Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 84, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 April 1912 — The Pool of Flame [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

The Pool of Flame

By LOUIS JOSEPH VANCE

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Copyright 1909. by Louis Joseph Van re CHAPTER XXXIV. A night of velvet blackness, softly opaque, lay upon land and water. The police launch, shuddering with the vibrations of a motor running at high tension, sped down the silent reaches of Rangoon River like a hunted ghost. She ran without lights, these having been extinguished by Couch’s directions, regardless of harbor regulations or danger. Happily the hour was late enough tp relieve them of much fear of trouble with other craft; the upper reaches of the river were practically deserted. In the bow Couch was handling the wheel with the nonchalance of one from whom the river had no secrets j by night or day. To O’Rourke it seemed j no light task to pilot so slight a craft at such high speed through that Stygian darkness; yet the sub-chief was accomplishing the feat without a discernable trace of fear or tremor of uncertainty. O’Rourke sat beside him. In the stem a police orderly acted as mechanic, attending to the motor. These three, no more, made up the rescue party. Though devoured by impatience and anxiety, O’Rourke forbore to question Couch, hesitating to divert his attention front bis task and knowing that as soon as he could the young lieutenant would speak. From the time when the coolie had yielded, there had been not a second’s rest for either; neither had had time to confer' Save on questions of the most immediate moment; and control of these Couch had voluntarily and naturally assumed, deciding, acting and directing in the same thought, apparently. “Tour wife, with Miss Pynsent,” Bald Couch abruptly, without looking round —“at least I presume It’s Mrs. O'Rourke, from what you say—have been kidnaped by a gang of highbinders and are now aboard a junk in the lower river, which will sail for God-knows-where at the turn of the tide. That’s the only thing that saves ’em. We’ll be on ’em before they’re able to force a way down the river.” O’Rourke groaned, holding his heed with 4oth hands. “My wife .. . .!” be said brokenly. “I know,” Couch interrupted grimly; *1 know how you feel. Miss Fynsent is there, too, you see.” “Oh,” said O'Rourke, “I didn’t understand that ... I’m sorry.” He dropped a hand on the younger man’s shoulder and let It rest there briefly. .“Please God.” he said reverently*, “there’ll .be many another polluted yellow soul yammering at the gates of hell this night!” “Amen!” said Couch. . . .We sha’n’t he long now.” Silently O’Rourke removed his coat and waist-coat, his collar and lawn tie, and turned back his culls. “Evening clothes are hardly the thing to fight in,” he said; “but I'm thinking twon’t make a deal of differenoe to me. Got any cartridges for & Webley mark IV?" “Wheeler has. Give Colonel O'Rourke a few, Wheeler,” said Couch, addressing the orderly. The latter rummaged in a locker and pressed into O’Rourke’s hand half a dozen cartridges, with which the adventurer proceeded to replenish the empty chamber in his revolver. ‘Td only discharged one,” he observed, “hut ’tis likely we’ll need that, even, with only the three of us against a Junk-load.” * “Oh, I telephoned lor reinforcements, of course,” returned Coach “They ought to be there ahead of OS.” . “What did the coolie tell ye, if ye’ve time to talk?” ‘ Couch laughed. “I daresay you’re wondering how I made him speak at aIL” “That’s the true word for ye." “I threatened to cat off his silly pigtail and send him naked and dishonored to the ghostly hails of his ancestors. It’s wonderful how much those callous brutes dote on that decoration. I told him further, that if ho lied, when I found It out Td return and shave him bald as an egg, even If he were dead by that time. So I persuaded the truth from him, the whole story—from his side of it." “I’m listening. . . ." “He confessed he whs in the pay—like these chaps we're after now—of a highly respectable Chinese merchant and head of one of the tongs—one of the richest men In Rangoon, who, it seems, was also after that ruby. 1 can’t Imagine what he wanted of it, bat that’ll come out, probably; the man’s rich enough to buy dozens of stones- as line. However ... I gather he’d laid hi* plan far ahead. The coolies intimated you’d been watched all the way from Bombay, At aD events* the brutes were ready doomed man from the moment you handed over the Pool «t Flame. They

surrounded his house this night, coming up from the river, just Si soon as it was dark enough to conceal their actions. Then they found a third element in the business —your friend Des Trebes, ail unsuspicious of them, lurking on the veranda and watching ST* pher through the window, do they ■ waited to see what he was up to. Aim pretty soon they found out Sypheff came downstairs, went to the safe an<jS opened it; I presume he had the stone ln his hand, ready to put away. While 1 he was standing there the Frenchmafl slipped up behind and stabbed him, annexing the ~ stone and leaving the way he got in. The instant he stepped off the veranda the Chinese got him; but he managed to scream before they could silence him and drew the 'attention of the household, Miss Pynsent, your wife and the servants. So to cover things up they had to gather them all in. The servants were killed —there were three of them—and the women . . Neither man spoke for a time. Then Couch resumed. “This coolie was an outsider—a servant of the merchant's —not one of the junk gang; so he stayed ashore, and thought it would be a fine young scheme to return and do a little looting on his own . . . I’ve telephoned the head office to arrest that cursed merchant and confiscate his house and goods and detain anybody they could catch connected with Tiim. The net’s well enough laid, and I think . . .’’ * ", The lights of the city became visible, strung along the right bank of the river as the launch rounded a bend. Couch swung the little boat i out into midstream. “Half-speed, Wheeler,” he said, adding to O’Rourke: “I’ve got to pick out that junk. I presume the right one will have all sail set and be moving downstream with the tide; it’s just on the turn now and fortunately there’s no wind worth mentioning. ... I wish I could see something of the other launch.” He peered anxiously into the obscurity ahead. “If there were only starlight—!” he complained bitterly. “Stand by, Wheeler, to stop the motdr. We’ll drop alongside with the current, as quietly as we can. Colonel O’Rourke, will you get forward and take the boathook and headwarp, please; I’m needed at the wheel and Wheeler at the engine until we make fast.” v .Cautiously the Irishman rose, took the boathook Couch offered him, and crept out upon the narrow triangle of deck at the bows. Crouching there, he found the headwarp and waited, tense with anxious expectancy, staring ahead in futile effort to penetrate

the wide, shadowy reaches of the river. But the mystical distances confused and eluded him. The launch seemed to move, panting, in an abyss of night She made little noise: a hiss of water beneath her stem; the steady humming of the motor, throttled down to half speed; the muffled gasping of the exhaust And presently even these ceased at a word from Couch, and the launch moved only with toe tide. Abruptly a towering wall of opaqne black rose ont of the darkness to starboard. O’Rourke braced himself for the imminent instant of action, poised so lightly upon his toes and fingertips that a swell from a moving vessel would have thrown him off his balance, perhaps overboard. The launch closed swiftly and silently in upon toe black wall; it towered over him like a cliff; far above he could see dim divisions between black and black that must be the rail. And he shook his head, dismayed; he could never scale that, he thought; not even the O’Rourke could accomplish \ a miracle. But in a breath it had faded back, and he realised that the towering poop of the junk had misled him. They were now alongside at the waist He stood up and saw a low railing moving and caught it over the edge of

the rail, drew the launch in, let go the boathook and, with the headwarp wrapped about his hand, jumped blindly. Something dealt him a vicious, all but paralysing, blow in toe pit of the stomach; he doubled up, for a moment helpless, across the junk’s rail, but retained sufficient presence of mind to hold on to the headwarp. Then, recovering a trifle, he squirmed over and fell sprawling upon the deck, his heels-drumming an abrupt and violent alarm. From somewhere he heard a shrill jabbering arise, with an ensuing patter iff bare feet Swiftly he {pat upon his knees and drew in the headwarp, with his free hand searching along the ran ter a cleat. Something thumped heavily on toe deck beside him, and grunted; and something else followed with a second bump;

and the launch swung outward ,ana, caught by the current, jerked the headwarp from his grasp. “May the! luck of (he O’Rourke still held!” be prayed fervently, getting upon his feet to realize that, with Couch and the fifcffi Wheeler, lie was imprisoned aboard the junk, doomed there to remain whatever might. befall, until the coming of the second launch . . or perhaps for a longer time. As he rose some indistinct body ran into him and cannoned off with an uncouth yelp; with no time to draw his revolvers, the adventurer struck out with, a bare hand and had the satisfaction of finding a goal for his blow —of landing heavily on hare flesh and of hearing the dull sound of a fall upon the deck.- , v__ Synchronously lights were flashing out for and aft. A revolver spat venomously beside him. Somewhere a man screamed and fell, whimpering horribly. The revolver expoded a second time. There were confused noises, as of a furious struggle, rough and tumble, aud he suspected that one or another of his companions had been tackled bodily by one of the junk’s crew. On his own part he caught a glimpse of a shadow moving ghostlike against one of the lights, dud promptly exorcised it with a shot By this time the vessel seemed to be caught In the grip of pandemonium; shouts and rffots vied" with screams, groans, confused padding footsteps, to make tbe moment one of a nightmare. The boarding party stood at bay, not daring to venture from the spot on which they had landed, firing, steadily but with discretion. Huddled together like children in fear of the powers of darkness, the' three held their fire against theMnevitable assault In force, handicapped fearfully by their absolute Ignorance of the lay of the deck, of the number of their opponents, and of from which quarter they had to expect the attack. And the silence and the suspense wore upon their nerves until the final struggle came in the shape of a boom to save them from madness. And it came with a rash and a will, cyclonic, tremendous, overpowering. By sheer weight of human flesh the Europeans were pinned against the rail, fighting at handgrips with a cruel and cunning foe far better prepared for such busdness than they. For at such close quarters pistols were practically worthless save as clubs, while knives could slip to slay through almost any Interstice, however straitened. O’Rourke had no time to think of his companions. Stung to desperation by the silent, unrelenting fury of his assailants —twice he was conscious oi the white-hot agony of a knife-thrust, , one penetrating the flesh of his side and scraping his ribs, the other biting deep into his thigh—he fired until he had but one cartridge left in his revolver, and expended that blowing out the brains of an extraordinarily persistent coolie, then dropped the useless weapon and trusted to his naked strength. It served him well for a little. One man, precipitated by the weight of those behind him into'the adventurer’s arms, he seized by the throat jnd throttled in a twinkling; then lffting him from the deck, he exerted his power to the utmost, and cast the body like a log into the midst of the melee. Thus clearing a little space, he found himself able to step aside and let Another run past him into the but Hs*rkr , ‘' , ansl u is«eSßg““Hie' sh6eirSf~l~ swordblade in the If enow’s hand, before he coifld recover seized his wrist, twisted it savagely, and wrenched the weapon away. The finale came a moment later, signalized by a blinding flash of light more bright than that of day, which fell athwart the deck and Illuminated instantaneously every inch of the fighting ground. Fervently be blessed the near-by vessel that had turned its searchlight on the jonk. The scene it revealed beggared the experience at a man whose trade was fighting; it fell Upon decks slippery with blood and littered with the bodies of dead and wounded; it silenced a confusion Indescribable. Upon that lnsaneturmoil the light fell with the effect of a thunderbolt from a clear sky. 5 Screaming shrilly in their panic, the Chinese scattered and fell away, leaving O’Rourke beside Couch, Wheeler being down and buffed beneath three Chinese corpses. And instantaneously something grated harshly against toe starboard side of toe junk, and a man, bis figure stork black against the cold white glare, leaped upon the rail and tumbled inboard. Others to the number of a dozen followed him, swarming over the decks. Couch reeled towards them, babbling orders and Instructions. The second launch had arrived. Sick and faint, O’Rourke slouched back against tbe rail, watching with lack-luster eyes the end of the chapter. It was simple to the point of seeming farcical in comparison with that which preceded it. The dazed and now outnumbered Chinese offered no further resistance. Disarmed and put under guard, they disappeared from his consciousness, while be watched the men from the second launch, spurred by Couch, scatter in search of the abducted women. Loss of blood was beginning to tell upon him ; his strength seemed altogether gone; his wits buzzed in his beqd like a swarm of gnats. He grasped his support convulsively, beginning to appreciate how seriously he was hurt. He heard a& from & great distance thin* faint cries of men shouting in triumph; saw Couch, a pygmy shape, holding in his arms a doll who wore toe faoCof Miss of a sudden he was a woman hastening toward him, a fantastic and incongruous'figure in a din-ner-gown, bar skirts toiling la too •* ~ ■ - . ■ V ~ ••

slime of the shambles, her arms out held to him; and knew her ,for Ms wife. . . He essayed to speak, but could not. fie felt her arms close about him. la the face of the searchlight's penetrating and undeviating glare, night closed down upon him. - CHAPTER XXXV. a * _ IrIn after days, when be was altogether well and whole, they journeyed forth, these two, toe man and his wife, from Rangoon northward. The railway carried them some distance; later they struck off with their train into the primitive wilderness beyond the ultimate British outposts on toe Chindwine, main tributary to the Ir rawaddy. The land was peaceful, hospitable, and very, very lovety in Us wilderness. Their happiness was ecstasy. By day they rode through jungle, wood and rolling uplands, or less easily through the fastnesses of the hills, side by side, thought linked to thought, their hearts attuned. By night their camps were pitched in a new-found world of beauty, wonderful in its shadowy mystery. It was so ordered that they came, toward sundown of a certain day, to the foot of a hill crowned with a great pagoda of many multiplied roofs fringed with a myriad silver bells that tinkled ceaselessly in the evening airs.' Here they dismounted and together made the ascent of an age-old wooden stairway, broad and easy, and thronged from the first rise to the last with weary pilgrims, beggars, lepers, laughing children, mendicant holy men. The sun was low upon the horizon wheq, having bribed their way along that gauntlet, O’Rourke and his bride (she could never be aught less to him) attained to the topmost platform and, having received permission, with meet show of reverence entered the tempi*. It was very dark Inside and for a time they moved blindly in and out; but at length they came to a massifs doorway looking toward the West, and here they paused, hand in hand, looking up to the placid face of a huge Buddha, who squatting cross-legged upon a pedestal, looked through the incense-scented gloom ceaselessly forward to Nirvana. The figure, carven originally from stone, had been so heavily plastered with gold-leaves by the devout, that now It had all the semblance of being gold to Its core; and, lavishly decorated with necklaces and bracelets of rare jewels set In crusted gold, in the evening glow it shone like some great lamp of holiness. Only its face was in shadow. Slowly the light struck higher be>neath the eaves of toe pagoda, and slowly It crept up and yet up, until its last blood-red shaft revealed toe Buddha’s forehead and what was set therein, a monstrous ruby. The woman gasped faintly and dung tightly to her husband's arm. He held her close, watching the great stone flame and throb and pulse, like a pool of living flame swimming in darkness. And then the light of the world went out Pensively in the dusk they descended the temple staircase. At the foot, before they remounted their horses, toe woman came to toe man and put her hands upon his shoulders. _'* “Terence,” she said, “I think J am very weary. Take me home/’ He gathered her Into his arms. “I think,” she said, “It frightened me—made me fearful of this oouatry —toe Pool of Hame, up there.” - ■ “Ye’ve seen the last cf iSf he said tenderly, “and so have I. ’TIs done with, like the days of me adventurIngs. I have no thought but you, dour heart. Let us go home." THE END.

The Bearding Party Stood at Bay.