Diamonds
of Malopo
a
By
VICTOR ROUSSEAU
$0090000000000000000000000000000000
Copyright by W. G. Chapman
(Concluded.)
It was seconds before the distant
thud of the body upon the rocks be-
neath the gorge told Winton that De
Witt would trouble Sheila no more.
Winton reached the cave, stood up,
and caught Sheila in bis arms. She
was fainting, her lips sought his own
feebly; then her head dropped on his
shoulder.
By the next flash of lightning Win-
ton measured the gap. He could al-
most straddle it; could he, bearing
Sheila, make the leap? He hesitated.
Then, with wild yells, the Hotten-
tots, who had heard De Witt’'s cry,
came swarming up toward the en-
trance of the cave,
Winton measured the distance with
his eyes and leaped. It was a terrific
jump for a man carrying an uncon-
selous woman in his arms. He tot-
tered upon the opposite edge, but did
not fall. The Hottentots were just
entering the cave. ‘Wiaton, crouching
behind the ledge, saw them stare
about them in amazement.
He saw that the narrow orifice wid.
ened behind him into a larger cavern.
An enormous boulder, hanging from
the roof, poised like a rocking-stone
upon a smaller one, partly concealed
the approach. At once an idea. horn
of his desperate situation, came tG
Winton. If he could dislodge the
stone he could effectively bar the Ilot-
tentots from following him.
He set Sheila down and put his
shoulder against the boulder. It
stirred, it rocked, it resumed its posi-
tion.
Another flash—and he was seenc
Yelling, the Hottentots rushed forward
The foremost saw the chasm and hesi-
tated.
Then Winton, putting forth :
strength, shifted the stone,
his
It fell, bringing down a shower of
debris from the roof of the cave. Win-
ton stumbled among the rartiing
stones, and, catching up Sheila, stag
gered along the passage. But he
turned as the succession of thun-ler-
ous crashes ceased, and waited for the
next flash. None came, and he heard
not the least sound from the Hotten-
tots behind him.
After a full minute Winton struck a
match. To his amazement he saw, by
the little light, that the passage belind
him was completely obliterated. The
fall of the stone had brought down
a miniature landslide. All traces of
the entrance beneath the mountain
had vanished. No light, no sound
could penetrate.
Winton tried to strike another
match. But the box was damp, and
the slight flame fizzled out immedi-
ately. He tried another and another
with like result.
He sat down quietly at Sheila's side.
Later, he thought wearily, he would
feel his way onward in the darkness.
Now. worn out by the day and by his
struggle, he had an intense desire to
sleep,
Ie heard Sheila sigh and put his
arms about her.
“We are safe, dearest!” he said.
ard tried to make his tone as hopeful
“We are
safe, dearest!”
he said
as one could who was trapped in the
bowels of the earth.
She put her arms about him in a
manner indicative of complete confi
dence. And, with Sheila beside him,
Winton felt that nothing mattered.
He must have slept, for some time
later, opening his eyes in incredulous
self-distrust, he discovered a gleam of
daylight far beneath him.
“Sheila!” he whispered.
He felt her stir beside him.
ton!” she murmured.
“Look!” he said pointing,
Against the tiny patch of light he
saw her face, and the look on it told
him that, what he had hidden from her,
“Win
second wrong guess that
she had concealed from him.
“Sheila, you have slept?”
“Not very much, Winton, dear!”
“You knew our danger?’
“YT had you, Winton,” she answered
with supreme confidence.
He raised her hands to his lips.
awed by her courage and faith,
They began following the track
down toward the patch of light. It
was hardly more than an earth-hole in
the mountain, but freedom was not far
away. And at last they emerged upon
the steep hillside and understood the
nature of thelr location.
The whole of the mountain was
honeycombed ‘with fissures. In the
course of ages, as these crumbled
away, and the boulders above fell un:
der the pressure of the whole mass,
tunnels had been formed. The road
which they had traversed had been ac-
tually a continuation of the pass at
the end of the valley of bones, and
had once been open to the sky.
But what gave Winton the greatest
confidence was the discovery that this
was the only pass through the solid
mountain wall, which extended for sev
eral miles in either direction. To at:
tack them the Hottentots would have
to make almost a day's detour. And
there was not the l2ast likelihood that
they would do this. They had nothing
to gain by pursuing them, now that
De Witt was dead.
The sun was rising when they
reached the plains. The stony desert
lay all about them, but they quenched
their thirst at a pool formed by the
rains in a hollow of the rocks, and set
their faces resolutetly in the direction
of Malopo.
It was a fearful, thirsty journey that
lay before thems There were five anc
thirty miles to cover, and their oniy
hope of surviving it lay in the prob.
ability of rains that afternoon. The
seasonal downpour now seemed wel
established. And because there was
no alternative, they dismissed thei:
fears and started.
There would be nothing to fear frou
the natives In the desert. However
the rebellion might be faring, all the
available warriors would either be
mustered outside the town or, at tn’
worst. would be in possession of nt
As for the Hottentots. Winton
Sheila agreed that they would prob
ably remain in the mountains, by the
water, for an indefinite time, since all
their instincts would lie in keepin: ow
of the fighting.
“We shall meet nobody,” said Win
ton as they started. “until we reach
the river. Once there, we cian recon
noiter snd see how things are faring
I am confident that the tribesmen wil
have foand a warm recention.”
ane
Yer this, his first prophecy, wie
wrong. or. where the last toothill
faded into the blue, in a little dey |
gully, face down in the dry pit that
he had scooped with his tingers, they
found the skeleton of a man beside
that of a horse. The fingers clutched
a pocketbook.
Winton detached it from the dead
man's grasp and opened it. Inside was
a single envelope with a name on it
Within the envelope was a small stone,
The man had been Van Vorst. The |
pebble was the big diamond.
Winton sat down beside the skele-
ton, and his shattered nerves gave way
at last. He burst into helpless laugh.
ter. The irony of the situation was
too much for him,
The outburst calmed him. When he
arose he felt as if the return of the
stone obliterated all the past, ending
the cycle of misfortune that had begun i
with the theft. He caught Sheila to him,
“We are going to begin now—hegin |
|
|
to live,” he said.
He read
happy eyes.
“And I am going to have this cut!
and set for your engagement ring, even i
if it isn't ready before the wedding
ring,” added Winton.
After that they went on more brisk:
ly. Their hunger only made them
more buoyant and resolved to reach
their destination before their strength
failed them. But as the day grew
hotter and the sky remained cloudless
their speed slackened. A natural re-
action and depression came on them.
They rested at noon and resumed their
journey silently. There was no hope
of getting near Malopo that day, even
if they were keeping a fairly accurate
course. Sheila, indeed, was the guide;
Winton alone would have been help-
lessly lost in trying to follow the sun,
It was middle afternoon, and their
thirst had grown almost unendurable,
Still, they hoped. Rain would come,
must come, by nightfall. The sun was
half-way down in the west when sud-
denly Winton, lifting up his aves, per
ceived a horseman approaching them.
He uttered a glad cry. For the
rider was indubitably a white man, and
he was riding in the white man’s
fashion, with toes turned in and a
tight snaffle and loose curb.
That was where Winton made his
day. The
man was not white but coal-black; he
seemed to blacken the air around him
within the distance of an aureole.
It was Sam.
He leaped from his saddle with a
vell that would have done credit to
any savage upon the fields, and, grasp
ing Winton’s hand, pumped it up and
down violently.
“They're all out searching for you
and Miss Sheila!” he cried. “Ned
Burns and half Malopo. I took an idea
that I'd strike off this way. I pre
sume that was an inference from intui.
tive premises, Mr. Garrett? But, thank
God, you are both safe!”
“How ahout Malopo?’ shouted Win:
fon.
her acquiescence in her!
wR
Ss 2
Vryburg before the row began. The | The drop is ascribed to a lack of funds
government had been wider awake
than we gave them credit for being
And those nig—colored aboriginal Ban-
tus—ran right into them. They didn’t
have much heart for fighting after they
got a few rounds at five hundred yards.
Malopo only lost seven men, and not 8
child or woman hurt. And the hall
that isn’t out looking for you is put
ting the debris underground. And
Mr. Garrett, Malopo’s going to give
you and Miss Sheila a triumphal pro |
cession, especially her—"
Winton’s face grew grave.
glance at Sheila made
swiftly.
“We won't bear malice against Ma-
lopo—we can’t now,” he said softly;
and Sheila agreed.
Then he grew very serious.
“We're about finished, Sam,” he said
“How far is Malopo?”
“Right over yonder,” answered Sam.
“Not ten miles away. Miss Sheila can
make it on my horse in an hour.”
“Sam, I see you haven't a water
bottle.”
“Why, Mr. Garrett, we've got @
packhorse with a water skin. If only
I hadn’t left the crowd! We might
sight them on the way back, though
and Miss Sheila is sure to come upon
some of them—"
“If only we had something moist
Sam,” groaned Winton.
“Why, Mr, Garrett,” exclaimed Sam,
“I never thought of it, but here's some
thing I found growing in the desert. 1
picked two of them, and I think I'll
take the seeds back and plant them
I'm glad I didn't eat both.”
And from the other side of his saddle
he detached a huge wild watermelon
which he divided with his knife. He
handed half to Sheiza and the othe:
half to Winton.
The fruit was insipid in flavor, but
it tasted to the travelers like nectar
But a
it change
Winton discarded the gnawed-out
shell. “Sam,” he said.
“Sr?”
“T hate to be personal, Sam, but
really—"
“Pray don’t mention it,” answered
Sam politely,
“How about
stincts, Sam?”
ITHE E.ID)
those primeval in
———Subscribe for the “Watchman.”
$90,000,000 Spent in Seven Years for
Roads.
Since 1916 second-class townships
of Pennsylvania have spent more than
$90,000,000 on highway improvement,
and it is estimated, they will spend
more this year than in any previous
year. Highway Department officials
estimate the expenditure for 1924 at
$18,500,000.
Expenditures by second-class town- |
ships last year on road improvement
totaled approximately $17,125,000. In
1917 the total was $6,122,812, showing
that road improvement last year al-
most tripled that of 1917. In 1922
the expenditure was $14,871,573, a
falling off of about $3,000,000 under
the preceding year and the same
amount under the succeeding year.
with which to pay off township re-
wards.
This year the State will pay $1,304,-
000 in township rewards, which is al-
most $500,000 more than it paid in
1923, and approximately $800,000
more than it paid in 1922. In 1921
the township rewards totaled $85,122,
and in 1920 $76,886.
He Fell for Three Stories.
“Now it’s jist like I was a-tellin’
ye,” said a grizzled old Irishman to
a group of workmen. “Onct when
my gang was helpin’ put up a sky-
scraper, I fell fer three stories an’ it
dodn’t hurt me nary a bit.”
Here the stranger who had paused
to listen remonstarted.
- TIRRARR,
“But how could a person fall for
three stories and not be hurt?” he
sternly inquired.
“Well,” replied the veteran, a twin-
kle creeping into his eye, “you’ve al-
ready fallen fer one, an’ I guess fall-
in’ fer two more won’t hurt ye.”—
Everybody’s Magazine.
eee
—Get your job work done here.
y QurContinuous Obligation
pair of wires all the way to the
central office. That’s why we are
adding more than half a million
miles of new wire each year to
our plant in this State.
Last vear we put in 158,000
new telephones in Pennsylvania.
This vear we will put in
168,000. During the five years
beginning January 1, 1924, the
total will be 925,000.
These are gross figures. Our net
gain will be about half that
gid number.
Here is an interesting fact: Dur-
ing the coming five years we will
actually put in a hundred
Every telephone line means
central office equipment and
building space. That's why we
are adding a million and a quar-
thousand more new telephones
in Pennsylvania than there are
in service in the State today.
Every telephone line requires a
All this in a tremendous hurry—why?
ter dollars’ worth of telephone
apparatus every month inside
our buildings.
And that, too, is why it is neces-
sary to enlarge our buildings
and to build so many new ones.
Because it’s our job to meet the demands for service—not at our
convenience, but at the time when the teiephones are asked for.
And, too, everyadded telephone gives your telephone more power.
THE BELL TELEPHONE CO. OF PENNSYLVANIA
L. H. KINNARD, President
Third of a series of adver
tisements regarding the
present telephone service
program in Pennsylvania.
=
“Safe and sonnd, sir. It seems there
was a detachment of police with a
couple vf Maxims on the way up from
Guiding Thoughts
ATER CTL
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firms, corporations, organizations
and individuals who wish to make
a strong banking connection—a bank
where the guiding thoughts are Ser-
vice, Courtesy, Efficiency, Safety.
Whether your account is of large or
moderate size, remember it is welcome.
Le
| THE FIRST NATIONAL BANK
STATE COLLEGE, PA.
MEMBER FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM
ren
I: aa |
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cealed.
81-46
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x E business of the world is done on credit.
Credit is based on faith—on the belief that
Hence the most important thing a business
man can have is CHARACTER. :
The first question asked about him is, ‘*What
is his reputation for honesty, for reliability ?’’
The lack of these qualities is not long con-
Ones neighbors know.
The First National Bank
Bellefonte, Pa.
o a
TT Ee EH
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