Diamonds
of Malopo
Tv
By
VICTOR ROUSSEAU
3
3
Copyright by W. G. Chapman
(Continued from last week).
Crawling slowly forward upon his
stomach, and pulling himself to the
level top of the mountain, Winton
peered out from behind the cover of
a mimosa tree, and saw a party of
yellow Hottentots seated about the
blaze.
There were six or eight of them,
and behind the fire was a tent, which
Winton knew concealed De Witt.
The fear that Sheila was there, in
the man’s power, tempted Winton to
rush forward. He had to use all his
judgment to give no sign of his pres-
ence as he crouched flat behind the
little tree at the edge of the precipice,
Some movement must have alarmed
one of the Hottentots, for he leaped
to his feet with a guttural exclamation
and hurled his knobkerrie toward the
spot where Winton lay. It was fortu-
nate that the party had no dogs with
them. The missile, whirring past Win-
ton’s head, crashed against a boulder
and dropped to the valley below,
striking from rock to rock in the
course of its descent.
The native, who had advanced to
recover his weapon, stopped as the
sound of the fall showed that it was
irrecoverable, and went back to the
fire.
Winton’s fingers relaxed on his re
volver butt. Another instant and he
would have fired—and lost Sheila irre-
trievably.
He lay flat in the grass, watching
the light of the fire play upon the
fierce faces about it. Already the
moon was rising. He could neither
advance nor retire without immediate
discovery. Desperate plans chased
each other through his head in swift
succession.
Rach turned upon the feasibility of
a rush, the snatching up of a spear
after he had fired his remaining bul
lets, and a hopeless fight with the
object of at least killing De Witt
Each plan was hopeless; but then ev-
ervthing else was hopeless.
The minutes seemed lengthening inte
hours. At last Winton's plans had
simmered down to this: he would not
risk discovery until he was assurec
that Sheila was in imminent danger
For the present she was probably safe
He felt sure she was not in De Witt’s
tent, Where, then, was she?
As his eves traveled from spot tc
spot they lit upon a recess in a wall
of rock at the summit of the moun:
tain. The leaping flames of the fire
flluminated the interior of what seemed
a little cave. And somehow Wintor
sensed that Sheila was within that.
It was some thirty yards away, anc
he saw little chance of reaching it un
observed. There was a fringe of grass
through which he might crawl for the
greater part of the journey. but for
the last few feet he would have tc
traverse bare rock, within a few feet
of the fire. Yet he began his task, anc
it was infinitely arduous and slow. U
was a matter of inch-long move
ments—Ilirst of one arm. then of the
ather, then of the corresponding lower
wb. ‘The ary Dplaaes of gras
erurkled under the slightest movement.
The natives were dozing over ihe
fire. Winton had gone perhaps six feet
when one of the Hottentots raised
himself suddenly to a kneeling posi-
tion and thrust out his head toward
him, peering intently through the
grass. Winton, perfectly motionless,
stared for at least five minutes into
ithe yeliow face within a few feet of
his own. The man knelt like a statue,
the eyeballs gleaming in the moon-
light, the fingers encircling the spear-
shaft.
Suddenly the sight faded. The
moonlight was cut off abruptly, plung-
ing the land into immediate darkness,
Then a few drops df rain began to fall,
In half a minuts a torrent was de-
scending,
Tt was the characteristic beginning
~of one of the seasonal thunderstorms.
.As Winton erouched near the cave,
ipreparing to cross the open space,
vthere came a flash of lightning that
made the world as bright as day. It
showed him the form of the Hottentot,
fotionless where he had been watch-
ing, the fingers still about the spear.
But it showed him another sight that
drove the blood from his heart.
He saw De Witt crossing from the
tent to the cave,
So momentary was the flash that the
man’s attitude, his gesture, and the
movement of his body and limbs
seemed caught as on a photographic
plate. He was halfway to the cave,
hurrying with head bent down to shield
his face from the rain. But Winton
could still see the look of anticipation
on his features, and it was that which
gave him, for the second time, the
lust for murder.
It was borne in upon him then that
by no possibility could De Witt and he
live in the same world together,
The flash, which had given Winton
his final clue to Sheilah’s hiding-
place, had shown him the topography
of the mountain cleft. The place was
a natural fortress. The only apparent
approach was the narrow neck along
which he had come. Beyond the
mountain dropped in a vertical cliff,
and beyond that was the stony desert
where no tree grew and nothing could
live,
In the interval between two suc-
ceeding flashes Winton crept noiseless-
ly across the open space in front of
the cave and crept forward into the
darkness of the interior. As he gained
the shelter of the projecting wall, and
crouched behind it, hidden alike from
the sight of the Hottentots without
and from those within, he heard Sheila
speaking, and knew that his search
was ended.
CHAPTER XVI
The Passing of De Witt.
“Yes, I am in your power, but do you
think he will not avenge the wrong
you would do me?’ she asked.
“Sheila, listen to reason! We've
both fought for you, and I've won.
You'll never see him again. He can’t
find the way here, and even if he knew
where you are he couldn't cross the
desert. You're in my power—and I'm
offering to marry you. Can I be
fairer?”
“To your own wife?’ asked Shella
scornfully.
“That happened years ago. Maybe
she’s dead. I haven't heard of her
in five years, and nobody will know
about it where I'll take you. You shall
have your fling in Johannesburg and
live with the best people. Sheila, 1
love you—"
“If you loved me, Mr. De Witt, you
would scorn to threaten me.”
“I'm talking plain sense. You're
in my power—absolutely. If you'll say
the one word you shall be set free,
and we'll strike across country to-
gether. If you won't—well, you
know—"
“No. That's my answer.
had it before. No.”
“You're mighty proud of that white
blood of yours, I suppose,” sneered
De Witt. “Suppose I was lying in
court to get even with the old judge.
Suppose you're half-nigger still. How
about Garrett, then?”
“You told the truth,”
Sheila.
“What do vou mean? Suppose I teil
you it wasn’t the truth?”
“But it was the truth,” cried Sheila,
“for I have always felt it. Blood tells,
and mine has called out to me that 1
was white, white, ever since I was a
child in the village. I clung to that
belief in spite of everything.”
“Well, it was the truth,” said De
Witt grudgingly. Then his tone sof-
tened. “Sheila, I've got you now,
and, by Heavens, I won't let you go!”
he said.
There was a struggle in the cave.
The girl uttered a cry. And at that
momen: Winton bounded forward.
The second cry that came from
Sheila's lips was drowned in the roll
of the reverberating thunder that fol
lowed a vivid lightning flash. In that in
stant Winton saw De Witt standing,
one arm grasping Sheila to him, while
his eves dilated as he recognized her
rescuer confronting him, revolver in
hand.
The darkness snd the echoes of the
thunder seemed interminable. Sheila
broke from De Witt with a ery and
ran to Winton. He felt her arms
shout him, but he thrust her gentiy
aside.
“I have you covered,” he called tc
De Witt. “If I hear you stir, or it
von cry out, I fire.”
No answer came. Winton waited
tense, his revolver aimed at the spol
where he imagined De Witt to he
The next flash showed the outlaw
standing with his back against tne
wall of the cave, a dozen feet distant
The flash and De Witt’s shot were al
most simultaneous,
You've
answered
Winton saw a chip fiy from the rocky
wall beside him. He sprang for De
Witt, touched him, lost him, and stood
panting for the next flash.
It came, and-the two shots rang out
together, though the sound of the dis-
charge was lost in the rolling thunder
and the pattering rain. Both missed.
Winton fired again and missed again.
He realized that his last bullet was
gone. He must catch De Witt at the
next flash and overcome him before
he could fire. But he could hear
nothing, and he lost his bearings in
the complete darkness.
In the light of the next flash Winton
saw that De Witt had disappeared.
He glared furiously about him. Then
a bullet whipped his cheek, he heard
a faint crack from one side of him,
and he saw, before the light vanished,
De Witt's hand emerge apparently
from behind the solid wall at the back
of the cave.
A series of flashes illuminated the
entire interior. Now Winton could
see a narrow opening in the wall at
the back of the recess. De Witt did
not fire—perhaps he thought that Win-
ton had him covered. Winton leaped
forward, found the opening, and
stopped. Some instinct of caution held
him rooted to the spot.
The thunder peals were deafening.
The rain was driving into the cave,
which was ankie-deep in water, Sud-
denly Winton realized that the rivulet
at his feet was feeding a waterfall.
And then he understood hig situation.
He was standing upen the brink of a
deep crevice. A single forward step
would have hurled him to destruction.
The same warning instinct that had
stopped him at the edze taught him
to spring back beh'nd the ledge of the
protruding rocks. He had just re-
gained this refuge when another flash
showed De Witt standing on the op-
tant, aiming at where Winton had
been.
With horror Winton saw that Sheila
stood in the line of fire.
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Frederick G.
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He heard the shot ring out, but his
onset had deflected his enemy’s. aim.
And this time he had De Witt in his
arms, pinioning the hand that held the
revolver.
On the brink of the abyss the two
fought for their lives.
They were so equally matched that
neither seemed able to budge the
other. Each was nerved to the utmost
by the realization of his peril. But
Winton was fighting for Sheila—
Shella, whom the next flash showed 4
standing, quivering with fear, upon the '
opposite edge.
“Go back!” Winton shouted to her,
Even the utterance meant some in-
finitesimal diminution in the concen-
tration of his muscles and will. In an
instant he felt that De Witt had him
at an advantage. The Dutchman’s
savage face was thrust into his own,
his breath was hot on his cheek. He
felt himself bend backward, he grasped
at nothingness; he fell, dragging his
enemy after him.
With a convulsive effort he caught
at and clung to the projecting ledge.
His feet felt for a hold. De Witt,
who had evidently emptied his re-
volver, brought down the butt on Win-
tox’s hands. Winton clung with des-
peration. Across the chasm he heard:
Sheila screaming, and the lightning
flashes, which were almost continuous,
showed him her figure with hardly per-
ceptible intervals of darkness.
De Witt was leaning forward over
the chasm, his feet planted upon the
edge, striving to detach Winton from
his perilous hold. Again and again
the revolver butt came down. Winton
heard a bone in his wrist splinter. He
let one hand go, swinging out over the
chasm. De Witt, bracing himself
against the wall, was pushing with all
his strength,
Suddenly Winton rememhered a
school trick. If he should let himself
go, De Witt’s own impetus would carry
him after him. Could he swing free
and catch the opposite bank in fall-
ing?
He could hold on no longer. Open-
ing his bruised hand, he plunged down-
ward and forward. By a miracle he
found the edge of the chasm on the
outer side of the cave. He swung
there dizzily. He drew himself up- |
ward.
At the same instant he heard De
Witt fall forward. The Dutchman
clawed at the rocks, missed them,
struck Winton; and with a scream that
echoed above the thunder he went
hurtling down to death.
(Continued next week).
| ‘tDhats the Hurry? |
Winton, horror and anguish on her Adam H. Krumrine, et ux, to Fred- 000. $600.
face. The sight of her peril electrified | —
Winton. He leaped into the darkness. | — a MRE —
Was, 4 eat y h * Fatty ed ore ik BER
As a public utility we must pro-
vide a high-grade communica-
tion service for those who have
telephones; and we must meet 4
the demands for new service 2
when and where they come.
The people of Pennsylvania 2
are saying to us: “We want
We have no control over the telephones”--more and more
demands for telephone service. telephones.
There can be only one reply:
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“Why are you adding so many
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putting up so many new build-
ings? Why all this expansion?
Why not wait until conditions
may be more favorable?”
Here's the answer:
Vx
vi}
Regardless of difficulties, we must erect buildings, :
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equipment in the shortest time possible. A
We have not sought this tremendous construction Ph
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phone gives your telephone more power. We're in y
business for just that purpose. ;
THE BELL TELEPHONE CO. OF PENNSYLVANIA
L. H. KINNARD, President oh
Tirst of a series of adver-
tisements regarding the
present telephone service
program in Pennsylvania.
Be
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