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Show CHAPTER XVIII Continued 14 Hut If r.cliocuf did not quite under- fund what I.ee wiih trying to toll lilm, he understood enough to send him Into j limning fury. He shook his fists. He danred. Ills face grow red wiih Mood. He seemed transformed oiH-e a-aln Into that monstrous, apelike ape-like rreature with whom Lee had en-ak'ed en-ak'ed In that desperate duel In the liasm. "We must save her, I.eboeuf." Lee exclaimed. "We must v,( lit onee." "We must i' at once. Monsieur. I'.ut one cannot return Unit way. There Is only one way Into the mini' beneath the stone. No one can breast this river. I shall show you. But wait!" He disappeared within u small cavern cav-ern In the mountain, and reappeared In u moment or two carrying a ride. "Now, Monsieur, there is no time to lose. I shall pick them off one by-one, by-one, as they come out of the house. Mb, my little Joyce in the hands of Hint devil! Itut my master has shown me In n dream that she shall not be harmed. Still. It was the last words my master spoke to me while he was alive, that I should protect her from him, and he has warned me many times !n dreams also. Kh, this way, Monsieur !" Lee, feeling recuperated, despite the throbbing of his bruised scalp, followed fol-lowed the old man along the narrow coping of rock beside the cataract. In a little while the path grew wider, the rocky walls fell hack, becoming outlying out-lying spurs of the mountains. The tour of the cataract grew faint behind t'.iem. They continued down a gentle gradient Into a level plain. The forest closed about them. Then, when they had been proceeding proceed-ing for about half an hour, the forest suddenly came to an end, and to Lee's amazement, he found himself standing near the bank of he main river which llowed through Siston lake. He could not have been more than hulf a mile from the log house. But they heard the sudden throbbing throb-bing of the motor boat. Lee ground his teeth. In an Instant old Leboeuf had pulled him down behind the shelter shel-ter of n rock. Then they heard Joyce scream. Again and again her agonized cries rang out. Lee tried to leap to his feet; he would have flung himself into the river, but the Indian's iron arms encircled en-circled him. And, as he tried to cry out In answer, a hand closed over his mouth. Next minute tne motor . boat shot Into mid stream. It contained Rath-way Rath-way and lite three aides; there was something huddled in the bottom of the boat, undoubtedly Joyce ; and there was no doubt that they were making for Slston lake. And all the while Joyce screamed, and Lee struggled in the Indian's grasp, and tried to cry out, but he could not move or utter a sound. "Monsieur! Think of her!" Leboeuf was hissing in his ear. "It is useless to betray yourself. We do what we can. You understand.' You promise?" And suddenly reason came back to Lee. He nodded and Leboeuf released re-leased him. But the next Instant it was Lee who knocked up Lebouef's hand as the old man was drawing a bead upon the boat, now some hundred yards away from thein In the middle of the stream. I.eboeuf looked at him reproachfully. "Monsieur, I could have killed him. I do not err at the mark, Monsieur." Again he was about to take aim, but Lee caught the rifle In his hand. "No, no, Leboeuf. She must not be left to the mercy of those three men. So long as Rathway lives there is a shade of hope for her. Don't you understand?" un-derstand?" Comprehension came to the old Indian. In-dian. He lowered the rifle. Joyce had ceased to cry out, and in dumb helplessness the two men watched the motor boat shoot past them and disappear around (he curve of the shore. They looked at each other. "If any harm has come to her." said Lee, "I swear that I'll kill Kathway like the hound that he is." "Good!" Leboeuf nodded vigorously. "Some men are like the carcajou, Monsieur. Mon-sieur. Yes, he must die. He has done harm enough for one man, and I think le bon Pieu, who Is so patient, has grown weary of him. But what will you do now. Monsieur?" "Ho to Siston lake. Take her away or die there." "Very good. Monsieur. That was my own plan also. But it is a journey of a night and a day. Monsieur, and it is necessary to eat. also to take food with us." Lee was for starting immediately, hut I.eboeuf persuaded him. They were to return to the log house, to see if any provisions had been left behind. If not, they were to go through the mine nnd to Leboeuf s den in the rocks, which could be reached by fordir.s te edge of the subterranean subterran-ean stream, it gave access in c;? way. but not in the other. And Leboeuf' Le-boeuf' s decision proved a fortunate one. for at the door of the log house tne met i-iither Metirath. his ritle acr--s his hack. "Thank Cod I've found ye. Anderson!" Ander-son!" he cried. "I couldna sleep all the nicht for trouhlin' about ye and that puir lassie. So before the dawn I started orf to mak' sure that no evil thing had happened beyond what isouldna be avoided. But what has happened, and whaur Is she. nd that hand o skunks?" ,.,... I- Lee told him as concisely as possible pos-sible while old Leboeuf. bustling inside in-side the house, brought out some Hour and bacon that the gang had left behind, be-hind, and proceeded to prepare a meal. Father McUrath listened, uttering sharp expletives which sounded remarkably re-markably like clipped oaths, deprived of their harmful characteristics by the alteration of an occasional consonant. "Aye, and I'm no surprised," he said. "Tis but what I'd have expected. But still, what can ye do, Anderson? The law's the law, whether of God or mon, an' that compact ye made wl' Kathway has na blndin' power." "I can arrest him for attempted murder." The priest laid n hand on his shoulder. shoul-der. "Ye canna do that, lad," he answered. an-swered. "There's na court in the land would convict him. In the firrst place, tin mgli ye meant only to save the lassie from hlin, there's na jury would believe it. They'd say that compact by which ye were to get his wife for the mine stinks In the sight o' heaven. Aye, and they'd say ye arrested him to get the wiimman. Aye, and, fur-thermyir, fur-thermyir, ye canna shame her by bringin' her into court as a witness. Na, lad, ye'Il e'en ha' to let it go. "Ye fought a guid tight for her, lad, but there's naething more to do. Nor can ye arrest him for hootch-sellin', for that wud he meexln' up public duty wi' private vengeance. Ye'll see It, lad, when ye grow cool." The shrewd, hard, common sense seemed to turn Lee's heart to stone. He knew Father McGrath was right. There was nothing he could do. He could not even attempt the arrest of Tlerre nnd Shorty for the dynamiting without bringing the whole story into publicity. And lie knew well enough that, prima facie, It looked simply like an attempt on his part to possess himself of the wife of another man. Then there was the discredit that such a case would bring on the police. But as he stood there, feeling his last hopes gone, Leboeuf laid down his skillet and came toward them. The old man had overheard all that had passed. "Listen, Messieurs," Leboeuf said, "now I can tell you what I know. I ..ave known Jim Kathway under many other names, since, when he was a young man, he first came into this district to sell drink to my people. "Messieurs, many years have gone by twenty years since he came to Lake Mlsquash, where my people had their tepees. He was a friend to us. He trapped, and, If he sold a little whisky, that was between ourselves, you understand, Monsieur. And he was my friend. "One day we both start to take the furs from our trap lines. His line runs east and mine, runs west. I leave my woman In my tepee. A young wife, Messieurs, much younger than myself. In one week I return. My tepee Is empty. My woman is gone. So, too, my furs. "Later I learn. She has gone with Kathway. He keep her six weeks. Then he drive her away into the forest. for-est. She dare not return to her own people. So she go south to the cities of the white people. Long I search for her, but I never find her. You know what happens to our women in the cities of the white men, Messieurs. "Then my heart becomes hard, like a stone. As for her, she is nothing to me no longer. But some day I find Rathway again, and then I kill him. "Well, Messieurs, many years ago I come here. I work for my master, Mr. Pelly. He trusts me. He tells me the seciet that he has come here to hide. He shows me the mine that he has found. And for years we work it together, taking out the gold. He want me to take a share, but gold is nothing to me, now that I have the revenge In my heart. It shall be all fot him and Mam'zelle Joyce some day. "Then Rathway comes. My people have caught him doing another such a wrong, but my master tells them to forgive, and because they love my master, they do not injure him. So the pence is laid upon me also. "Rut I tell my master what Rathway Rath-way did to my woman, nnd he turns back in time to save Mam'zelle Joyce from him. He shoots him through the arm. And Rathway smiles and tells him he has learned the secret that can bring my master to die. "After that ray master is as his servant. ser-vant. And again I say, let me kill hint, and again my master says no. And lie obeys Rathway in fear, only he would never show him the mine, which is for Mam'zelle Joyce. "Night after night Rathway follows us. but always he loses us at the rocking stone, for he cannot come near enough to discover the secret without being seen. Then Mam'zelle Joyce goes away to school, anil after that Rathway Rath-way gives my master no peace. And at 1-Js.t lie betrays him, thinking that vhen my master lias been hung for the murder, the mine becomes Mam'zelle Mam-'zelle Joyce's, and he will marry her and It will be his own. "And so n policeman comes here that was during the war. But my master could not he found, for lie was dead already. You see, Messieurs, Rathway thought perhaps he would not be hung after all, since it was so long since my master killed his enemy, and so the mine would not be his; and so he murders him." "What's that?" cried Lee, starting toward Leboeuf. "He kills my master, Monsieur." "You saw this?" By Victor Rousseau (Copyright by W. Q. Chapman.) WNU Sorvtco. "Yes, Monsieur. It was near the rocking stone. Rathway had followed him and demanded knowledge of the entrance. He threatened him with his revolver. My master drew his nnd Rathway fired. My master dropped dead. Rathway flung his body over the cliff into the mine not knowing that It was the mine. He thought that It would neuT be found." Lee turned to Father McGrath. "I'm going to save her now," he cried exultantly. "I am authorized to take any necessary action in connection with Felly's death, and I propose to put Rathway under urrest and bring him in to Manistree. Leboeuf, you will swear In court you saw this murder?" mur-der?" "I saw It, Monsieur, from the tunnel, tun-nel, but I could not have stopped It, and so I hid, lest Rathway should rind the entrance. Afterward I was afraid. I am old now, not like I was when Rathway stole my woman from me. I was afraid of him. And my master comes to me in dreams and says, 'Not yet, Leboeuf !' " Lee gripped the old man by the arm. "Leboeuf, will you come to Siston lake with me and help me arrest Rathway? We'll both probably get killed, but I'm going if I have to go alone." "I will go with you. Monsieur," answered an-swered Leboeuf quietly. "Two of us against six. But " "Haud harrd, mon!" cried Father McGrath. "Wull I be too old, think ye, to help ye arrest that rascally, murrderous hooch peddler and clean oot that nest o' skunks wi' ye?" "You, Father?" "Aye, mysel'," answered the priest. '"Twas surely a lucky Impulse that made me bring this rifle wl' me. I doot na, Anderson, but the three o' us can render a guid account o' ourselves." our-selves." "And see, Monsieur," said old Leboeuf, Le-boeuf, stepping toward the house. He stooped and picked up the rifle Father McGrath had given Lee. Lee He Stooped and Picked Up the Rifle Father McGrath Had Given Lee. had let It fall In the snow the night before when he was surprised by Estelle. The weapon, nearly hidden in the drift beneatli the window, had escaped the notice of the gang. Lee opened the breech end found six rounds in the magazine. "Weil ha' six round apiece, and If we're prrudent, we won't need that many," said Father McGrath. "Ye ha' six in yours, Leboeuf?" But the Indian had a single-loading rifle, an old Winchester. However, he pulled a handful of cartridges out of his pocket. "That's good enough," said Lee. After packing a little food to suffice suf-fice them on the journey, they started along the trail. Some little distance from the house, however, Leboeuf showed to Father McGrath and Lee the prints of double horse-tracks, going and returning. Leboeuf stooped ami examined them. "It is the horse of Rathway's woman," he pronounced. And with that Lee recalled his interrupted in-terrupted conversation with Estelle the night before. "You don't have to ,commit murder to get her." she had said. But Joyce's appearance had broken off their conversation. And he wondered what it was that Estelle could have told him. nnd what it was beyond jealousy of Joyce, that had brought her in Rathway's wake. Father McGrath turned to him. "By the way, lad, there's more than six there's nine or ten of that h I's crew," he said. CHAPTER XIX Flimsy Bars Rathway confronted Estelle with bitter bate In bis look as she came up to him. "Well, where have you been?" he demanded de-manded roughry. "What's that to you?" Estelle retorted. re-torted. "See here ! You think I'm going to have you prowling all round the country, coun-try, doing God knows what, when I'm keeping you here?" His eyes roamed over her. He saw that her clothes were splashed with muddy snow. He saw the fatigue In her bearing. 'By God, you followed me !" he cried. He seized her fiercely by the wrists. Estelle looked into his face, laughing contemptuously. Rathway's eyes fell. He swore under his breath. "You think you can frighten me by violence, Jim? You ought to have learned by now that that doesn't pay. Which did you bring back, the girl or the gold?" Rathway writhed under the sting of her contempt. "You were eavesdropping eavesdrop-ping outside the house, d n you !" Suddenly he changed his tone. "Both!" he cried exultantly. "I've got the girl, and I've cached the gold near here, where no' one can find it." His rage broke out again. "I've had enough of your tongue !" he cried. "I'll have no spies in my camp. You could put a rope around my neck with what you know. By God, Estelle, a little common sense should tell you you're playing with fire when you try to cross me. I've never treated you mean with money. You'll have enough to live In comfort on for the rest of your life If " "What have you done with Anderson?" Ander-son?" asked Estelle quietly. "Anderson's where he'll cause no further trouble." "You mean you you killed him, after after your agreement?" "D n you, you heard that, did you?" shouted Rathway, turning livid with fear. "No, I didn't kill him, if you want to know. He met with an accident, ac-cident, i "See here, Eslelle," he continued, "yon and me've got to work together on this game and not try to cross one another. Play fair with me and I'll play fair with you. I want you to make that girl act sensible. She's like a tigress. Now you're an intelligent woman. You know how I feel about her, and quarrelling won't help matters. mat-ters. It won't last, and then I'll come back to you " Estelle drew her hands out of Rathway's Rath-way's grasp and placed them on his shoulders, looking searchingly into his face. "Now, Jim, I want you just to listen lis-ten to me," she said. "You know you've never gone wrong when you've followed my advice. And I guess you know I'm the only friend you've got In the world, don't you. Jim?" "Well, what if that's so?" he muttered. mut-tered. "I told you you'd made a mistake in bringing that girl here before." "Aye," he sneered, "nnd you told me old Felly's mine didn't exist. And I've got the gold! I've got the gold, I tell you!" he cried exultantly. "I was wrong, then, but that was a matter of fact and not of judgment. Jim, you know this is nothing but an Infatuation of yours. As you said, it won't last. And what are you going to do with her afterward? You know what it'll mean to you." Estelle was pleading now. "You know when McGrath Mc-Grath learns the truth, he'll raise the whole country against you. Let her go, Jim. What do you mean to do?" "You know what I mean to do !" snarled Rathway; but he could not meet her gaze. Estelle laid her hand on his arm. "Jim, did you ever have pity on any 3ne In your life?" she asked. "Oh, maybe, when I was young and foolish." "Did you ever feel respect for any woman, Jim?" "Ah, cut out that line of talk, Estelle! Es-telle! Don't try to ride the moral horse when it's Just plain jealousy one female jealous of another. That's all it Is." "It's not, Jim. And you'll regret what you're planning to do. Jim, I I feel you're slipping your neck into a noose " He leaped back nnd swore violently at her. "Cut out that talk, I tell you !" he shouted, almost beside himself. "Jim, listen just listen. I guess I'm not what anyone would call a good woman, but I was like that girl once, and I can't bear it, Jim. Jim, I'll do anything in the world for you if you'll have pity on her. It may be there's jealousy, too, but it's much more much more for her sake and for yours." Estelle was working herself into one of her hysterical frenzies. Rathway grew crafty. It is not easy for a man to fool a woman, except when she Is in love with him. Then it Isn't very hard. And Estelle was desperately eager to be deceived. "See here, Estelle," said Rathway gently, "you know if I let her go what would happen. I've got to keep her here till I know there's going to he no come back. I've got to see this tiling through. She'll come to uo harm at my hands." Estelle looked at him eagerly. "Jim, you mean that?" she cried. "You swear that you mean it?" "I mean more than that. You know nic and you are partners, through thick and thin, for a good while now, though we've had our quarrels. Well, I won't deny what you said about an infatuation. But I'm gelling to see things reasonable. And you're my old partner, Stella." What a fool the woman was all women were ! She was clinging to him, looking up at him with that absurd ab-surd expression on her face that had once set his heart leaping. How he hated her I "Jim! Jim, dear. If I could dare to believe what you're saying " "Oh, I guess you can believe me, Stella," Rathway answered easily. "I'll have to keep her here a week or so, Just to show McGrath I'm not running run-ning away. You see, there's Anderson's Ander-son's accident. He fell down the cliff killed at once, of course; and If I was to go away now, they'd think there'd been foul play or something." "You you swear it was an accident, Jim?" "Sure It was ! So you see, Stella, I've got to keep her here a little while. Then we'll get away from here forever, for-ever, you and me, and the gold." "Oh, Jim, you've made me happier than I've been since since you seemed to cease to care. You do care for me a little, Jim?" she asked, nestling against him. "As much as ever," answered Rathway. Rath-way. And, as she twined her arms about his neck, he bent and kissed her. It was the kiss of Judas. But Estelle, happy ngaln to feel her love returned, only lifted her lips to his In a touch that made him wince at his own treachery. "Then I'll go and stay with that poor girl tonight, Jim, dear," she said, "and tell her that there's nothing to be afraid of." Rathway, taken by surprise, managed man-aged to keep his countenance, but when Estelle had departed for the hut, he broke into almost maniacal curses. D n her! She had tricked him with her very innocence ! And once again he found himself in the old predicament: he could take the gold and leave the girl, or he could wait till the opportunity arose to take Joyce, certain that meanwhile his men would demand their shares. Eight of them ! He fell into a gnashing fury. He had risked so much, and this fool of a woman had balked him at the end I Hour after hour that night Estelle sat beside Joyce In the hut among the reeds, soothing her, mothering her, coaxing her to eat, and trying to restore re-store her tottering mind to sanity. Hour after hour, Joyce, at her side, sat staring out into the darkness, and did not utter a word. And hour after hour Rathway sat drinking in his hut on the promontory, nnd seeking that intoxication that persisted per-sisted In eluding him, without which lie could not shake off the uncertainties uncertain-ties that oppressed him. He must get Estelle out of the way. The thought of Joyce was unbearable Joyce, whom he had caught a second time, only to find himself enmeshed In a web of unforeseen things, flimsy, and yet like iron bars between them. If he attacked Estelle she would shrink from nothing. She carried a pistol, too. He dared not stain his hands with another murder. He was afraid of her trust in him, which had disarmed him ; and, to be fair with him, he shrank from such a finale to his association with her. The face of Lee, upturned and white and ghastly in the current, stared at him from the walls, as Pelly's used to do. He shook his fist at It. It drove him out, to pace the promontory; promon-tory; then he would return and hurl himself into his chair savagely, and drink again. And again he would fling himself from the hut; and all the while the conflict raged In his soul. He could hear his men muttering about the fire. They were drunk, no doubt, but they had never acted that way in drunkenness before. Something was brewing. He must act that night. He must act soon. He must gag that wild cat, Estelle. And the face of Joyce rose up before be-fore his eyes again. He went back, drained his glass, put out his light. He waited a minute till the liquor began be-gan to race through his veins, planning plan-ning what he should do "Jim !" He started. His hands leaped to his pistol as two shadows glided in through the doorway. Shorty aud Pierre advanced ad-vanced openly toward him. (TO BE CONTINUED.) |