks. Please don't read farther You might come to something that tvould spoil It. It's almost too beautl-'ul beautl-'ul as It stands," Barcus observed. 'Law. owes mo five thoiieand or so liquidated damages but I'll be reasonable. rea-sonable. Frisk tills burg for a fifth of '.hat sum before train Mine and 1 imomise to ask nothing more!" Jlis private comment was: "I've suspected sus-pected that this was a fairy tale a1) along. Now I know it Is!" Ami this phase of Incredulity permitted per-mitted In coloring the complexion of bis mind until the moment, some "iou.ru lator, when the train connecting at Providence with the Midnight Express Ex-press for New York pulled out of New Bedford bearing a transformed Barcus. Not until a sound night's sleep had topped off the beginning of his rest In jail did Barcus come down to earth. He demonstrated his return to common com-mon sense by making a round breakfast break-fast in Grand Central station before looking up the residence of Digby In the telephone directory. 1U,J iiiioi iiiauou ne gatnerea rrom the voice that answered the name of Mr. Digby over the telephone shook only momentarily Barcus' innate conviction con-viction that intimate acquaintance with battle, murder and sudden death was the inevitable reward of association associa-tion with this friend of his heart. "Alan being married to Rose Trine in Jersey City at this very minute!" he breathed skeptically as he emerged from the booth memorizing the address ad-dress of the alleged officiating clergyman. clergy-man. "I don't believe it; it's too sudden." sud-den." Forthwith he engaged a taxicab to convey him to Jersey City, at top speed, for an exorbitant reward. And when, from the forward deck of a ferryboat, he beheld a dense volume of smoke advertising a conflagration on the Jersey shore, not far from the waterfront, he shook a moodily sagacious sa-gacious head. "If Alan Isn't mixed up in that. somehow," he declared, "he's missing a bet for once and I'm a sorry failure as a prophet of woe and disaster!" There was as much intuitive apprehension appre-hension as humor responsible for this remark; witness the'fact that, on landing, land-ing, he risked the delay required to turn aside and have a look at the fire. It proved to be situated in the heart of a squalid slum a wretched tenement tene-ment of the poorest class, whose roof had already fallen in and whose walls were momentarily threatening to go by the time Barcus arrived on the scene. At a considerable distance from him a small disturbance had broken out a clamor of protesting voices lifting about the rumor of the mob as a number of men, case-hardened roughs one and all, began to force their way in a V-shaped wedge through the throng, making toward Its very heart, the point on the firs-lines nearest the burning building. What this meant, Mr. Barcus liad not the slightest idea. But his attention atten-tion was first distracted by the maneuver, maneu-ver, then fixed by the face of a man who was following in the hollow of the V an evil white face that seemed somewhat vaguely familiar, somehow reminiscent of something strange that had happened in the history of Mr. Barcus. At the same time, at the point where the V had paused, a wild uproar lifted up and, coincidental!-, a wilder confu sion became noticeable. A cry was audible "Firebug! Lynch him! Lynch him! Lynch the firebug!" and at this the mob turned as one man and streamed away In pursuit of an invisible in-visible quarry, who chose to attempt his escape by a route directly opposite oppo-site to that which would have led him within i?Iew of Mr. Barcus. Startled, and of a sudden persuaded that there might have been more In his "hunch" than was sanely to be credited, Barcus started up and was on the point of stepping out of his cab, if with a rather aimless purpose, when he was stayed by sight of that evil white face returning the way It had come still In the hollow of the flying V, which now made faster progress, prog-ress, thanks to the disorganization of the mob by the chase of the alleged Incendiary. In-cendiary. And now, Barcus saw, the man of the white face was not alone. There was someone with him someone whose head was bent and face concealed, con-cealed, hut who seemed to be feminine. femi-nine. And so, Barcus argued, why might it not be Rose Trine, suffering new persecution at the hands of her unnatural unnat-ural father's creatures? He was too far away to make Rure and attempt any Interference; but he pointed White Face out to his chauffeur chauf-feur as the V reached a touring car on the edge of the mob and the woman was lifted in (unresisting and apparently appar-ently In a dead faint), and when the touring car swung round and picked up Its heels, the taxicab of Mr. Barcus trailed it as unostentatiously as If It was a pertinacious shadow. Ten minutes later, from the rear deck of a ferryboat In midstream a boat bearing back to New York not only tlie touring car of White Pace, but the cab of Mr. Ilitrcus the latter gentleman formed one of a small but Interested audience witnessing an incident in-cident of uncommon character. He saw a young man, hatless, coat-less, coat-less, almost shlrtlcHs, tear down to the edge of one of the Jersey wharves, his heels snapped nt by a ravening rabble, Jump aboard a square-rigged vessel which lay moored there, and execute a maneuver of despair by climbing up Hie rigging In a hopeless attempt to escape his persecutors. They were too many for him. anil what was wor;e llie.v were headed by a squad! of police apparently & grimly bent on compassing the destruction of their quarry as was the mob. And they swarmed up the rigging after him without a moment's hesitation. hesita-tion. Hotly pressed, the fugitive climbed higher and still higher, until at length he gained the topmost yard; with three policemen not half a dozen feet below him and popping away for dear life, If happily with the notoriously poor marksmanship of policemen generally. gen-erally. None the less, there was no telling when some accident might wing a bullet bul-let into the young man; and it was evident that he so decided. For, Inching out to the end of the yard, he waved his hand toward his persecutors with a gesture of light-hearted light-hearted derision that unmistakably identified him as Alan Law to Mr. Barcus, Bar-cus, and forthwith dropped to the water, wa-ter, feet foremost. Alan later took the water neatly, came up uninjured and clearheaded, and without an instant's hesitation struck away toward the middle of the HudBon. As this happened the police ran to the stern of the square-rigger, unmoored un-moored a dory that was riding there, and threw themselves into it. During the (to Barcus, at least) breathless suspense of that chase, the ferryboat drew stolidly farther and still farther away from the scene. Barcus Bar-cus could not tell whether, as It seemed, the police-laden dory was really real-ly overhauling Alan, or whether the illusion of perspective deceived him. At all events, it seemed a frightfully near thing when the interruption befell be-fell which alone could have saved Alan. Out of the very sky dropped a hydroaeroplane, hydro-aeroplane, cutting the water with a long, graceful curve that brought It, almost at a standstill, directly to the head of the swimmer, and at the same time forced the police boat to sheer widely off in order to escape collision. Immediately the swimmer caught was busy being a bold, bad k-Unaper; Rose was In his power, as we say in such cases. His Intentions, however, were nothing more blameworthy than to return her to the arms of her doting parent. I know, because I sleuthed after 'em, even to the house of Seneca Trine. Later I sleuthed some more, following a furtive young man from the house of Trine to the office of the general manager of the New York Central, Cen-tral, where he made arrangements for a special to convey the said Trine and retinue to Chicago and points West. It leaves at three this afternoon. I was unable to ascertain whether or not Rose is to participate in this heglra, but I know I shall. On the off-chance off-chance of being useful, I have bribed the train crew to let me Impersonate the porter. So, should you be moved to follow and succeed in catching up with us. and observe anybody who looks rather oft-color in the party don't shoot: the said party will be me. "Yours for the quiet life, "TOM BARCUS." The second note yielded a communication communi-cation written on notepaper of the sim plest elegance In a woman's hand a hurried scrawl: "They are taking me West by special spe-cial train I don't know where or why. A Bervant has promised to see that this reaches you. Save me!" Over this Alan wrinkled an Incredulous Incred-ulous nose. The hand was the hand of Rose, but the phraseology was not in her spirit. He examined it more closely close-ly and thought to detect beneath Its semblance of haste a deliberate and carefully guided pen. He picked up the envelope to compare the handwriting handwrit-ing of the address with that of the enclosure en-closure and shook out a trey of hearts. This last was covered, as to Its face, with a plainly-written message. "With the compliments of Seneca Trine to Alan Law. We are due In Chicago at eleven tomorrow morning and leave immediately for the Pacific coast via Santa Fe route." Comparison between this and the ; vki . itt . v.L :,?Jt,Az d. J?. .a FY rAlH i u JE " Shook Out a Trey of Hearts. the pontoon of the hydroaeroplane, pulled himself up out of the water, and clambered to the seat beside the aviator. Before he was fairly seated the plane was swinging back Into Its fastest pace. With the ease of a wild goose It left the water, mounted the long grade of an air lane, described a wide circle above the bluffs of Weehawken, and swept away southward. CHAPTER XXX. Blrdman. About eight o'clock In the evening of the same day a motorcar deposited at the Hotel Monolith a gentleman whose weatiier-beaton and oil-stalnod motoring-cap and duster covered little clothing cloth-ing more than shirt and trouBors and assorted oddly in the eyes of the desk-clerk desk-clerk with the rattier meticulously turned-out guest known tc him as Mr. Arthur Lawrence and to the management manage-ment of the hotel as Mr. Alan Law In cognito. Eventually persuaded, the clerk yielded up the key to Mr. Lawrenco's suite of rooms, together with two notes superscribed with tho sumo nom de guerre. Alan's Impationco was so groat that he could hardly wait to examine these communications until he was quit of the public eye. Tho first proved to he a characteristic character-istic communication: "Dear Ulysses Thanks for tho Jail delivery. I got In this morning Just In time to motor over to Jersey in hopes of seeing your finish as a bachelor; Instead, I was favored by being made an Involuntary witness to your spectacular spec-tacular ascent, following your almost equally spectacular hlgh dlvo. "Hut to business: my lime Is limited; lim-ited; In half an hour more I am to double in black-face for tho purposes of tho uuthor of this melodramatic farce which you, no doubt, call tho history of your gnuidn passion. "I mean to say well, several things, to-wlt: When I saw yon snatched out of the North river I was engngntl In 1 nil 1 line a pale-faced villain lu n motorcar motor-car concerning whom you probably know far morn tbuu I; he on his part message purporting to be from Rose distilled the conviction that the same hand was responsible for both. Alan shrugged. So he was to be lured away from New York and Rose by this transparent trick, was he? No fear! With plenty of time on his hands, he gave the mattT serious consideration considera-tion and concluded to take no chances: It was Just possible that Trine had taken Rose with him on his western trip, after all. In such case the only possible way of overtaking the special would be by air line. Promptly Alan called up the aviation avia-tion Ileitis at Hempstead Plains and got Into communication with a gentleman gentle-man answering to the surname of Coast: the same blrdman who had come to Alan's rescue with his hydroaeroplane. hydro-aeroplane. Their arrangements wero quickly consummated, Coast agreeing to wait for Alan with his blplnne In Van Cort-landt Cort-landt park from midnight till daybreak, prepared If need be to undertake a transcontinental flight. Thereafter Mr. Law proceeded to rehabilitate re-habilitate himself In decent clothing and his own esteem; after bathing, ho dined nlone In his rooms, from a tray; after dining ho slept soundly for three hours and may be thought to have earned at least that much rest through having been for four hours a passenger passen-ger in a hydroaeroplane lost In fogs that wrapped Ixing Island and all the adjacent territory In an Impenetrablo shroud. Nor had this been all. Leaving asldo all that had led up to Alan's rescue by Coast: tho forced landing of the hydro-aiuoplano hydro-aiuoplano for lack of fuel had taken place on the south shore of tho Groat Moil 1 Ji bay; a search of hours had followed fol-lowed befor o a boat was found to convey con-vey Alan and tho aviator to the mainland; main-land; and a motor run of several hours had followed that, conveying Coast to his I leniiffllend hangars and Alan on to his hotel in New York. At midnight ho committed an net of burglary, calmly and with determination determina-tion breaking his way Into the hounn of Sonera Trine through the area windows win-dows and basement. In this nefarious buylncnn nothing hindered mid none opposwd hi in. But for a single lighted window e upper up-per tier (but not, he noted, the window to Rose's bedchamber) and one or two lights which he found burning dim in the kitchen offices and other servants' quarters on the lower floor he would have thought the houBe empty. He negotiated that last flight of Bteps which led to the topmost floor with extraordinary stealth, advised thereto by a sound, or rather a series of sustained sounds, which had theretofore there-tofore been inaudible to him. Possibly they had not till then existed; possibly the man servant whom ho ound snoring snor-ing In a chair outside a closed door had not fallen asleep and begun to snore until the moment when Alan set foot upon the lower step of that final ascent. No sound warned him of the door that opened at his back as he stood watching the sleeping guard. A piercing pierc-ing shriek was the first intimation he received that his presence had been discovered. It Berved as well to move him Instantly into action: a single glance overshoulder showed him the figure of a maid-servant In cap and gown, her mouth still wide ana run oi sound and Alan fell upon the guard like a thunderbolt. The man had barely time to Jump up and recognize the alarm: then a fist caught him on the point of his jaw, and he returned promptly to deep unconsciousness. No time now for qualms of compunction com-punction on account of the savage ruthleBsness of that blow: no time even to search the fellow for a key to the closed door: already the maid was taking the stairs in full flight and cry, four steps and a howl like a warlock's to every Jump. Backing off, Alan took a short run, cleared the prostrate body of the guard with a leap, and flung himself full force against the door, his shoulder striking a point nearest the lock. With a splintering crash it broke Inward. Without dignity or decorum he sprawled on all fours into the presence of Judith Trine. "Poor Mr. Law!" she cried, with a mocking nod, "always disappointed! I'm so sorry truly I am!" "Oh, spare me your sarcasm," he begged resentfully. "It's ridiculous enough, this whole mad business " "But I am not Barcastic," she insisted insist-ed with such sincerity that he opened his eyes In wonder. "Believe me, I am sorry for once it is I and not Rose whom you find locked up here! For, you see, I am locked up, by way of punishment thanks to my having had pity on you once too often while my father decamps mysteriously for parts unknown " "You don't know where he's gone, then?" "Do you?" she asked sharply. "In a general way. By special train to the West " "Taking Rose?" "So I'm told." The woman choked upon her anger, but quickly mastered it. "He shall pay for this!" she asseverated. assever-ated. "Your father? I wish him nothing more nor less than your enmity," Alan assured her civilly. "But since It seems that he has gone, and Rose with him, if you'll forgive me, I think I'll be going " "Alone?" "Why yes." "You wouldn't care for a companion du voyage?" she suggested. "Oh really!" he protested. She held up an arresting hand. "Listen!" "Lis-ten!" she begged. - 'ui.i "iv ouji. uiun lame llie UU mlstakable rattle of a policeman's locust lo-cust on the sidewalk. "That damned maid;" Alan divined. "The same," Judith agreed with ominous calm. "Has it struck you that you may have some trouble getting away without my permission?" "I'm not so stupid as not to have thought of that," he countered. "Then be advised aud take me with you." "In what capacity, please? As enemy or ally?" "As ally you're right: we can't be frlendB until we overtake that special spe-cial train. After that, by your leave, I'll shift for myself." "It's not such a bad notion," he reflected: re-flected: "with you under my eye, you can't do much to Interfere " "If I promise " she suggested. "I'll take your word," he ngreed simply. sim-ply. "But you're in for a lot of hardship, hard-ship, I'm afraid. The ono way to catch up with your father Is by aeroplane and I've got one waiting." She nodded Intently. "Don't consider con-sider me as a woman when It comes to hardship," nhe hinted obliquely. "I've no renson to, going on what I know of you." "Give me one minute to find my coat and hat." In less than that time she was at his side in the hallway. The police entered by tho front door as the two crept out of tho area window. win-dow. CHAPTER XXXI. Via Air Line. Not once In the course of the next sixteen hours but a thousand times Alan questioned (and, It will readily bo allowed, with nil excuses) his sanity san-ity In permitting himself to bo In-fluenced In-fluenced to humor Judith's Insistence and make her a party to thle wild aerial cross-country dash. Between whiles tho plane flew fast and high, rutting n direct lino, as the orow flies, athwart the eastern and western states. Chicago they raised ns a smudge on the northern horizon about one o'clock In tho nflernoon; thereafter some H. tlo time was lost In descents to ascertain ascer-tain the Identity of tho tunny railroad Uao that orimoroiiuU tu swimming ; landscape. Only at tne third cert Jia they succeed in picking up the line ot the Santa Fa. And it was some hour later, though still daylight, when they picked ap the special train, flying ilka a bunting across the levels. There was scant room for doubt that it was the train they Bought. Specials Spe-cials are not common. Moreover Alan contrived with considerable difficulty to focus binoculars upon the rear platform plat-form of the car, and caught a fugitive glimpse of a white-coated figure with a black face that was watching the bU plans In the same manner, that la, with glasses. The man In the white coat, Alan aa sured himself, was positively Barcua. And hardly had he comforted himself him-self with this assuranca when his sardonic sar-donic destiny struck the motor dumb. In response to his look of dashed Inquiry the aviator merely shook weary head and muttered the wordst "Engine trouble.", Swiftly the earth rose to receive th volplaning mechanism. Under Coastal admirable handling It settled down al J ''Aft, K " ' 3 escape or Midn ana juann. most without a jar, on the outskirts of a city whose name Alan never learned. For the biplane was barely at a standstill before he was out and, reeling reel-ing with the giddiness that affects men after long flights, making his way as best he might toward the manager's office connected with a trainyard Immediately Im-mediately adjacent to the spot where they had come to earth. Lavish disbursements of money won him his way against official protests that what he demanded was an Impossibility. Impos-sibility. Within twenty minutes, leaving leav-ing Coast to follow on when and as best he might, Alan and Judith werd spinning through open country In the cab of an engine running light, with only clear track between it and the special. The several hours that ensued before be-fore the rear lights of the special wera brought to view were none too many for the task Imposed upon Alan ol overcoming the scruples of the en gineer and fireman. Another minute, and less than fifty feet separated the two the special train arid the light engine, both hurtling hur-tling through the light at top speed. With a word to the engineer Alan crept out along the side of the boiler, with only a greasy handrail and a narrow nar-row foothold between himself and what meant death, or something closely close-ly resembling It, should he be shaken off by the tearing wind and the swaying sway-ing of the locomotive. It seemed an hour before ne worked himself up to the cowcatcher now within four feet of the rear platform of the special. On this last je could see a woman'! figure Indistinctly silhouetted against the light through the door, and beside her a man In a white coat, clinging fot dear life to the knob of the door holding it against the frantic efforts of some persons Inside to tear it open. Another hour of suspense dragged out or such was the effect while the light engine with intolerable slowne6i bridged those four scant feet. At length It was feasible to attemrt the thing. Rose (he could see her strained white face quite plainly now) was halt over the rail of the car ahead, ready to Jump. His heart failed him. It was too hazardous a risk. He dared not let her take it. Something very like' a shot sounded from the train a-d something very like a bullet whistled past his cheek, and proved the signal for several more. Strangely, that knowledge steadied Uia n n,vo 5 f - I ii I n i- fnrwnrH nmt holding on to a bar so. hot that It scorched his palm, he offered a hand to the girl on the rail. Her hand fell confidently Into it. She jumped. His arm wound round her as she landed on the platform of the cowcatcher. cow-catcher. He heard her breathe hlj name, then hurriedly rassed her between be-tween himself and tho boiler to the footway at tho side. The fireman was waiting there to help her. Alan turned his attention to Barcus. To Ms dismay he found that tho eo-glno eo-glno was losing ground. Tho spao was widening rapidly as Barcus r leased tho knob and threw himself over tho rail. lly a miraculous, flying leap, h man accomplished that Incredible feat and gained tho platform. An instant Inter ten feet separated the engine from the special, as tb engineer en-gineer applied the brakes. And this he did noun toon: ft at the same tlino Mnrrophat and o-other o-other appeared on the rear platform and opened a hot, but, tlinnks to tM widening distance. Ineffectual flrw. The engine ground slowly to a hart as tho rear lights of the special traia swept from lght round n bend, HO D1C CONTINUBIVJ " J |
