Tillamook Headlight, November 26, 1914 overseas to this mortal rass. Fea then—it came to pass that we loved The answer forestalled his arrival him ture for feature, even to the hue of Trine and the Indian—the latter wield one woman, your mother. I won her In Liverpool: her tumbled hair, she counterfeited ing tho paddle. all but her heart: too late she real Trine's death sign for your father. For the woman he loved; only those eyes, In the act of turning toward the ized it was Law she loved. He never God's sake, look to yourself and keep dam he saw Jacob drop the paddle. aflame with their look of inhuman away from America. forgave me, nor I him. Though he A Novelized Version of th. Motion Picture Dram. of th. Seme Nam. ruthlessness, denied v^at the two were The next Instant a bullet from a Win married another woman, still he held Produced by the Universal FUm Co. But Alan had more than once vfs- chester .30 kicked up a spurt Of peb from me the love of my wife. I could ited America incognito and unknown one. He sought vainly to speak. The bles only a few feet in advance of not sleep for hating him and he was to Seneca Trine via a secret route of breath rustled in his parched throat Alan. no better off. Each sought the other’s his own selection. He quickened his race, but the next like wind whispering among dead ruin; it came to be an open duel be By LOUIS JOSEPH VANCE Eight days out of London, a second- bullet fell closer, while the third ao- Author of "The Fortune Hunter," "The Brare The Elack Bus." etc. tween us, in Wail street One of us class passenger newly landed from leaves. Thrusting the Indian roughly aside, tually bit the earth beneath his run had to fall—and I held the stronger one of the C.-P. steamships, he walked Illustrated with PhotopapLa from the Picture P.-odactioe the woman knelt in his place by ning feet as he gained the dam. I * hand The night before the day that the streets of Quebec—and dropped Exasperated, he pulled up, whipped Alan's head. was to have seen my triumph, I out of sight between dark and dawn, out bis pistol and fired without aim. "No, ” she said, and smiling cruelly, walked in Central park, as was my to turn up presently in the distant, At the same time, he noted that the Copyright, 1»K, by Louis Joseph Vance habit to tire my body so that my brain Canadian hamlet of Balo St. Paul, ap shook her head—"no, I am not your distance between dam and canoe b3j Rose. But I am her sister. Judith, her might sleep. Crossing the Fast drive parently a very tenderfooted American twin, born in tho same hour, daughter CHAPTER I. a sign from her, so that he had grown I was struck by a motor-car running woods-traveler chaperoned by a taci of—can you guess whose daughter? at high speed without lights. I was accustomed to the unflattering belief turn Indian guide picked up heaven- But see this!” She flashed a card picked up insensible—and lived only knows-where. The Message of the Rose. that she had forgotten him. from within her hunting shirt and held to be what I am today. Law tri Lapped deep in the leather-bound Crossing the St. Lawrence by night, And now the sign had come—but luxury of an ample lounge-chair, what the deuce did the trey of hearts umphed in the street while I lay help the two struck oft quietly into the It before hfs eyes. "You know it, eh? less; only a living remnant of my hinterland of the Notre Dame range, The trey of hearts—tho symbol of walled apart from the world by tho mean? Trine—Trine, your father's enemy, venerable solitude of the library of When morning came, London had fortune remained to me. Then his then crossed the Maine border. and yours, and—Rose's father and London's most exclusive club, Mr. lost Alan Law. No man of his ac On the second noon thereafter, mine! So, now, perhaps you know!” Alan Law sprawled (largely on the quaintance—nor any woman—had re trail-worn and weary, as lean as their A gust of wind like a furnace blast nape of his neck) and, squinting dis ceived the least warning of his dis depleted packs, the two paused on a swept the glade. The woman sprang contentedly down his nose, admitted appearance. He was simply and suf ridge pole of the wilderness up back up, glanced over-shoulder Into the for that he was exhaustively bored. of the Allagash country, and made est, and signed to the Indian. ficiently removed from English ken. Mi * : Now the chair filled so gracelessly their midday meal In a silence which, "In ten minutes." she said, "these stood by an open window, some twen if normal in the Indian, was one of woods will be your funeral pyre.” » Wi I CHAPTER II. J ty feet below which lay a sizable deep misgivings on Alan's part. She stepped back. Jacob advanced, walled garden, an old English garden Continually his gaze questioned the picked Alan up, shouldered his body, K? .?■ .. The Sign of the Three. in full flower. And through the win northern skies that lowered porten and strode back Into the forest. Ten Out-of-doors, high brazen noon, a dow, now and then, a half-hearted tously, foul with smoke—a country feet in from the clearing he dropped breeze wafted gusts of warm air, day in spring, the clamorous life of wide conflagration that threatened all the helpless man supine upon a bed of sauve and enervating with the heavy New York running as fluent as quick northern Maine, bone-dry with dry logs and branches. silver through Its brilliant streets. fragrance of English roses. drought. Then, with a single movement, he Within doors, neither sound nor sun Only the south offered a fair pros- disappeared. Mr. Law drank deep of it, and in beam disturbed a perennial quiet that pect. And the fires were making Bpite of his spiritual unrest, sighed was yet not peace. slightly and shut his eyes. southward far faster than man might CHAPTER IV. The room was like a wide, deep hope to travel through that grim and An unspoken word troubled the well of night, the haunt of teeming stubborn land. depth of his consciousness, so that Many Waters. shadows and sinister silences. Even as he stared, Alan saw fresh old memories stirred and struggled to Overhead, through a rift In the Little, indeed, was visible beyond columns of dun-colored smoke spring foliage, its surface. The word was “Rose," a sky was visible whose ebon up in the northwest. and for the time seemed to be the the lonely shape that brooded over darkness called to mind a thunder it, the figure of an old man motion Anxiously he consulted the fmpas- cloud. name neither of a woman nor of a rive mask of the Indian, from whom flower, but oddly of both, as though less in a great, leather-bound chair. The heat was nearly Intolerable: His hair was as white as his heart his questions gained Alan little com the voice of the fire was very loud, the two things were one. His mental was black. The rack of his bones, fort. Jacob recommended forced vision, bridging the gap of a year, con A heavy, broken crashing near by clothed in a thick black dressing- marches to Spirit lake, where canoes made Alan turn his head, and he Baw jured up the vision of a lithe, sweet gown with waist-cord of crimson silk, might be found to aid their flight; silhouette in white, with red roses from the thighs down was covered by a brown bear break cover and plunge and withdrew into sullen reserve. at her belt, posed on a terrace of the on Into tho farther thickets—forerun a black woollen rug. He stared un- They traveled far and fast by dim Riviera against the burning Mediter blinkingly at nothing: a man seven forest trails before sundown, then ner of a mad rout of terrified forest ranean blue. folk, deer, porcupines, a fox or two, a eighths dead, completely paralyzed again paused for food and rest. And wildcat, rabbits, squirrels, partridges i A Tremendous Weight Tore at Hla Mr. Law wan dully conscious that but for his head and his left arm. as Jacob sat deftly about preparing he ought to be sorry about something. Arms. Presently a faint clicking signal dis the meal, Alan stumbled oft to whip —a dozen more. . . . But he was really very drowsy indeed; turbed the stillness. Seneca Trine put Two minutes had passed of the ten. the little trail-side stream for trout. and so, drinking deep of wine-scent forth his left hand and touched one lessened perceptibly, thanks to the Perhaps a hundred yards upstream, Something was digging uncomfortably strong current sucking through the of roses, he fell gently asleep. Into Alan's right hip—the automatic of a row of crimson buttons embedded the back lash of a careless cast by his The clock was striking four when in the desk. Something else clicked spillway. We Both Loved One Woman. w eary hand hooked the state of Maine. pistol In his hip pocket, of which he awoke; and before closing his —this time a latch. There was the His shot flew wide, but almost In Jacob had neglected to relieve him. eyes he had noticed that its hands faintest possible noise of a closing chauffeur, discharged, came to me and Too tired even to remember the ap- Then a sharp, spiteful crackling stinctfvely his finger closed again indicated ten minutes to four. So he door, and a smallish man stole noise sold me the truth; it was Law's car | propriate words, Alan scrambled brought him suddenly to a sitting posi upon the trigger, and he saw the pad | ashore, forced through the thick un- could not have slept very long. tion. to find that the Indian had dle snap in twain, its blade falling lessly into the light, paused beside the with Law at the wheel that had struck For some few seconds Alan did not I desk and waited respectfully for leave me down—a deliberate attempt at as 1 dergrowth that masked the trail, thoughtfully touched a match to the overboard. And then the Indlun fired move, but rested as he was, incredu to speak. sassination. I sent Law word that I : found his fly, set the state of Maine pyre before departing. At Alan’s feet again, his bullet droning past Alan's ear. lously regarding a rose which had ma meant to have a life for a life. For I free—and swinging on his heel the twigB were blazing merrily. "Well?” terialized mysteriously upon the little As he fired In response Jacob start- what was I better than dead? I prom ! brought up, nose to a sapling, trans It would have been easy enough, "A telegram, sir—from England.” ; fixed by a rectangle of white paste- table at his elbow. He was quite sure : “Give it me!” ised him that, should he escape, I acting on instinct, to snatch his limbs ed, dropped his rifle and crumpled up l board fixed to its trunk, a trey of it had not been there when he closed | The old man seized the sheet of yel would have the life of his son. Ho away, but he did not move more than in the bow of the canoe. Simultaneously earth and heavens his eyes, and almost as sure that it low paper, scanned it hungrily, and | knew I meant it, and sent his wife ; hearts, of which each pip had been to strain his feet as far as their bonds I neatly punctured by a 22-callber bul- was not real. permitted. Conscious of scorching rocked with a terrific clap of thun crushed it in his tremulous claw with and son abroad. Then he died sud- i let. And in that Instant of awakening a gesture of uncontrollable emotion. denly, of some common ailment—they heat even through his hunting boots, der. He carried it back to camp, mean- he suffered that torture until a tongue He turned again and ran swiftly the magic fragrance of the rose-garden said; but I knew better. He died of “Send my daughter Judith here!” | ing to consult the guide, but on sec of flame licked up, wrapped itself along the dam. toward two heavy tim seemed to be even more strong and Two minutes later a young woman fear of me.” ond thought, held his tongue. It was cloying sweet than ever. Trine smiled a cruel smile: "I had round the thick hempen cord and ate bers that bridged the torrent of the In street dress was admitted to the Bpillway. Then he put out a gingerly hand chamber of shadows. made hfs life a reign of terror. Ever 1 not likely that the Indian had over It through. Then a glnnco aside brought him up and discovered that it was real beyond so often I would send Law, one way looked an object so conspicuous on Immediately Alan kicked his feet "You sent for me, father?” all question. A warm red rose, fresh- or another—mysteriously always—a the trail. free, lifted to a kneeling position, and with a thrill of horror; the suck of “Sit down.” So Alan waited for him to speak— crawled from the pyre. the overflow had drawn the canoe plucked, drops of water trembling and She found and placed a chair at the trey of hearts; It was my death-sign As for his hands—Alan’s hunting within a hundred yards of the spill sparkling like tiny diamonds on the desk, and obediently settled herself i 1 for him; as you know, our name, and meantime determined to watch i Trine, signifies a group of three. And Jacob more narrowly, though no other knife was still In its sheath belted way. The dead Indian in Its bow, the velvet of its fleshy petals. And when in it. suspicious circumstance had marked living woman helpless in Its stern, I impulsively he took it by the stem, he "Judith—tell me—what day is this?” every time he received a trey of the several days of their association. to the small of his back. Tearing at it swept swiftly onward to destruc the belt with his hampered fingers, he hearts, within twenty-four hours an discovered a most indisputable thorn "My birthday. I am twenty-one." The first half of the night was, as tion. —which did service for the traditional “And your sister's birthday: Rose, attempt of some sort would be made the day, devoted to relentless prog contrived to shift it round until the His next few actions were wholly sheath knife stuck at the belt-loop upon his life. The strain broke down pinch. ✓ too, is twenty-one.” ress southward; thirty minutes of over his left hip. Withdrawing and unpremeditated. He was conscious his ñervo. . . . Convinced that he wasn’t dreaming, "Yes.” “Then I turned my attention to the steady jogging, five minutes for rest— conveying the blade to his mouth, he only of her white, staring face, her Alan transferred the rose to hi3 sound "You could have forgotten that.” the and repeat. strange likeness to the woman that he hand, and meditatively sucked his old man pursued almost mockingly. son, but the distance was too great, No more question as to the need for loved. the difficulties insuperable. The Law "Do you really dislike your twin-sister such urgent haste; overhead the north He ran out upon the bridge, threw millions mocked all my efforts; their so intensely?” wind muttered without ceasing. Thin himself down upon the innermost tim alliance with the Rothschilds placed The girl's voice trembled. "You veils of smoke drifted through the for ber, turned, and let his body fall back know,” she said, "we have nothing in mother and son under the protection est, hugging the ground, like some ward, arms extended at length, and of every secret police in Europe. But common—beyond parentage and this weird acrid mist; and ever the cur swung, braced by his feet beneath abominable resemblance. Our natures i they dared not come home. At length tained heavens glared, livid with re the outer timber. I realized I could win only by playing differ as light from darkness.” With a swiftness that passed con a waiting game. I needed three flected fires. "And which would you say was— things: more money; to bring Alan By midnight Alan had come to the scious thought, he was aware of the light?" canoe hurtling onward with the speed Law back to America; and one agent bounds of endurance: flesh, bone and “Hardly my own: I'm no hypocrite. I could trust, one Incorruptible agent. sinew could no longer stand the strain. of wind. Its sharp prow apparently Rose is everything that they tell me I ceased to persecute mother and son, Though Jacob declared that Spirit aimed directly for his head. Then my mother was, while I”—the girl lulled them into a sense of false se lake was now only six hours distant, hands closed round his wrists like smiled strangely—“I think—I am more curity, and by careful specu'ations as far as concerned Alan he might clamps; a tremendous weight tore at your daughter than my mother's.” his arms, and with an effort of incon repaired my fortunes, In Rose I had have said 600. His blanket once un A nod of the white head confirmed the lure to draw the boy back to rolled. Alan dropped upon it like one ceivable difficulty he began to lift, the suggestion. “It ts true. I have America; In you, the one person I drugged. • to drag the woman up out of the foam watched you closely, Judith, perhaps could trust. The sun was high when he awak ing jaws of death. more closely than even you knew. Somehow that Impossible feat was "I sent Rose abroad and arranged ened and sat up, rubbing heavy eyes, Before I was brought to this"—the that she should meet Law. They fell stretching aching limbs, wondering achieved; somehow the woman gained wasted hand made a significant ges- in love at sight, Then I wrote Inform- what had come over the Indian to let n hold upon his body, shifted It to his ture—“I was a man of strong pas- ing her that the man she had chosen him sleep so late belt, contrived Inexplicably to clamber sfons. Your mother never loved, but was the son of him who had murdered Of a sudden he was assailed by sick over him to the timbers; and som» rather feared me. And Rose is the all of me but my brain. It fell out as ening fears that needed only the brief how he in turn pulled himself up to mirror of her mother's nature, gentle, I foresaw. You can Imagine the scene est investigation to confirm. Jacob safety, and sick with reaction sprawled unselfish, sympathetic. But you, Ju of passionate renunciation—pledges had absconded with every valuable prone, lengthwise upon that foot-wide dith. you are like a second self to of undying constancy—the arrange I item of their equipment. bridge, above the screaming abyss. me.” Nor was his motive far to seek. ment of a secret code whereby, when I-ater he became aware that the An accent of profound satisfaction she needed him, she would send him Overnight the fire had made tre woman had crawled to safety on the informed his voice. The girl waited a single rose—the birth of a great ro mendous gains. And ever and anon farther shore, and pulling himself to in a silence that was tensely expect mance ! ” the wind would bring down the roar gether, Imitated her example. Solid ant. The old man laughed sardonically. of the holocaust, dulled by distance earth underfoot, he rose and stood “Then, if on this your birthday I “Well, there is the history Now the but not unlike the growling of wild With Red Roeos at Her Belt. swaying, beset by a groat weakness. were to ask a service of you that rose has been sent; Law is already animals feeding on their kill. Through the gathering darkness— a Alan delayed long enough only to thumb. Then he jumped up from the might injuriously affect the happiness homeward bound; my agents are ghastly twilight In which the flaming of your sister — ? ” swallow a few mouthfuls of raw food, chair and glared suspiciously round watching bls every step. The rest is forests on the other shore burned with The girl laughed briefly: “Only in your hands.” gulped water from a spring, and set the room. It was true that a prac an unearthly glare—he discovered the ask it! ” out at a dog-trot on the trail to Spirit The girl bent forward, breathing tical joke in that solemn atmosphere wan, writhen face of Judith Trine “And how far would you go to do heavily, eyes aflame In a face that bad Lake. were a thing unthinkable; still, there close to his and he heard her voice, • my will? ” For hours he blundered blindly on, assumed a waxen pallor. was the rose. scream barely audible above the com “Where would you stop in the serv holding to the trail mainly by instinct. "What Is it you want of me?” There was no one but himself in mingled voices of the conflagration ice of one you loved?" At length, panting, gasping, half Sawed the Cords Against tho Razor- and tho cascades: “Bring Alan Law to me. Dead or the library. Seneca Trine nodded gravely. And Sharp Blade. Perplexed to exasperation, Alan fled after a brief pause, “Rose is In love,” alive, bring him to me. But alive, if blinded, hr staggered Into a little nat "You fool! Why did you save me? you can compass it; I wish to see him ural clearing and plunged forward the club, only pausing on the way out I tell you, I have sworn your death!" he announced. firmly between his gripped It teeth, headlong, so bewildered that he could die. Then I, too. may die content." to annex the envelope he found ad The utter grotesqueneas of It all ”0h, I know—I know!” the father The hand of hot-blooded youth stole i not have said whether he was tripped and sawed the cords round bis wrists broke upon his intelligence like the dressed to him in the letter-rack. affirmed with a faint ring of satisfac forth and grasped the icy hand of or thrown; for even as he stumbled a against the razor-sharp blade. It was a blank white envelope of tion. “I am old, a cripple, prisoner of death-ln-llfe. Before Alan could turn and run he revelation of some enormous funda heavy body landed on his back and good quality, the address typewritten, this living tomb; but all things I saw a vanguard of flames bridge BO i mental absurdity In Nature. Ha "I will bring him," Judith swore— crushed him savagely to earth. the stamp English, and bore a Lon should know—somehow—t come to laughed a little hysterically. "dead or alive, you shall have tjlrn In less than a minute he was over yards at a bound and start a dead don postmark half illegible. Darkness followed. A flash of light know in course of time! ” pine blazing like a torch. here." come; his wrists bitched together, his Alan tore the envelope open in ab “It’s true—that Englishman she And then be was pelting like a mad ning seemed to flame between them ankles bound with heavy cord. sent-minded fashion—and started as like a fiery sword. To its crashing CHAPTER III. When bls vision cleared be found man across the smoked-filled clearing, thunder, he lapsed into unconscious If stung. The enclosure was a sim scraped an acquaintance with on the Riviera last year—what's hia name?— and in lees than two minutes broke Jacob within a yard, regarding him ple playing card—a trey of hearts! ness. The Trail of Treachery. with a face as Immobile as though it from the forest to the pebbly shore of As for Alan Law, he wandered Law. Alan Law " When he roused. It was with a shiv a wlde-bosomed lake, and within a “In the main." the father corrected But young Mr. Law was sole agent had >een cast in the bronze it resem homeward in a state of stupefaction mildly, "you are right. Only, he's not er and a shudder. Rain was falling few hundred feet of a substantial He could read quite well the message English His father was Wellington of bls own evanlshment; just as he bled. In torrents from a sky the hue of was nobody's fool, least of all his own. Beyond, to one side, a woman in dam. through whose spillway a heavy alate. Across the lake dense volumes of the rose. He would not soon for Law of Law & Son ” The bidden meaning of the trey of a man's bunting costume stood eye volume of water cascaded with a roar get that year-old parting with bis of steam enveloped ths fires that She knew better than to interrupt, hearts perplexed him with such dis ing the captive as narrowly as the In rivaling that of the forest fire Itself. Rose of the Riviera: "You say you but her seeming patience wms belied Two quick glances showed Alan two fainted beneath the deluge A great trust that before leaving London, he dian, but unlike him with a counte love me but may not marry me—and by the whitening knuckles of a hand things: that his only way of escape hissing noise filled the world, muting r, we must part. Then promise this, that lay within the little pool of blood dispatched a code cablegram to hie nance that seemed aglow with a fierce was via the dam; that there was a even the roar of the spillway. confidential agent in New York. exultancy over his downfall. you that if ever you change your mind, He was alone. light But for that look, he could have be solitary canoe at mid-lake, bearing w you'll send for me." And her prom ied And But in his Lead, tattered and bruise* What do you know about tho trey it swiftly t- the farther shore Judith present!/ the deep voice ,-oi.ed lieved hers the face that had brought hoerul XeeAU niusodtaUiy. ise: "I will send you a rose." by the downpour, he found—a rossb I The Trey O’ Hearts But the year had lapsed with uevw on. "Law and I were once friends, (To be Continue*.) t