g&POOL °f U {^M COPYRICHT 1909 LOUIS J OSEPH VANCF \ SYNOPSIS. The story opens at Monte Carlo with Col. Terence O'Rourke. a military free lanco and something of a gambler, In his hotel. leaning on the balcony he sees a beautiful girl who suddenly enters the ("levator 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 Dea Trebes, a duelist. The viscount tells him the French government has directed him to O'Rourke as a man who would undertake a secret mission. At his apart nent, O'Rourke, who had agreed to u..- d-Ttako the mission, finds a mysterious letter. The viscount arrives, hands a sealed package to O'Rourke, who Is not to oj>n it until on the ocean. A pair of d ilnty slippers are seen protruding from under a doorway curtain. The Irishman tlnds the owner of the mysterious feet to be his wife, Beatrix, from whom he had run awav a year previous. They are reconciled, and opening the letter he finds that a Rangoon law firm offers him 100,000 pounds for a jewel known as the Pool of Flame and left to him by a dy ing friend, but now In keeping of one named Chambret 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 hoard 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 tlnds the governor general away. Des Trebes makes a mysterious appointment, and tells O'Rourke that he has gained possession of the jewel by stealing it. In a duel O'Rourke masters the viscount, secures possession of the Pool of Flame and starts by ship for Rangoon. He finds the captain to be a smuggler who tries to steal the jewel. It Is finally secured by the captain and O'Rourke escapes to land. With the aid of one Danny and his sweetheart. O'Rourke recovers the Pool of Flame. On board ship once more, ■bound for Rangoon, a mysterious lady appears. O'Rourke comes upon a lascar about to attack the lady, who Is a Mrs. Prynne. and kicks the man Into the hold. CHAPTER XX.—(Continued.) Her spirit, through her eyes, an swered his In a flash. Then cooling, she looked him over from crown to tie, weighing him deliberately in the balance of her knowledge of men. He bore the Inspection with equanim ity, quite sure of himself, as was nat ural In the O'Rourke. Provoked, put on his mettle, he felt himself invin cible, and showed it. In every line of his pose. She could not have wavered long; indeed, her decision was quite manifest. Impulsively she caught his two hands 'n her own. "Yes," she cried, "I do believe you! I take you at your word —your gener ous word. Colonel O'Rourke! I will trust implicitly in you. You shall get me to Bombay by the fifteenth." "The fifteenth?" he echoed thought fully. "This Is the tenth." "The Panjnab Is scheduled to ar rive on the fifteenth. All my plans depend upon there being no delays." "Five days! ... It shall be managed, Mrs. Prynne. Bombay by the fifteenth it shall be, or the O'Rourke will have broken his heart!" She grew thoughtful. "You are very good—l've told you that. I believe that you will accomplish what you promise. Yet it seems hardly fair to saddle you with my cares, my perils, without informing you of their na ture —" "Madam, 'tis not the O'Rourke who would ever be prying Into your se crets. Let's not complicate a simple situation with explanations." "But, colonel, there is one thing more." He paused. "It is a question," she continued, "of chartering a ship at Aden, Is it not?" "I see no other way." "Then —spare no expense, Colonel O'Rourke. Remember that I foot the bill." "But—er—" "Or, If you insist, sir, I pay nothing: Great Britain pays for both of us." "Eh? Yes?" he stammered. "But see, colonel." He had before then noted indiffer ently that she wore a chain of thin, fine gold about her neck, its termina tion —presumably a locket of some sort —hidden In the folds of her cor sage. Now she quietly pulled this forth, and displayed her pendant, a little trinket of gold, a running grey hound exquisitely modeled. Stunned, he stared first at the top, then at the woman. "Ye mean to say —?" he whispered, doubting. "On the King's service, Colonel O'Rourke!" "A King's courier, madam? You— a woman!" "And why not?" she demanded proudly. "The King's messengers dare many dangers, it's true. But in some of them might not a woman serve bet ter than a man?" "True enough. Yet 'tis unprece dented—at least, ye'll admit, most un usual. I begin to understand. That lascar. for instance—?" "Believe me, Colonel O'Rourke, I'm at liberty to tell you nothing." "Tell me this, at least: would ye know him If ye saw him again?" "Truthfully," she said, looking him In the eye, "I would not. I will say one other word: I had anticipated his attack, although I had never seen him before" "Faith, 'tis yourself that has your courage with ye, Mrs. Prynne! . . . But good night, madam! Your serv ant!" "Good night, colonel," she said softly, and as she watched him swing away laughed lightly and strangely. Later, still standing outside her door, she sighed, and an odd light glowed deep In her eyes of grayish-green. Sighing again, and with another low laugh that rang a thought derisive, as though she were flouting the man whose service -she accepted so gladly, she turned and vanished within her stateroom. As she did so, the opposite door — that of an inside stateroom on the same gangway—was opened cautious ly. A turbaned head peered out, its eyes glancing swiftly up and down the corridor. Long since, however, the excited passengers had been reassur ed and had returned to their berths; the coast was clear. The lascar stepped noiselessly out, shut the door without a sound, and 6nsd swiftly forward: a long, brown nran with an Impassive cast of coun tenance In which his eyes shone with a curious light. As he swung into the space at the foot of the saloon companionway, he collided violently with an undersized and excessively red-headed Irishman, nearly upsetting the latter, to say nothing of a glass of brandy-and-soda which he was conveying to a certain stateroom. "Phwat the divvle, ye domned nay gur! Pwhy d'ye not look where ye're going?" demanded Danny with some heat The East Indian backed away, bow ed profound} - , mumbling something in articulate, and sprang up the steps. Danny looked after him, for a moment hesitant, then put down the tray and pursued. He caught the flicker of the lascar's cummerbund as the latter es caped to the deck, and himself arrived at the forward end of the promenade just in time to see a white shape dis appear into the steerage companion way. "I'd take me oath," said Danny re flectively, "thot he's the naygur thot came aboard at Suez. 'Tis meself thot wishes I'd had a betther peep at the ugly mug av him. I'm thinking I'd betther bo after tellln' himself." CHAPTER XXI. Lurching drunkenly into the harbor known locally as Aden Pack Bay, the Panjnab came to anchor. O'Rourke, from the lower grating of the steamship's accommodation lad der, signaled to one of the swarm of hovering dinghys, and waiting for it to come in. reviewed the anchored ship ping, gathered transiently together in that spot from the four corners of the earth, and shook his head desponding iy. A yellow-haired Somali boatman shot his little craft into the grating. O'Rourke dropped upon the stern-seat and took the tiller. "Post Office pier," he said curtly. The dinghy shot away with dipping, dripping oars, while the Irishman continued to search among the vessels for anything that, seemed to promise the speed necessary for his purpose, and failed to discover one. "*Tis hopeless," he conceded bitter ly as the boat wove a serpentine wake In and out among the heaving bulks. "And, I'm thinking, 'tis the O'Rourke who will presently be slinking back to confess he bragged beyond his pow ers. The fool that ye are, Terence, with your big words and your fine promises, all empty as your purse! 'Tis out of patience I am with ye en tirely!" Doubtless he made the very picture of unhappiness. So, at least, seemed to thlnlc a man lounging In a dilapidated canvas deck chair beneath a dirty awning in the stern of a distant tramp steamer; who, raking the shoreward-bound with a pair of rusty binoculars, had chanced 10 focus upon O'Rourke. "Looks as if he hadn't a friend in the world," said the man audibly. "Looks as if a letter from home with cash draft 'ud about fill his little bill." He grunted in pleased appreciation of his own subtle wit. A short man he was, stout, very much at home in grimy pajamas and nothing else, with eyes small, blue. Informed with twin kling humor and set in a florid coun tenance bristling with a three days' growth of grayish beard. He swung the glasses again upon O'Rourke. and, "Hell!" he exclaimed, sitting up with • stimulated interest. "Well, by jinks!" said the stout man. "Who'd a-thunk It?" He got up with evident haste and waddled forward to the bridge, where he came upon what he evidently need ed in his business: a huge and bat tered megaphone. Applying this to uis Itod uud tilling his tangs ha bar lowed with a right good will, and his hail, not unlike the roaring of an amiable bull, awoke Aden's echoes: "O-o-Rourke!" "Good morning," murmured the Irsh man, lifting his head to stare about him with Incredulous curiosity. "Who's that barking at me?" The pajama'd person continuing to shout at the top of his voice, by dint of earnest staring the Irishman event ually located the source of the up roar. "Now who the divvle might ye be?" he wondered. "Ananias, me friend"—to the boatman —"row to the steamer yonder where the noise comes from." Whereupon the stout man, seeing the boat alter its course, put aside the megaphone. And again peace brooded over Aden. On nearer approach to the tramp, O'Rourke's sml'e broadened to a pleased grin, and airily he waved a hand to the man with the voice. ".Jimmy Quick!" he observed with unfeigned delight. "Faith, I begin 10 believe that me luck holds, after all!" From the bottom step of the tramp's ladder he tossed a coin to the boat man, then mounted to the deck. In continently the stout man fell heavily upon his neck with symptoms of ex treme joy. A lull succeeding his first transports, he wiped his eyes, beamed upon his guest and suggested Insinuat ingly: "Drink?" "Brevity's ever the soul of your wit, captain," said O'Rourke. "I will." And he meekly followed Quick's bare heels forward to the officer's quarters beneath the bridge. Having set him In a chair, Quick, still a-gurgle, wandered off. unearth ed a bottle, beamed upon his visitor, asked a dozen questions In as many breaths and, without waiting for an answer, waddled off again to return with a brace of dripping soda-water bottles. "Schweppe's," he said, pat ting their rotund forms tenderly; "and the last In our lockers —all in your honor, colonel." "So?" commented O'Rourke. "Hard up, is it? 'Tis not the O'Rourke who With an Unconscious, Surprised Oath, O'Rourke Stepped Aside. would be wishing ye ill, captain, dear, but, faith, raeself's not sorry to hear that word this day. I'm thinking me luck is sound, after all." Quick had again vanished. Present ly O'Rourke heard his mighty voice booming down an engine-room ventila tor. "Dravos! Dravos, you loafer! Come up and see a strange sight!" He came back, Btill vibrant with an elephantine sort of Joy. "O'Rourke," he panted, mopping a damp brow with the sleeve of his jacket, "you're a good sight for sore eyes. Never did we meet up with you yet but there came a run of luck." " 'Tls good hearing," said O'Rourke, smiling. A atiKut little man slipped a bald head, relieved by ragged patches of gray hair about the temples, apolo getically into the cabin door. "The top of the day to ye, Dravos!" said O'Rourke loudly, for little Dravos was partially deaf. "And how are the engines?" The engineer carefully hitched up his trousers and regarded the wander er with temperate geniality. "Good afternoon, Colonel O'Rourke," he replied, clipping his words mincing ly. "Very nicely, I thank you." He shook hands, sat down on the edge of a berth with the manner of one who fears he Intrudes, and glanced searchingly at Quick. "If you're go ing to serve the drinks, cap'n," he snapped acidly, "hump yourself!" He accepted his glass with a dis passionate air and drank hastily after a short nod to the guest, as one who sacrifices his personal inclinations to the laws of hospitality. But from his after-glow of benevolence, O'Rourke concluded that the drink had not been unwelcome. "What brings you here?" demanded Quick in a subdued roar. "I've a job for ye, if so be it ye're not otherwise engaged—and if ye can do It." Quick slapped a huge thigh delight edly. "I knew it —could have sworn to it!" "Can do anything," asserted Dravos with asperity. " 'Tis merely a question of speed," explained the Irishman. "Can ye make Bombay in four days—be the fif teenth?" "Dravos," roared Quick, "how much speed can you get out of those damned engines?" "Twenty knots," snapped Dravos. "When can you sail?" "To-night," said Dravos. "If," stipulated Quick, "I can pick up a crew in Aden." " 'Tis settled then." "We'll need a bit of money in ad vance." "Ye shall have It. within reason." Dravos rose and sidled towards the door, a faraway look in his pale eyes. "You strike the bargain. Quick," he said; "I'll have a look around the engine-room." "Right-O, Bobby. . . . Yourself alone, I a'pose, O'Rourke?" "And three others. Danny—" "Yes, yes." "And two ladies; an English worn an and ber maid." CHAPTER XXII. By nine o'clock the Ranee lay with steam up, ready to weigh anchor. It is no praise to Dravos to state that his engines were In admirable condition. Such was their Invariable ! state. For an assistant he impressed ! Into service none other than Dan ay Mahone, to Danny's intense dismay. O'Roiirke took upon himself the du ties of first officer under Captain Quick. The Irishman cared little for the sea, knew less of a first officer's duties; but It was patent that Quick could not stand every watch, and O'Rourke was not to be daunted by any such slight matter as nautical In experience. In the knowledge that they were safely off at last there was poignant relief to the wanderer, as he stood by Quick's side, on the bridge, with mid night imminent and the ship still and peaceful. "I'll stand tho night watch es." the captain announced. "By morning we'll be far enough out for you to take hold without spraining the art of seamanship. G'dnight." "Thank ye," said O'Rourke. In fact, he had long been sensible that he was very drowsy; the night wind In his face had something to do with that. "Good night," he returned, and went down the ladder to the deck. At its foot he paused, turning curi ously; it seemed that surely there must be some serious trouble afoot in the crew. The Irishman could see In the slimmer of the forecastle lantern a confused blur of naked, shining, brown bodies and limbs, apparently inextricably locked. A scream rang shrill and there followed the sound of a heavy fall. Overhead, on the bridge, Quick was roaring himself hoarse, without effect. The sounds of shuffling, of blows, harsh breathing, stifled cries, contin ued. A knot of the contestants swept, whirling, aft, toward the superstruct ure. Something shot singing through the air; the wind of it fanned O'Rourke's cheek. With an unconscious, surprised oath, O'Rourke stepped aside, his hand go ing toward his revolver. The missile struck a stanchion, glanced and fell clattering into the scuppers. Revolver in hand, he went forward to the rail overlooking the struggling rabble on the deck below. But they seemed in tent only on their private differences, and Quick's roars were bringing them to their senses. Gradually the tumult subsided, the contestants separating and slinking forward to their quarters. "It may have been chance," O'Rourke conceded a bit doubtfully. He swung about and moved at't slow ly, examining the deck intently. In a moment or two he stopped and picked up a long, thin-bladed knife, double edged and keen as a razor. The point was broken, having doubtless been snapped off at the moment of contact with the deck-house. O'Rourke turned It over soberly. "Faith, I don't like to think it was Intentional —but me head would have been split had it come two inches to the left." He returned to the bridge, calling Quick aside. "You're armed?" "Certainly—always armed when I'm dealing with these devils. Why?" O'Rourke showed him the knife. Quick laughed at his theory. "Noth ing in it,"he was pleased to believe. CHAPTER XXIII. The day came out of the East with a windy swagger; rs Quick had fore told, a series of thunderstorms swept the sea before dawn, so that It, like the sky, seemed newly washed, clean and brilliant. O'Rourke relieved Quick at four bells of the morning watch and kept the deck for the remainder of the day, his meals being brought to him on the bridge. His duties were simple enough, requiring ;Tttie more than a display of the habit of authority which sat so well on his broad shour ders. It was no great trick to keep the crew In order: they went about their work peaceably enough and showed no signs of desiring to renew their disputations. Otherwise he had to keep an eye upon the helmsman and see that he held the Ranee to the course prescribed by Quick; and that v as nothing difficult to a man of av erage intelligence. Naught but deer water lay between them and Bombay so long as a direct course was shaped and maintained. As the sunlit watches wore out and nothing untoward took place O'Rourke's grim apprehensions dissi pated into shadows. He began to be lieve with Quick that the affair of th« winged knife was merely a hapchanct accident, quite unpremeditated. Below decks, Dravos and Dannj were standing watch-and-watch, wltb clockwork regularity, where the for mer's beloved engines were justifying his confidence and pride in them and clicking off their twenty knots witU out a hitch. (TO BE CONTINUED.) Wisdom. Always think twice before yot speak once and then be aura that yo» talk to youraalt.—Pucfc Legs raw with itching, burning eczema PrrrsnrßO, TA., Mny 23, 1912.—"A friend of mine had big red blotches form all over bis legs, body and arms. It was pro nounced a very bnd case of eczema. Aftet two months' treatment he was suffering untold tortures, and would awake at nlgbt and find himself scratching, with hands ■ll over blood. Ills legs were like a pleco of raw meat, Itching and burning. For two months ho slept scarcely any, but would get up and walk the floor. He says be simply felt as If he were burning up. After the case had lasted six months be began the use of Itcslnol Soap and Oint ment. He was cured, and his skin was aa clear as crystal." , (Signed) W. D. 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