Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 February 1912 — The Pool of Flame [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

The Pool of Flame

By LOUIS JOSEPH VANCE

niuatratims by ElUworth Yountf

Copyright l«u&, by Loots Joseph Vaoce CHAPTER XXVI. It was night when O’Rourke awoke; he found himself staring wide-eyed at the celling of the stateroom, upon which rippled wavering lines of light reflected through the porthole by the waters without. His mind for the time was a blank; he was merely conaclous that he was rested and very thirsty, and that the ship was motionless. ~ Then in a blinding flash memory returned to him. He rose, curiously light-headed and Btrangely weak, pushed open the door and stepped into the saloon. It was lighted, if poorly, by a smoky kerosene lamp dependent from a beam low, dingy air of desolation for all that Danny slept there, his vivid head pillowed on arms crossed before him on the table. The ship was utterly silent, and the O’Rourke’s sensitive instinct told him that it was tenanted only himself and the servant. He clapped a hand on Danny’s shoulder and shook him into wakefulness. The boy. leapt to his feet with a cry and, seizing O’Rourke’s hand, began to sob upon it —a touching but disconcerting performance, to the last degree exasperating to a man thirsting and famished. O’Rourke, as gently as he could, disengaged his hand and thrust Danny away, at the same time indicating in jxo uncertain tones that he preferred meat and drink to emotional crisis. Provided with a duty, DShhy*k sentimental nature was diverted; he bustled away and returned with an excellent cold meaj-—sandwiches, a salad, cheese, and other edibles upon a tray graced likewise by a bottle of champagne. And you are to believe that the master fell to and wolfed it all, to the last crumb and the last drop. A new man, refreshed, he demanded a pipe, and, with his head cockei on one aide and something of his old humor twinkling in his eye, what time it was not clouded with bewilderment and concern at the answers he received, cross-examined his valet. “How long,” was his first question, “will I have slept now, Danny ye dlvvle?” “Wan complete round av the clock, yer honor.” “Where are we?” “At anchor, sor, off the Fort in Bombay harbor.” “Umm-hm. I’m by way of remembering something of that. What of the captain?”

“Raymoved, yer honor, to a horsepittle ashore, sor, to con-valesce. At l&ste, I’m thinking thot's the word the doctor used, sor.” ... O’Rourke pulled at his cigar, re garded regretfully the empty gTass hetore lilm. ahd vHffi some vrslhle reluct-: anoe put the question that, more, v aught else, he had wished to put evei since he had eaten. “And Mrs. Prynne?” -» “Aw, yer honor!” “What’s the matter, Danny?” “Sure, sor, and axin’ yer pardon toi spakin’ so, and manln’ no manner ol disraysplct whatsoever —” "What the dlvvle, Danny!" Danny drew himself up with an air, bristling Indignation. “Sure, and ’tis meself never seen the loike av thim wlmmin for rank ingratlchude, aor. And afther all thot meself had said to thot black-eyed Frlnch vixen—” “Danny!” “No, aor, not wan word av ut will I widdror, not If yer honor discharges me wid me usual month’s notice, sor, this minute. Faix, didn’t I see?* No more and the anchor was down, Bor, and yersilf did to the worrld in yer berth, sor, thin thim two does be after hailin' a boat and Intendin’ to go ashore, widout so much as a fare-ye-well, and me meanin’ the most honorable intintions In the world toward the maid —” “Have your Intentions ever been aught else toward any woman ye ever won a smile from, spalpeen?*’ “Aw, now, yer honor —’* “Get on with your story. What gpout Mrs. Prynne?” demanded O’Rourke, eyeing hia servant curiously and trying to fathom his blit half-dis-guised and wholly awkward air of selfesteem. the boy thought highly of himself because of something he had accomplished, some exploit of prowess or stroke of diplomacy as yet undisclosed. - “Yissor, . . I was tellin’ ye It seemed to me height of maneness she was dispigyjp’ ma’nin’ this same Mrs. Prynaii wtJjr’twas mesilf knew, none betther, how much ye’ve laid out on her account and hersllf not waitin’ to settle up wid ye- 1 -” “What business was that of yours T “’Twas none, aor. But yersilf had keeled over and was did to irrything, and what am I tor if not to look out dor ye afc such times? . . Ho I’m afther sthoppin’ thim two just as th*7 wgghLfefi MriaL jhqlr staterooms.

anj s*T, TSfissus Prynne,’ ezT, ’me masther’s compliments and he’d like a worrd wid yees before ye’re gone entirely.’ And ‘What’s this?’ sz’she wid a fine show of surprise—the dayceytful huzzy!—though I’m watchin’ her and thinkln’ she was frightened about something from the white turn av the face av her. Sz’she: “Tis In the dlvvle’s own hurry 1 am the minute,’ ,-or worrds to the same ifftet. Sz’she: ‘And phwat will he be wantin’ av me?’ ‘A momint’s conversation wid ye,’ sz’l. And sz’she: Tve no time. Let me pass.’ TU be doing,’ sz’l, ’nawthln’ like thot,’ tor be now I’m thinkln’ there's somethin’ deeper behlnt her fluster and flurry thin a mere desire to bilk ye—p’rhaps ’twas this thing in-too-lshum I’ve heard ye mintion. And the next mlnit I’m sure av ut, for she goes white as snow in the face and the eyes of her begins to burn like cold grane %re and she screams to Cecile tor help and is afther whipping out a gun to blow me out av her way wid; but ’tis mesilf thot’s be way av bein’ too quick for her and takln’ the pistol away; and be the mercy av the Saints Misther Dravos hears the shindy and hops down just in time to snatch another gun out of the hand av that same Cecile, and he grabs the Hirl and turns her Into a stateroom and shuts the dure on her and —’’ “And,” Interrupted O’Rourke in a black rage, rising and turning back his sleeves —“And now I’m going to give ye the father and mother of all thrashings, ye insolent puppy! How dare ye lay hands on a lady ” “Ow, murther!” chattered the boy, leaping away. “Be aisy, yer honor, and hear me out, for ’tis thin ye’ll not be blamin’ me, but if ye do I’ll take the batin’ widout a worrd, sor.” “Very well,” assented O’Rourke ominously. ‘‘But be quick about it, for I’m mistrustful of ye altogether. Get on, ye whelp!” Danny placed the table between them with considerable expedition. “Aw, listhen now,” he pleaded “While Misther Dravos was 2 ’tendin’ to Cecile, this Missis Prynne was scrappin’ like a wildcat, scratching and bitin’, and ’tis all I can do to kape her by wrappin’ me arms tight about her and holdin’ her so, and I’m makln’ a grab at her waist whin be accident like what do I catch hold av but something undernathe as big as a hin’s egg—a stone she’s carryin’ round her neck, the same as yer honor did wid the Pool as Flame; and be the feel av ut ut’B the same entirely; and thin I’m sure ’Ub the same and thot some sculway av havin' Men put upon ye.” “What the diwle!” “Wan momint more. . . . Now In flghtln’ wid me the collar av her waist has come unfastened and meself can see the string av ribbon that’s holding the thing there. So I sez to mesilf, ez’l, ‘ ’Tis strange enough to bear investigatin’,’ sz’l, ‘an’ I’ll be takin’ a chanst at this If the masther do be afther flayin’ me alive. So I calls Misther Dravos and gets him to hould her fast while I takes out, me knife and cuts thot ribbon and pulls the thing out widout any Immodesty whatever; and there on thot ribbon is a chamois-case, all sewed up, and I’m rippin’ It open an’ finding—this!” “God In Heaven!" cried O’Rourke, stupefied and agape; for Danny, having worked up to his climax, had dramatically whipped from his pocket and cast upon the tahle belween them the Pool of Flame.

He looked up, blind to the glee and triumph' in Danny’s face. “How did ye come be this?" he demanded, speaking slowly and steadily, as one who, having drunk more than enough, listens to his own enunciation to detect In It the slur that liquor brings. ‘T mean —I mean —how could ye have taken this from the woman when it lay all the time at the bottom of the sea —six hundred miles and more behind us?” “Ask Misther Dravoe if ye do not belave me, sor. •' How would I be harin’ it at all, widout I got It llkeLl’ve told ye? . . . ’Tis the real Pool of flame ye’re handlin’; that’s sure. T’other one—the stone the serang flung Into the say, sor, was a counterfeit.” “How do ye know that?" " ‘Aisly enough, yer honor; be puttin' the maid Cecile on the witness stand. ’Twas this way: I tuk the stone from Missus Prynne and Mlsthrer Dravoe and mesilf locked her in her cabin. Thin afther talkin’ things over we let Cecile out and be dint av threats and persuashlons, got her to tell what she knew,” ‘ “Go on.” “She sez thot Frlnchinan. ye kilt back there in Algiers, sor, is at the bottom av It all, only he’s not did because- ye didn’t mike a clane job ar ut, but lift him wid the laste suaphlelon av the breath av life In the body av him.” “I was afraid of that,” nodded O’Rourke. “The next time we meet, Des Trebes and I, there’ll be mo mistake about it” “She sez thot befure he fought wid ye he’d taken measuremints av the stone and made a wax mould' av ut, so thot whin he failed to kill yersilf and had got his strength back, he wint to Paris and had an lmitashun av ut made there—somehow be fusing chape stones together and all thot, I belave. ’Twas lxpinslve an* him tight up tor money, so he takes Missus Prynne Into partnership and she puts up the cash. Thin —they’ve been watchin* yersilf air the time, sor—they sets Cap’n Hole onto to git the stone away, and he-does it like ye know. Afther ye escaped from the Pelican, he goes ashore and mates the lady at her hotel and day livers the stone to her, getting his pay and the imitashun Into the bargain, he insistin' on thot because hf knows y’ll fta gamin’

back for the Pool av Flame, and he’s afraid av ye—afraid ye’ll kill him If he can’t turn over a ruby to ye like the wan he stole. So ’twas the faked stone we tuk from him thot same night and the same we brought aboard the ftanee and the same the serang stfaole from ye.” .. ; “I begin to see. But how about the serang? What did Cecile have to say in explanation of him?” "She couldn’t account for him at all, sor, save thot mebbe the natives in Rangoon had - somehow got wind av the fact that the stone was comlp’ back and a gang av thim set out to stale _ut-._ She sez Missus Prynne niVer cud account for the way they discovered she had ut, but they seemed to- know pretty certain sure, sor, for ye’ll recall they niver bothered ye at all at first, and ’twas only be chanst, like, thot the serang got the lmitashun from ye.” “But what about Des Trebes? Did the maid say?” “No more than he’d been lift la Parts; sor.” “And what ’ev ye done with the two of them, Mrs. Prynne and the maid? Are they still locked up safely?” “Diwle a bit, yer honor. ’Twas impossible to kape them so, Dravos said, wid Missus Prynne threatening to yell bloody murther out av the poort and kick up such a row thot the authorities Wud be down on us—if we didn’t let her go. Besides, we’d got what we wanted out av her, and pwhat was the use av holdin’ her anny longer?” “So ye let them go?" ( “Yissor.” “I could kill ye tor It,” said O’Rourke, “and Dravos, too; for there’s a deal of matters I’d like to be inquiring into with the lady this blessed minute. But, Danny boy, there’s nothing in the world f can’t forgive ye now, for what ye’ve done for me, and ’twill be a strange thing if I don’t serve ye handsomely when I come Into a fortune. . . . Now don’t be standin’ there like a ninny, but be off with ye and pack me things before I lift me hand to ye. ’Tis in haste we are—with Des Trebes alive aud Mrs. Prynne on the loose; and there’ll be no such thing as rest for either of us until we reach Rangoon.” (To be continued

“God In Heaven!” Cried O’Rourke.