Lincoln County leader., October 30, 1908, Image 3

HThe I Hited Qepulchre
JL The V V Tale of O Pelee
By Will Levington Comfort
Copyright. 1914. b Will
Copyrtzht. 1W7. by J. B. Lippincott
CHAPTER VI.
Constable remembered turning Into the
driveway after bis terrific exertion; re
membered that the girl and her mother
were standing upon the veranda ; that the
former stretched out her hand to help him
and the elder woman released a cutting
remark. Then a servant brought a chair,
and billows of nausea surged over him.
Just as his consciousness waned, and he
was launching, chair and all, into space,
Lara's voice reached him again.
Then he was in the hallway, through
some miracle, and Insisting most uncom
monly that he was not to be taken into
the library, but into the music room, be
cause the windows there commanded the
mountain.
He awoke to the interesting discovery
that Miss Stansbury was fauning him.
I'resently she re-chilled a towel in the
iced basin and folded it upon his fore
head, now deliciously cool.
"It's mighty sweet of you to take care
of me this way," he muttered gratefully.
"How is I'elee? How long have I been
here? The last I remember, I was lost
in the hall, and you found me."
"You've been here about three hours.
Air. Constable. I'elee is quiet again, but
the whole world is white outside a per
fect blizzard of ash has fallen 1 They
say a terrible thing has happened at the
extreme northern end of the city." The
River Branch overflowed her banks, and
ran with boiling mud from the volcano.
Thirty people, are reported killed and the
Usine Guerin destroyed."'
She thought he was considering the
-disaster in the silence which followed, but
in reality he was battling with the old
problem.
"Miss Stansbury," he said finally, "is
there anything a man possessed of full
faculties could do, say or bring about that
would induce your mother to spend the
night offrshore?"
She shook har head.
"You know that the Madame could be
brought in for the mails to-morrow morn
ing." "I have taken the liberty to suggest
that to mother," Lara replied. "She says
that to-morrow will be time enough."
"Miss Stansbury, won't you put your
self in the care of Captain Negley to
night? I hope I'm wrong, but the Guerin
disaster may be only a preliminary dem
onstration like the operator experiment
ing to find if it is dark enough to start
the main fireworks. You know, I would
tay ashore, and Negley is a good old man
of the sea."
"Don't you understand, Mr. Consta
ble?" she said, in real distress for deny
ing him so repeatedly. "Don't you see
that such a thing would bring down a
miserable scene upon our heads? Besides,
I am not thinking of my own safety as
auch a paramount thing. I don't want to
be one of Job's lone survivors. Mother
and I'ncle Joey and you must go when
I do."
The pale, searching face regarded her.
Again he was silent.. His lips were shut,
bis eyelids half-closed. A swift
intuition was borne to the woman. He
was about to renew the siege. She was
not ready, and shrank from being moved
to a decision which she had not formed
in the privacy of her own mind. The
last two days of suffering had rendered
licr strangely responsive to his mental ac
tions. His quest had filled ber brnin with
wonders, but they were not- yet coalesced
impulses and inspirations without
unity, unbound as yet by judgment. She
wanted to yield with grace, if it came to
that, but not to be overthrown. His hand
reached for hers, but she drew away.
"Miss Stansbury "
"Please don't say it now !" she whis
pered swiftly, her words startling herself
quite as much as the man. "These are
auch dreadful hours ! We must think of
the crisis only of that putting behind
all that passed last night !"
"Until?" said Constable, sitting up.
"Oh, who can tell? One knows Mr.
Constable, isn't it wicked of you to mud
dle me this way?"
A smile from him had given her the
saving turn. The tension was eased.
Now, as he held out his hand to her, she
was not slow to accept it, or to miss
the meauing of the compact.
"I'elee will be beyond the sky line for
us all pretty soon," he said cheerfully.
"We'll be very good pals In the mean
time. 2'lense go to the window and see
how our ogre is- faring the giant who
thinks he's going to eat us when we're
prime 'member the fairy story? By the
way, Miss Stansbury, did you ever have
a set of billiard balls cracking off caroms
on your brain pan?"
"Yes, and ten-pins. Men don't know
headache matters. The north
is clearer, sir. A little while ago it was
all a seething mass of blacks and grays."
An exclamation broke from her lips,
and Constable joined her at the window.
A dozen birds had fallen to the lawn from
the eaves. Most of them we're dead from
the tainted air. The sight brought the
situation more forcibly than ever to her
mind.
"I should think the birds would fly
away 1" she said pityingly.
"Perhaps the mother birds are waiting
for mails to come in," suggested a voice
behind them. Mrs, Stansbury was stand
ing in the hall doorway.
A gracious rain cleared the air of early
evening, and Constable settled himself
for a further nap at the north window
upstairs. He had not realized his ex
Company. All right resa-red
haustion, and was astonished to find that
it was midnight when he awoke. He was
stronger, but a cyclonic headache still
oppressed him. Glad though he was for
the hours passed, still he was by no means
unappreciative of the chances he had
taken. A forlorn hope of saving the lady,
even though a destroying eruption over
took them at the plantation house, had
grown in his mind since the night before.
To be caught asleep would render this
chance a far one.
The Guerin disaster might be consid
ered among the promises of a favorable
issue, as well as a forerunner of chaos.
The mountain's overflow into .the River
Blanch might have eased the pressure
upon the craters. There was no authority
nor precedent for such a hope. If Pe
lee's fuse were burning shorter and short
er toward a Krakatoan cataclysm, it was
not for man to say what spark would
shake the world. Still, Constable held
the hope.
He turned on the lights In the room. A
cablegram had been slipped under the
door. It proved to be an answer to a
message he had sent to Basse Tcrre in
the morning, regarding the movements of
the Panther.
"Str. Panther arrived and departed
here on time,"
he read. There was strength in the
word. The mail liner reasonably might
be expected to call at Martinique with
the dawn, according to schedule. The
mails should be ready for distribution at
nine.
"We'll have luncheon aboard the Mad
ame to-morrow," Constable mused, "and
while the blessed 'maiden is passing cake
and pouring tea, the Madame will be
running like a scared deer, to hitch her
self to the solid old Horn, built of rock
and sealed with icebergs !"
He shaded his eyes at the window, star
ing beyond the city into the ashen shroud
Pelee's flag of truce. "Grand old mar
tyr," he murmured devoutly. "Hang on,
hang on !"
There was a tap at the door, and Breen
wns admitted.
"I haven't seen much of you In the past
three icons, miscalled days," said Consta
ble. "It is true. I have felt my own in
consequence in the presence of the big
drama here. It is your drama, Peter.
Then, I have found a place of many mar
vels." "Pere Rabeaut's?"
"None other. There is something like
coolness in this thrice-burned isle. Also
a maiden creature, half child, half wom
an, wholly wonderful."
"I have been glad to see you make the
best of things. Of course one can never
tell on a cruise where one is to encounter
a series of business obligations such as
here."
"True again," Breen said gravely.
"I have been busy as that, but have
accomplished nothing. Seriously, Breen,
times are running close. Guerin's the
first volley. Tq think I haven't been to
the mountain ; haven't taken a photo
graph or a note ! My fellow researchers
in things seismic will never forgive me
for this. Breen, I thought I had a sci
entific mind thought that even though
I bulled in all else, I was a loyal geolo
gist ; but I have betrayed even that de
cent instinct. Another man would have
had the women away to Bea and be at
tending the mountain now ; but here I
am, a child with man's tools, gassing the
night through, and she across the hull
marked, for all I know, for Pelee's
own ! It's good to talk, though."
"There's only one way when words fail,
Peter. If the mountain won't recede
from the maiden, you must snatch up the
maiden and make a get-away from the
mountain."
"I'm not pirate enough, Breen," Con
stable replied 'wearily. "By the way,
I'm sending some of the natives of the
city the women with babes out to the
Madame for cool air. There is no reason
in the world why we shouldn't entertain
our friends of the shop. Soronia is too
rare a creature to be immolated by Pe
lee's bursting boilers. She and the Pere
might just as well share the benefits.
You see, the presence of others makes it
possible. Attend to it, will you?"
"Good old Peter," Breen said softly;
"but I don't think they would come.
Who'd feed the little song birds?"
"Have her bring the birds along.
They'll die there!"
"I had planned not to go to the little
shop again, Peter."
Constable turned upon him abruptly.
"Why?" said he.
'You see, Peter, she is such a rare lit
tle soul asking so little and, so ready
to give her all for the promise of a man
think of it. I have found a good many
playthings, pottering around this little
sunshot planet clear little films they are
now, which stick in the brain and won't
fade. Let me alone, Peter, and I'll wan
der back to reason presently. A very ugly
album is a sinner's memoryv and when
it is quite full the sinner usually dies
sometimes off Brooklyn piers. The truth
Uy I found a shred of conscience devel
oped under your culture and Pelee's heat ;
and so . I refused another plaything, re
fused to crowd another film Into that sul
lied album of mine. I lied, said I didn't
understand that admiration meant any
thing to her and went away. Not too
late, I trust. She Is a natural optimist,
and slow to lose faith In mankind."
Constable believed that Soronia had
found her first lover in Breen, aid he
pitied the heart so suddenly impassioned
and so swiftly dethroned of its dream. He
remembered the face of Soronia in the
court shadows, and his pity lingered.
They talked until the Panther lights
shone afar in the offing, misty with dawn
and volcano fog; then parted for an
hour s rest. Constable was the first be
low, and there was little joy with the
coming of the day. The rumblings of the
mountain were renewed. The great tow
er of ash shot up yesterday was still fall
ing; the trees and shrubberj- in the gar
dens were bent with the weight of white;
indeed, many branches were broken. The
dismal bellowing of cattle and the stamp
ing of ponies were heard from the barns.
It was only by keeping the doors and
windows of the house tightly shut that
living was bearable. The native who
brought the copy of Lcs Colonies wore a
thick wet rag over his nostrils, and had
the appearance of having freshly emerged
from a bin of cement. Constable and
Breen were first in the breakfast room.
"This pudgy editor," Constable declar
ed savagely, as he read the morning paper.
"Yesterday I called upon him and in
sweet modesty and limping French ex
plained the proper policy for him to take.
To-day he devotes a half-column of In
sufferable humor to my force of character
and extreme views."
Constable translated Mondet's account
of the Guerin disaster, and his assur
ances of the safety of Saint Pierre, so
far as the mountain was concerned. "Oh,
the flakiness of that French mind !" he
exclaimed. "With a volcano In the pangs
of dissolution, towering over the city,
is apparently In dread of an earthquake !
'Where on the island,' thus he
inquires editorially, 'could a more secure
place than Suiiu Tierre be found in the
event of an earthquake visitation?'"
Constable crushed the paper in his
hand. He glanced at his watch and then
at the mountain, from a habit now grav
en deeply.
"The northern end of Saint Pierre Is
flooded out like an ant hill under a kettle
boiling over," he capitulated thoughtfully.
"The mountain is gathering for another
demonstration. Let us flee with all dis
patch to the craters of the volcano, to
escape this hypothetical earthquake! M.
Mondet certainly enthralls me. I must
call upon him again. Breen,
is there any way to stimulate the distri
bution of the Panther mails?"
CHAPTER VII.
Immediately after breakfast Constable
drove down to the city to send out final
orders to Captain Negley, and attend cer
tain matters having to do with the Mad
ame's facilities for entertainment.- I'ncle
Joey was to go for the mails. If he
could prevent, Constable was mim'jt
that there should be no hitch nor tangle
at the last moment. In sjiite of darkish
apprehensions, his heart would burst now
and then Into singing, since he asked but
two hours more of old Pclei. upon whose
summit was now written in lightning and
black cloud the ominous letters of Dis
aster. The ladies were left to such graceful
ministrations of Breen as were found
needful. Mrs. Stansbury, having gained
her point, imposed no further delays. The
eagerness of the daughter was controlled,
but in no way concealed. The past three
days had left a pallor upon her face, and
shadows under her eyes, but the innate
fineness of her features seemed intensi
fied rather than diminished by physical
suffering, and the more subtle perturba
tions of the inner woman.
"When a strain brings out the splendor
of a woman's face, mark her well for a
thoroughbred," Breen had found occasion
to whisper to his friend. The sentence
was soul's refreshment, as Breen intend
ed it to be.
Constable, indeed, was contemplating
the full significance of the words, nnd
their possible bearing upon his present
and future, as he rode down the Morue
d'Orange into the Rue Victor Hugo. The
little black carriage of Father Damien
was approaching, nnd, gripped by a sud
den idea, Constable halted it. Baying to
the elder spirit of the parish, whom he
had met at the plantation house: "Father,
take this two thousand francs and use
it for the maintenance of the homeless
refugees in Fort tie France. I shall see
that more funds get to you to-day."
A little way further, another carriage
approached, one of the public conveyances
of the city this time. Behind the driver
loomed the hend and shoulders of a white
nan hard hend and broad shoulders
the sight of whom struck the music from
the brain of Constable, as a knife that Is
slashed across the strings of a harp. Both
vehicles stopped abruptly.
"Well, I've got you," the broad Individ
ual remarked cheerfully. "Where's the
other fellow?"
Let it be known that the man whom
Constable now faced was the same ener
getic person who occasioned discord o
the Brooklyn pier, just as the Madame
swung blithely forth into the harbor.
Constable was thinking very rapidly. He
felt prepared to commit murder rather
than have his plans for the morning
thrust aside.
"The other fellow?" he repeated gent
ly. "The man hidden in your cabin when
you cleared. His name is Nicholas Stein
bridge, if you don't happen to know," the
stranger said, with some Impatience.
"Where is he?"
"Where you saw him last," Constable
said, with sudden cordiality ; "and I wnnt
to state that I'm glad to see you that
Is," he added doubtfully, "if you've come
to take him away. If you've looked me
up, you'll have found that I'm usually
ready to pay In money, hide, or liberty,
for the mistakes I make."
(To be continued.)
Buenos Aires has a population of
1,200,000. of which about 80 per cent
Is forelgu, the Italians forming about
00 per cent of the foreign population.
wmmm
Improved I'lekle Fork.
A distinct Improvement In pickle
forks has been devised by a Louisiana
man, who realized bow difficult it Is to
attempt to remove the
last few pickles remain
ing in the bottom of the
bottle with the ordinary
pickle fork. Iu using
the lutter, It Is a very
easy mutter to pierce
the pickle with the
prongs of the fork, but
wheu it is hauled to the
top it Invariably falls ofl
riCKLt KoiiK.or refuses to go through
the neck of the bottle. With the new
I i i. ...
uil'ii'uii-iii luriv lEf iju lievjeamiy ui Dinn
ing the pickle. Instead it Is grasped
la a pair of curved prongs, like a pulr
of pincers, and thus drawn out of the
bottle.
Corn meal Sou file Dread.
One pint milk, two-thirds cup corn
meal, one level teaspoon suit, two leve.
tablespoons butter, two level tuble
spoons sugar, yolks four eggs. Scidd
the milk iu double boiler, and when hot
stir in the meal, adding It gradually.
Add the salt, cover and cook for thirty
minutes. Remove from the tire, add
the butter und sugar, and cool slightly.
Then udd the egg yolks, one at a time,
unbeaten. Fold Iu the whites of the
eggs, beaten stiff. Turn into a buttered
baking dish, pluce Iu a pun of hot water
and buke In a moderate oven for thirty
minutes. Serve ut once, either as a
breakfast bread or with sauce as t
pudding.
Celery I'lekle.
Cut a dozen stalks of celery into Inch
pieces, pluce In suucepau with wuter to
cover and boll slowly until tender. Re
move from fire und drain. Put one
quart cider, with alum size of a pea, in
granite saucepan ; bring to boiling
point ; then add one-hulf pound brown
sugar, one tablespoon salt, Baltspoonful
pepper, one tablcspoouful cinnamon, 10
drops onlou juice ; boll to a thick sirup,
then add one gill vinegar and the cook
ed celery. Boil five minutes, stirring
continually to prevent burning. Turn
Into Jelly glasses und cover with paraf
fin. OriiuKO Jelly.
One-ounce packet of the best Isinglass
or gelatin, i ounces lout sugur, 15 or
auges, 1 lemon, 1 pint water. Souk the
packet of Isinglass or gelatin In half
a pint of cold water; boll 4 ounces of
loaf sugar in half a pint of water till
It becomes a sirup, then add the Juice
of six oranges and one lemon nnd the
peel of two oranges and half a lemon.
Place on the fire for a minute, skim
well and add a wine glass of cold water
by degrees to make the scum rise; put
In the Isinglass, stir till dissolved am
strain through muslin.
Illpe Currant Pie.
Crush one cupful currants, ndd one
cupful of sugar. Bent the yolks of
two eggs, und two tablespooufuls of
water and one tublespoonful of flour,
mix with the fruit and sugur, nnd cook
until smooth. Bake an under crust,
fill with the cooked mixture, niuke a
meringue of the two whites of the eggs
and two tublespooiifuls of sugar, spread
over he top and brown In the oven.
Way to Ue Snue.
, When preparing dressing for fowl
sage is generally used, mid the steins
and leaves are found so disagreeable
In the dressing. A good way of pre
venting this Is to steep n tublespoon
of snge in half a cup of boiling
wuter. Then this can bo strimcd right
Into the dressing.
ItANnberry Ice.
Rnspbery water Ice Press raspber
ries through a line lmlr sieve enough
of them to make three pints of Juice.
Add one pound of powdered sugar, the
Juice of one large lemon and one tea
spoonful of raspberry extract Then
reeze.
StrliiK-Hean Salad.
To a cup of cold string beans cut
Into lengths add a' teaspoon chopped
onion, suit and pepper to taste, cut a
small slice of bacon Into dice nnd fry,
add half cup vinegar, nnd pour over
beans while hot. Serve very cold.
Ornnure Filling for Cake.
Bent the whites of two eggs very
stiff, with one cupful powdered sugar,
ndd hulf the grated peel and the Juice
of an ornnge. Whip to n soft erenm
and put between tho layers of a cake
when they nre cool.
Layer Cake,
Crenm ono-half cup butter with one
and one-half cups powdered sugar, add
three-fourths cup milk nnd when well
mixed three well-beaten -eggs, enough
flour for a good dough and two tea
spoons baking powder.
Gin net Snap.
One cup lurd and butter mixed, one
cup brown sugar, one cup molasses, one
egg, one teaspoonful Bait, one tuble
spoonful ginger, four tablespoons vine
gar, one teaspoon soda, flour enough to
roll.
"He swore he would be her page."
"What did she do?" "Turned him
down." Blrmlnghum Age-Ueruld.
"Seems to me you look younger than
ever." "Why not? As I grow older, I
become more and more expert In uvoid
ing trouble." Life.
Nell Mnude has lost a good friend
In Juek. Belle Why, have they quar
reled? Nell No, they are umrrled.
Philadelphia Record.
The Questioner I hear his wife Is
a brunette, but I thought he married
a blonde. The Joker He did, but she
dyed. Houston Post.
Gabbleby After all, n woman's
scream Is her greatest weapon of de
fense. Gertrude Undoubtedly ; how
did you find It out? Puck.
Mistress Bridget, it always seems to
me that tho crankiest mistresses get
the best cooks. Cook Ah, go on wld
yer blarney ! Town Topics.
The Boy (fervently) You are tho
first und' only girl I ever loved, Ethel.
She Ah, what lots of fun you have
ahead yC you, Freddy ! London Opin
ion. He A fellow told me yesterday ho
thought I wus such n bright fellow.
Slav That's an awfully hud habit. Ha
What Is? She Talking to yourself.
Life.
Hix I always have Dr. Emdeo.
When my mother-in-law wns nt death's
door he pulled her through. Dlx
Which way did ho pull her? St. Louis
Republic.
"Who's your ideal of bravery?"
queried the old bachelor. "Is It Gen
eral Kurokl?" "No," answered tho
spinster, desperately. "It's a Mormon."
The Tatler.
"You never raw a mnii who under
stood women," "Well, I knew u man
oin-e who claimed that he did." "And
did he?" "Well, he never married one."
-Houston Post.'
Nell I don't suppose Mr. Sillleus
has any vices. Belle Vices? Why, ho
belongs to n glee club, an amateur the
atrical society, and writes poetry.
'lilludelplilu Record.
Toiisorlal Expert (cutting colored
man's hair) 'Itustus, your lmlr Is Just
like wool. 'RnstuH Well, yoli didn't
spect to cut silk fo' fifteen cents, did
vou? Harper's Weekly. '
Jim (regarding damage done to
church by lire) Good Job It -wasn't a
factory. Bill. Bill You're right, mate.
Only one nmn put out of work, and ho
draws his money. Punch.
, The Boss Wind's that? Ollleo Boy
I says, you better send out and git
a half dozen boys to do my work to
day; I'm going to be sick about three
o'clock ! I Iarper's Buzaiir.
"Yes; 1 nm going abroad." "And
how are you going to arrange your Itin
erary?" "Oh, pompadour. I think
that will lie most suitable for truvel-'ug."-Washington
Herald.
Sambo Do doctor tells me dnt ter
eat six wntornillllons at one time would
i slio' kill inc. Itiimbo An' what you
gwlne do 'bout It? Sambo I gwine ter
die game! New York Tribune.
"Suppose women should vote. What
would be the result?" "Oh, I don't
know," answered Mr. Slrlus Barker,
petulantly. "Perhaps we'd have hand
pa In ted ballots." Washington Star.
SlmkliiH You say that little nmn
was formerly the lightweight cham
pion? Tlinklns Yes. Slmklns How
did he lose the title? Tlinklns Oh, ho
didn't lose It. He merely sold his gro
cery and retired. Chicago Dally News.
Customer (pointing to the hiero
glyphics on his check) Is that my
name In Chinese? Go Long (Chinese
lnandryman) No; 'scllptlon. Means
"1IT ole mnn; cross-eyed; no toot'."
Customer Er thank you. New York
Globe.
"I suppose," snld the facetious stran
ger, watching n workman spread n cur
pet from tho church door to the curb,
"that's the high rond to heaven you're
fixing there?" "No," replied the man,
"this 1b merely n bridal path." Phila
delphia Press.
Professor Stone To the geologist a
thousand years or so are not counted
as any time nt nil. Mnn In the Audi
ence Great Scott! And to think I
made a temporary loan of ten dollars
to n man who holds such views!
Philadelphia Inquirer.
Mrs. Exe Good-by. I'm sorry my
husband Isn't In. I wish I knew some
way of keeping him nt home a little
more. Mrs. Wye Let him buy n mo
tor car. Mrs. Exe Why, he'd be out
more than ever then. Mrs. Wye Oh,
dear, no! Mrs. Dasher tells me her
huhnud bought a motor car n few
days ngo, nnd the doctor says ho won't
btt out for six weeks. Illustrated Bits,