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