HThe Ahited Qepulchre
J- The VV Talc of O Pelee
By Will LUvington Comfort
Copyright. 1957. by J. a Lirrmcon-
CHAPTER XI II.-(Continued.)
"Still, I must leave nothing undone to
night. I want the years bright for you,
and I must try once more. After all, the
mother of my beloved can do no wrong."
"People might be safe away up there
on the Monie d'Orange," she said, fear
fully, "but you must pass to and fro
through the city!"
Gently he turned her face from the hid
den city. "Look yonder into the splendid
night!" he whispered. "Feel the sting
of the spray. Hear the bows sing ! It's
all for us, Lara, the gilded track to the
moon, the loveliest of earth's distances
and the sky afterward! We can't leave
this great thing undone. Listen, dearest ;
when the dawn comes up the Madame
will be lying seven or eight miles off
shore. I'll take the launch into the har
bor, and climb the morne once more to the
big plantation bouse, bringing your love
and mine to the mother-bird whom I
owe for all things good. If she will not
come wilh me, I shall command Uncle
Joey to take her to Fort de France.
After that "
She was clinging to him and sobbing.
"Af'or thit'r" ?h" if-rntH.
"We steam for Fort de France then,"
he.suid, "and Father Itamien must spare
us an hour from bis labors. After that,
beloved, you and I and the honeymoon
out on the swinging seas !"
Just now Denny Macready appeared on
the bridge.
"Lara, I want you to know this Den
ny," said Constable. "I found him in a
stoke-hohl, and haven't been able to get
rid of him since. He's my steward at
sea, my butler ashore, and 'Yours solid'
anywhere. Denny, I'm going ashore at
dawn "
" 'Tis crool t' hear, sorr."
"That point is pretty well covered, Den
ny. I want you that is, I'm leaving
Miss Stunshury in your hands."
"Sh-sh wait till I putt on me gloves."
"How are your charges faring, Denny V"
Constable asked.
"Is ut th' little wans, you mane?"
"Yes, the natives."
"If I on'y had some goats, sorr!"
"Why goats;"
"Sure, I've been petherin' with lime
wather an' sea wather an wather straight
an' sugar av milk whin goats could do
it all, an' bettber." .
Macready went below, leaving a laugh
on the bridge which was no little thing.
The Madame crept in to the edge of the
smoke. The gray ghost of morning was
stealing into the hateful baze. The ship
found anchorage. The launch was in
readiness below. It was six in the morn
ing. I'ugh, the new third officer, was
just leaving the bridge. Constable and
Lara were standing at the door of bis
cabin.
"I know that you could do no greater
thing than this for me," she told him ;
"but when a woman comes into her own
as I have it is terrible to be left alone
so soon. . There are warnings in the wind,
menaces in the silence, dangers in every
thing. It cannot be that I have found
you, my lover, only to lose you again. Oh,
come back to me quickly, dear !"
"Three hours shall see us on our way
to Fort de France," be answered blithely.
"Trust me to hurry back to you. Pelee
Is still now. It may be that the pressure
Is eased "
"There, kiss me, and don't wait! The
very name of Telce is horrible !" She
moved with him to the ladder. "I thought
I would be braver than this, Pierre Va
'eur !"
He whispered a last word and descend
ed. Ernst had been relieved, and another
sailor was in the launch, one for whom
preparations had been made in the dim
hall. Constable was happy. He waved a
kiss at the pale, mute face leaning over
side, and the fog rushed in between.
CIIAFTER XIV.
The launch gained the inner harbor,
and the white ships at anchor were seen
.vague phantoms -in the vapor French
steamers, Italian barques, and the small
er West Indian craft all with their work
to do and their way to win. Constable
heard one officer shout to another, ln:
quiring if Saint Pierre was in the usual
place, or had switcbed-sites with Hades.
The day was clearing rapidly, however,
and before the launch reached shore the
haze was so lifted that Pelee could be
seen, floating a pennant of black put to
sea. In the city a large frame ware
house was ablaze. The tinder-dry struc
ture was being destroyed with almost ex
Dlosive Biiecd.
"Wait for me here," Constable said to
the sailor, as the launch scraped the
Suear Landing.
A blistering heat rushed down from the
expiring building to the edge of the lnnd.
Crowds wntched the destruction. Many
of the people were in holiday attire. This
was the Day of Ascension, and Saint
Pierre would shortly pray and praise, at
the cathedral. Even now the bells were
calling, and there was low laughter from
a group of maidens. Was it not good to
live, since the sun shone again and the
mountain did not answer the sainted
bells? It was true that Pelee poured
forth a black streamer with lightning in
Its folds; true that the people trod upon
the hot gray dust of the volcano s waste ;
that the heat was such as no man had
ver felt before and many sat In misery
upon the ground ; true, Indeed that voices
of hysteria came from the hovels, and the
breath of uncovered death from tne W
Company. Alll IghU rerd
ways but the ,ala spirit was not dead.
The bells wen calling; the mountain
was still; brigl t dresses were abroad
for the torrid ;hildren of France must
laugh.
' Constable fell in with the procession
on the way to the cathedral. Reaching
there, he climbii to a huge block of stone
in the square, and hurled broadcast the
germ of flight. Many had seen him be
fore, when hit face was haggard. He
was smiling now. There was color in his
skin, fire in hiu eyes, a ring in his voice.
Fear was not In him.
A carriage was not procurable, so he
walked toward the Morne d'Orange. It
was seven-thirty, and the distance was
two miles to the plantation house. Al
eight, or soon afterward, he would b
there eight on the morning of Ascension
Day; at nine, in the launch again, speed
ing out to the smile of the bride !
Twenty times a minute she recurred to
him as be walked. There was no waning
nor wearing save a wearing brighter,
;;erhaps of the images she bad put in
bis mind. The night bad brought him
palaces and gardens and treasure houses:
iMi'ij uui'ic Iik lumen, ucvv ricuC3 l;rc;;c
upon him. That her face had lain be
tween his hands ; that his bands had
brought that face to his own ; that her
whispers, kisses, confidences, her prayers
and passions and coming years, all found
their center and origin in himself, like
bright doves that had a cote within his
heart these thoughts lifted the poor man
to such heights of praise and blessedness
that be seemed to shatter the dome of hu
man limitations, and emerge crown and
shoulders into the illimitable ether.
The road up the morne stretched blind
ing white before him. Panting and spent
not a little, he strode upward through
the vicious pressure of beat, holding his
helmet free from bis head, that the air
might circulate under the rim. At length,
upon the crest of the morne, he perceived
the gables of the plantation house, above
the palms and mangoes, gold-brown in the
dazzling haze.
Pelee roared. Sullen and dreadful out
of the silence voiced the monster, roused
to his labor afresh. The American began
to run, glancing back at the darkening
north. The crisis was not
passed in favor of peace. The holiday
was darkened. The Madame would fill
with refugees now, and the road to Fort
de France turn black with flight. These
were his thoughts as he ran.
The lights of the day burned tfut one
by one. The crust of the earth stretched
to a cracking tension. The air was beet
ling with strange concussions. In the
clutch of realization, he turned one shin'
ing look toward the sea. Detonations ac
cumulated into the crash of a thousand
navies.
On the porch of the plantation house,
twenty yards away,, stood the mother of
Lara, her eyes fascinated, lost in the
north. At the steps he fell, caught her
skirt, her waist, in his hands. Across the
lawn, through the roaring black, he bore
her, brushing her fingers and her fallen
hair from his face. He reached the curb
ing of the old well with his burden, crawl
ed over, and grasped the rusty chain. In
candescent tongues lapped the cbtern's
raised coping, and running streams of red
dust filtered down.
It was eight in the morning of Ascen
sion Day. La Montagne Pelee was giv
ing birth to Death.
CHAPTER XV.
When the launch entered the denser
cloud and faded from her sight, Miss
Stansbury retired to the cabin. Over all
her thoughts of the unhallowed parting
from her mother the night before, and the
clean, valorous act of her lover now, lnmg
the defined terror lest Pelee should inter
vene. She heard Macready's step at the
door; the calm voice of an officer on the
bridge; the morning bells.
The pale winding sheet was unwrapped
from the beauty of morning. Though a
port-hole she saw the rose and gold on
the far, dim hills. Her eyes smarted from
weariness, but her mind, like art auto-
matic thing, swept around the great cir
cle from the ship to the city, to the
house beyond the morne and back again.
She saw him in the launch, in the midst
of native groups on the shore, in the
plantation house, begging her mother to
listen, Importuning Uncle Joey to take
her to Fort de France, returning through
the streets with people following the
crowded launch, and then the joy of emp-
ty arms filled. Hut sometimes Pelee
would burst into the deepening channel of
thoughts, effacing the whole, nnd leaving
her, a Rbrieking, dishevelled crenture, in
the- midst of a chaos which would not an
swer. She went on deck. Laird, the first
officer, invited her to ascend the bridge,
lie was scrutinzing through the glass a
blotch of smoke on the city front. "What
do you make of it, Miss Stansbury?" he
asked., .
The lenses brought to her a nucleus of
red In the blnck bank. The rest of Saint
Pierre was a -gray doll settlement, set In
the shelter of little gray hills. She
could see the riven and castellated crest
of Telee, weaving his black ribbon. It
was all small, silent and unearthly.
"That's a Ore on the shore," she said.
"Exactly," said Laird.
Shortly afterward the trumpetlngs of
the monster began. The harbor grev
yellowish-black. The shore crawled deei
er tato the shroud, and was lost alto
gether. The water took on a foul look,
as if the bed of the sea were churned with
some beastly passion. The anchor chain
drew taut, mysteriously strained, and
banged a tattoo against the steel-bound
eye. Rlue Peter, drooping at the fore
mast, livenad suddenly into ipasm of
writhing, lil.e a hooked lizard. The black,
quivering ctdumns of smoke frou the fun
nels were fanned down upon the deck,
adding soot to the white smear from the
volcano. Lara felt Macready pulling at
ber arm.
"Ye mufiht go below, miss. Ye know
me ordhere."
She rebelled with sudden vehemence,
declaring that she would smother down
there.
"Y'ou can do no good here, sure. Don't
make It crool fur me?"
"Make haste below, miss squall com
ing!" commanded Laird. Gentleness and
jollity were gone from''the large red face.
She suffered herself to be drawn down
the ladder, crushed by the officer's words,
and the iron fingers of fear closing about
her heart. A hot, fetid breath charged
the air. The water danced, olive with the
yeast of worlds. The disordered sky in
toned violence. Pelee had set the foun
dations to trembling.
Lara drifted into the open polar region.
Despair. These men were nil his friends.
She must not hinder them. They had much
to do. Her part was self-effacement. In
the darkening passageway she heard
Laird shouting orders above, heard him
command the native women to "tumble be
low," and the sailors to seal the ways
after them, heard the deep sea language
and "barometer" "Constable';
There were running feet, bells
below, cries from the native women, quick
oaths from the sailors. The ship rose and
settled like a feaiuer in a breeze.
She was incapable of swift action.
Macready lifted her into the cabin and
slammed the door, rushed to the ports and
screwed tbera tight with lightning fingers,
led her to a chair and locked it in its
socket.
"That's the decre," he said breathless
ly. "Shud so much as a slipark from the
mountain raise so much as a bloosh upon
your cheek, sure I'd niver be able t' face
Mr. Constable again, but go on sthokin'
foriver an' iver."
"It's very good of you," she answered
dully.
She sat very still, not daring to relax
the rigid tension of her face, her hands,
or her brain, lest the scream of madness
break forth. From out the shoreward
darkness thundered vibrations which ren
dered soundless all that had passed be
fore. Comets flashed by the port holes.
The ship shuddered and fell to her star
board side.
Eight bells had just sounded when the
great thunder rocked over the gray-black
harbor, and the molten vitals of the mon
ster, wrapped in a black cloud, filled the
heavens, gathered themselves, and plunged
down upon the city and the sea. As for
the de Stael, eight miles from shore and
twelve miles from the craters, she seemed
to have fallen from a habitable ' planet
into the fire-mist of an unfinished world.
She heeled over like a biscuit tin, dipping
her bridge and gunwales. She was del
uged by blasts of steam and molten stone.
Her anchor chain gave way, and, burn
ing in a half-dozen places, she was sucked
ln-shore.
(To be continued.)
An Idol with a Tragic History.
There are many things which happen
which do not readily lend themselves
to explanation. When Mine. Carnot,
widow of Sad! Caruot, died and her
will was read, a clause In It caused
considerable comment. This wns to the
effect that a certain small Hindoo Idol
carved from a hard stone, which would
be found among her property, must be
taken out'and crushed until completely
destroyed. Many innrveled at this ap
parently singular request, for the Idol
seemed a harmless, ugly little thing;
but hpr instructions were carried out
to the letter.
The Idol had been presented to S.idl
Cnrnnt years before lie had ever
thought of the Presidency of France by
n friend who hud brought 1t from In
dia. Later he learned that there wns
a legend attached to it which asserted
that whoever would retain it in his
possession would rise to the fullest
height of power In his chosen profes
sion, but die of a stab wound when nt
the zenith of his career. Carnot traced
the history of the idol and found that
for 500 years the rulers who had pos
sessed It had all. died either In battle
or by assassination of stab wounds. Yet
he laughed at the story, called the facta
adduced by his search a mere chain of
coincidences and retained the Idol. He
died by a dngger in the hands of an
assassin, hence Mine. Carnot's strange
request
Not So Uneloii, Either.
"Wlldent mining s'tocks are not alto
gether useless or worthless, either,"
said a New York broker who handles
cheap mining stocks the other day as
he hung up the telephone receiver.
"Here's a man who just offered me $50
for enough mining stocks to have a
face value of $50,000. He wasn't par
ticular what stocks he got if they only
had a paper value of $50,000. I closed
the deal and shall ninke money on It,
too. What did he want with such
stocks? Well, I haven't the slightest
doubt but that he Is getting ready to
go Into the bankruptcy court and wants
to show his creditors where his money
has been dropped. We often get su?h
requests and are usually able to fill
them."
To do It no more, is the true )fenO
knee. Luther,
Dairy Idola.
Cows becomes favorites with thel
owners not altogether by reason of tli
milk they produce. We have know!
cows that their owners thought a greal
deal of because of the kindly dlsposi
tlon of the animals. One cow that tin
writer remembers ( ,ve but a " fevi
quarts of milk a day but she was a pel.
of the family. Sh would prefer tlw
company of member l of the family
rather than that of other cows. If thu
cows were being talien to pasture she
would Insist on walking by the side o!'
the one In charge of the herd. It ll
hard to order a cow of this kind sent to
the butcher, nnd ninny people will not
do It Instead, the animals are kept
for a dozen years, and' not only allowed
to eat up the provender without re
turning a compensation for it, but am
alowed to add to the herd more cows
after their own ability not to produce
milk. Those may fairly bo called dairy
Idols, Their owners claim great things
for them without being able to substan
jale Uii; truth of what tiu-y say.
Rut the family pet Is not the only
brand of dairy "idol. There are the gen
eral purpose cows that quite generally
have the entire confidence of their own
ers ns to their great value. They are
Idols that the single-purpose cow men
have demolished again and again, to
their own satisfaction, but they are still
o be found nil over the land.
The dairy Idol is a thing that can be
dispensed with to the advantage of
the owners of the cows. The warfare
against them will be kept up, and little
by little the factors we are warring
against will disappear. It may, how
ever, take about as long to eliminate
Niom as It took Christianity to drive the
idols out of the pagan world. Farmers'
Review.
II Uk In Drenched Tattle.
Doctor David Roberts, State Veteri
narian of Wisconsin, gives this advice:
Perhaps the best way of demonstrating
the danger of drench ing cattle Is to ad
vise the reader to throw back "la head
ns far as possible and attempt to swal
low. This you will iind to be a diffi
cult task, nnd you will find it more
illflicult nnd almost Impossible to swal
ov with the mouth open. It Is for
this reason that drenching cattle Is a
dangerous practice. However, if a cow's
hend be raised as high as possible and
her mouth kept open by the drenching
bottle or horn, a portion of the liquid
Is very apt to pass down the windpipe
Into the lungs, sometimes causing in
stant death by smothering, nt other
times causing dentil to follow in a few
(lays from congestion or Inflammation
of the lungs. Give all cattle their
'iiedicino hypodermlcally or In feed, if
fiiey refuse feed' give It dry on the
tongue. The proper method of giving a
row medicine Is to stand on the right
bide of the cow, placing the left arm
around the nose and at the same time
opening ber mouth, and with a spoon In
the right hand place the medicine,
whlHi should be In a powdered form,
back on the tongue; she can then swal
low with safety.
llnndy fur Sorting I'otntoen.
In sorting potatoes a time-saver can
be iniide of boards and common wire.
The best wire should be smooth and
about the thickness of ordinary clothes
FOR SOKTINO TOTATOKS.
line. The side-boards should be about
18 Inches wide to keep the potatoes
from rolling off the sides. The wires
are fastened to a pulley nt the top to
tighten them so they will not ung and
let the large potatoes through. Shovel
the potatoes In at the top and the
small potntoes will drop through the
screen Into the box.
To Fallen l-'onln,
Shut the fowls up lu a darkened
place with Just enough light for them
to see to eat, and feed on cornmeal,
ground oats, cracked wbeiit and shorts,
which mny be mixed In equal propor
tions and scalded. Feed as often dur
ing the day as they will eat up tho
food clean. That Is to nay, stuff tlicm.
Tafte a light and feed rguln just be
fore your bedtime, and as enrly In the
morning an possible. Supply them
with grit and water and keep tho
premises cenn. Half a dozen fowhi to
gether will fatten more quickly thkn a
large numner, as they win nor ror
company. Cookfd potatoes, rte corn
bread, cracked corn and whole wheat
may also be fed. Give no green stuffs,
as It Is too filling nnd will do no good.
Fowls crowded this way should be In
fine condition In two weeks. Shut up
longer, they are likely to begin to mop
and will "go back rather than lncreaso
In weight Rural World.
- Nutriment In Milk.
Rulletin No. 51 from the Storrs Ag
ricultural Experiment Station, Con
necticut, is a most excellent one on tho
origin or sources of those small or
ganisms called bacteria, which are
found so abundantly in milk. Tho
bulletin also contains some rather
startling statements and some whole
some suggestions.
Among the statements which ought
to make the average man sit up and
think are the following:
"A quart of milk at 8c Is equivalent
in food value to a pound of beef at 18c.
This means that 4c worth of milk gives
ns much food, energy In the body as Oe
worth of beef.
"The average Individual consumes
three. or four times ns much meat in a
day ns the body actually needs for re
pair, nnd for its highest physical con
dition.
"If the American people would eat
one-half less meat and consume one
half more milk, they would save about
$ 1. -(. MiO.fM Ml. lu money and In health,
enough to make the doctors' bills look
small."
Improved linn Pen.
A large hog pen with space for both
sleeping and feeding can be arranged
with a floor on one-half to ensure a
PEN WITH SECTIONAL FLOOR.
dry bed. The size of the whole pen lss
8 feet by 10 feet, so that the floored
section of the pen Is 8 feet square. It
Is made of strong materials, usually 2
In. by 4 in. stuff, and rests on cleats In
the bottom of the pen.
Water for Com,
It is claimed that a cow needs eight
gallons of water a day, and will con
sume that much If It Is within reach.
Milk Is composed of about 87 per cent
water. Cows confined to pastures In
which there Is no running water and
the cows are watered morning and
night, It would necessitate that a cow
would have to drink four gallons nt a
time In order to be supplied. As the
cow does not know that she must drink
four gallons, she will naturally use less
and reduce her milk supply accordingly.
The Milk Machine.
There Is mighty little sentiment
about a cow. She's nothing but a deli
cately organized mllk-maklng mnchlne.
Her nervous organization Is well de
veloped, though, and Is easily disturbed,
but If she is well supplied with mllk
maklng material and Is 'let alone she
will turn out a good product nnd plenty
of It, provided, of course, she Is built
on the right lines. A poor machine of
any kind Is a curse to the owner.
Money In Irrigation.
Two hundred feet of the levee on tho
San Joaquin River lu California gave
way and flooded 4,000 acres of growing
crops, causing n loss of $.',000,000.
Crops worth $1,2."0 an acre are not
rare In an Irrigated district, though tho
figures above given would look like a
misprint to nn Easterner. About
acres of the Inundated area were lu
celery, and - the value would run far
above the average stated. El Paso
Herald.
Milk Veel.
L'so no wooden milk vessels, and
after washing milk vessels set them
out to dry scalding hot. Never rlnso
out with cold water after the tlnul
scalding. Leave them hot, so they will
dry quickly und not get musty.
Note on Orchard Work.
Select only standard varieties.
Spray frequently and thoroughly.
Clover crops prevent soli washing.
Sell direct to the consumer whenever
possible.
Form strong symmetrical bends on
ali trees.
Prepare the ground the fall previous
to planting.
Supply an abuudance of plant food
at all times.
Clover crops perform many useful
functions.
Fruit farming has been styled gentle,
men's farming.
Poultry and fruit growing make a
good combination.
The finest fruit Is grown by thinning
the fruit on the trees.
Sow clover crops go that they will be
thick nnd cover the ground.
Keep up to date by reading what the
most successful men have to say.
Fruit growing and fruit eating mak
people sunny, happy and sweet
VJteaakaawws