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Show P The i BLADE of ; PICARDY t : By .: fred Mclaughlin ; s ' Copyright by . ' Tho Bobbj-Jlorrlil Co. ' ' W. N. U. Servic 1 I waited. "Indeed," Juarez urged; "wlnu Is "the next move in your 'game'?" "Pablo Madrella," continued Reno "and Francois de Vigny look very "much alike. We, who have seen them. ,'kaW; and upon this fact we build a plan that shall enable your excellency o be advised in advance of the moves ol Maximilian." "Tour explanation does not explain Cantain Leroux; proceed." The gen reml's eyes had never left my face X "Some time in the distant past, ex pellency, the families of Captain dp Vigny and I'ablo Mmlrella must Imve Vome in contact, for the resemblance Jbetween them is so startling thai beardless and attired in the service of yhe emperor our Pablo might walk ie streets of Mexico City and those iirho are acquainted with Francois de 'Pigny would accost him as their -'riend. So, we shave him, and, in .'" Jie city, he will be In touch with ilie ""'orces of the Empire. Is It not un '.Sxcellent plan?" The general smiled, i I was proud of Leroux. How nicely lad he brought us through this Im--'asse ! "If Pablo," said the general, "can eraove a beard and become Captain lj e Vigny, why cannot De Vigny gl ow ' "ne and become Madrella? And if e Vigny had considered such a step e would, of course, first acquaint ;imself with Intimate details of Manila's Ma-nila's life would he not?" "Undoubtedly, excellency, else he lould fail out of hand." In menial trirture, I hung on the brink of (les-Nir. (les-Nir. What would be his next ques-, ques-, on? jjf' "There Is one obstacle De Vigny "ould never surmount, one bit of evi-f evi-f race he could not possess. That evi- ?nce would remain, at all costs, in L.ie keeping of Pablo Madrella, for it r-j his life. If you can produce that, . :.ib!o, well and good ; if not, you are Indeed unfortunate." "And that, excellency?" said I, won-coring won-coring if Eesancon, as a last resort, -:rOul( really shoot, and give us a ance for our lives. Z "Only a piece of paper," said .luar- "on which has been written, and rued by me, an order passing Pablo .idrella y Gutierrez through the Lib- pal lines." :r-He waited, while, with trembling gers, I fumbled through my poek-finally poek-finally bringing to light that po--it pass. He read It with knit brows L i, returning it to me, held out his T: nd. 'l'ou'll forgive me, Pablo ; I must be .'tain, and so much depends upon I feel, somehow, that Mexico ""es or dies witis me; that all the .'es of this unhappy land have de-,,-mded upon my shoulders." ;ii the long silence that followed s speech the general pressed my id In an Iron grip. "I must give country my best." Each one of us, excellency, is try-' try-' to do just that," said I, and Le-' K smiled at my double entendre. There is a task for you, Pablo." irez produced a sealed letter. "We st attend to Miguel Lopez; he is igerous. I have arranged for Max-Han Max-Han to pay the colonel for his -yichery." The general smiled. lis war of ours is more of ln- 'lie than of arms. You wilt dellv--' this communication to Lopez, and iiall see that It Is found upon him." , ' USuch a task will be one of pleas- IK excellency.'' assume, Pablo, that you will have iJlOvered this within forty-eight p,rs, and my other communication 0r3 be timed accordingly." , o, as we stood rigid and erect, be ''' e us good night. .flint," sai( Leroux, "is that and "ser shave I never want to see I" grabbed his glass of wine and yed It. Ve owe our lives. Rene." I said, I'yv" 1 -JSp- """" "We Owe Our Lives, Rene," I Said, "to That Ready Wit of Yours." "to thai ready wit of yours, i'ou must escape this night, both of you." Rene's eyes questioned me. "Don't you understand?" I cried. 'Madrella may come at any time ; even if he doesn't this hoax cannot be kept long under cover. Benito Juarez will soon find out the trick that has been played upon him." "Suppose he does, Francois what then?" "What then? Are you mad, Rene; cannot you see? Soon the night will have gone, and with it your chances for escape." "We will stay with this tiling that we have started, Francois. After our coup de main has been accomplished we will consider means of escape, anil not before. As Louie has said, a great battle may. some day, hang In the balance, bal-ance, and then two soldiers of the Empire . . ." I gave it up. Ah, Mon Dieu, had I known had 1 been able to see Into In-to the future I should have insisted upon their flight ; or, failing In that, I should have stayed longer with them, talking in the moonlight CHAPTER VIII Dolores At Treinta I found Senor Perez In a high state of nerves. Because of lack of time I had, perforce, to fore go the hospitality of his house. I told Don Felis, however, that Juarez loved him and that he would not forgot for-got him ; and I explained the loss of my beard. As be had seen t lie general put an arm around me, and had heard him call me Pablo, any explanation or none would have sufficed. That pass of Madrella had proved to be a valuable find indeed. I was going home, for the City ol Mexico since the coming of La Anita into my life had suddenly assumed tLe role of home. France, somehow, seemed very far away. The city had been before my meeting with the beautiful lady of Aveniila Flores merely a pleasant playground, for the duties of a staff officer are never very hard.. But this great love of mine though hopeless, for she had forbade me the house had given life a deeper deep-er significance; had made, of this sweet world of ours something greater great-er by far than a playground ; had lifted the goal of my ambition and , desire up among the very stars. Now, like the good general that I . hoped some day to become, I buiided a complete mental picture of the ground that lay before me. Lestrange was an obstacle that might because of the lie I had told Madrella he removed by that worthy himself; a , possibility that pleased me not a Iit- ' tie, for Captain Lestrange had been guilty of the blackest, treachery. Second Sec-ond : Col. Miguel Lopez, whom I ; would have to reach through the emperor; em-peror; If, Indeed, Pablo did not come 'to my aid in this direction also. And last but by no means least Madrella. Ma-drella. Aside from the service to our respective countries there lay be- 'tween Madrella and me a potent personal per-sonal hatred that might have been traced to the lovely lady of Avenida Flores, and that would die, I feared, only with the death of one or both of us. Evidently he had made no attempt to follow me to Puente de Ixtla; I assumed, therefore for I had no thought that the blow on his head jhad killed him that he would be in Cuernavaca, awaiting me, or that he ,had returned to Mexico City to confront con-front Lestrange and Lopez. If I did not find him In Cuernavaca, there : would be, I was sure, an Interesting I time ahead of me when I should reach ;the City of Mexico. Of course, Pasqual, at the crossing of the arroyo, may have stopped him; !but, in spite of all my confidence In Pasqual, there was a serious doubt In my mind of the Indian's ability to accomplish ac-complish that If Neville, with the advantage of his size and strength and shrewdness, had failed . . This, at least, could be settled, for there was Pasqual. He let out a cry of welcome, and came down the ridge with the surefooted sure-footed swiftness of an antelope. "Ah, Pasqual," said I, "buenos dias." "But the beard, senor?" I laughed. "A" beard, Pasqual, is but the mantle of the moment, to be cast aside as the need for it departs, liesldes, I do not care to look like the bearded man who visited me In rue giiMJin ni curly morning" yesterday. Have you scon him, Pasqual?" I To shook his head. "Ho has not como this way." "Then he waits for me in Cuernavaca, Cuerna-vaca, eh? In that case, Pasqual, we must hasten, for there are many things to do." The Indian considered his burro, which stood head pendant, eyes closed, ears dmoping beside the mad. "Can one hasten on such a boast, senor?" "Get up behind me; he will carry both with ease." The burro, by dint of walking a while and then putting on a spurt of wild galloping, managed to keep In sight as the sturdy mountain pony, with that swift running walk of his. put the miles behind us, "A good horse, senor," said Pasqual. ' in my ear. "Aye; I'm going to give him to you and Dolores as a wedding present." pres-ent." "Ah senor!" "Indeed. He will help you put In a crop of grain, Pasqual, and he will help you harvest It. Of a Sunday, and sometimes of an evening, he will if harnessed to one of those light, two-wheeled carts seen In the city and purchased for a few pesos carry you und Dolores far. Your station in life will be greatly enhanced thereby." "But the horse is a thing of great value, senor, and you " . "Is my life a thing of small value. Pasqual, and did you not risk your own to save it? This horse is all in my payment for your service ; besides, I am presenting him also to Dolores." Now a long silence fell between us, to be broken by the grateful Indian only as we entered the outskirts of Cuernavaca : "Will you go with me, senor, to see Dolores ; it will be a day long remembered remem-bered in our lives? Dolores will want to see you to thank you. I would have her happy." , "I shall be pleased to know Dolores; Do-lores; I would tell her also of thy service to me, and of my gratitude. Few men, Pasqual, are worthy." We stopped before a tiny house with red-tiled roof and walls that were plastered and painted a rich brown with border of red. Pasqual whistled. It was a perfect Imitation of the call of the slate-gray partridge. "We will wait a little; eh, senor?" "Yes, Pasqual; we will always wait." In five minutes the white front door Opened and a ligure came out, a fig-Tire fig-Tire in a simple dress of golden brown, with a purple mantilla over the straight black hair. She was small and slim, with the light and easy .grace of a fawn; and, as she ran swiftly into the arms of the bronzed, .broad-shouldered man who stood at the gate, a great longing possessed me, and my mind raced ahead to the 'city and, perchance, to the lady that I would see before the sun had set. I With beads close, they talked to-jgether to-jgether for half a minute in swift liquid Spanish, then Pasqual turned to me. "Senor, this is Dolores." "But Pasqual mio," she said, smil-:lng, smil-:lng, "what do I call him?" "Paneho," said I, giving the Spun-'lsh Spun-'lsh for my Christian name. She extended a hand, and I lifted It to my lips, bowing with all the grace at my command. "For so small a service, Dulce mia," said Pasqual, "the senor has given line money enough for our marriage, .and " "As he had saved my life, Dolores, !the service was not so small." "And for a wedding present," continued con-tinued Pasqual, "he has given us the i horse, which will help us with that ! little farm of mine. I I wanted him 'to see you." Now she turned to me again. She ; touched my sleeve. "Senor I'anchoi" she said softly, "we would like to jshow our gratitude to thee." She 'stood on tiptoe, and in the shining eyes that studied my face with such Ian earnest, childlike eagerness I saw ' a sudden mist of tears. Reading approval in Pasqual's smile I took the sweet brown face in both my hands and kissed it reverently. "Gracias," she whispered, thank Ing me. So I left them; brave, honest, trustful trust-ful Pasqual whom I had tricked most grievously and his lovely little lit-tle Dolores. I am not proud of that questionable bit of deception, yet I have the consolation of knowing that, with the coming of the final test, Pasqual Pas-qual showed me that he loved me for myself. . . I met, on the street In front of the Hotel Montezuma, Lieutenant Bru gicre; he who had suggested to Pasqual Pas-qual that the old man mount the horse. "Is it Francois?" said he, staring. "None other, Brugiere, and dryer by far than the Sahara. I have come many leagues; where is there a good drink?" He put an arm over my shoulder. "A good drink is not to be bad this side of our beloved Cafe Miramon. but an indifferent drink may be obtained ob-tained from the fat Manuel, who sits yonder on the porch of his hotel like an over-ripe spider waiting for a fly ; though that broad white turban on his head gives him more the appearance appear-ance of a Turk." "He's not a Turk, Brugiere," said I; "he's a Tartar; and the turban. I think, is a bandage." As we mounted the steps Manuel lifted himself from the capacious chair with vast labor and a repressed groan of pain. He held the massive door open fur us and then preceded us to the bar, where he put out glasses und a bottle or two, standing the while, with lingers outspread, as we poured our drinks. Brugiere, who knows wines as every man who has lived in Dijon should, held his glass to the light. "A pity," said he, "that a country so rich in fruits should be so poor in drinks. Is this, Manuel, the best you have? Our friend has traveled far." Manuel shook his head. "This wine," said he, "is all." "Did your brains explode?" questioned ques-tioned Brugiere, his eyes on the swathed head, "or ?" "I fell, senor," said the bandaged man; "it was dark in the hallway. I stumbled, and my head, by evil for-; for-; tune, came in contact with a chair." "Are you sure, Manuel," said I, j "that it was a chair. Might it not have been a stool?" 1 "A stool, senor?" , "Aye, a stool," said I, "a heavy, j three-legged stool, which swinging j free in the semidarkness, might, per-I per-I chance, have come in contact with thy ' head?" 'Continued next week.) |