REPUBLICAN NEWS-ITEM Published by C. 8. DAUBERMAN, Lessee LAPORTE PA. Still, the short weight ice dealer lu Hot as universal as once he was. The Prince of Wales is of tegal age, 'but has not beffli given a night key. Philadelphia is to have a 21 story hotel. It is trying to keep step with New York. "Absolute divorce and the custody of the dog," is the way an eastern decree reads. Mary had a little lamb, and how that the price has dropped a little, she can have a little more. A woman looks under the bed for a man, while a man looks around to see if he can find a dictograph. More than 27,000,000 cigarettes are smoked each day in the United States. •Would not that stain Angers? In the weather line the year con tinues to show a disposition togo to extremes more interesting than popu lar. The fact that Nan Corrigan, a pret ty newsgirl, is to marry a very rich man is further proof of the power of the press. A noted poet is reported as dead of Indigestion. Ever has it been difficult to harmonize the muse and the bread basket. -Rats are to be exterminated on the ground that they do less good and more harm than any other animals In the world. A St. Louis man's wife left htm eight times in two years, and still he la suing for divorce. How much lib erty does that man want? China is still in the market for money but is more particular than stie used to be from whom she borrows it. China is becoming civilized. New Yorkers are picking people's pockets through the open windows of elevated trains. New Yorkers are nothing if not progressive. Baroness von Suttner says the rise of aeroplane fleets would barbarize the air. Who cares? There are no Innocent bystanders up there. The man who can smile and smlie when his neighbor's chickens scratch up his grass seed deserves to dwell where lawns grow green forever. An exchange informs lis that there are 11,463 practicing lawyers in New York. N'o wonder that wicked city is visited by frequent crime waves. The barbers of Paterson. N. J., have asked for higher wages and wish to abolish tips. Paterson doesn't sound like much of a place for tips anyway. A Russian immigrant landed at Phil adelphia the other day with a beard 31 feet long. He should have no trou ble getting a job In some sideshow. One New York manager expects to have twenty-five shows on the road next season When you begin to find your troubles bard to bear think of him. Tf you have been going fishing these summer days and some of the big ones have been getting away, remem ber the story will be as good next summer. Coffee experts have testified thrtf the last shipment from Mocha was over 200 years ago. It must have been a tremendous shipment to have lasted this long. A Boston woman physician advo cates scientific marriages. We imag ine that scientific marriages would greatly increase the waiting lists in most of our clubs. . A woman who has been married thirteen years has just received a di ploma from a Chicago high school. Marriage itself is a pretty liberal edu cation for most women. A Japanese statesman remark!? that h!s country needs a new religion. We have a few hundred varieties of re ligious cults and isms which we cau well afford to give away. They say some Boston women aie so slow In adopting fashions that they are wearing hoop skirts at this late day. Imagine a street car conductor saying: "Move forward, please!" It was 100 in the shade the other flay In Medicine Hat, where they run the blizzard factory, and 96 in Battle ford. where the Canadian northwest fights for cold records every winter. How's that for an anti-monotony cli mate? An Ohio man wishes to get cured of the gambling propensity by a surgi cal operation on his brain. Most gam bling places will be pleased to effect n reasonably sure cure by the usual operation on the poeketbook. A mother sparrow in a nearby city defended her nesl so vigorously from a painter that she caused him to fall off the scaffolding and break his arm. A brave little mother like that, fight ing for her babies under such odds. «tunht to win human respect even if 6b« is only a common bird. JM by 10DIS JOSEPH j|l' 8 SYNOPSIS. { The story opens at Monte Carlo with ; Col. Terence O'Rourke, a military free • lance and something of a gambler, tn his | hotel, leaning on the balcony be sees a i beautiful girl who suddenly enters the j elevator and passes from sight. At the ! gaming table O'Rourke notices two men watching him. One is the Hon. Bertie I Glynn, while his companion is Viscount 1 Pes Trebes, a duelist. The viscount tells him the French government has directed ] him to O'Rourke as a man who would i 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 ii 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 f**et be his wife. Beatrix, from whom he had run away a year previous. They n J*- reconciled. arid opening the letter he finds i that a Rangoon law firm offers him 100.000 pounds for a lewel known as the Pool of Flame and left to him by a dy i lug friend, hut now in keeping of one named Chambret In Algeria. O Bounce , worsts the nobleman in a duel. The wire bids O'Rourke farewell and he promises to soon return with the reward. Ho dis covers both Glynn and the viscount on board the ship. As he finds Chambret there Is an attack by 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 given the colonel will deliver over the Jewel. Arriving at Algeria the Irishman finds the governor general away l»es Trebes makes a mysterious appointment and tells O'Rourke that he lias gained possession of the Jewel by stealing it. CHAPTER Xl.—(Continued.) "And ye have to propose —?" "A plan after your own heart; I do your courage the credit to believe It. monsieur. With another man. whom I had studied less exhaustively. 1 should propose a combination or \ forces, a division of profits. O Rourke made an Impatient gesture. "But with : you. Colonel O'Rourke. no. 1 esteem I your address and determination too | | highly and—pardon me If 1 speak | plainly—l despise and hate you too i | utterly to become willingly your part- j »er." | "Go on—l begin to like ye better. , Ve grow Interesting." . "That does not Interest me. . . ! ! situation, then, is simplified. Es BeiUlally it Involves two propositions: j first, we cannot combine; second, di j vided we both fail. While both of us j live, mon colonel, the Pool of Flame J will never earn its value." " 'Tis meself takes exception to that. bet me once get me hands on j i the stone, monsieur, and I'll back me i ; self against a dozeu viconues—and I honorables." ! "While 1 live." the Frenchman stat ed, unruffled; "you will not touch the Pool of Flame; while you live. 1 can not dispose of it to the best ad vantage. It would seem that one or the other of us must die." j "1 am armed," remarked O'Rourke j slowly, "if ye mean ye've brought me here to murder me —" ' Monsieur speaks—pardon—crude ly. 1 asked you, you came of your own will —to fight for the Pool of Flame." O'Rourke started; a glint of understanding danced in his eager eyes. "1 see you catch my meaning. What 1 have to propose is this: you will take pen and paper and wrfte the name of the person who offers the reward, with his address. This you will enclose In an envelope, seal, and i place In your pocket. The Pool of ! Flame —you see 1 trust you—ls here." O'Rourke got upon his ieet with an the vicomte was play ing a bold hand. Before the Irishman had grasped his intention he had | thrown upon the table a ruby as large, I or larger, than an egg; an exquisite j jewel, superb!- cut and polished. | Fascinated, O'Rourke remembered himself and Hat down. "You see." The vicointe's cold In cisive tones cut the silence. Slowly he extended a hand and took up the great ruby, replacing it in his pocket. "There is," he Eaid evenly. " a level 6tretch of grass beyond the veranda. The night, 1 admit, is dark, but the light from these long windows should be sufficient for us. If you slay me. take the ruby and go in peace: this sot" —with a contemptuous glance at | the unconscious honorable —"will nev er binder you. If you die. 1 take the ! note from your pocket The Issue Is fair Will you fight. Irishman?" O'Rourke's fist crashed upon the table as he rose. "Fight!" he cried, j "Faith, I did not think yo had this in ye. Pistols, shall It he?" "Thank you," said the vicomte, with ' a courtly bow, "but 1 am an Indiffer ! ent shot. Had you chosen rapiers at Monte Carlo one of us would uever have left the field alive." He went to a side table, returning with a sheet of paper, an envelope, pen and Ink. And when O'Rourke had slipped the paper Into his pocket tie raw the vicomte waiting tor bim by one of the windows, two naked ra piers. slender and gleaming and long, beneath bis arm. As the Irishman came up, with a bow. the Frenchman presented the hllts of both weapons for his choice. Together and la silence they left cbtt dialog room, strode aero#* the var i anda and down, a short step, to the lawn The vicomte stood aside quick ly, bringing his feet together and sa | luting in the lull glare of light, i O'Rourke whipped hilt to chin with : I consummate grace, his heart singing. . j Work such as this he loved. The | ! night was pitchy black, the windows barred It with radiance. In the dark ; spaces between a man might easily i | blunder and run upon his death. . . Somewhere in the shadowy shrub i bery a night-bird was singins as though Its heart would break. There was a sweet smell in the air. His blade touched the vicotnte's j ; with a shivering crash, musical as glass. CHAPTER XII. Early In the dull hot dawn a clat ter of winches and a bustle of j shadowy figures on the deck of a ! small trading vessel, which had spent ! the night between the moles of the harbor of Algiers, announced that the j anchor was being weighed. While this was taking place a small > harbor boat, manned by two native I watermen and carrying a single pas- | senger, put out from the steamship j quay, the oarsmen rowing with a will that hinted at a premium having been ! placed upon their speed. The coaster was barely under way, moving slow j ly in the water, when the boat ran ! alongside. A line was thrown from the ship and caught by one of the i watermen, the boat hauled close in, i and Its passenger taken on deck. An hour later, a pipe between his I teeth, O'Rourke 6tood by the helms- j r man, staring back over the heaving | ! expanse, swiftly widening, that lay be- j tween the coaster and the Algerian j I littoral. The world behind was gray ] and wan. but the skies ahead were I to Chin With Consum^iri Grace.^ gelden. "A fair omen!" breathed the adventurer hopefully. The hulk of the gnat ruby In his pocket brought his thought back In a wide swing to the girl who would be waiting for him at Rangoon. "Faith, and 1 must be getting heiow and mak ing a dab at writing a letter to her. . That was nothing." He nodded with meonlng towards I the bold profile of Algiers. . . . [ An 111 wind it was that blew Colonel { O'Rourke Into Athens. .. It nas ; blown Itself out and been forgotten this many a day, praises be! but that. I once It had whisked htm thither. lm i mediately it subsided and stubbornly ' it refused to lift again and waft dim forth upon his wanderings, In the 1 course of time came to be a matter ot grievous concern to the Irishman. All of which is equivalent to saying j that the dropping breeze of his finances died altogether upon bis arrival In the capital of Cireece. He disembarked from a coasting steamer J in the harbor of the Piraeus encum bered with a hundred francs or so. an invincible optimism, a trunk and a kit-box. and a king's ransom on his person In the •hop* of the Pool ot Flaine; which lattsr was hardly *v i *ie esteemed a negotiable asset. There after followed days of Inaction, while lis hopes diminished. Nearly two months had elapsed since he had promised two people — himself and one infinitely more dear to him—to be in Rangoon in ninety days. In little more than a month she'd be waiting for him there. . . And where would he be? Still was he far by many a long and weary mile from the first gateway to the East —Suez; and still he lacked many an aloof and distant dollar the funds to finance him thither. If only he could contrive to get to Alexandria —! Danny was there — Danny Mahone, ha of the red, red bead and the ready fists; Danny, who Jield the O'Rourke as only second to ;he Pope In dignity and Importance; who had been O'Rourke's valet In a happier time and of late In his hum bler way an adventurer like his mas ter. He was there, in Alexandria, | half partner in a tobacco importing j house, by virtue of money borrowed ' from O'Rourke long Bince, at a time j when money was to be had of the i man for the asking. . . . And j Danny would help. . . . You must see O'Rourke revolving In ! his mind this unhappy predicament of his, on the last of the many afternoons that he spent in Greece. Draw down the corners of his wide, mobile mouth, stir up the devils in his eyes until tfiey flLcker and flash their resentment, place a pucker between the brows of bis habitually serene and unwrinkled rorehead; and there you have him who sat beside the little table In the purple of the Zappeion, with a head : <jared to the cool of the evening 1 Itreeze. alternately puffing at a me j oiocre cigar and sipping black coffee I from the demi-tasse at his elbow. Now Just as the sun was sinking be hind the mountains and Hymettus was clothing Its long slopes In vague violet light 01 mystery and enchantment (for this view atone O'Kourke took himself to the Zappeion dally) the Irishman's somber meditations were interrupted. "Phew! 'Otter'n the seven braßs 'inges of 'ell!" remarked a cheerful voice, not two feet from his ear. O'Rourke turned with an Imper ceptible start —he was not easily sta tled. "True for ye," he assented, tak ing str»ck of him who. with his weath er-wise remark for an Introduction, calmly possessed himself of the va cant chair at the other side of the table and grinned a rubicund grin across it. He showed himself a man in stature no whit inferior to the irishman, as to height; and perhaps he was a stone the heavier of the two. He i lacked, otherwise, O'Rourke's alert habit, was of a slower, more stolid and befi'y build. The eyes that met O'Rourke's v'ere gray and bright and hard, and set In a countenance flam ing red —a color partly natural and partly the result of his stroll through Athens' heated streets, i His dress was rough, and there was this and that about him to tell O'Rourke more plainly than words that, his profession was something nautical; he was most probably a cap tain. from a certain air of determina tion and command that lurked be neath his free-and-easy manner. Therefore, having summed the stranger up In a glance. "And when did ye get In, captain?" Inquired O'Rourke. The man Jumped with surprise and shot a frightened—at least a ques tioning—glance at O'Rourke. Then, seeing that he was smiling in a friend ly fashion, ca-lmed and continued to cool his face and heat his blood by fanning himself vigorously with a straw hat. " 'Ow the dooce do you know I'm a captain?" he demanded, with a slight ly aggrieved manner. "It shouldn't take a man an hour to guess that, captain—any more than it would to pick ye out for an Eng lishman." The captain stared, gray eyes wid ening. "An' perhaps you'll tell me my nyme next?" he suggested rather truculently. "Divvle a bit. 'Tis no clairvoyant 1 am," laughed O'Rourke. "But I can tell ye me own. 'Tis O'Rourke. and 'tis delighted 1 am to meet a white man In this heathen country. Sir, your hand!" He put his own across the table and gripped the captain's heartily. "Mine's 'Ole," the latter Informed him. "Ole?" queried O'Rourke. "Ole what?" "Not Ole nothing," said the cap tain with some pardonable asperity. "1 didn't s'y 'Ole, I s'yd 'Ole." "Of course," O'Rourke assented gravely. "I'm stupid. Captain Hole, and a bit deaf In me off ear." This, however, was a polite lie. "That explyns It," agreed the molli fied man. "It's 'Ole, plyn WiU'm 'Ole. master of the Pelican, fryghter. Just in from Malta." A light of Interest kindled in O'Rourke's eyes. He reviewed the man with more respect, as due to one who might prove useful. "And bound —?" he insinuated craftily. "Alexandria. ... I Just dropped in for a d'y or two to pick up a bit of cargo from a chap down at Piraeus. It's devllsh 'ot and I thought as ow I'd tyke a run up and see the city —'aving a bit of time free, y'know." "Surely," sighed O'Rourke, a far away look in his eyes. "For Alexan dria. eh? Faith, I'd like to be sailing with ye." Again the captain eyed O'Rourke askance. "Wot for?" he demanded directly. "The Pelican's a slow old tramp. You can pick up a swifter pas sage on 'arf-a-dozen boats a day." " 'Tis meself that knows that, sure," assented the Irishman. " 'Tis but a trifling difficulty about ready money that detains me," he pursued boldly, with a confidential jerk of his head. "There's a bit of stuff —no matter what—that I don't want to pass through the Custom House at Alex andria. I'm not saying a word, cajv ta"but If I could smuggle it into Egypt, the profit would be great enough to pay me passage-money a dozen times over. I'm saying this to ye in strict confidence, for. being an Englishman, ye won't let on." "Never fear." Hole asserted stout ly. "Umm. . . . Er—l don't mind telling you, Mr. O'Rourke. 1 some times do a little in that line myself. Being a casual tramp and sometimes lyd by for weeks at a stretch for want of consignment—" "Not another word, captain. I un derstand perfectly. Will ye be having a bit of a drink, now?" Captain Hole would. "It won't 'urt to talk this over," he remarked. "Per apa we might mylie some sort of a dicker." "Faith, 'tis meself that's agreeable." laughed the Irishman lightly. And when, at midnight that night, he parted from a moist and senti mental sailor-man. whose capacity for liquor—even including the indescrib able native retsinato and mastlcha bad proved enormous, the arrangement had been arrived at. signed, sealed and delivered by a clasping of hands. And it was O'Rourke was the happy man. " 'TIb Danny who'll be giving me the welcome." he assured himself, sit ting on the edge of his bed and star ing thoughtfully Into the dishevelled depths of the battered steel kit-box that boused everything he owned In the world —for he was packing to join the Pelican at noon. "1 hope to hiven he has five pounds," announced O'Rourke later, frowning dubiously. hive pounds happened to be Ihe sum he had agreed to pay Capfain Hole for the accomodation. It We:ng further conditioned that the. latter was to accompany the adventurer aaliore at Alexandria and pot uuxt , I from him till the money was forth coming: something which irked taa Irishman's soul. "Why could tie not take me word for It?" he demanded of midnight darkness tempered by feeble lamplight "But, faith, I torget what I'm dealing with. Besides, us sure 1 am to find Danny" He arose and resumed his packing, blowing an Inaudible little air through his puckered lips. "Dlvvllish awkward if I don't ... By the Gods! I'd all but misremembered . . ." He failed to state exactly what he had misremembered, but stood mo tionless. with troubled eyes staring at the lamp flame, for a full five min utes. Then— "l'll have to chance It."he said slowly. " "Tisn't as if it were mine " He unbuttoned the front of his shirt and thrust a hand between his under shirt and his skin, fumbled about un der his left armpit, his brows still gathered thoughtfully. Presently he gave a little jerk and removed his hand. It contained a chamois-skin bag about the size of a duck's egg. from which dangled the stout cord by which he had slung it about his neck. Holding this gingerly, as if he (ear ed It would explode, O'Rourke glanced at the window, drew the blind tight, and tiptoed to the door, where he turned the key in the lock. Then, re turning to his bed and making sure that he was out of range of the key hole, he cautiously loosened the draw string at the mouth of the bag. Something tumbled out into his palm and lay there like a ball of red fire. brilliant and coruscant. O Rourke caught at his breath sharp ly; his very voice had an ominous ring in its timber when he spoke at length. ."Blood," he said slowly, "blood. . . 1 doubt not that rivers of blood have flowed for the sake of ye. He like ye were fashioned of blood In the beginning, for 'tis that's your color, and the story of ye as I've heard it is all told when I've said that one word —blood! . . ." And, after a bit, "I'd best put it away. I'm thinking. 'Twouldn't be safe to car ry it that way any longer. If some thing should catch in me shirt on board, and rip it.and Hole happen to see it —why. me life wouldn't be worth a moment's purchase. I'll hide it in me box there; they'll nlver suspect." And with that he thrust the Pool of Flame back Into the leather bag. and the bag into the depths of the kit box; which he presently locked and noiselessly moved beneath his bed. After all of which he lay down and with another sigh slept tranquilly. CHAPTER XIII. Some time In the golden afternoon of the following day.the Pelican weighed anchor and slouched with a loafish air out of the harbor of the Piraeus. "Plyn Bill 'Ole," the captain said he preferred to be called. And "Piaiu Bill Hole!" mused the Irishman, lean ing over the forward rail and sucking at a short black pipe. "Faith, not only plain, but even a trifle homely," he amended judgmatically. "As for meself," he concluded later. "I'm no siren in this rig" And he lifted his eyebrows, protruding his lower lip, as he glanced dowu over his attire. It was a strange rig for thi O'Rourke to be in: an engineer's blue juniper, much the worse for wear, and a pair of trousers whose seat. O'Rourke maintained, was only held together by its coating of dirt and grease. O'Rourke eyed this get-up with dis dain. "Fortunately." be comforted himself, "'twon't be forever I'll be wearing it." in the present Instance, the dis guise was held an advisable thing, since O'Rourke was officially register ed on the ship's books as assistant en gineer. The Pelican carried no li cense for passengers, and in view of his avowed purpose It was deemed unwise for tbe Irishman to risk de tection by appearing "too tony" (an expression culled from the captain is vocabulary). Otherwise, it was understood thui hls duties were to consist of the pur suit of his own sweet will, that h« was to occupy a stateroom at/., ant that he was to mess at the captain i table. Ou an evening, some nine or ter days after bo had left Athens. O'Rourke at the forward rail saw in* long, low profile of Egypt edge up out of the waters, saw it take color and form, made out palms and the wind mills, the light-house and Pompey s pillar; and knew that he was close upon his journey's end. Her winches rattled cheerfully a the Pelican dropped anchor, bu O'Rourke did not move There woul< be no going ashore, he knew, unti Hole was ready, aud that would b' when the customs officials had paf him a call and the usual courteslt had been exchanged. The Irlshma had no need to be In haste to cbang Irotn his present garb to one thj better suited him. So he lolled upo the rail and regnrded with a klndllu eye the harbor views. (TO BE CONTINUED.) Bill the Philosopher. Wise remark, by Bill, the Philosoj er: "There's one good thing about Anybody who talks about himself i the time hasn't time to be a knoi er." Know any of 'em? —San Francis Chrouicle. Another Exciting Game. Friend —What were your 6ensatlr In the wreck T Victim —Just tbe same as Id ft ball. Three coaches passed over mil then the doctors came- Pundi
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