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LUCILLE LOVE, The Girl of MgsWu
'Ey the “MASTE'R TEJV”
Copyright, 1914. All moving picture right e reserved by the Universal Film Manufacturing Company, who
are now exhibiting this production in leading theatere. Infringements will be vigorously prosecuted.
(Synopsis of preceding chapters.)
While student* together at West t’otnt, and In love
With I he same girl. Huini>t«r Love proves lingo lyjuhequu
* thief, and JUjubeQUe Is dishonorably discharged. Love
wins the girl. This enmity thus begun finds outlet In
later years at Manila, when a butler thief in the employ
>f Loubeque, now an International spy. steals valuable
Cpers from the Government safe or General Invs.
lubeque sails with them fin the steamship Empress,
and General Ikciw accuses Lieut. Gibson, his aide and
the swvetheart of his danghtor Lucille, of the crime.
Loubeque sends a wlreb ss message cleverly Insinuating
rant General Igive hod sold the papers to a foreign
rre r To save the honor of tie- man she loved and
erase the stigma from her father's name, Lucille
prevails Upon Harley, a government aviator, to take
Her out to the ship, In his aeroplane To foil Lucille,
Loubeque destroys the wireless apparatus on the Em
press and Is hurt In the resulting erxploslon. In her
learrh for the papers. Lucille I*come* his nurse, ami
s’hen the Bhlp takes tire, secures them. The vessel Is
burned to the water's edge and Lucille drifts to a
Itrange Island on the oar of a crushed lifeboat. Lucille
s rescued by friendly savages. Hhe Is given an amulet
for curing the chiefs daughter, and It proved IK dent
tgalnst the machinations of Hugo Loubeque, who, like
wise east on the Island, plans to get the paper*. lie
Ourns Lucille’s hut, but sne escapes with the precious
papers. He send* a decoy message asking her to come
to the home of a neighboring chief, whose wife Is 111
ind In need of nursing. On the way there she falls
nto a covered nit, dug by I X'Udeque across her path.
Her guide, an old crone, takes the pa|»eni from Lucille,
and gives them to Loubeque, wdto gt-es with them to
the Jungle. Ills guide and servant steals them, but I*
killed by a Hon. and Lucille, who had trailed them
three days, recovers them from the body. Lucille
meets a strange cave-dwelling people, la attacked by
monkeys, escapes In a canoe and Is oarrled Into an
underground whirlpool. She Is rescued by Captain
Wetherell and taken aboard his yacht There she
mots Ixjubeque, who I* also picked up by ths yacht,
which is carrying contraband arms to Chinese rebels.
When wnrshlps pursue, Wetherell selr.es the papers and
puts Luclllo and IjOtlbequr to sea In an oj»en boat, be
sausn they know too much of Ids plans. Their water
fives out and Lucille nearly dies before they reach
China In safety. Hugo, after nursing Lucille back to
life, goes after Wetherell to get the paper* hack, and
captures him. Lucille follows Jxiubeque, aboard a liner,
and shadows him.
CHAPTER XXV.
A Pretty Stowaway.
HR yawning side of the great ves
sel stood open before Ivucille, the
i coolie stevedores trundling their
I great loads of merchandise across
I the, wharf and disappearing wltfa
! in, ns though swallowed up for
ever. Dim, shadowy outlines peered
out at her, hoarse voices lifted in
command or profanity, the roar of
boxes tumbling from the insecure
positions in which they had been
f
placed.
Like nn Inferno It wn«, minus thn fire.
Lncllle was suddenly made conscious of the fact
that she was very vvenk, that, alie had narrowly
enraped death from privation and fever, that she
had shot the woman who attempted her life,
that ffhe was a fugitive In this town, that, when
the ransacking of the house in which she had
been so ill was finished the wounded woman
would lie discovered and search made for her as
sailant. Nervously she fingered the ruby neck
lace about her throat, trying to think of some
way another of the precious stones might be
made to work its magic influence. She eould buy
a passage with it, could hrllie many aboard the
boat, but she must not be seen by Hugo Lou
beque. Too often had he caught her in the Rame
place with him working to thwart, him for the
man to show any mercy. Tender though he had
been while she was 111, she knew from his grim
tone, from the expression of relief upon his face
when he discovered the p&|H-rs were not upon
her person, that he would hesitate at nothing to
injure her did she continue her attacks. No, she
must work secretly, in the dark always.
Hut work she must and would. Fiercely she
fast cited her little teeth in her lower lip. Hugo
Lonbequc had the precious papers in hia posses
sion else he would never have smiled so serenely
to himself as he boarded tho boat. She had his
diary and how she obtained possession of it and
from whom she had no idea, but it could not be
used against him now. 'lliere would come a time
when it would prove of the utmost value, but
not now. What, eould she do?
The rnttle of muskets brought her out of the
fit of abstraction into which she had fallen. She
shrank away in the Shadow of a hale of silk,
screwing herself into as small a space as pos
sible, her breath coming fast as she saw the of
ficer who commanded the squad of soldiers march
up the gang plank, just os the captain descended
to inquire what Ills business was. Then the tall
figure of Hugo Loulieque appeared beside the
pair, offering to translate the soldier's words.
Lucille watched his face in object terror,
■rtudying the swift change of expression on It,
the somber lowering of the hushes, the knitting
of the brows, the outcropping of his jaw as he
listened to the man's hurried jibberish.
“\VhnV* it all at*Hit?" Impatiently demanded
the captain, as the spy turned toward him.
“He is hunting an American girl I left ill In
the town. It appears she Shot and wounded her
nurse and bound a Chinese soldier, taking hia
clothes and making her esoni>e."
“Well, there's no suoh person alxiard,” gruf
fly retorted the officer of the ship. “Is that
enough for him."
Again Loulieque turned to the soldier but
the man shook his head vehemently.
“He must search the vessel. Those are his
order*." interpreted the spy, then, "you really
can't Maine him. Captain. The girl Is a desperate
character and If her kind were allowed to run
amuck this way there's no telling where it all
would end.”
The officer nodded consent, adding grimly
that he would stand for anything that did not
entail delaying the boat's sailing on schedule.
As the eavesdropping girl watched the sol
diers march the gangplank and disapjicar in dif
ferent parts of the boat according to the inatruc
tlons given them by their superior, her heart
thudded so violently against her ribs she won
dered that it did not break through. What a
fortunate thing that her weakness had not al
lowed her to follow her first lnwtinrt of follow
ing the spy aboard the boat! And what a Mess
ing that he did not know she was so close at
hand! She eould see from hia words that he
would not delay his own de]uu-ture to assist her,
that once more hia motive of revenge was all
dominant in hia nature, that tenderness for the
daughter of the woman he loved would never
again interfere with the carrying out of his
plans. And the ferocious expressions upon these
soldiers, the eager news with which they went
about their task of searching for a mite of a girl
Just off a sink bed!
Surely, some power greater than that of
even the international apy was looking over and
defending her I She bowed her head in mute
gratitude, humbled in recounting the perils she
had undergone in the carrying out of her pur
pose and giving the glory to the hand that, all
unseen, was leading her. It impressed her more
than ever with the justice of her flglit, the fact
that an outraged Nature-God would not allow a
human bring to conquer the beet that was lu a
(nan and a woman to satisfy a base revenge.
fihe was roused from Ihr mood bv a flurried
elamnr aboard the boat- The coolie* were work
ing madly now, while upon the deck she saw
of Mtivitg that fluid hex the ship was about
to get under way. Under the Inching tongue of
a boss, five stevedores were rushing toward the
bales behind which she was concealed. Lucille
knew the time had come for her to act, without
any further figuring.
In two swift, cat-like leaps she had reached
the yawning side of the boat. For just a second
she hesitated Ik- fore the terrible blackness that
met her eyes there, a blackness accentuated by
the frowning cargo, twisting and writhing in
more weird shapes than she had imagined pos
sible for anything to do. Then, with a little
shrug, lie stopped inside, darting about Is-tween
piles of merchandise, leaping further and further
away from the voices that reached but dimly to
her now, hiding awa-- at every slightest sound.
Fame the violent, chugging of the engines,
the quaking of every part of the great ocean
leviathan, lesser sounds from above, the terrible
creaking of tin- cargo as the vibrations straight
cried it, into place. Then Lucille was suddenly
aware that they were under way, that she was
alone here in I lie bowel.- of the lsiat, more alone
than sip- had ever boon in the heart of the
jungle, alone for how many days she dared not
think.
Terrors beset, her on every side. Hats
scampered about, their paws making a dreadful
scraping sound like sandpaper being run over 3
smooth surface of boarding. Titnes she would
feel their tiny feet upon her own, the squeals
of terror that went up as they rushed on their
way, it. seemed to tell her of this strange in
truder to their follows. The impulse to rush to
the deck allow- was almost overwhelming. She
oould feci her brain reeling, reeling with the
horrors of such a loneliness as this.
Hut, always, when her courage hod fairly
ebbed, would come another picture. It was as
though her ,/rr or-popping eye-l«alls had forced
poignantly /time to her the vision of Manila, of
her father, grieving himself to death at her ab
sence, at the shipwreck; her sweetheart, impris
oned, with every hand turned against him, with
the girl he loved away, perhaps another who dis
believed in his innocence—
Always would that thought bring her fight
ing H|ririt bock. Her sweetheart was a prisoner
and probably the angry General would not con
descend to tell him any news of her. What more
likely that, the surety that he hud lost her love
was tormenting him quite as much as the
charge of stealing and selling the papers. Hut
she must bring them hack, she must clear him.
There wm nothing else for her to do, no other
part of her life could possibly mean so much aa
saving the honor of the man she loved.
Day and night might and day—there was
no difference between the two in this black hole.
Seconds were os days and hours liecjime as frac
tions of seconds according to the trend in which
her thoughts lay. There was no diversion save
trying to send her fancy flying back to the army
jiost. Oftentimes, the scurrying rats weighted
her mind with such terror that she was unable
to do that.
It seemed to her that they must be near the
end of their journey, judging by the torments she
had been through, when a swaying light directly
over her head made her dart hastily back and
strive to hide behind a looming trade. The ex
clamation, of surprised incredulity which sounded
In tier ears told that, she had, been discovered.
In an instinctive effort to hide, she struck
against a Iralo that had partially dislodged it
self, and sent it thundering against- a second
stack. Iti a moment the hold was Ailing with a
pandemonium such as might have accompanied
the moat violent, earthquake. The hold was filled
with tumbling 1 nixes and bales, toppling, reeling,
thrashing, thundering in every direction. Lucille
flung up her hands to her ears to shut out the
sound, darting toward! the face she now saw
plainly above her, a face that framed' popping
eyes and widened lips, a face that had paled
through the heavy coat of tan, as she could see
from the lantern's light.
Swiftly Rhe leajied upon a box that hod
formed the foundation for a pyramid. As though
by instinct the sailor flung the lantern from him
and reached down his hands. Lucille felt his
Angers clutching at her wrists. Once he missed
her. She shuddered as, a louder crash than any
that had gone before came to the right of her.
A second time the man’s arms swung out and his
hands closed about- her own.
Rhe felt, the strain upon bis muscles, the
mighty heaving groan that issued from hts lips.
Then slowly, so slowly it seemed she would never
succeed in getting through that drop, she was
lifted up, up to the deck where she lay panting
and breathless, the man beside her fairly whist
ling from the exertion of once more breathing
freely.
As he squatted there, staring at her, his
eyes now whimsical with amusement-, a little
laugh of relief trilled from her throat. She
reachtxl out her hand and allowed it to rest,
quite simply. In his great paw. Ho stared at the
tiny hand, renting like the white petal of a rose
upon the brown earth, then slowly a smilo
spread over his weatherbeaten face as he scanned
the silken suit in which she was arrayed.
Lnellle saw- that she had made a friend already
and immediately pressed her advantage.
“Nobody must- know you found me there,"
she began hurriedly, then, ns he started to pro
test, “no, no. Please listen —"
Again the sailor shook his head, a troubled
expression in hi* eyes. LucJlle knew that she
had liwt and, instead of pleading, took the next
liewt. course that seemed open to her,
“Then, if you must, bring the captain to me
instead of parading me before everyone. I would
n<*t ask vou this but I have an enemy aboard
an& Gh.‘ she broke off impatiently ns, still, he
rental nt-d dubious, “there is no chance for escape
now that 1 11m discovered. It will do no harm to
let me wait here. I can—” she closed her lips
quickly, aa the hint of a gleam of avarice showed
in the man's eyes. After a second's thought he
nodded briefly and moved hurriedly away.
Lucille had no time for regret at her dis
covery. She had felt all along that H was in
evitable but had refrained till now from figuring
on what explanation she could make in such
event. That expression, the swift change on the
sailor's face, as he thought her on the point of
mentioning money verified her inatinctive knowl
edge that she must keep her ownership of the
magnificent ruby necklace secret. Hhe knew that
tho best of men would be tempted by euch a
king’a ransom as the marvelous Jewel* repre
sented. Likewise she felt it would be unwise,
tinder any circumstance* to entrust anyone with
the knowledge that- ahe posscused the interna
tional spy's diary. 80 long as she alone knew
where it ww», just so long wm there a certainty
of Ixiubeque’g being kept in the dark. She had
fought alone till now and she muet continue to
fight alone. Any help *he might be able to pick
up along the way would lie more than welcome,
but the richee she carried with her might turn
the sympathetic friend to a weak girl into an
unscrupulous enemy. This much she had con
cluded when the Captain stomped hcavllv across
to her. followed by the sailor, his face frowning
blackly, but with a curious twinkle iu hi* evti
the girl was ijuick to discern.
"And so the young lady with murderous
tendencies was aboard my boat all along,” he
beamed ominously, then, before she had oppor
tunity to interrupt. “Of course you understand
that 1 must put you in irons and turn you over
to the authorities in San Francisco.”
Home impulse impelled her, an impulse to
put, on a manner altogether at variance with her
nature. She drew herself saucily erect, meeting
his eyes with laughter lurking in her own.
“Of course you don’t intend doing any such
thing,” she retorted boldly. “I was sick and the
woman they left to nurse me sneaked in the
room late at night and tried to stab me. I saw
lier slip out and was suspicious of her, so I
slipped behind the door and grabbed the man’s
gun when he put it on a chair. Anybody would
have done exactly the same thing and I know,
anyway, that you would never turn an Ameri
can girl over to those horrible Chinamen."
The captain’s frown disappeared at the flash
ing tempest of this little spitfire who confronted
and faced him down, while mirth faded before a
natural embarrassment. He ’ratched the back
of his head dubiously.
“Well, I guess that's about true,” he ad
Loubeque Ordered the Officer to Search the
Ship for Lucille.
mit/ted finally. "But why didn't you come to me
In tho first place; why didn’t you want to come
to me when you were caught; what do you ex
pect. is to be done with you?”
“I didn’t come to you because the man who
acted as interpreter is an enemy of mine who
would do anything on earth to be rid of me —I
mean Hugo Loulieque, the one who spoke with
the. Chinese officer when they searched the boat.
They frightened me so I crept, into the hold. I
don’t want him to know I am on board—-he
mustn’t know.” She looked up into his face with
such confidence In her 'big, melting eyes that
the embarrassed man fidgetted more nervously
than ever.
“I can pay for my passage when we land,”
■he added quickly. “So there need be no worry
about that.”
“Kelatives, oh!" The captain heaved a sigh
of relief and Lucille allowed his Impression to
past* in silence. “But I have no cabin vacant,
young lady.”
“Couldn’t I do some work, be a cabin hoy or
something like that,” she suggested l vaguely, as
the ship)* master threw luck his head' nnd gave
vent to such laughter that tear* rolled dowm his
weather beaten cheeks.
“That’s a good one,” he roared. “By George,
I believe that would straighten the whole mess
out and nuke me the master of the first, boat
that has had a cabin boy since the old sailing
days. Young man.” he added with mock gravity,
“I’ll take you to my cabin now, where your
enemy will have no chance of seeing you. The
steward will be the only one in our secret. He
can outfit you and l pass his instructions regard
ing your duties at night.”
Lucille clasped her hands delightedly, her
eyes twin stars of delight at the perfect work-
Ing out of her difficulties. She did not care that
the captain mocked her regarding Louhequjp’s
enmity, that, lie evidently thought her a foolish,
tom-boy of a girl, adventure-bent and addle
pated. Working at night, there could lie but
scant chance for Loubcqueh* recognizing her, if
he retained his secretive habits, and it was
usually at night time that he paced the deck and
left his cnliin alone. No position could more ade
quately 'have given, her nn opportunity to senrA
the man’s cabin for the stolen documental and.
papers.
The thought of It, fairly toolc away her
breath, was still all-dominant ir» her mind while
she listened to the steward's instructions, Bfter
he had heard the story from the captain. She
saw immediately that her position aboard was
little more than a jest, of the ship’s master, for
she had little to do save a bit of dusting about
the saloons, keeping the main cabin in order,
re-arranging the smoking saloon after it was
vacated by passengers and, in the event of
storms keeping the captain, on the bridge for
protractisl stretches, fetching him hot ten. She
laughed with him at her position, was still
laughing when she showed herself before him
in a natty white duck suit, which made her
slender fragility more apparent nnd more ap
pealing-than ever. She noticed the tender, half
pitring expression that always rested behind the
twinkle in his laughing eyes when he regarded
her, noticed it and for beneath her fair exterior
she was prohnbly as desperate a woman with as
desperate, nil-nineufliing a mission as any woman
living determined to play upon it continually.
That very evening she found the suite occu
pied l»v the international spy. True to the habit
she had observed in him aboard the Empress,
lingo loulieque showed himself at, night, not
long after the middle watch, hds tall form
smothered in a long ulster, the upturned collar
of which concealed most of his features from
sight But, as Lucille instinctively crouched
away before the grim figure of her enemv, she
noticed the liull-dog grip with which he held the
cigar between his teeth. It* glowing end reveal
ing the flame in his deep set eyes. She knew the
tension under which he labored was probably
due to the disquieting news he had received nt
the last moment regarding her escape from the
sick bed upon which be left her. But. despite her
fear, she cautiously followed him when he re
turned to bis stateroom, marking the exact loca
tion so that she should not. be mistaken.
Every night at exactly the same time he
came out upon the deck and. for two nights
Lucille tried to bolster up her courage sufficient
ly to enter the stateroom, but *lwav* the sound
of that ominous, steady step on the deck dis
suaded her. On the fourth night she felt herself
trembling with sub-conscious knowledge that to
night was to lie the time when she made her
attempt. Consciously, she was positive she could
sot force herself to do it but somsthlrg from
within impelled her feet in the opposite direc
tion from that taken by the spy. At the door of
the stateroom she halted. Loubeque was mov
ing toward her, silent, imperturbable, grim, a
fearsome figure. Two bells sounded. Lucille
watched the spy. His habits were remarkably reg
ular in their very irregularity. For another bell
he would not return to his stateroom. She glanced
up at the sky. more to force her eyes away from
that dark, solitary figure than for any other rea
son.
The s-tara were under a cloud of moisture,
and her heart lay heavy within her. Then slowly
one great star marched forth, tarried a moment.
Came a rush across the heavens, a rush of light
so abrupt and dazzling as to make it seem as
though a host of altar boys had rushed across
the dark aisles touching their tapers to the
candles there and leaving every nook and cranny
of the cathedral light as day. To the girl it gave
a thrill of confidence. Again she looked at the
lonesome, solitary man. He was alone and she —
she—the very stars themselves were with her.
Without thought, without the slightest sen
sation of fear she turned the knob and entered,
closing the door softly and pausing to look
about her, trembling now she had taken the dar
ing step, but fired with determination. It would
lie a simple place to search, the furniture being
scanty and Loubeque traveling without much
luggage.
Swiftly she worked, turning everything up
side down and carefully laying all 'signs of her
search afterwards. Her fear of being caught
had completely faded before the urge of finding
the papers. From place to place, careful as any
French detective, thorough and keen as though
6he hail been a thief all her life, Lucille worked.
As she went through the last of the spy’s per
sonal belongings, a little sob of disappointment
and chagrin broke from the very heart of her
and halted at her lips. For a hand was rattling
the kno-b, turning it slowly, slowly. It was as
though the man toyed with her, played with her
as a cruel cat plays with the mouse it has
caught. The door opened and Hugo Loubeque
was framed in the doorway, the cigar clenched
between his teeth glowing and subsiding, show
ing a grim smile upon his features, a smile the
shadows made but more saturnine.
“Ah!” he murmured silkily, “I thought I
could not be mistaken in our little steward! But
why, my dear child, did you wait, so long to pay
a visit to such an old acquaintance? Why such
disregard for the ordinary amount of friend
ship?”
Lucille crouched away from him, more
frightened at his playful tone than she would
have been o-f angered rage. Musically sweet,
from without came the toll of time. Three bells!
CHAPTER XXVI.
Lucille Finds a Friend.
gT.OWLV, without removing the cigar from his
month, he moved toward her, the hateful
smile still upon his lips. He seated himself and
studied her carefully, speculatively.
“Lucille,” he said slowly, “I saw you on the
deck, saw you go into the hold, saw you when
the captain came, to you, have watched you all
th-’ time. Do you know- why I did not give you
away? It was because I wanted to know exactly
where yon were all the time, because I wanted
the feel of my finger upon you. I have waited
for this moment. You recall what I told you in
the open lioat, Tt- is no quarter from now on.
You have no chance to regain the papers but
until I have used them to the limit they will
not be destroyed, nor will you have opportunity
to place your hands upon them. I want to show
you the futility of combating me. T have wanted
to do that for a long time. Now-, I see it is use
less. If you escape- and I cannot imagine it im
possible—T shall have no mercy hereafter. I will
know- that you are only safe when you are dead.”
He rose and motioned to the chair, an ominous
ness in word and gesture which compelled obed
ience. Fascinated, panic-stricken, she obeyed,
while from his pocket he drew a long loop of
fine cord which he bound about her wrists and
ankles, then strapped her securely in the chair.
He stood off a moment, regarding his handiwork,
then moved toward the door. “You see I have
been prepared for the visit,” he murmured. “I
will just be a little while, so don’t be worried —
this time.”
The door closed behind him and Lucille
stared blankly at the place where she had last
seen him.
A scant quarter of an hour that to heT was
interminable and the spy returned, the smile
still playing about, the corners of his mouth, a
smile that matched poorly the agate expression
of his cold eyes. He untied the. cords that, had
bound her, watching her curiously as she chafed
the blood back to her hands.
“Yes,” he. answered her unspoken question,
“you may go now. I do not care any more
whether yon heed my warning or not. You have
chosen to continue the war. I mere'y wish yon
to know what it means to you. I have made ar
rangements that will look to your being cared
for in San Francisco, so the end of this trip
means nothing to you. As I said before, the
pleasure of your company is rapidly overwhelm
ing me, I cannot lose it any longer. Good night,
Miss Lucille Love.”
It was ns though his mockery, his gibing
tones were giant hands against her chest, push
ing her through the door and upon the deck.
She was scarcely conscious of how she had come
there, when the stinging spume from the ocean
dashed against her cheeks, bringing her out of
the spell and firing her numbed consciousness
with the precariousness of her situation. His
threat of looking after her at the. end of the
voyage—his mockery—she must appeal to strong
hands now, she must use strength to combat
strength since he had put the combat on physical
grounds.
She could not imagine how, in a free coun
try, he could do anything. Still, she knew Hugo
Loubeque and the knowledge terrified her. She
decided to rely upon her woman's fragility to gain
the master's sympathy. She had renehed this con
clusion as the astonished captain looked at her
wan, miserable face when he answered her
knocking.
Swiftly, the words tumbling over one an
other in the nerve-racking strain of trying to
convince the mnn of the unbelievable things she
had gone through at the spy's hands, she poured
out. her whole story. First, she read disgusted
incredulity upon his fnce, then amazement at her
inventiveness, and. slowly, under the spell of nn
obvious sincerity, she saw he was convinced to a
large extent.
He summoned a steward and dispntched him
for Loubeque, demanding an immediate answer.
Evidently the spy hod been waiting just some
such tiling for he appeared quite promptly, his
face worn and harried. He started violently at
seeing Lucille, then took both her hands in htis
own and patted them soothingly, his voice the
cajoling one with which one soothes a child.
The captain's stern countenance had fallen and
the good man looked rather foolish as he cleared
hi* throat.
"Mr. Loubeque," he began abruptly, "this
young lady has made complaint to me that you
have threatened her with death, that vnu have
caused her a great deal of trouble and threaten
to continue doing so upon this boat. Have you
anything to say?"
1 1 “Certainly, 1 shall be more than pleased to
look after her if the poor child hasi escaped the
surveillance of her relatives. No friend could do
less, the spy answered suavely, an expression of
surprise in his eyes.
, don«t understand,” began the captain,
looking quite foolish now. “The young lady tells
me she is Miss Lucille Love, daughter of Gen
eral Sumpter Love of the United States Army,
stationed at Manila; that vou caused to be
stolen from the safe in her “father’s office, cer
tain papers and documents regarding govern
ment matters, and that her sweetheart was ac
cused of selling them, and, in consequence, placed
under arrest. She informs me that, through
crossed wires, she overheard you admit this just
before you boarded the burned liner Empress,
and that she persuaded an aviator to take her
aboard; that when the liner burned, she wa*
cast upon a jungle island and' —”
Loubeque threw up his hands in a gesture
that seemed to combine contempt for the in
telligence of the questioner and pity for the one
telling the tale.
“My dear captain,” he murmured reproving
y, while I am delighted to know the young
lady is safe, I must object to listening further,
j* , ls unbelievable that a passenger should be
disturbed at this hour of the night to listen to
any siueh nonsense. As you undoubtedly know,
there was an army scandal at. Manila a few
months back in which the sweetheart of General
Love’s daughter was arrested. As you doubtless
know the liner Empress was burned about that
same time. The young woman was in Manila
w ith her family and, being of an impressionable
nature, the shocking outcome to Miss Love’*
romance made a deep sympathy rise in her. HeF
own sweetheart was aboard the Empress and ”
He did not finish save to touch his hand lightilv
to his head. J
The captain nodded, and Lucille, seeing now
the maddeningly unbelievable quality of the
story she had told regarding her adventures, felt
hot rage fairly burning her up. She sprang at
the captain, taking his coat in her hands and
shaking him fiercely.
“I am not insane—it’s the truth—every
word—’ she sobbed, then lifting eyes in which
the clear light of sanity glowed unmistakably.
Captain, 1 swear to you that every word ia
true.”
. Th e captain turned from one to the other
in the very extremity of perplexity. Finally he
nodded to Loubeque that he might leave and,
with a slow smile, the spy turned away.
1 oung lady, he said slowly, “you will re
sume your duties for tonight and in the morning
I will see that 3-011 are properly clothed. I will
immediately send a wireless to the authorities
in San Francisco and see that you are met by
them at the pier. No harm can come to 3-ou from
this man. You understand why I am unable to
do more for 3-ou, I —”
Lucille extended her hand, grasping his firm
-13-, and meeting the troubled eyes of the man
with her own—her own eyes, in which glowed
gratitude and confidence and truth. And in that
handclasp the pair cemented a common union
against any enemy.
CHAPTER XXVII.
>
At the Pier.
H I GO LOUBEQL E stood a little apart, from the
eager passengers gathered at the rail, watch
ing the giant, harbor of the Golden Gate creep
ing about them, encircling them. His eyes
glowed with a somber fire, but no muscle of his
face betrayed by so much as a twitch the delight
with which he welcomed land after his wander
ings, the perils through which he had emerged.
To these others, the sight meant home, their
country, the land to which they belonged and
which belonged to them. But to Loubeque it
meant bitterness, gall. It meant the country
that had been his but w-hich had cast him forth,
an unworthy son unfit to be its citizen. His eyes
fastened morosely upon the slender, pretty slip
of a girl clinging to the rail, her lips parted as
she watched the deck, black with eager friends
and relatives', coming closer, closer.
So close the passengers could make out
faces, so close they oould call greetings to those
ashore, then a slow crunching as the great ship
swung into her moorings. Hugo Loubeque slow
ly lifted the cigar from his mouth and waved it
in a deliberate circle that ended with its tip
pointing toward the slender girl. He caught her
e.yes and smiled at the expression of terror, of
fear in them as he saw she had marked his ges
ture.
Came a crowding forward in the center of
the throng upon the dock. The gangplank thrust
its nose out, 01k, until it rested upon the dock,
the narrow gangplank that was all remaining of
the vast ocean distance separating these pas
sengers from their homeland. Some of them
looked about in surprise at sound of a guttural
oath. They saw a tall, somber, saturnine pas
senger, smoking a cigar, his eyes fastened upon
a squad of blue coated policemen, edging their
way from the rear of the throng into the exact
center. They wondered.
Lucille tripped down the gang plank. One*
more the man who had uttered the oath lifted
his cigar. Came a quick upheaval in the throng.
The spy smiled to himself then moved toward
the plank. He looked down upon the crowd of
men surrounding the slip of a girl, surrounding
her so closely she was hidden from sight. The
policemen were fighting their way to the ship.
Came a scream in a woman’s voice. Loubeque
bent forward, his knuckles showing a blue white
ness from the fierceness of his grip upon the
liner’s rail.
“Help! Help! Cap—”
The officers whirled in the direction of the
girl’s voice. The crowd of men jammed closer,
resisting, without the appearance of resistance,
the shoulders of the law. From outside the jam
darted a woman, clad in deep mourning. Easily
the throng of men gave. WU3- before her. Her
arms were about the neck of the girl who had
screamed, smothering her lips with kisses.
“My poor, dear sister!” she sobbed uncon
trollably, her arms about Lucille’s waist, bear
ing her through the crowd of men.
The captain stood at Loubeque’s elbow, his
face troubled. The policemen fought their way
to the center of the group to find no woman
there. Their leader, a sergeant, stepped toward
the captain.
“You sent a wireless, sir, regarding a young
woman —" y
The captain turned to Loubeque, 'his eye*
threatening.
"The girl,” he demanded. “What has become
of—"
Hugo Loubeque lazily pointed his cigar to
ward a black, high powered motor car leaping
out into the city’s street.
“The insane girl?” he smiled. “I believe 1
saw her step into that machine. Captain."
The sergeant waited curiously. Knowing
there was something lietwern the two men,
scenting the atmosphere of hatred, he waited.
“No use now, sergeant,” sighed Lucille’*
friend.
Hugo Loubeque deliberately lighted & fresh
cigar then, still smiling, stepped toward th*
plank.
(Continued Next Week.)_