©fePOOL.y ■| c i2!l
BYNOPSIB.
The story opens at Monte Carlo with
Col. Terence O'Rourke, a military free
lance and something: of a gambler, in hia
hotel. Leaning on the balcony he sees a
beautiful girl who suddenly enters the
elevator and passes from sight. At the
gaming table O'Rourko notices two men
watching him. One Is the Hon. Bertie
Glynn, while his companion Is Viscount
Des 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
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
und<;r a doorway curtain. The Irishman
finds the owner of the mysterious feet to
be his wifa, 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 him
300,000 pounds for a Jewel known as tho
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 ho promises
to soon return with the reward. He 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 tho Pool of Flame with the governor
general, who at sight of a signet ring
given thcr colonel will deliver over the
jewel. Arriving at Algeria the Irishman
finds the governor general away. Des
Trebes makes a mysterious appointment,
and tells O'Rourke that he lias 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.
Mrs. Prynne claims she is en route for
Indiana on a mission for the king.
O'Rourke is attacked by the lascar, who
secures the Pool of Flame, the captain
Is shot and the lascar Jumps into the sea.
The ship arrives in port. Danny hands
O'Rourke the Pool of Flame which he
has stolen from Mrs. Prynne. It is the
real Jewel, the one lost at sea being a
counterfeit. O'Rourke goes to Calcutta
and discovers Des Trebes disguised. He
now knows that Mrs. Prynne was an ac
complice. Finally he gets to the lawyer
who has offered the reward, delivers the
Jewel and gets the money. Going to the
residence of the lawyer on invitation,
O'Rourke finds him murdered and Des
Trebes is found dying. An officer appears
and O'Rourke assists him in unraveling
the mvstery. O'Rourke leaves with the
reward. 112
CHAPTER XXXlV.—(Continued.)
"He confessed he was in the pay—
like these chaps we're after now—of
a highly respectable Chinese merchant
and head of one of the tongs —one of
the richest men in Rangoon, who, It
seems, was also after that ruby. I
can't imagine what he wanted of It,
but that'll come out, probably; the
man's rich enough to buy dozens of
stones as fine. However ... I
gather he'd laid his plan far ahead.
The coolies Intimated you'd been
watched all the way from Bombay. At
all events, the brutes were ready
when you arrived; Sypher was a
doomed man from the moment you
handed over the Pool of Flame. They
surrounded his house this night, com
ing up from the river. Just as soon as
It was dark enough to conceal their
actions. Then they found a third ele
ment in the business—your friend Des
Trebes, all unsuspicious of them, lurk
ing on the veranda and watching Sy
pher through the window. So they
waited to see what he was up to. And
pretty soon they found out. Sypher
came downstairs, went to the safe and
opened it; I presume he had the stone
in his hand, ready to put away. While
he was standing there the Frenchman
slipped up behind and stabbed
him, annexing the stone and leav
ing the way he got In. The In
stant he stepped off the veranda the
Chinese got him; but he managed to
scream before they could silence him
and drew the attention of the house
hold, Miss Pynsent, your wife and the
servants. So to cover things up they
had to gather them all in. The serv
ants were killed—there were three of
them —and the women . . ."
Neither man spoke for a time. Then
Couch resumed.
"This coolie was an outsider —a
servant of the merchant's—not one
of the junk gang; so he stayed ashore,
and thought it would be a fine young
scheme to return and do a little loot
ing on his own . . . I've telephon
ed the head office to arrest that
cursed merchant and confiscate his
bouse and goods and detain anybody
they could catch connected with hlin.
The net's well enough laid, and 1
thliik . . ."
The lights of the city became vis
ible, strung along the right bank or
the river as the launch rounded a
bend. Couch swung th 4 little boat
out into midstream. "Half-speed.
Wheeler," he said, adding to O'Rourke:
"I've got to pick out that Junk. I pre
sume the right one will have all sail
set and be moving downstream with
Ihe tide; it's Just on the turn now
and fortunately there's no wind worth
mentioning. ... I wish I could
see something of the other launch."
He peered a*xlously into the obscur-
ity ahead. "If there were only star
light—!" he complained bitterly.
"Stand by, Wheeler, to stop the motor.
We'll drop alongside with the current,
as quietly as we can. Colonel
O'Rourke, will you get forward and
take the boathook and headwarp,
please; I'm needed at the wheel and
Wheeler at the englue until we make
fast."
Cautiously the Irishman rose, took
the boathook Couch offered him, and
crept out upon tho narrow triangle of
deck at the bows. Crouching tnere,
he found the headwarp and waited,
tense with anxious expectancy, star
ing ahead in futilo effort to penetrate
the wide, shadowy reaches of the riv
er. But the mystical distances con
fused and eluded him. The launch
seemed to move, panting, in an abyss
of night. She made little noise: a
hiss of water beneath her stem; the
steady humming of the motor, throt
tled down to half speed; the muflled
gasping of the exhaust. And present
ly even these ceased at a word from
Couch, and the launch moved ouly
with the tide.
Abruptly a towering wall of opaque
black rose out of the darkness to
starboard. O'Rourke braced himself
for the imminent instant of action,
poised so lightly upon his toes and
fingertips that a swell from a moving
vessel would have thrown him off
his balance, perhaps overboard. The
launch closed swiftly and silently in
upon the black wall; it tow'ered over
him like a cliff; far above he could
see dim divisions between black and
black that must be the rail. And he
shook his head, dismayed; he could
never scale that, he thought; not even
the O'Rourke could accomplish a mir
acle. But In a breath It had faded
back, and he realized that the tower
ing poop of the Junk had misled him.
They were now alongside at the waist.
He stood up and saw a low railing
moving and caught it over the edge of
the rail, drew the launch in, let go the
boathook and, with the headwarp
wrapped about his hand, jumped
blindly.
Something dealt him a vicious, all
but paralysing, blow in the pit of the
stomach; he doubled up, for a mo
ment helpless, across the Junk's rail,
but retained sufficient presence of
mind to hold onto the headwarp.
Then, recovering a trifle, he squirmed
over and fell sprawling upon the deck,
his heels drumming an abrupt and
violent alarm. From somewhere he
heard a shrill jabbering arise, with an
ensuing patter of bare feet. Swiftly
he got upon his knees and drew in the
headwarp. with his free hand search
ing along the rail for a cleat. Some
thing thumped heavily on the deck be
side him, and grunted; and something
else followed with a second bump;
and the launch swung outward ajid,
caught by the current, jerked the
headwarp from his grasp. "May the
luck of tho O'Rourke still hold!" he
prayed fervently, getting upon his feet
to realize that, with Couch and the
man Wheeler, he was lmpris ed
aboard the junk, doomed there to . t-
The Boarding Party Stood at Bay.
main whatever might befall, until
the coming of the second launch . .
. or perhaps for a longer time.
As he rose some Indistinct body ran
into him and cannoned off with an un
couth yelp; with no time to draw his
revolvers, the adventurer struck out
with a bare hand and had the satis
faction of finding a goal for his blow
—of landing heavily on bare flesh and
of hearing the dull sound of a fall
upon the deck. *
Synchronously lights were flashing
out for and aft. A revolver spat ven
omously beside him. Somewhere a
man screamed and fell, whimpering
horribly. The revolver expoded a sec
ond time. There were confused
noises, as of a furious struggle, rough
and tumble, and he suspected that one
The Woman Gasped Faintly and Clung' Tightly to Her Husband's Arm.
or another of his companions had
been tackled bodily by one of the
junk's crew. On bis own part he
caught a glimpse of a shadow moving
ghostlike against ono of the lights,
and promptly exorcised it with a shot.
By this time the vessel seemed to
be caught in the grip of pandemon
ium; shouts and shots vied with
screams, groans, confused padding
footsteps, to make the moment one of
a nightmare. The boarding party stood
at bay, not daring to venture from the
spot on which they had landed, firing
steadily but with discretion.
Huddled together like children in
fear of the powers of darkness, the
three held their fire against the inev
itable assault In force, handicapped
fearfully by their absolute ignorance
(if the lay of the deck, of the number
of tkelr opponents, and of from which
quarter they had to expect the attack.
And the silence and the suspense
wore upon their nerves until the final
struggle came in the shape of a boom
to save them i:om madness. And It
came with a rush and a will, cyclonic,
tremendous, overpowering. 13y sheer
weight of human flesh the Europeans
were pinned against the rail, fighting
at handgrips with a cruel and cunning
foe far better prepared for such busi
ness than they. For at such close
quarters pistols were practically
worthless save as clubs, while knives
could slip to slay through almost any
interstice, however straitened.
O'Rourke had no time to think of his
companions. Stung to desperation by
the silent, unrelenting fury of his as
sailants —twice he was conscious of
the white-hot agony of a knife-thrust,
one penetrating the flesh of his side
and scraping his ribs, the other biting
deep into his thigh—he fired until he
had but one cartridge left in his re
volver, and expended that blowing out
the brains of an extraordinarily per
sistent coolie, then dropped the use
less weapon and trusted to his naked
strength.
It served him well for a little. One
man, precipitated by the weight of
those behind him into the adventur
er's arms, he seized by the throat and
throttled in a twinkling; then lifting
him from the deck, he exerted his
power to the utmost, and cast the
body like a log into the midst of the
melee. Thus clearing a little space, he
found himself able to step aside and
let another run past him Into the bul
wark; and seeing the sheen of a
swordblade In the fellow's hand, be
fore he could recover seized his wrist,
twisted it savagely, and wrenched the
weapon away.
The finale came a moment later, sig
nalized by a blinding flash of light
more bright than that of day, which
fell athwart the deck and illuminated
instantaneously every Inch of the
fighting ground. Fervently be bleased
the near-by vessel that bad turned Its
searchlight on the junk. The scene
it revealed beggared the experience of
a man whose trade was lighting; it
fell upon decks slippery with blood
and littered with the bodies of dead
and wounded; it silenced a confusion
indescribable. Upon that insane turmoil
the light fell with the effect of a thun
derbolt from a clear sky.
Screaming shrilly in their panic, the
Chinese scattered and fell away, leav
ing O'Rourke beside Couch, Wheeler
being down and buried beneath three
Chinese corpses. And instantaneously
something grated harshly against the
starboard side of the junk, and a man.
his figure stark black against the cold
white glare, leaped upon the rail and
tumbled Inboard. Others to the num
ber of a dozen followed him. swarm
ing over the decks. Couch /reeled to
wards them, babbling orders and in
structions.
The second launch had arrived.
Sick and faint, O'Rourke slouched
back against the rail, watching with
lack-luster eyes the end of the chap
ter. It was simple to the point of
seeming farcical In comparison with
that which preceded it. The dazed and
now outnumbered Chinese offered no
further resistance. Disarmed and put
under guard, they disappeared from
his consciousness, while he watched
the men from the second launch,
spurred by Couch, scatter in search of
the abducted women.
Loss of blood was beginning to tell
upon him; his strength seemed alto
gether gone; his wits buzzed in his
head like a swarm of gnats. He
grasped his support convulsively, be
ginning to appreciate how seriously
he was hurt. He heard as from a great
distance thin, faint cries of men shout
ing in triumph; saw Couch, a pygmy
shape, holding in his arms a doll who
wore the face of Miss Pynsent. Then
of a sudden he was conscious of a
woman hastening toward him, a fan
tastic and incongruous figure In a din
ner-gown, her skirts trailing in the
slime of the shambles, her arms out
held to him; and knew her for his
wife.
He essayed to speak, but could not.
He felt her arms close about him. In
the face of the searchlight's penetrat
ing and undevlatlng glare, night
closed down upon bim.
CHAPTER XXXV.
In after days, when he was alto
gether. well and whole, they Journeyed
forth, these two, the man and his
wife, from Rangoon northward. The
railway carried them some distance;
later they struck off with their train
Into the primitive wilderness beyond
the ultimate British outposts on the
Chindwlne, main tributary to the Ir
rawaddy.
The land was peaceful, hospitable,
and very, very lovely In Its wilder
ness. Their happiness was ecstaar.
Br th«f r*4a ttnvogfa Jong.*,
wood and rolling uplands, or less easi
ly through the fastnesses of the hills,
side by side, thought linked to
thought, their hearts attuned. By
night their camps were pitched in a
new-found world of beauty, wonderful
In Its Bhadowy mystery.
It was so ordered that they came,
toward sundown of a certain day, to
the foot of a hill crowned with a grsat
pagoda of many multiplied rcofs fring
ed with a myriad silver bells that
tinkled ceaselessly In the evening
airs.
Here they dismounted and together
made the ascent of an age-old wooden
stairway, broad and easy, and throng
ed from the first rise to the last with
weary pilgrims, beggars, lepers, laugh
ing children, mendicant holy men. The
sun was low upon the horizon when,
having bribed their way along that
gauntlet, O'Rourke and his bride (she
could never be aught less to him) at
tained to the topmost platform and,
having received permission, with meet
show of reverence entered the temple.
It was very dark Inside and for a
time they moved blindly In and out;
but at length they came to a massive
doorway looking toward the West, and
here they paused, hand in hand, look
ing up to the placid face of a huge
Buddha, who squatting cross-legged
upon a pedestal, looked through the
incense-scented gloom ceaselessly for
ward to Nirvana.
The figure, carven originally from
etone, had been BO heavily plastered
with gold-leaves by the devout, that
now It had all the semblance of being
gold to its core; and, lavishly deco
rated with necklaces and bracelets of
rare jewels set In crusted gold, in the
evening glow it shone like some great
lamp of holiness. Only its face was
in shadow.
Slowly the light struck higher be
neath the eaves of the pagoda, and
slowly it crept up and yet up, until lis
last blood-red shaft revealed the Bud
dha's forehead and what was set
therein, a monstrous ruby.
The woman gasped faintly and
clung tightly to her husband's arm.
He held her close, watching the great
stone flame and throb and pulse, like
a pool of living flame swimming in
darkness.
And then the light of the world
went out.
Pensively in the dusk they descend
ed the temple staircase. At the foot,
before they remounted their horses,
the woman came to the man and put
her hands upon his shoulders.
"Terence," she said, "I think I am
very weary. Take me home."
He gathered her Into his arms.
"I think," she said, "it frightened
me—made me fearful of this country
—the Pool of Flame, up there."
"Ye've seen the last of It,"he said
tenderly, "and so have I. 'Tla done
with, like the days of me adventur
ings. I have no thought but you. dear
heart. Let us go home."
THE END.
USE FOR OLD BLUEPRINTS
Bleached by a Simple Process, They
Furnish Sketch Paper of a
Fair Grade.
In the engineering department of
every mine office, blueprints will accu
mulate until the quantity has reached
amazing proportions. Some compa
nies keep a record and file of all prints
made and at periodical times destroy
the old ones. In addition to this, says
the Engineering and Mining Journal,
at the time of printing, there is sure
to be a certain waste due to poor ex
posures, blotchy paper, etc. A method
for turning this waste into a useful
article Is presented b/ E. B. Blrken
bend. In the American Machinist.
These old or useless prints may be
bleached by Immersing them In a soda
bath containing four ounces of soda
to one gallon of water. If it Is desired
to bleach only a portion of the print,
this may be done by painting that part
with this solution. By washing the
prints In fresh water, after bleaching,
any discoloration Is prevented. The
blank paper thus obtained furnishes
a fair grade of sketch paper, and
there are numerous other uses to
which it could also be put.
Pure Food Law Labels Old.
Pure food law labels were In ex
istence In 900 B. C., according to a
discovery made by Prof. Gqorge A.
Relsner, of Harvard. Inscriptions ex
cavated In the ancient city of Sa
maria. in Palestine, are labels which
were employed as Beals on jars of
wine and oil.. They mention the
years in which the wine was laid
down in the cellar of the palace store
house and they state the vineyard
from which the wine came. These
labels, about 75 In number, have been
dug up on the ruins of the storehouse
attached to the palace of King Ahab
some 3.000 years ago and the names
of the owners as given indicate that
not only the king himself but other
men stored their wines and oils there.
From the Ash Tray.
Even the ash of hubby's cigar can
be utilized. In what wayT Why. aa
a polisher for gold watches, bracelets
and rings, let alone chains and a mul
titude of other trinkets. This comes
from a prominent jeweler, so It must
be nearly correct He even goes to
the extent of carrying with him a
small case In which be preserves all
the ashes from the cigars which be
smokes. He says that the grain Is ao
fine that it leaves no mark that la
discernible to the naked eye.
Didn't Get Across.
First Omaha Man (In surprise)—
What! Back already? Why, 1
thought you were going to see EuropeT
Second Omaha Man (cheerfully)
So did 1, but it seems that New York
saw ma Oral —Puck.
TRAVELjHTHE EAST
The "Gemming" Country of
Famed Old Ceylon.
Native Superstitious In Evidence Ev)
erywhere—Three Bmall Votlv#
Lamps Alwaya Kept Burn
ing by the Devout
Natlvea.
Ceylon.—l wanted to see the "gem
ming" country, and Journeyed by train
to Avlsawela, whence I drove by coach
the twenty-six mils*, to Ratnapura; It
was late In the afternoon when at last
I reached Ratnapura resthouse, and
Adam's Peak Itself appeared over the
Jungle, glorious under warm, rosy
cloudlets that seemed to be playing a
game of "touch mountain" as they
passed from one plnacle to another.
The rest house is pitched high up on
the hillside, and In front of It the
broad Kela Oange river gleamed that
night under the stars, and the mysteri
ous gloom of the forest brooded be
hind a curtain of winking flre-flies.
Less than half-way to the sea, up
among the hills on the southern side of
the river, an English syndicate is
working a plumbago mine with first
class machinery and expert engineers.
1 stopped to visit this mine, and in its
dark "levels," blasted out of the gneiss
rock in the bowels of the earth, saw
the plumbago being hacked out in
lumps. Near the top of the shaft, in
a small wooden box, three little votive
lamps are always kept burning—one
light for God, one for the company,
and one for the miners.
During the second day of the river
Journey came the shooting of some
rather gentle "rapids," where brown
rocks thrust their noses out of the wa
ter "and we rushed down splashing on
a slide to lower level. At last, some
Cingalese Superstition: A "Luck-Pole"
on the Site of a New Hour..:! In Ceylon.
miles after we had passed the opening
of the Kelani river canal, the long
bridge of Kaletura appeared at the riv
er mouth with a line of fiery sunset
sky behind it, and I saw again the rail
way, and that fringe of cocoanut palms
against the sea which more than any
other detail is typical of Ceylon.
COLUMBUS WAS A SPANIARD
Noted Cuban Scholar Asserts That H«
Has Documents to Prove
This Claim.
New York.—Dr. Constantino de
Moray Pardo of Havana, a Cuban
scholar of note and a Fellow of the
Royal Spanish Geographical society,
has undertaken to prove to the satis
faction of the American Geographical
Bociety and the Hispanic society of
America that Christopher Columbus
was a Spaniard and not an Italian.
He maintains that Columbus was
born at Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain,
ind not at Genoa, Italy.
Dr. Horta has gathered a mass of
documents to prove his contention,
and these are now in New York await
ing the consideration of the American
Geographical society and the Hispanio
Bociety.
After these organizations have com
pleted their examination. Dr. Horla
purposes to publish the details of his
research in a pamphlet which will be
gent to governments, universities and
civic authorities throughout Latin-
America. that they may rejoice in the
knowledge that Columbus was of their
own blood.
Vanderbllt Helps Injured Man.
Newport, R. I.—Reginald Vander
bllt and Preston Gibson, the latter
formerly of Chicago but now of
Washington, rescued David C. Crulk
shank. who had been run down by on
automobile driven by Augustus
The injured man, whose skull was
fractured, had been riding on the tall
Beat of a motorcycle when run into by
the automobile and hurled to the curb.
Vanderbllt and Gibson, passing In
their machine, lifted Crulkshank into
the car and carried him to Newport
hospital, where he was said to be In
a serious condition owing to his ago
of seventy years.
Innocent, 23 Year* In Call.
Huntington, Ind.—Mrs. John Eppa,
who served 23 years In the Indiana
woman's prison for the murder of her
husband, and who was paroled als
years ago, has been vindicated. It waai
learned, by the deathbed confession
of Henry Epps, a brother.
Epps. before dying, said that ha
pfriaoned his brother. J