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LUCILLE LOVE, The Girl of Mystery
6
By the “MASTER TEJST
Copyiigi-1> All mooing picture rigl.te reserved by the Universal Film Manufacturing Company, who are
' now exhibiting this production in leading theaters. Infringements will be vigorously prosecuted.
SYNOPSIS OF THE FOREGOING CHAPTERS.
While students together at West Point, and In
love with the same girl, Sumpter Love proves
Hugo Loubeque a thief, and Loubeque is dishon
orably discharged. Love wins the girl. The en
mity thus begun finds outlet in later years at
Manila, when a butler thief in the employ of
Loubeque, now an international spy, steals valu
able papers from the Government safe of Gen
strol Love. Loubeque sails with them on the
t:eamship Empress nnd General Love accuses
leut. Gibson, his aide and the sweetheart of his
daughter I ueille, oI the crime. Loubeque sends a
wireless message cleverly insinuating that Gen
eral Love had sold the papers to a foreign power.
To save the honor of the man she loved and to
arose the stigma from her father's name, Lucille
prevails upon Harl-y. a Government aviator, to
take be,- out ic (If ' in his aeroplane. To foil
Lucille, Loubeque destroys the wireless apparatus
on the Emprci am! r; hurt in the resulting ex
plosion. In her sea: ch for the papers, Lucille be
comes his nurse, and when the ship takes fire, se
cures them. The vessel is burned to the water e
edge and Lucille drills to a strange island on the
oar of a crushed lifeboat. Lucille is rescued by
friendly savage*. She it given an amulet tar
curing the Chief's daughter, and it proved potent
againtt the machination of Hugo Loubeque, who
likewise cast on the ieland, plans to get the
papers. He burns Lucille's hut, but she escapee
with the precious papers. Hr sends a decoy
message ashing her to come to the home of a
neighboring Chief, whose wife is ill and in need
of nureing. On the way there she falls into a
covered pit, dug by Lw.‘ que across her path.
(II • SVII.
From the Tree, Top.
IV! ’.[ I stir'-ed, opened her eyes In
i I-ru.ent, unable to piece, to
ri In.' any isnmectlon Ix-tiveen the
black hole n which aim found her
self and tJie narrow trail through
th* jungle along which she hud
urged lmr horaa. A solid wall of
darkaiews enveloped her, darkne.ua
so intern*! as to make her tielleve
at first she had lost her sight. She
closed her eyes purposely, opening
them abruptly, fighting for light, Bghaxt with
the terror of being lost in tnl* strange wild
country without power of night. She dared not
reach out for fear of having her conjecture con
firmed.
She lay atlll and tdlent, fighting ugnJnxt. her
self, alowly working up courage even an she. re
constructed event* preceding her wakening to
find herself in thin predicament, tiradually it all
came hack to her, tlie squeal of the home us the
ground grew soft beneath hia hoofa and, with his
rider, he plunged down Into thin black hole.
Swiftly, with the recollection etching itself In
every detail upon her mind in one picture of
phosphorescent light, her linnil* nought her
boHoui and, with a littJe groan of utter misery,
»he gnie way to uncontrollable solw.
S The reaction did her good, worked wonders
With her. In that spell of aelf pity, father, home,
•westheart, everything wax forgotten before the
horror of her own preilleament. Finished with
it. she gathered every faetdty, mental and phy
sical, and scrambled to her feet. Above ber, ax
she lifted her ever, she made out a streak of
light, threaded between aixlea of dense leuilaeas—
the aim piercing home Into the jungle. She
moved forward, her hands before her, groping.
Something soft and motionlesx and ho still it
caused her to shudder met the toe of her boot.
She drew liack in swift alarm, knowing It to !>«
the Isidy of the horse slu< had ridden, a great
feeling of gratefulness at her own esca]** from
a similar fate warming her through and through.
Mustering the lunate repulsion within her
she stepped upon the corpse, her hands reaching
op and finding Ihr smooth nlge of the hole that
ha<l tieen dug across the roadway to entrap her.
Her fingers found the root* of a tree, root* ho
stout they bore her weight Kor n moment she
waited, gathering her failing strength for the
Supreme effort. Then she sprang up, gathering
her knees under her, relaxing slightly before put
ting forward every ounce of her strength and
drawing herself slowly, deadly alow, toward the
warm surface of the road.
For just a moment she lay there. half upon
the road, her toes dangling over the pit, feeling
tile uotihlngm s* there. Then she scrambled to
safety, panting ami dishevelled, and looked about
her.
About her. on every able, the jungle
breathed, loathsome, fetid, horrible. I.iks some
giant monster it seemed to spread Ite myriad
tentacle* In every direction, barring egress, fast
ening upon the one who chanced to stray within
It, sucking at one's very vitals. Riotous vegeta
tion shout, trees fighting their hrials to the air
and dwarfing weaker ones who, instead of sue
eumliing. twined but the closer to the eonqtierer
and shot out creepers that fastened alsmt the
•trunks and. reaching the lower branches aenl
down shower* of vines that made passage im
penetrable. Wondrous colored orchids (Mured
with the'r wickedly malicious human-faced petal*
front out the brunches of these trex's, shaking
their truncated bodies in diabolical glee ut the
girl's predicament. Chattering monkey* and bril
liantly plumaged bird* with horrid, squeaking
voices mad* mock of her, scampering about aloft,
always out of a pusslhl* danger «in« front this
strut .ge Iteiug I ten ruth them, yet never erasing to
moak and jeer.
Hut no odds how bleak the prospect, how for
lorn thr hope, one always feel* courage renewed
when one has Jiurt glimisted a greater danger
and averted It. Lucille had known within the
quarter hour the horror of blind news ami bsr
heart leaped high with Joy at Iteiug able to »*e
theae things, la tills i*»me jungle with her, lu
quite as bad a predicament wss Hugo LoatNKmS
and with Hugo i/oubequs were the pa;er* she
hod fought so hard to recover. She langhixl
aloud, her voice trilling a note #o foreign to this
black abode that even the animal life waa sil
enced in amuse She had eonqivereii the air, fire,
the wireless’ lightning, the waves, savage*, the
Jungle to take away these stolen document*
- from a man whose identity, at first, she had not
even known And all these thing* had seemed to
kneel liefore her. Intent upon doing her bidding.
And should xhe fear now. should she hesitate for
one inMtsnt, should she doubt but that an out
raged Providence would continue to aid Iter In
this the greutest hour at need?
* The thought braced her ae would a donae <A
cold water. To right, to left, 'wfore her and be
hind wa* naught but jungle. Which way nhould
ahe turn to oome acrosa the international spy?
Hhe felt the amulet about her neck with nervous,
plucking finger*, as though Seek lug to read the
answer there. Safidy lay Iwtilnd, hack along the
trail In the village of the iftief who hail ao
reluctantly permitted her to anewrr the trumped
up tmwsage from hie neighbor. But idte did not
wish safety Rhe wanted the |»per* and civilisa
tion. Before her a thread of trail detvoitched
that uiuat lead loafnhvc, but Hugo Loubeqna
was not the sort to trust a trail along which she
mfollow. To right ami left was the mys
tery of the jungle. In that jungle who the man
of power, the indomitable spy. In which direc
lion she must leave to the power that had guided
her steps so far, but she knew she must make
iptick choice.
As though her question was to be answered
for h« r, she noticed the chatter of the monkeys
suddenly changing, observed a. wild alarm in
their voices and, looking tip, saw a host, an
army of them huddled close together, then slip
ping swiftly, In wild disorder, from tree to tree,
lor some reason, perhaps the note so elosely kin
It) t error of human livings in their every action,
Lucille felt a thrill of something more than tin*
r lin-ss routing upon hpr as she stared Into the
blackness to make out the reason for their
alarm. Swiftly she shrank back before the blaz
ing lmlh; of fire that were fastened upon her
from the heavy wall of vinca and creepers.
Sin seemed to swim In those great, hla/.ing
eyes, those cyef that did not move from lterß
bn sent forth flames as though they were fed
from some unquenchable fire. A crackling of
twigs nnd the beast disappeared. Itnt the rustle
overhead, the wild screeches of the monkey trilte,
did not diminish in volume. It struck Lucille as
incongruous tluif from the hatred site had felt a
moment before for the gibbering little creatures
with their aged faces, she should now be ex
perienring a friendliness, almost a sense of com
radeship In this mutual danger.
Again that crackling of twigs, this time In
greater volume, and where before but one pair
of wild eves had staved at. her, there were now
muny eyes. She recollected the fires her savage
friends had built of night, that, the jungle beasts
might not disturb them. Hut, she hud no means
of lighting a fire. Khc was aJonn, with nothing
to assist, her save her own ingenuity. She re
treated slowly, fear hanging upon her feet, hold
ing her liaek even as low growls indicated that
her retreat w a observed and would probably he
taken for a sign of fear.
At the xound the trees were shaken violently
by another rush of the little tree-men. It gave
her an idea Instantly. Even us the eves grew
miraculously Into long, graceful bodies, Lucille
reached up and grasped the thick walls of oree]>-
<rs (tangling from a giant-trunked tree. Came a
rush, so silent, and sure-footed she could hpar
hut the faint pat-pat of the leopard’s feet, fol
low i I by a heavy click of jaws. Instinctively she
drew her feet up under her nnd fear lending
Impetus to her movements, clambered swiftly up
Ihe vines until the welcome crotch of the tree
supisirted her.
Ilelow her gathered the leopards, their sleek
lx idles twilling restlessly round and round the
tree where their quarry was, now and then l«ap
ing high In the air, their bodies oonvoluting as
they sprang toward her, trying fniltieasly to find
some method of reaching that tree-crotch.
Their undirninished ferocity sent a chill
through her. Higher and higher she climbed,
climlied until the terrifying sight was shut from
her eves by the heavy foliage beneath, climlied
until her in uncles ached, climbed until even the
crunching of t.w-iga beneath failed to reach up to
lier.
Beneath her swayed the jungle. Above her
flickered a myriad of stars. Like |>eep-holes In
some great theater-cuirtaln they were through
wlileh the master-player might watch what was
going on In his world. They thrilled Luelllo with
their familiarity. So long she had been here in
this jungle she seemed to have forgotten the
existence of stara, regarded them nn old friends.
1 hese same stara that looked down upon her
now, were looking down upon Manila, upon her
father, ii|K>n her sweetheart. These same stare
were candles of Troth that, wonld not, could not
unbluahlngly look upon such a disaster as threat
ened her bring consummated.
Iho rest rot ion loaned her a courage from
without herself. She felt a great weight lifted
from her eyeballs at lielng once more in a nat
ural light. She strained her alghit in every direc
tion, revelling in this glimpse of n world she
knew so well, rejoicing at. the realization that
even the vast jungle with Its menacing breath
was but a shallow thing that reached but a lit
tle way and only superficially closed out the
heavens, the ■ nine heavens that looked down
upon her home.
Ami then her eyes were halted, stayed In
their review by the sight, of a long, thin spiral
of smoke rising nnd reaching up toward the
stars In wlapy fragility It, came from milea to
the westw-ard. But Lucille knew that smoke for
tire and the fire to be that lighted by human
hands.
She lifted her eyes toward one glowing,
long-wicked star that seemed so close (die hod
but to reach up her finger ftps to snuff Ite light.
And the flume of the star seemed to bend to
ward her. incline gracefully toward her as
though acknowledging the gratitude that, glowed
in her own star-like eyes and encouraging her
and cheering her with its luster.
CHAPTER XVIII.
Loubaque Eights Down a Ftrange Emotion.
I 01 LlvQl E could not have explained why, bad
he tried, but the thought that Luollls still
jiosseHsed the mystlo amulet given her by the
suiuge chief for saving his daughter’s life and
which had served in such good stead against his
inucldnations worried him more than a little.
IVuc, hi* plot had succeeded, tbs pit his servant
dug across the trail had swalkiwed her up, and
the old native crone hod brought him the pre
cious papers. But he was worried. This juiwle
was a menacing thing, a something which ne
could not command as It hud l>een bis custom
to command things animate. Here., his position
woe twit little stronger than that of the relent
less girl, lie felt himself, at times, almost wish
ing to l>e rid of tb* qualms which had forbade
hi* serving her with a death sentence.
Hhe hail the mystic amulet still and, always
Plotting In advance those things he wished dona,
it bothered him not to know exactly how grant
the tamer of that nmulct wo*. H* attempted to
question his sen ant but the fellow always
crouched aw ay from him in terror at laving ques
tioned, evidently more frightened of even the
mention i»f t.he thing than he sit of hie master.
Together with the uncertainty of hi* po«l
--ttivn, with realisation of the intense loneliness,
his Inability to speak the language of any peo
ple he might chance to meet, th* international
spy fought his way through the jungle in more
°* * terror than hi w«r ftpcriißMd
Wore. Night*, when he would build flrtw to
fend off wild tieaate that gathered in a circle
nnd stared with their bluing eye* from out the
blackness, he would find her face emerging from
the flame*, her beautiful ryes- the eves of her
mother, the woman he had lov<wi and wkowe
memory he still loved—would stare at him in
pitiful pleading, walls of purity and truth ami
love that xeeraed overshadowed with (ittv from
a man who could feel hatred in such a beautiful
world And the sweet lips would tremble, th#
daintv nostril# qulvsr pleadingly, legging him
for the right to vicar tie ueme of tiro man she
--'s' is*' - ' * * - Vl» t.• •
VV ''• ' *V\" f ' 4*" - a
~ : - - x *» •t* “C' ir flvt ’* : ' * t - »■'***
V,; :• t, , . -V.
Is »■
*. • - - - , . | r. .
■ ” • ~ g* ■' ,
loved from dishonor.
And, in the midst of the fight within him
self, Hugo Loubeque would cry aloud at the birth
pains of affection for the girl struggling against
the demons of hate and revenge which had so
long dominated his very soul. And, often, in the
self inflicted agony of fighting to continue his
Jive-long efforts toward annihilating General
Bumpier Love, her father, he would roughly or
der his servant to rise and take up the dreary
march once more.
vi lorring his marches in mad desire to wearv
his body so, at night, his brain would succumb
to the utter weariness that gripped him, Hugo
Loubeque tried Li fight away this change that
was struggling to take place within himself. He
knew that it conlil not come, knew that, the habit
of ft lifetime, snrh thought as he had concen
trated on him revenue could not be beaten down
by anything; and still there was something with
in him which taunted him with his Inability to
put tbe girl out of the way where she would no
longer be a hindrance in the working out of his
plans.
He noticed a growing sullenness on the part
of his servant., a sulky obedience which came
only grudgingly after rage had tipped his mas
ters tones with menacing decisiveness. He de
cided to watch the fellow more carefully, though
at the. same time laughing at himself for the
nervousness which was growing upon him. It
was us though he could sometimes feel a shadow
quite different from the dark shadow of the
jungle, between his shoulder blades, where he
could not reach nor see nor identify it but which
he knew for the shadow of imjieTiding calamity.
And what calamity was there, what calamity had
there been in all his eventful life to compare to
the shadow of the frail girl-woman who shared
with him this jungle? Enemies, each sworn to
overcome the other no odds at what cost, they
oocupied this great, damp, beast-ridden
thenuielves the most ferocious of all the l.casta
within its boundaries when it came to the ac
complishment of a mutual purpose—the holding
or securing of the [Mi[M>rs that, to one meant re
venge, the other love.
It was late in the fourth night that he final
ly saw to the fire his servant had prepared and
stretched out, sinking almost instantly into pro
found-slumber. He hnd fought, against heavy
■leap for the actions of the native hnd been nn
juiually furtive and resftess all day. There had
’een times when he would stop, retrace their
tmth always as though studying their trail. How
long he had slept he had no means of knowing.
Ihe wakening wn* of the most abrupt-.
♦ ”3 upright, looking instinctively
toward the place where his servant should have
been. Hut the man had gone and the fire was
•raftering wildly alsnit, as though someone had
intentionally disturbed it that the jangle benats
might lose their fear of this man and pounce
upon him. H* heard the crackling of twigs under
feet too »wdf( to lie other than those of man In
terror caught a glimpse of a unvering, flashing
flare of torch-light, heard the piercing wail of a
man’* voice.
(irasping his revolver. Loubeque sprang to his
* lns *' u " t *. v *'lde-awake. Eor just a second he
waited there then drew a steady aim upon the
leaping torch. The gun spoke, followed almost in
stantly by the shrill voice of Lucille.
“Don’t shoot! it’s a lion "
Loubeque allowed the revolver to drop to his
«!d«. Suddenly the wonder of her being at his
camp site struck him and aimultaneoiMly his hand
■ought the sack about his neck. It was gone, dis
appeared.
Even as he darted forward, fighting madly
aga nst the black tangle of ingrtatinn that barred
lit* wav. he was withheld by some feeling within
from firing th# revolver at that torch. He could
hear the low growls of n wild animal, caught a
stray glimpse of Lucille standing over a dark,
*h*l>rlcan figure of a man br«ide the bank of a
little stream, while, before the waving torch she
had snatched from the campfire of Tier enemy,
8 (Treat lion was silently retreating.
Ismbcquc caught u glimpse of this, then in
lus effort* to reach her side, he was shut from
sight completely. He tried to stumble back to
her "hen the ground (ceined to kick up its heels
oral slide liackwards. Il» clutched vainly for sup
port. his hands encountering the arm of a man.
( okl water dosed upon him and. still clutching
tne arm, hr allowed himself to float down the
■treain for a way*. Then, in a turn, he managed
to eeeure footing and drag the body of his dead
■•want, horribly mutilated by the claws of the
Hon. to shore. But search though he would, the
little bag that contained the paper* was not to
h# found.
Loubeque fought his way back to the spot
where be had mode hi* fire, readily locating the
■pot where Lucille had driven away the lion from
hi* prey. Hut Lucille had disappeared, vanished
a* completely as though the earth had swallowed
her up. The international spy stood a long time
In sllenc* l>e«lde the place where he has! seen the
waving torch. Atul there wn* that in the eves
that looked down at the revolver In his hand
which told that ucit time be would uot healtato
to uae It,
CHAPTER XTX.
With the Earth Hound Creatures.
pOR three days' Lucille kept very near that
camp fire light, furtive as any of the animals
that prowled about, guarding herself against
them by the same fire that protected her enemy.
Times, only the watchfulness of Loubeqtie, his
cat-like slumber, prevented her carrying out her
audacious plot to steal the little bag in which
he still carried the papers.
it was the night of the fourth day that she
decided to take a desperate chance, the same
night that creeping close upon the camp she saw
something about the actions of the native that
made her keep very still, her eyes following his
every movement with the alertness of one of the
animals that prowled without that zone of light
from the fire. She caught her breath with a little
gasp as she saw the man creep noiselessly toward
his master and purloin from about his neck the
preeions bag which carried the papers she had
come so far to rescue.
As he crept away from his victim, Lucille
slowly' rested her feet, her whole soul quivering
with delight. For there would be no difficulty
with this native compared to the coping of wits
and resources with the powerful brain and body
of Loubeqtie. Evidently the savage, seeing the
zealous guard his master kept of the bag, had de
cided to steal it and run.
Lucille’s trailing of the native was halted
abruptly by a wild cry of alarm, followed by a
loud screech of uain, the thud of bodies fading
heavily, a horrid, ripping sound. Dimly, she
glimpsed the shadowy outlines of a magnificent
lion, head lifted as though he listened for some
one, his paw reaching out and resting upon a
shapeless, groaning mass she knew for the thiev
ing servant. For a second she stood, staring at
the spectacle, paralyzed by the horror, the swift
retribution which had overtaken the native. Then,
without a thought of consequence, with nothing
save the primrl urge of saving life, she leaped
across the narro v i pace that separated her from
the spy’s cnmpflikicking the embers right and
left, grasping the hardiest flamed knot of them
all and darting toward the lion, waving the torch
fearlessly.
The animal uttered a low growl, stood his
ground for a moment before this menace that
darted at him. then tucked his tail between his
legs and slunk back into the jungle from which
he had appeared so unexpectedly. Lucille bent
over the wounded man, uttering a low cry of
sympathy as she turned away in terror from the
horribly .wounded torso. Gradually it dawned up
on her that the man was dead, quite dead. She
could not realize it instantly, then the voice of
Loubeque’* revolver *poke and she uttered her
warning cry.
The shot brought everything back to her. She
was here, not to sympathize even with one
wounded to death, but to save her sweetheart’s
honor. She fumbled at the man’s scant attire,
drawing the sack triumphantly forth and look
ing back to where she could »ee Loubeque ad
vancing.
For just a second she paused. Then some
impulse governing her she thrust the burning
knot of wood between the interstices' of a nearby
lattice work of vines and slunk stealthily to the
right, knowing the spy would follow the light in
stead of herself. Even ns she watched his move
ments glorying in the success of her strategy,
her hand pressed against something cold and
damp. She looked swiftly down at the stone ruins
beside her, along which she had been walking,
ruins so covered with the thick tropical vegeta
tiou that she might have moved two feet to the
left and passed them by in complete ignorance of
their existence. She {tossed her fingers over the
stone she had first encountered, rubbing away the
mud and creeper* that covered it so completely.
There wax one spot that appeared to have
crumbled more than the rest of the wood and
-he scraped Industriously at It, even n* ber atten
tion war fastened upon the groping figure of
Loubeque. Suddenly, without the slightest warn
ing she saw the ground moving, moving restlessly
ns it would move hiul some monstar mole been
burrowing beneath Its surface. It was moving,
moving directly under Ixmbeque. She started
back, wide-eyed at the spectacle of a great stone
door suddenly springing wide ail'd hurling the
man who had stood upon it to one side, com
pletely out of her sight. She advanced timidly,
staring about for sign of the spy but he was not
to be seen. She peered down the black hole
that had opened, wonderingly, half inclined to
believe herself In a trance. For a flight of stone
steps reached up to her. reached up from the
blackness, a blackness which her eyes could not
pierce, try though they would.
A bit terrified, yet with curiosity irresistible,
Lucille timidly put a foot upon the first step,
then halted. She waited a moment then fol
lowed her right foot with the left. As though
some giant hand urged her down, her reluctant
feet moved slowly, step by step, down the long
flight. And always would she stare, In nameless
terror, lest the door be suddenly closed and her
mean* of exit barred. And, even as she looked,
ber premonition of evil was verified.
Slowly, very slowly, the stray light that
opened down to her through the passage nar
rowed, disappeared. To her ears came the sound
of feet, swift, sure. About her such blackness as
she had never even imagined before, a blackness
which seemed to cling to her like a heavy muffler
upon the eyes, a blackness so thick it mixed with
the rank, tomb-like smell of the underground
place wherein she stood.
.Slowly she groped her way back to the steps,
finding the last one and feeling about for some
means of throwing back the opening. The steps
beneath her feet were slippery, worn as though
v j fh° usan ds and hundreds of, thousands
had passed that way for as many years. And al
ways about her, yet never so close as to come
in contact with her, were the owners of the feet
that slipped and glided sure-footedly upon the
steps. Above her, that solid wall; beneath her,
Steps that led down into the bowels of the earth;
about her, human beings whom she could not see.
In the intensity of her nervousness, she flung
herself upon the steps, giving way to racking
sobs at the horrible fate that appeared to have
put an end to her advent* — 's.
No odds now weirdly situated, how dreadful
one s predicament, encounter with human beings—
inimical or invisible though they be—is calculated
to rouse one’s conibative spirit. Lucille rose
swiftly, her brain in a whirl, her pulse numbed
as curiously claw-like hands—but human hands—
sought out her wrists, drawing her down the
steps, silently, with undeviating purpose, but
never harshly. Realizing the futility of resistance,
her uttci' helplessness, Lucille numbly allowed
herscl. to be conducted down the long flight A
veritable army seemed to swarm before and
about her, judging from the footfalls. The hands
upon her wrists were cold, unhealthy, hairy, yet
the sounds of the voices of her captors were the
harsh gutturals of deaf mutes, incomprehensible
yet human.
Her knees jolted almost from under her as
she reached out and finally found no downward
step. Round devious, black passages, through
iocki united aisles, some so close the sides
brushed against her, she was hustled. She had
given herself completely up to her guides. She
knew, with a heavy despair that only accident
could enable her to find her way back to the
steps through all the turns they had made. Quite
abruptly she felt her eyes blinded, as the mantle
of blackness was flung aside. For a moment she
could not see, then, becoming accustomed to the
transition from darkness to comparative light,
she looked with a shudder of terror, upon the
hairy, dwarfed, mis-shapen creatures who sur
rounded her; creatures who chattered in the gut
turals of mutes; creatures whom the perpetual
darkness had paled to a fish-like pallor; crea
tures whose hydrocephalic heads were always
bent far forward as though the sense of hearing
had been given them in treble value because of
the blindness with which the subterranean life
had afflicted them, a blindness so complete as to
make itself evident to her without even seeing
the white, sightless pupils that bulged at her
through the hairy mane upon their faces, t
Sick with the unwholesomeness of the sight,
Lucille lifted her eyes, at a shrill chattering note
in the gutturals, a note that was strangely fa
miliar, even welcome. Anything would have been
welcome to her ears as against the repulsive
noises made by the mutes. She stared wonder
ingly at the enormous carven statue of a malign
ant faced man, a man with mighty torso and
gigantic arms, a man whose head towered far 1 ’
above her and whose forehead and neck and
arms were loaded with blazing rubies. The alien
sound that drove the mutes crouching back came
from the gigantic statue. And then Lucille saw
that a huge orang outang squatted complacently
in the palms of the idol, his beady eves blinking
wonderingly at her, his wrinkled, old-man’s faco
puckered curiously.
As though their fear had subsided, the under
ground creatures once more closed in upon Lucille.
Some impulse made her dart toward the orang
as though for protection. The foul creatures were
about her, clawing at her with their horrible, un
certain [jaws, like giant bats. The monkey seemed
suddenly to waken to the situation. With a
shrill note of rage he leaped from his squatting
posture and snatched the necklace of rubies from
about the idol’s neck, flinging it squarely into the
center of the mob. It had the effect of drawing
them back for a moment. With shrill squeals, the
orang's hairy paw plucked jewel after jewel from
the idol, hurling them at the creatures with the
speed of bullets. Again and again he drove them
hack from her and Lucille constantly fought her
way closer to this strange protector.
Her heart sank as she saw the creature had
no more missiles. She caught a flash of hairy
arms and body as he leaped toward her, his huge,
round arms flailing about him. dropping the sub
terranean inhabitants at every swing. Lucille,
guided by some impulse, stooped and picked up
the blazing necklace, extending it to the orang.
He seemed not to notice. Wildly he threshed
about, the creatures dropping like nine-pins.
Backward, ever backward, Lucille felt her way,
edging through the mob as her protector cleared
a passage. The rock ribbed vault echoed and re
echoed hideously with the shrill squeals of rage
from the orang. the gutturals of terror and pain
from her assailants'. Now they were fighting
among themselves, tumbling about in a wild chaos
of arms and legs and bodies.
She closed her eyes against the terrible sight.
Despite herself she almost succumbed to a feel
ing of faintness from the nausea which the crea
tures’ hideous sightlessness inspired within her.
And still the orang fought on. jibhering wildly.
Suddenly Lucille felt her feet slipping from under
her; felt herself going down toward a rippling,
musical sound ; gently falling through the black
ness as though she sank within a soft matt.resa
of feathers.
(’old waters rose up and broke her fall, clos
ing about her and edging her gently to and fro.
Instinctively she reached out, her hands closing
about a narrow strip of wood. With every atom
of strength in her frail body she clung, making
out finally that the object was a canoe. Slowly
she slipped down the current until a flicker of
narrow light glowed far ahead.
The sight inspired her with fresh energy. She
drew herself up, carefully balanced the canoe
against her weight then slipped into the bottom
and lay there, exhausted. She grn|>ed about as
♦he sides of the subterranean cavern exiKinded,
the light grew broader. A paddle encountered her
fingers and she thrust it out into the water. Cams
a crunching of wood ns it ripped against the
rocky sides of the shallow ravine and she stared
in dismay at the useless handle that alone re
mained to her.
Oently, lazily the ennoe floated down, to
ward the ever-expanding wedge of light. Slowly,
very slowly, the fresh air of the jungle met her
quivering nostrils, sweet to her now in compari
son with the unwholesome odor of the under
ground world from which she l.cd so miracu
lously eseajied. And even ns she opened her
• mouth, laving her throat with the intoxicating
odor that had lieen so repulsive to her before,
the ennoe was lifted up, snatched up nnd whirled
about in n gigantic, swishing circle.
Lucille instinctively thrust the broken din ft
of paddle Into the water, finding it us.-hs-. iha
crouched low. Round and round in ever narr v
ing circles she wras whirled, the black water xvliita
now as it lashed itself into raging circles fi- .n»
the exact center of which rose a jugged-tool !■ i
rock; a rock- that imperturbably, cruelly
this dnitdv morsel being brought him. ,
(Continu'td I'.-si Wtck.) 1
For Three
Days Lucille
Kept Very
Near the
Camp Fire
Light.