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Show '. j The BLADE of PICARDY : By fred Mclaughlin Coovrlirht by Th Bcbbn-Morrlll Co. ! W. N. V. Sarvlo. He kicked, ho clawed nt my wrists jt my flnpera, he writhed, .he gasped unintelligible curses, he choked. I jared not look nt him. I pressed my i hoad against his ehest mid put all , ,(,e power of my muscles In those hutching fingers tlmt sunk ever deeper into his throat. I was mad, tor no sane man could hnve done . that I was doing; mad with a maul-joal maul-joal bloodlust, raving tn a primitive ,jr.e to kill, living over again some Instinctive hatred that had come lown to me through the ages. Mon : leu I ' I held on until his tired arms fell i sseiess, until his feet ceased to kick, ' ontil his head lolled aimlessly, and Ms limp hody crumpled like a rag. ' He sank to the hard ground, where he lay still, with never the quiver of ' i muscle; and I stood over him, s ntchlng waiting. And as I waited 1 came to me that I had promised ? kill him with my hands, and I got t io joy from the thought. ; CHAPTER XI t. Prugiere Again Now I directed my attention to Pascal, Pas-cal, and discovered to my great joy -Jut he sUll lived. The bullet had ' barely grazed his skull, rendering hlin mconsclous. He opened his eyes and r; iade feeble attempts to get to his s . feet, which, with my assistance, he , inally managed to do. He leaned s tgainst the work bench for support, s studying the silent figure of Madrella. "He shot me, senor?" i "Tes, Pasqual." ?- "And you killed him?" 'l I nodded. "What with, senor; the "gun?" ' I shook my head. He laughed shortly. "The senor a regained his strength. What will 'i do now? Something will have to : done with him it; the garrison ad and the jefe at Cuernavaca . . . Does he look very much like :ra, senor?" Xow I got the picture in the In- ilan's crafty brain. "So much like ae, Pasqual, that I hardly know !, which of us is dead." "Others then will be even less eer- - tain." There was. a chance, I knew. Cap-'.ain Cap-'.ain Vigny was- a deserter from the French army, and that Id Itself was sufficient to hang him without the 1 charge of murder, which with Ma- 'rella dead would now be impossible I lo disprove. His capture by the French would mean his death swift S ad certain. That I knew, for always Colonel Lopez would stand between ae and the emperor; there would be M hope of clemency, no opportunity J to reach the ear of his majesty, with 'xplanatlons. Surely then It would - the height of folly to maintain the I Entity of Captain Vigny while free i -he remained a fugitive, and cap- ured he faced the noose. B "Pasqual," said I, determined at ast to take that fatal step so fraught lth potent circumstances, "yonder fjf N the body of Captain Vigny. The j,. Empire has offered a thousand pesos jnU. to him alive or dead. Shave him J"d get him into that uniform of ,- line, then take the placard which Wis the story of my crime to the Cuernavaca garrison and ask there fl 'or Lieutenant Brugiere. See none other. - Tell him privately that the JjjJ,' tody of Captain Vigny lies at your tome. Come back with him; '.Insist 'hat no one else accompanies you." "It Is easy, senor ; It is all too easy." , While he was thus engaged I went IUl through the wide hallway to the back , Mrch which offered a view of the ,aley, where I sat. Voices and the kj . thudding of horses' hoofs awakened J "e from a strange reverie. Pasqual d Dolores in the cart approached, f ind behind them rode Brugiere. I traced my steps through the hall !d sat -In a shaded corner of the j, 'Uo, waiting. Snaglere entered the opened way Lj o the court.. The work-bench had , i J81 cleared and the body of Ma-jj,,. Ma-jj,,. 'rella covered by a rude cloth lay s 0 JPon It Dolores came through the Norway and, seeing the still figure ppfl ? the bench, ran to it heedless of ff ne rest of us and dropped to her ,ns beside It "Pancho," she cried. atl Pancho mlo we have loved i 'ee !" .ifl i nnnapplness was more than I to i? b6ar- 1 got up' wn,kea" over "er, and laid a hand upon her )6j iti(3,er- "Dolores, do not give thy- "Pancho Is It Pancho? I do not" "ruglere whirled upon me. "Saerel" ( (0rtMSped' "N'ame of a name what took f Bame 13 thIs you play?" IlP (t "vk me rou8Wy hy the shoulders, g ,n are you-ancient?" 1?,0w 1 smiled Into his flaming face. . I to 1 am I? Ts this your gratitude JJVii roe, Brugiere, after I have opened the wine cellar of the fat it. Ills Jaw dropped, the llros of an;-.-,-In his eyes dlod down, passion went out of his face and a happv smile spread over It. 'Tr.mcol.s !" ho cried. "None other, nniglero." Ho held my hands and laughed aloud In an excess of joy; , ,nit his arms around me. "Ve gave you up for lost, dear friend. Wliat are you, Francois twins?" Ho pointed to the still form of Madrella. "Tf you are Knuieols and you are lievond n doubt who, In the name of God Is that?" "Who Is he? He Is the man who killed I.estrange, and stabbed the good Colonel Lopez. He Is Captain Francois do Vigny, late of his ma!-csty's ma!-csty's service, and being dead hi' Is, therefore, no more a fugitive from justice I" "What a thing!" cried Brugiere. A wagon, escorted by a squad of soldiers, tamo from the garrison nt Cuernavaca and carried away the body of Madrella. Brugiere told me that Louis Napoleon Na-poleon of France, who cared "less for Mexico than he did for his mustache," mus-tache," had withdrawn all support, that the great republic to the north of us, awakening slowly from a disastrous disas-trous civil conlllct, had made a gesture ges-ture of displeasure, and the good Louis sensing his own danger from a rising tide of Prusslanlsm in the East hud dodged. He said that the feared attack of Juarer upon Cuernavaca Cuer-navaca had not materialized, and that Maximilian, needing badly the reinforcements rein-forcements he had sent, recalled them "Then Cuernavaca will fall, my friend," said I. "and after that the city." ''I cannot say," said Brugiere, "my service, Francoi, calls for fighting, not for thinking; and Maximilian still leans upon a large army." Brugiere seemed less interested in Cuernavaca's problem than In my own peculiar case. "As he Is dead Madrella, I. mean and Captain Vigny Vig-ny will be buried tomorrow or the day thereafter, who are you?" I laughed. "I am not De Vigny, and 1 find substantial faults about the Identity of Madrella, so I cannot be that clever gentleman. Besides, a lady glorious La Anita, whom you have doubtless seen told Madrella that she didn't love him, and I do not care to be one whom the senorita cannot love." "Could she love De Vigny?" inquired in-quired Brugiere. "Aye 1" "And De Vigny is dead." He chuckled. "Your luck is out, Fran-cols Fran-cols I" CHAPTER XII The Fall of Cuernavaca After the burial of Madrella as De ' Vigny I left the town of Cuernavaca, for I wanted to be alone ; I had no wish to see people. I had lost an , Identity, I had died disgraced, I had ' lost La Anita because I had killed De Viguy and she had loved De Vigny. I had kilLed the man she loved, and to take his place I must face another an-other disgraceful death. There was one solution, an easy one. I could still die De Vigny, and . as she loved De Vigny, I might take away with me wrapped up in my soul a portion of that wondrous love of hers, to be with me through all eternity. Yes, that was the easiest way and I had faced death too many times to fear it. The thing was too easy, the problem was solved, for surely such a love as hers could reach into another world. My mind was made up; I would go home, I would take the hand of brave .honest Pasqual In mine and I would bid him good-by. I would thank him and his lovely little Dolores for the many things that they had done for 1 me ; I would write a letter to my mother, and a letter to Anita, and ! then ... Now,' approaching me at breakneck speed, a horseman came into view ; and looking more closely, I recognized the "calico" pony and knew the rider for Pasqual. Why should he ride so ; swiftly, why should he hurry? The : world held much for him. Wondering Wonder-ing thus, I waited. He brought the pony to a sliding, dust-raising halt in front of me. His eyes were wild with excitement and his tall body trembled. "Senor, the soldiers of Benito Juarez! They are everywhere, senor; they approach my house, they fill the valley and they ' line the ridges. There are many thou- ' sands of them." Now I knew that Brugiere would , get the fighting his service signified, and I feared that, so far as the French were concerned, Cuernavaca would be closed. Behind us came the clear notes of a bugle The Cuernavaca garrison was preparlng-the frail skeleton of a host that would have been required to hold the city against Juarez. 1 had saved it once, and It had dropped back into a fool's dream of security. Ah, well! The Mexican advance-guard, touching touch-ing the French outposts, opened up an intermittent firing, and the French and Belgians fired also ; and or he first time in many months I heard the soft drowsy drone of speeding bullets. The excitement of the battle got into in-to my blood; I must see it, I must get into It. I found a narrow water-bag water-bag fashioned from the skin of a goat. filled It, and. with a faking gourd set out No one would stop a ben ."ofd man intent on giving ; wounded soldiers the blessing of a drink. The clash of contact came to me, the thudding of and the ras ing screech of a shell; the svun crash of musketry, the wild yells of sudden charges, and the slmll agon- h-lii.'! ."-i;-!iii f a wounded horse, it was all ko real to me, nil no vivid; mill I longed lo lie shoulder to shoulder shoul-der wllli (ho brave French and Bel-glim Bel-glim lads who were waging a hopeless hope-less light. But T was nobody, I had no Identity, no country, no future, no ties. ... I was just an old man, following iu the wake of a victorious vic-torious army, bearing a water-bag. Now I saw Lcroux and Besancon, captains In the Juarlst army. They led the center of that vast force, and I remembered their words: "Some day a great battle between the Empire Em-pire and the Republic will hang in the balance; then will come our opportunity op-portunity and the Republic will lose I" Tlie city, scarce a half-mile away, lay before us, and between us and that goal nn army barred the way. The right wing of the Liberal forces touched the bench to the east of the city, the left wing spread across the valley, while the center held to the road. The wtngs were thrust forward for-ward like n great, 'swooping bird ot prey. I could not but wonder how helpless the bird would be without that body ... and Leroux and Besancon controlled the massed forces In the center which made up the body The two brave sons of France must have had the same thought also, for the center came apart opened grad ually as soldiers under orders of their two captains went eastward toward the bench or westward toward the valley; leaving a gap that even a small force of French entering quickly and turning might have put the .Tuarist army to a grievous disadvantage. dis-advantage. Now Leroux played the game that ho and Besancon had doubtless re hearsed. He stood out In the middle of that fatal opening In the Liberal position and, facing the Allied forces, fashioned a sort of bugle with his hnnds : "Come on," he called In French ; "the way Is open ! Approach, sons of France, and win an empire!" 1 wrung my hands In Impotent misery. mis-ery. Why why did not they charge? Here was a chance to save the city, to crush the Juarlst army, to capture, possibly, the great general himself. Mon Uieu had they turned to stone? Surely they could hear hlin, less than three hundred meters distant. "Are you cowards," screamed Leroux;-"why don't you move? Approachthe Ap-proachthe gate Is wide, the gate to freedom, to glory . . . Come in !" ne waited, expectant, but they did not move. 1 Now his voice shrilled far above the clamor of strife: "Name of G d are you dead on your feet, or do you stand out there to have your pictures taken ; have you come to battle or do you seek siesta?" The Mexican soldiers understood his gestures, if not his words. A dozen doz-en guns spoke behind him, and Leroux, Le-roux, raising his arms In final supplication, sup-plication, fell. The promising gap closed aguin, and the body of the giant bird of prey moved on. . I approached Leroux, lying beside the road. I raised his head and poured a gourd of cool water down his throat. He opened his eyes. "I ' I thank you," he whispered, j "A glorious thing, Rene I" I cried. "It is Francois do you know me?" (To be continued next week.) |