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Show By OPIE READ Copvrtu1'. The UU SynJIcntn, Ino. NADINE LA VITTE STNOrSIS. The time is tlio Into s,)a or irly "TOw and tlio mono a .(onnibwit on tho Mlssfippl rivor. ill tho types of tho I'Tli'd arc nresi'iit arid tlio Moullns palace Is JJistlnsulslied hy merriment, dancing danc-ing ft'ml Siilliiiili-y. There ai-o the customs"' drinking and R.imbllns, also VIi'bII Praoe. a yonns nortli- mission of revenue. 11 meets an ceentrlc character In the person ' c one Liberty Shottle who Is con-stantly con-stantly tomptliiK the fc-oddess of chance. Tliey asree to a singular iiact. Draco, seeing n opportunity to use Shottle, eontkles to him that his mission Is to find a. certain ex-guerrllla, ex-guerrllla, Stepho la Vltte, who had murdered Draco's father. It is his determination to luins La Vltte aa )ilh as Hainan. Drace falls In love with a striking young beauty on the boat The steamer reaches New Orleans, at that time In the somewhat turbulent throes of carpetbag car-petbag government. The young men attend the French hall and Drace unexpectedly meets tho girl. . i. ..nmnnnli.il hv nnA PnVi'e one i nw...,- -.- ---- apparently her nance. Shottle learns that the name of the girl is Nadlno la Vltte. Drace passes an uneasy night torn by the suspicion that Nadine is the daughter of old Stepho la Vltte, now an admitted outlaw. Now, more than ever. Is he resolved to find where the girl ! lives and to find Stepho. Drace and Shottle begin a search of the city. Drace takes a hand In a carpetbagger riot. He catches a glimpse of one he is sure is Nadine. Drace and Shottle get Into bad standing with the authorities, and are given until the next day to beard a steamer bound north. Returning Re-turning to the house where he thought he had glimpsed the girl, Drace finds the place abandoned. Shottle discovers that a ease of wine on the steamer Is addressed to Stepho la Vltte at Farnum's Landing, Mississippi. It is the next stop below Pethpage's Landing and General Bethpage is Liberty Shot-tie's Shot-tie's uncle. They decide to visit him. Liberty goes broke again and swears off again on betting. They are cordially received by the General Gen-eral and his wife. CHAPTER VI Continued. "Oh, not very much. I nm fond of him too, and I believe he is going to be of much help to me." "Well, I've lost five hundred this morning, but I can stitnd it. I have ordered or-dered the mules hitched up, and am 'going to drive with you about the , plantation. I nm going to show you a ! government here In the delta." During the drive the old gentleman V was talkative, sometimes with the school man's hesitating precision, but f more often as the free companion, agreeable rather than discursive Drace evinced in everything a keen interest, in-terest, but it was not real. His heart was not with him. It was in New Orleans, Or-leans, In a narrow street where boards were nailed across a door. From what he had been able to gather from the General and by talking talk-ing In seeming Idleness to boatmen and to men along the River, Drace confirmed the information snatched by Shottle from the label on the Frenchman's French-man's wine case namely, that old Stepho had a haunt somewhere In the neighborhood. A shrewd old negro end said that the outlaw lived In the swamp, In a house built of periwinkle shells. On the opposite shore, and several miles below the General's home, there lay a great wood of cypress cy-press and a thick taDgle of salt cedar, a sort of everglade, a marsh with hun- I dreds of knoll-Islands here nnd there rising among the bayous. Here was Indeed In-deed an outlaw's paradise, for Drace was told that not nearly all Its lanes and crooked byways of brown water had been explored. Herein he began his search for old Stepho, day after day penetrating farther nnd farther into in-to this moss-hanging wild. He did not confide in Genera! Bethpage, for his mission was sacred unto himself alone, and by himself alone must It be accomplished. ac-complished. At his feet in the canoe lay n rope, one end of it a hangman's noose, nnd ae smiled at It, grim and firm of faith. Sometimes his canoe would stall in the arpet of scum. But he forced his way Ihrough Into a narrow and unobstructed unob-structed channel. Now he puddled swiftly, in front of hm a great alligator alli-gator arose and sank, the canoe graz-lnE graz-lnE his scaly back. With a shriek great birds flew, flapping low, their long legs Wretched out behind them. Drace was armed with a revolver, but did not wish to fire it, caution warning him. When he ceased for a time to paddle, lw still everything was 1 The adventurer liked to feel that no one had ever been there before. But nw suddenly something caught his J". In the green tangle on a low nk he saw a pole with wires strung ,0 't. a sort of gate. The wires were wvered with vines, trained nbout them. for what purpose, here In this ."fishy tangle? He caught hold of ft el and pulled the canoe up closer, j' hold of the pole nnd now he l-onnd a lower slat to which the wires I"- also attached. Farther along he discovered a sort of hinge attached to 6 (8Mg almost hidden by briers. rl open iVs gate and see what lies Monti," he mused, drawing th mnoe wck to the other end. He pulled nt ,he Pole, nnd it yielded. The gate opened, and through the w-eds that PPeared to have boon bent by the tossing of o boat, he saw a narrow 'Winnnel, I( was easy enough to shove through toe weeds ond to enter the new canal, j mm",.. 1!J,r0!"1"'1' ""I.ng about " the enormous Cyprcsa treog 'w he enmo upon a widening that ""'"' "ke a mlllpoml, except that In t'H' midst of It arose ,, lsUlnu of tuU 'ane. It was nn llUnicUve si , wis,.,! paa.iim. t0 ,00k- s o drifted toward the island's shore 1 e took hold of a cane root and pulled the nose of the CIUU)e mrd ,nt0 the hank. The,, he got out, parting the stirc nnd stubborn cane In a shade as dense as night. But now through this parting hallway he could see sunlight beyond, and knew that he was about to come Into nn open space. And out Into It he looked with a start; for there, n few feet from the edge of the fringe of cane, stood a small house made of minute shells cemented perl-winkles. perl-winkles. Its roof was of thatch, the long rushes gathered from the swamp; and about the door was a cypress vine, Its red blooms dazzling In the sun. And then n bended cane Drace held was crushed In his hand, for through the door and out beneath the vine came the barbaric rose-maid, Nadine la Vltte. CHAPTER VII She did not take fright when she saw him. She was startled, but did not run Into the house; she stood dazed, her marvelous eyes In wide stare. Slowly he came forward, gazing, gaz-ing, his hat In his hand. He dropped the hat, stooped, caught It up and now stood before her. If she were agitated, he could not discover It. She stood where the red blooms brushed her brow. He held forth his hand, and slowly she shook her head. "Monsieur, how foolish to cornel If you do not go now, in a short time you will die. My father! He w.ill shoot you. I should like It not to see you dead, you nre so brave. My father, he will think you come for him." "But I will tell him that I did not. I" He moved nearer, but with her hand raised, palm toward him, she motioned him away. "You do not know what you talk. Nothing could you tell him, for the infill 'miff! Wmi p 11 Pi Mmw Through the Door and Out Beneath the Vine Came the Barbaric Rose-Maid, Rose-Maid, Nadine La Vitte. gun fire, and you will be no more. Please go away now." "Oh, It is because you want to get rid of me." "No no. no. It is not that. I like vou much. Tou nre so brave - and handsome. It Is because I fear for vou Mv father would be angry to Ce me" talk with a northern mam Go now, nnd for my sake, come no "r. Boyce," said Drace then, "is not a northern man?" cane he come. Oh, won . i be kind to me nnd go at on eel j "Kind to you? God bless 5 would die for you." t Oh, you make love soon won't you please go now! Quick, I something." t et me stay "You hear my heart. I-et me ten minutes, nnd then I go. "Ah, but why would you gi minutes of fear?" , IIe saw that her nnx.e y was t and. his heart smote""; f ther he the North. .nntcd to tell you "yeS- 1 IVmy eg t going is something b, t my rep so deep that I f gun s n0t rUase. when that tills to me u jet; it be next Thursday. M "'!uIS0F;;darand that w.U be a week, lacking one day. Ton have set ! doomsday for lny return." ; "If you come before, yon will not And me. And now it is the good-bv." bhe drew back quickly through the door, and down Into the fringe of tall cane he went, parting his :ay to the canoe Hint lay nosing the mossy bank Only now that she was gone and nlit had come did he remember re-neml.cr re-neml.cr that this girl who had bewitched be-witched the swift minutes with him "as the daughter of his sworn enemy Stepho la Vitte. A voice called him as he was cursing curs-ing himself for a traitor to his father's memory. On a point of land he saw three men standing. One of them beckoned him, and he turned In toward to-ward them. One of them spoke: "Would you be kind to set us across? The night he comes, and we would not be lost in the swamp. We will get to the river. Would you, please?" "Yes, but I don't know that my canoe ca-noe will hold four. We may get a ducking." " He pulled alongside and steadied the canoe while they got in. Now he paddled pad-dled carefully. The man who had talked, and whom the other two addressed ad-dressed as Tonez, requested to be set on a'bushy shore where the water was so shallow that the canoe was almost stuck In the ooze. With his paddle Drace propped his craft steady, for them to get out. Tonez got out and with the quickness of a cat snatched a rope from beneath his coat and threw a noose about Drace's arms. I Then the two men In the boat threw themselves ui on him. There was a hard struggle In the canoe and then out into the water, but they brought him ashore, wound about with the rope. Now they made haste to tie him securely. se-curely. The canoe was dragged ashore; Drace stretched out in It, nnd now they took it on their shoulders and hastened through the tangled underbrush. un-derbrush. He had fought hard, but had not cried out. But as he was carried along, he swore bitterly at himself for not looking at first with suspicion on the brutes who now had him In their power. "Ah, you would steal about and spy," said Tonez. "But you steal about no more. The carpetbaggers, they say, 'You brnve?' and you say, 'Yes, I am brave.' Then they say, 'You find old Stepho.' And you go to find him. He Is not at home. But his men, they come just In time." "You are liars. I was" "Ah, you come with the joke. Tomorrow, To-morrow, we will laugh. Will you? No, you will not laugh." Drace lay quietly tugging at the ropes that bound him. If he could spring out free, what a scattering he would make of them! They stopped, entering some sort of doorway, and rested the canoe on the ground. Toner, lighted a candle, and Drace saw that he was In an old cabin, almost ready to fall. They rolled him out on the UOOr, IHCK uuu, uv.u.- they passed the paddle of the canoe, so that he could not turn over. Then the others went out, leaving Tonez holding the candle. "Does the kind gentleman know why they gone? They go to get the dry rushes and the dead bark. For why? To make the fire. It Is not cold, no? But they will make the fire of the cab-In cab-In and when the morning come, there will be the ashes of the kind gentleman; gentle-man; and the people they will say: Ah, he lie down to sleep, and burn UIDr'ace heard them piling their mur-derous mur-derous fuel Into a corner Again he appealed to them, tried threats, told them that his friends would hang them; but they laughed, Tonez bend- Infr over nun ln a few minutes I light the blaze nnd take the candle away . . . You t",k of Stepho's daughter. Remember she may love me some, too." "You Spanish devil !' -The kind gentleman he come close rm Portuguese. But no matter. When g epho come, we tell him what we do, in he Pat us on the back and give us 2ne But the light would hurt the Uind gentleman's- eyes when he lie U n his law I will not stoop that way on s Jn 80 ,0W -V ,i ev -t" It will make the eefou.d not see him hut he . h the firsr crackle of the dr.ed hetfl sow he flame dim the candle might he strove o a1 bu( that he might roll toward I t e it was strong, nnd he bro tlP f theb at he clr hoards above t0M h'mtcw- S-nythe roof woM 7Xn "sparks would fly upward. riJVeth- see,ng all Why should he ( l'e , He had t,,IS,n ft "men a rching death rei,d ,th" snoa" f"sh won. sn' sometimes spu k pn ,rlv!nl h('re soon he would writhe In a sr. rrrsz T-rahonM HcU h!W with its agon; fZTZxMt 'God bless you. Nadine' |