REPUBLICAN NEWS-ITEM Published by C. S. DAUHERMAN, Lessee LAPORTE PA. I_! g The tragedies of aviation keep pace with its achievements. Once ngain the prospect of winning the pennant inspires the fan. Among the world's hardest workers may b<j numbered the convention claque. A Cleveland writer offers one dollar to everyone who will read hia book. It would probably be money well earned. Again st. has been declared that the hobble skirt is doomed. Its slaves will probably rsjoice and the world at large certainly will. That reported microbe for the pres ervation of youth must have tried it on itself. The exilir of youth idea is rather venerable. A walking club in New York holds cut exceptional social advantages as an inducement to Join. To walk into New York society is a new fad. „ Westerners who are praying for rain overlooke the fact that the easi est way to start a rain storm is to leave their rain coats at home. Henceforth It. is going to be posl ble to alight from a street car with out being bowled over by some auto mobilist with inore gasoline than sense. The goosebone prophet savs we are to have a hot summer. We usually have high temperature in the summer time, and we need it; at least the crops do. We stand v "h both feet for the abolition of the ancient practice of hurling rice and shoes at bridal cou ples. The bridegroom suffers enough without it. Tt might be possible TO make chick- j ens grow faster by shocking them with j electricity, but Society for the Preven- j tion of Cruelty to Hens may make it j undesirable. Two Minneapolis youths have been sentenced to ten days in Jail for call- [ Jng a woman a chicken. What would I have happened to them If they had | called her a hen? Tn Pelgium the man who refuses to vote is thrown into jail, but there Rre not prisons enough to accommodate even a fraction of the nonvoters in this patriotic land. The American marines at Peking j won first place in target practice at 800, 400 and 500 yards against the | military guards of the other legations, j Peace hath its victories. The French aeronauts say that two renturies will pass before men will safely fly across the Atlantic. This transforms the present generation into mere innocent bystanders. An American spendthrift was ar tested in London for throwing money Into the street, but as a rule the wait ers and porters do not allow Ameri can visitors togo that far. Stuttering, according to an investi gator. is three times as common among boys as among girla. We al ways have noticed that a girl seldom has any trouble in talking. A Parisian scientist is fighting the perm of old age and thinks he is on the way to prolong life indefinitely. If he is successful, he will practically de- Oslerize the human race. Just now the man without R straw hat is as conspicuous as was the man with one in April. "Why are minors depressing?" asks Tin exchange. Ask some big leaguer who has been shipped back to them. California woman saw a burglar en tering a window and beat him over the head with a chair. We take it that her husband comes home every night at a reasonable hour. A Philadelphia fish dealer discover ed among his wares a fish wearing a diamond ring. This is a great ad vantage over the restaurant oyster which sports its pearls unset. Announcement is that the United States mint is to resume the manufac ture of gold coins. We wondered why they had been so scarce lately, but thought they had all been spent. Paris has a new ballet which has so shocked some of the critics that they refuse to review it. The an nouncement of their refusal has, of course, led to overflowing audiences. That Connecticut eagle that tried to carry off an 8 year old girl was not working for a summer resort, either. The wind whisked a SIOO hat away from a Chicago girl the other day and blew it so far that it has not yet heen found. This settles it. We shall have to do something about the wind. The Germans have adopted baseball and are said to have become highly proficient in the art. But tt will be years and years before they have be come proficient in the vocabulary. SYNOPSIS. The »tory opens at Monte Carlo with Col Terence O'Rourke. a military free lance and something of a gambler. In his hotel, leaning on the balcony he sees a beautiful girl who suddenly enters the elevator and passes from sight. At the gaming table O'Rourke notices two men watching him. One Is the Hon. Bertie Glynn. while his companion Is Viscount l>es Trebes, a duelist. The viscount tells him the French government has directed htm to O'Rourke as a man who would undertake a secret mission. At his apart ment, O'Rourke. who had agreed to un dertake the mission, finds a mysterious letter. The viscount arrives, hands a sealed package to O'Rourke, who is not to open it until on the ocean. A pair of dainty slippers are seen protruding from under a doorway curtain. The Irishman finds the owner of the mysterious feet to be his wife. Beatrix, from whom he had run away a year previous. They are reconciled, and* opening the letter he finds that a Rangoon law firm offers hlin 100,000 pounds for a jewel known as the pool of Flame and left to him hi' a dy ing friend, but now in keeping of one named Ohambret In Algeria. O'Rourke worsts the nobleman In a duel. The wife bids O'Rourke farewell and he promises to soon return with the reward. He dis covers both Glynn and the viscount on brwrd the ship. As he finds Ohambret there is an attack hv bandits and his friend dies telling O'Rourke that he has left the Pool of Flame with the governor general, who at sight of a signet ring Jlven the colonel will deliver over the ewel. CHAPTER IX.—(Continued.) "Quite right," echoed O'Rourke with assumed indignation. "Be quiet, Ber tie. Children should be seen and not heard. Mind your uncle." And. "Oho!" he commented to himself. "And they knew 1 didn't have the Pool of Flame! Let me think. ... Oh, faith, 'tis Just bluffing they are!" "You 6ay," the viscomte continued ■lowly and evenly, "you've destroyed the letter." O'Rourke took up pipe and tobacco. "I told ye," he replied, filling the bcwl, "that the letter was non-exist ent. Now, me man,"he continued, with an imperceptible change of tone, "drop the bluff. Turn that ptstol away from me. Well I know that ye won't shoot, for If ye did ye would put beyond your reach forever the information that would win ye the reward —al- ways providing ye had got possession cf the ruby, be hook or crook. 'Twould be crooka, I'in thinking." He lit a match and applied the flame to the tobacco. "There's me last word on the subject," he added in distinctly, puffing and eyeing the pair through the cloud of smoke. The revolver waved In the vicomte's hand; he was livid with passion and disappointed, yet amenable to rea son. Glynn bent and whispered brief ly In his ear, and the Frenchman, nod ding acquiescence, laid aside his weapon. The Honorable Ilertie con tinued to advise with him in whispers until O'Rourke, though quite at loss to understand this phase of the affair, saw that their attention was momen tarily diverted and, with a swift move- ment. leaned over, snatched up the re volver and, with a flirt of his hand, flung It out of the window. Glynn started back with an oath, his hand going toward his pocket; but O'Rourke promptly closed with him. A breath later a second pistol was eject ed from the carriage and the English man was sprawling over the knees of the vicomte. They disengaged themselves and, mad with rage, started up to fall upon and exterminate the wanderer. I think It must have been the very Impertinence of his attitude that made them pause In doubt, for he had resumed his sc-at as calmly as though nothing at all had happen ed and was pulling soberly at his pipe. As they hesitated he re moved the latter from his Hps and gestured airily with the stem. "Sit ye down," he invited them, "and take It easy, me dear friends. The mischief's done and naught that ye can do will repair It. Faith, 1 said I'd not strike back unless ye crowded me. I re member me words to the letter. Tour guns made a crowd out of this happy reunion. I've merely dispensed with them; I call ye both to witness that yo have neither of ye suffered. Sure, I'm as peaceable as any lamb. Sit down, sit ye down and take It like little men. The situation's unchanged, save that I've put temptation out of your reach." And as they wavered, plainly of two minds, O'Rourke clinched the ar gument of his attitude. "I beg to call your attention," he remarked, "to the fact that ye have left me own brace ot revolvers here at me feet, when ye so joyously turned me bag Inside out. I'm not touching them, mind ye, but mind ye further: I'll brook no non sense. If ye make a move as If to at tack me, I'll . . . There! That's much better. Wise lads, ye are, both of ye: graceful In defeat. Ijet me see: We've a long ride together, though ye did come uninvited. I trust ye will help me beguile the tedium with society chatter, me friend," with a twinkle at the discomfited vlcomta. "I'm la dancer of forgetting me m*fe JjHj FLAME^m by LOUIS JOSEPH ners. Pardon me, I pray, but—but I trust your nose is convalescing?" In high feather with himself, O'Hourke entertained his companions with a running fire of pleasantries for the balance of the darkened hours. And be touched both more than once with the rapier-point of his wit and irony, and had the pleasure of seeing both squirm in impotent rage. They cut wretched figures, two against one. yet failures, while he taunted them in one breath, with the next declared himself their captive. Toward the end the reserve which the vicomte im posed upon the Honorable Bertie nas worn down: the Englishman turned with raw nerves upon his tormentor. "You damned ass!" he stammered, all but incoherent. "You sit there and—and gloat, damn you! When all the time we've got the upper hand!" "Be quiet!" interposed the vicomte. "I won't!" raged the honorable. "He thinks himself so infernally clever! What 'dyou say, you Irish braggart, if I told you you'd never see the Pool of Flame again?" "I'd say," returned O'Rourke, "that you were either lying or a fool. In either case a fool. If, as ye seem to be trying to make me believe —which I don't for one Instant —ye have suc ceeded In stealing the Pool of Elame, I'll hunt the pair of ye to the ends of the earth, if need be." He eyed them reflectively during a moment or two made Interesting by Glynn's desperate attempts to blurt out Indiscretions against the prohibi tion of the vicomte: something which the older man enforced crudely by clapping his hand across the English man's mouth, as well as by whisper ing savagely in his ear. "But there'll be no need," continued the Irishman, when Glynn wag calm. "Let's consider the matter dispassion ately, presupposing that ye have the stone. Well, what then? Ye dare not attempt to sell it—'twould result In Instant detection. It would cot pay ye to have it secretly cut up Into smaller stones —the loss in value would be stupendous, the whole not worth your while, as I say. Ye can not take the Pool of Flame (don't get excited: I'm not gotyig to tell y« where) to claim the reward, for ye don't know where to go. 'Tis a white elephant It would be on your hands." "It does not seem to strike mon sieur that there are other ways of finding out who offers tho reward," the vicomte suggested lqlly. "I can see ye wandering around ask ing somebody please to relieve ye of the Pool of Flame and pay ye a com mission. I wonder how long ve thtnk ye'd last. But 'tis no use trying to hoodwink me: I don't believe one word ye say. I'll wait until I find out the truth before I bother meself with ye." Their persistence In hinting that they had gained pcs.-session of the ruby perplexed and discomfited him. He did not believe it; 'twas incon ceivable: yet—he had known stranger things to happen. Still, without a clue, to have stumbled upon the se cret, to have made ot with it from under the very nose of the Governor- General —! No; it was not reason able to ask him to believe all that. Nevertheless, when he arrived at Algiers, his anxiety had grown so overpowering that he called a cab and desired to be conveyed post haste to the Palace de la Government. CHAPTER X. It was high noon when O'Rourke drove up before the Palace of the Governor-General. Weary, dusty and travel-stained as he was, he hesitated no instant about sending in his name and requesting an Interview with the representative of France's sovereign power. Disappointment awaited him at the very outset; disappointment In the shape of word that his excellency was away. But the name of O'Rourke was one well and favorably known in the province, and secured hitn an invita tion to ascend to the Governor's office and state his business —if he cared to do so-—to the gubernatorial secre tary. Upon consideration he accepted, and a little later was seated in a broad, low, cool room In the old Moorish palace, the affable secretary— a young, lively and engaging French man—solicitously sounding him as to his errand. It was obviously the office of a man of great affairs, presenting an eminent ly business-like look for all its Ori ental setting. To one side, set in the solid masonry of the wall, was a mas sive safe with doors ajar, exposing a cavity well stocked with documents. It occurred to the adventurer that such a safe might easily have been the place of security selected by the Governor-General for anything he held In trust. He built upon it a theory whilst he listened —nor lost a point— and replied to the secretary. The latter regretted excessively that his excellency waa absent: his excellency would undoubtedly be deso lated when he returned and found he had missed Colonel O'Rourke. "He'll be back soon, monsieur?" "Alas, no!" with a shrug. "He is en route for Paris —possibly arrived by this moment —on matters of state." "And he left?" "Several days since, monsieur." "You know nothing of this package, indorsed with the name of Monsieur Chambret?" To the contrary: the secretary knew it very well. He could place his hand upon It at any moment —monsieur would appreciate that he durst not surrender it without the Governor's authority. O'Rourke drew a long sigh of relief and was abruptly conscious of fatigue and a desire to get away and rest. "I'm obliged to ye," he said slowly, rising. "I'll have to wait until the Governor returns, I presume. . . By the way, are ye be any chance ac quainted with Monsieur le Vicomte des Trebes?" But certainly; the vicomte wag a great friend of his excellency's. He had dined with his excellency some thing over a week since. Just prior to the latter's departure. "And I take It ye have seen nothing of the gentleman since?" "On the contrary, monsieur: the vi comte called here but two days ago." It appeurMl that he bad desired some trifling information, with which the secretary had obliged him. "Ye didn't happen to leave him alone in this room?" The kecretuy, plainly much per plexed by this odd catechism, ad mitted that such had been the case; the pursuit of the desired data had necessitated his absence from the Gov ernor's room for a matter of some ten minutes. "But ye say ye can put your hand on this package?" "But certainly, monsieur." "Would ye mind making sure 'tis safe. 'Twould save me a deal of waiting, perhaps—" With alacrity and a smile that de prerated his visitor's anxiety over so trifling a matter, the secretary rose, went to the safe and confidently enough thrust a hand Into one of the pigeon-holes. The hand came forth empty. A frown of bewilderment clouded the secretary's face. "It must be here," he announced with convic tion. "It was In plain sight and la belled with the name of Monsieur Chambret . . He turned. "If Monsieur le Colonel will but return In half an hour, I undertake then to show him the packet Itself. I shall by then have found It —but assuredly!" "Ye are very courteous, monsieur. I will return." This he did —In two hours. The packet had not been found; the sec retary, In a flutter of nerves, confessed that through some culpable negligence It must have been misplaced. An ex tended search was even then In progress. It would surely coma to light before evening. "Thank ye; I shan't be back," re turned O'Rourke grimly; and went away, downcast far the first time since the Inception of the adventure. "Faith! and to think I would not be lieve the truth when they slapped me face with It! And all the time, belike, 'twas In the vlcomte's own pocket! . But he had no vocabulary ade quate to the task of expressing his self-contempt. Disconsolate, conceiving that he had proven hlmiself a blind, egregious fool, he plodded with heavy steps and a hanging head back to his hotel; where the crowning stroke of the day was presented to him In the shape of a note, by the hand of a black Biskri porter. "Monsieur le Colonel Terence O'Rourke. Be hand," he conned the address. "Faith, and what's this?" "If Monsieur le Colonel O'Rourke will do Monsieur des Trebes the hon or of dining with him, at seven or •even-thirty this evening, at the Villa i'Orleans, St. Eugene, an arrangement satisfactory to both himself and Mon sieur le Vlcomte may be consummat ed. "R. S. V. P.—The bearer waits." A trap? A subterfuge? A trick to throw him off the scent whilst the two blackguards escaped with their booty? The adventurer frowned darkly over ! t, dubious. Then. In a flush of reck essness, he seized a sheet of paper from a near-by desk, scrawled a ormal acceptance of the strange invi ation, and handed It totheßiskrl boy. 'All to gain, naught to lose," he sum med up the state of mind which had dictated his rehouse; and at six thirty, with brow and eye serene, he left the hotel in a carriage bound for the suburb of St. Eugene—and heaven knew where besides! CHAPTER XI. The Villa d'Orleans proved to be a handsome house of white stone, situ ated in extensive and well-groomed grounds, on a height outside the town, overlooking the Mediterranean. So complete and elegant seemed the es tablishment, indeed, viewed from with out or within, that O'Rourke's suspic ions were stimulated and his certainty that he was being played with resolv ed into a pretty definite conviction, as he waited in the broad hallway. It was inconceivable that a man like Des Trebes, so reduced as to be un der the necessity of stealing—even of stealing so considerable a sum as a hundred thousand pound?—could main tain so imposing an establishment. Ills uneasy conjectures were inter rupted when the vicomte appeared to welcome his guest. Suave, dressed properly for the occasion, showing traces neither of fatigue nor of his antipathy for O'Rourke, blandly ignor ing the peculiarities of the situation which his own inexplicable invitation had created, he presented himself in the guise of a gracious host. "Monsieur," he declared, bowing to O'Rourke (but with a care not to offer his hand), "overpowers me with his condescension and punctuality. I can only regret"—with a significant glance at the bulge of the adventur er's coat—"that he thought it wise to come armed." " 'Tls a habit I find It hard to break meself of." O'Rourke offered the in adequate explanation in a dry and coollsh tone. "It was unnecessary, I assure mon sieur." "Faith, I'm convinced 'twill prove so " Tactfully the vicomte digressed from the unpleasant topic. "I have asked you here, monsieur," he said with an air of deprecation, "to confer with me on business after we have dined. I trust the arrangement suits your convenience." "I'm content, monsieur." "I regret that circumstances pre vent me from receiving you under my own roof-tree. The Villa d'Orleans is the property of a dear friend, merely loaned me during my stay in Algiers." "Ye're fortunate In your choice of friends." Over his next remark Pes Trebes faltered a trifle, with a curions smile that O'Rourke failed to fathom. "Mon sieur Glynn," he said, "is—ah —a trifle Indisposed—the sun. Nevertheless. I believe he will Join us during dinner, if you will be so kind as to excuse him —?" "I could do very well without him." A Frew* «112 Bewilderment Clouded the Secretary's Faa*. The vicomte caught the eye of a servant, and, "Dinner Is announced," he said. "Do me the honor U> so company me to the table." In the course of time, as the vlconrts had predicted, the Honorable Bertis Joined them; and 01 sight O'Uourke diagnosed the "Indisposition" as plain intoxication. The Englishman via deep in his cups, far too deep to ape the urbanity of his host. He favored O Rourke with a curt nod and a surly look, then slumped limply Into a chair and called for champagne, which he drank greedily and with a sullen air, avoiding the vicomte's eye. Before dessert was served he passed into a black humor, and sat mutely glower ing at his glass (what time he was not unsteadily filling it) without re gard for either of his companions. When the cloth was cleared and the servants had withdrawn, Des Tre bes definitely cast aside pretence. A cigarette between his lips, he lounged in his chair, eyelids drooping over eyes that never left his guest's while either spoke. A cynical 6mile pre faced his first words. "So," ho said, "the farce Is over. Some regard for the conventions was necessary before the servants of my friend, the owner of this villa. Now, we can be natural, Monsieur le Colo nel." "Be all means; I cannot say I found the play diverting, despite the skill of your friend's chef. I gather ye wish to get to business? Well—l'm wait ing" O'Rourke pulled at a cigar, honoring the man with a cat-like at tention. He had no longer to watch the honorable; the latter had wll j fully relieved him of the necessity. | "You have been then," pursued the vicomte, without further circumlocu tion, "to the palace of Monsieur le Gouverneur-Generale?" "I have —unfortunately a few days too late, It seems." "You are satisfied—?" "I'm satisfied that the Pool of Flame has been stolen." "Then you will probably believe me when I declare mveelf the male factor. It was an easy matter: I purposely brought up the name of Ohambret in conversation with the Governor and by him was informed of the existence of the packet—which, of course, I had already surmised. Afterward . . . the secretary was absent, the safe open, the name on the packet stared me in the fac«. What could I do?" "Precisely. I'm convinced that, be ing what ye are, ye did only what y« ;ould." The vicomte bowed, amusement Bickering in his glance. "Touched," le admitted. . . . "Well ... I Have the jewel, you the information." (TO BE CONTINUED.) Realization usually comes as some thing of a jolt, after anticipation.
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