The Paducah Post (Paducah, Tex.), Vol. 10, No. 32, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 23, 1915 Page: 19 of 20
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THE PADUCAH POST
Sawed th* Cord* Again* th* Riar
Sharp Blade.
gripped It firmly between hla teeth,
and sawed the cord* round hi* wrlata
against the raror-sharp blade.
Before Alan epuld turn and run be
saw a vanguard of flame* bridge 50
yards at a bound and start a dead
pine biasing like a torch.
And than be was patting like a mad-
man across the smoked-fllled clearing,
and In leas than two miaiatia broke
[from the forest to the pebbly shore of
L «UA.hoflQlMd ABi ww4*kl^ m
The Trail of Traaehsry.
• young Mr. Law, waasqla
arts
ha Same Name
f: )SK>!biC OMrl***
hat be MU grittfa
mflMtartng belief
i had come—but
he trey of hearts
im«, London had
man of his ac-
woman-—had re-
irning of - hie’ dls-
b simply and suf-
>m English ken.
ER II.
the Three.
i braten noon,
clamorous life of
as fluent as quick-
brilliant streets,
her sound nor sun-
erennlal quiet that
ike a wide, deep
haunt of teeming
>r silences,
as visible beyond
hat brooded over
. old man motlon-
ther-bound chair,
white as his heart
ack of his bones,
k black dressing-
rd of crimson silk,
wn was covered by
ig. He stared un-
ng: a man seven-
npletely paralyzed
id his left arm.
clicking signal dis-
. Seneca Trine put
1 and touched one
buttons embedded
etblng else clicked
h. There was the
lolse of a dosing
ih man stole nolse-
, paused beside the
spectfully for leave
—from England.”
:ed the sheet of yel-
•d It hungrily, mud
remulous claw with
trollable emotion,
ter Judith here!”
ter a young woman
as admitted to tb«
W8.
■e, father?"
laced a chair at the
ltly aettled herself
—what day Is this?”
I am twenty-one.”
forgotten that,” the
almost mockingly,
tike your twlfi-slster
■e trembled. “You
‘we have nothing In
parentage and thla
dance. Our natures
m darkness."
uld you say was—
: I’m no hypocrite,
g that they tell me
while I”—the girl
‘I think—I am more
n my mother's.”
site bead confirmed
‘It is true. I have
sly, Judith, perhaps
n even you knew:
brought to this"—the
mde a significant ges-
i man of strong pas-
.other never loved, but
me. And Rose Is the
uother’a nature, gentle,
esthetic. But you, Ju-
Uke a second aelf to
! profound satisfaction
olce. The girl waited
at was tensely expect-
this ypur birthday I
i service of you that
ty affect the happiness
-?”
^ghed briefly: “Only
x would you go to do
d you atop Is tha serv-
lovedr
i nodded gravely. And
lueer “Rom la to love*
—I know!** the father
faint ring of aattsfao-
I, a cripple, prisoner of
mb; hot all things I
-somehow—I coma to
* of tlme!”-
hat Englishman she
uaintanoe with on th*
ir—what'a hla name?—
then—It came to pass that we loved
one woman, your mother. I won her
—all but her heart: too late she real-
ised It was Law she loved. He never
forgave me, nor I him. Though he
married another woman, still he held
from me the love of my wife. I could
not sleep for hating him—and he was
no better off. Each sought the other’s
ruin; It came to be an open duel be-
tween us, in Wall street. One of us
had to fail—and I held the stronger
hand. The night before the day that
was to have seen my triumph, I
walked In Central park, as was my
habit to tire my body so that my brain
might sleep. Crossing the East drive
I was struck by s motorcar running
at high speed without lights. I wgs
picked up insensible—and lived only
to be what I am today. Law tri-
umphed in the street while I lay help-
less; only a living remnant of my
fortune remained to me. Then his
We Beth Loved One Woman.
chauffeur, discharged, came to me and
sold me the truth; It was Law’s car
with Law at the wheel that had struck
me down—a deliberate attempt at as-
sassination. I sent Law word that I
meant, to have a life for a life. For
what was I better than dead? I prom-
ised him that, should he escape. I
would have the life of his son. He
knew I meant It, and sent his wife
and son abroad. Then he died sud-
denly, of some common ailment—they
said; but I knew better. He died bf
fear of me.”
Trine smiled a cruel smile: “I had
made his life a reign of terror. Ever
ao often I would send Law, one way
or another—mysteriously always—a
trey of hearts; It was my death-sign
for him; as you know, our name,
Trine, signifies a group of three. And
every time he received a trey ol
hearts, within twenty-four hours an
attempt of some sort would be made
upon his life. The strain broke down
his nerve. . , .
“Then I turned my attention to the
son, but the distance was too great,
the difficulties insuperable. The Law
millions mocked all my efforts; their
alliance with the Rothschilds placed
mother and son under the protection
of every' secret police in Europe. But
they dared not come home. At length
I realized I could win only by playing
a waiting game. I needed three
things: more money; to bring Alan
Law back to America; and one agent
I could trust, one incorruptible agent.
I ceased to perseoute mother and son,
lulled them into a sense of false se-
curity, and by careful speculations
repaired my fortunes. In Rose I had
the lure to draw the boy back to
America; In you, tbe one person I
could trust. „
“I sent Rode abroad and arranged
that she should meet Law. They fell
In love at sight. Then I wrote inform-
ing her that the man she had chosen
was the son of him who had murdered
all of me but my brain. It fell out as
I foresaw. You can Imagine the scene
of passionate renunciation—pledges
of undying constancy—tha arrange-
ment of a secret code whereby, when
she needed him, she would send him
a aingle rose—the birth of a great ro-
mance!”
The old man laughed sardonically.
"Well, there la the history. Now th«
rose has bean aent; Law la already
homeward bound; my agents are
watching hla every step. Tha rest le
In your hands.”
The girl bant. forward, breathing
heavily, eyes aflame In a face that had
assumed a waxen pallor.
“What la It yon want of mar
“Bring Alan Law to me. Dead oi
alive, bring him to me. But alive, II
you can compass tt; I wish to see him
die. Then I, too, may die eonteat."
The band of hot-blooded youth stole
forth and grasped tha Icy hand of
death-ln-lif*.
"I will bring him," Judith swore—
"dead or alive, you shall have him
here.”
The answer forestalled hts arrival
Liverpool:
In'
Trine's death sign for your father. For
Clod's sake, look to yourself and keep
away from America.
But Alan had more than once vis-
ited America Incognito and unknown
to Seneca Trine via a secret route of
his own selection.
Eight days out of London, a second-
class passenger newly landed from
one of the C -P. steamships, he walked
the streets of Quebec—and dropped
out of sight between dark and dawn,
to turn up presently in the distant
Canadian hamlet-of Bale St. Paul, ap-
parently a very tenderfooted American
woods-traveler chaperoned by a taci-
turn Indian guide picked up heaven-
knows-where.
Crossing the SL Lawrence by njght,
the two struck off quietly Into the
hinterland of the Notre Dame range,
then crossed the Maine border.
On the second noon thereafter,
trail-worn and weary, as lean as their
depleted packs, the two paused on- a
ridge-pole of the wilderness up hack
of the Allagash country, snd made
their midday meal in a silence which,
If normal in the Indian, was one of
deep misgivings on Alan’s part.
Continually his gaze questioned the
northern skies that lowered porten-
tously, foul with smoke—a country-
wide conflagration that threatened all
northern Maine, bone-dry with
drought.
Only the south offered at fair pros-
pect. And the fires were making
southward far faster than man might
hope to travel through that grim ami
stubborn land.
Even as he stared, Alan saw fresh
columns of dun-colored smoke spring
up In the northwest.
Anxiously he consulted tbe impas-
sive mask of the Indian, from whom
his questions gained Alan little com-
fort. Jacob recommended forced
marches to Spirit lake, where canoes
might be found to aid their flight;
and withdrew Into sullen reserve.
They traveled far and fast by dim
forest trails before sundown, then
again paused for food and rest. And
as Jacob sat deftly about preparing
the meal, Alan stumbled off to whip
the little trail-side stream for trout.
Perhaps a hundred yards upstream,
the back-lash of a careless cast by his
weary hand hooked the state of Maine.
Too tired even to remember the ap-
propriate words, Alan scrambled
ashore, forced through the thick un-
dergrowth that masked the trail,
found his fly, set the state of Maine
free—and swinging on his heel
brought up, nose to a sapling, trans-
fixed by a rectangle of white paste-
board fixed to its trunk, a trey of
hearts, of which each pip had been
neatly punctured by a 22-caliber bul-
let.
He carried It hack to camp, mean-
ing to consult the guide, but on sec-
ond thought, held his tongue. It was
not likely that the Indian had over-
looked an object so conspicuous on
the trail.
So Alan waited for him to speak—
and meantime determined to watch
Jacob more narrowly, though no other
suspicious circumstance had marked
the several days of their association.
The’ first half of tfib -sight was, as
the day, devoted to rele^ffless prog-
ress southward; thirty minutes of
steady jogging, five minutes format—
and repeat.
No more question as to the need for
such urgent haste; overhead tbe north
wind muttered without ceasing. Thin
veils of smoke drifted through the for-
est, hugging the ground, like some
weird acrid mist; and ever the cur-
tained heavens glared, livid with re-
flected fires.
By midnight Alan had come to the
bounds of endurance; flesh, bone and
sinew could no longer stand the strain.
Though Jacob declared that Spirit
lake was now only six hours distant,
as far as concerned Alan he might
have said 600. His blanket once un-
rolled, Alan dropped upon It like one
drugged.
The sun was high when he awak-
ened and sat up, rubbing heavy eyes,
Btretchlng aching limbs, wondering
what had come over the Indian to let
him sleep so late.
Of a sudden be was assailed by sick-
ening fears that needed only the brief-
est investigation to confirm. Jacob
had absconded with every valuable
item of their equipment.
Nor was his motive far to seek.
Overnight the fire had made tre-
mendous gains. And ever and anon
the wind wonld bring down the roar
of the holocaust, dulled by distance
but not unlike the growling of wild
animals feeding on their MIL
Alan delayed long , enough only to
■wallow a few mouthfuls of raw food,
gulped water from a spring, and sat
out at a dog-trot on tha trail to Spirit
Lake. .
For hours h* blundered blindly on,
holding to the trail mainly by Instinct,
At length, panting, gasping, half-
bUnded, hi staggered Into a little nat-
ural clearing and plunged forward
headlong, ao bawildwad that ha could
not have aald whether he waa tripped
or thrown; for even aa he stumbled a
heavy body landed on hi* back and
crushed him savagely to earth.
In laaa than a minute he wae over-
come; hla wrists hitched together,:
ankles bound with heavy cord.
Whan hla vision cleared ha found''
Jacob within a yard, regarding him
dm overseas to this mortal pass. Fea-
ture for feature. even to the hue of
her tumbled hair, she counterfeited
the woman he loved; only those eyes,
aflame with their look of Inhuman
rutblessness, denied that the two were
one.
He sought vainly to speak. The
breath rustled In his parched throat
like wind whispering among dead
leaves.
Thrusting the Indian roughly aside,
the woman knelt In his place by
Alan’s head.
“No,” she said, and smiling cruelly,
shook her head—"no, -I am not your
Rose. But I am her sister, Judith, her
twin, born In the same hour, daughter
of—can you guess whose daughter?
Buf see this!” She flashed a oard
from within her hunting shirt and held
It before his eyes. “You know It, eh?
The trey of hearts—the symbol of
Trine—Trine, your father’* enemy,
and yours, and—Rose's father and
mine! So, now, perhaps you know!"
A gust of wind like a furnace blast
swept the glade. The woman sprang
up, glanced over-shoulder Into the for-
est, and signed to the Indian.
“In ten minutes,” she said, “these
woods will be your funeral pyre."
She stepped hack. Jacob advanced,
picked Alan up, shouldered his body,
and strode back Into tbe forest. Ten
feet In from the clearing he dropped
the helpless man supine upon a bed of
dry logs and branches.
Then, with a single movement, hr
disappeared.
CHAPTER IV.
Many Waters.
Overhead, through a rift In the
foliage, a sky was visible whose ebon
i darkness called to mind a thunder-
i cloud. -
The heat was nearly intolerable;
the voice of the fire was very loud.
A heavy, broken crashing near by
made Alan turn his head, and he saw
a brown bear break cover and plunge
on Into the farther thickets—forerun-
ner of a mad rout of terrified forest
folk, deer, porcupines, a fox or two, a
wildcat, rabbits, squirrels, partridges
—a dozen more. . . .
Two minutes had passed of the ten.
Something was digging uncomfortably
Into Alan's right hip—the automatic
pistol in hts hip pocket, of which
Jacob had neglected to relieve him.
Then a sharp, spiteful crackling
brought him suddenly to a sitting posi-
tion, to find that the Indian had
thoughtfully touched a match to the
pyre before departing. At Alan's feet
the twigs were blazing merrily.
It would have been easy enough,
acting on instinct, to snatch his limbs
away, but he did not move more than
to strain his feet as far as their bonds
permitted. Conscious of scorching
heat even through his hunting boots,
he suffered that torture until a tongue
of flame licked up. wrapped Itself
round the thick bempeft cord and ate
it through.
Immediately Alan kicked hts feet
free, !lf{ed~to a kneeling position, and
crawled from the pyre.
As for hla hands—Alar% huntlng.
knife was still In iJg'sheath belted
to the small I ofjug “back. Tearing at
the belt wlthflj}3 hampered fingers, he
contrived tof shift it round until the
sheath knlfg stuck at the belt-loop
over his left hip. Withdrawing and
nnveying the blade to his mouth, he
Trine and the Indian—the lat
lug the paddle.
In the act of turning tow
dam be saw Jacob drop the
The next instant a bullet from
Chester .30 kicked up a spurt
bles only a few feet in advr
Alan
He quickened his pace, but th
bullet fell closer, while the th)
tually bit the earth beneath hi
ning feet as he gained the dam
Exasperated, he pulled up, wli
out his pistol and fired without
At the same time, he noted tha
distance between dam and canoe
A Tremendous Weigh? Tore at HU
Arme.
lessened perceptibly, thanks to the
strong current sucking through the
spillway.
His shot flew wide, but almost In
stlnctively hts finger closed again
upon the trigger, and he saw the pad-
dle snap In twain, its blade falling
overboard. And then the Indian fired
again, his bullet droning past Alan’s
ear.
As he fired in response Jacob start-
ed, dropped hts rifle and crumpled up
In the bow of the canoe.
Simultaneously earth and heavens
rocked with a terrific clap of thun-
der.
He turned again and ran swiftly
along the dam, toward ttto heavy tim-
bers that bridged the torrent of the
spillway.
Then a glance.aside brought him up
with a thrill of horror; the suck ol
the overflow had drawn the canoe
f&i hundred J*rd<8 °f 8P‘“'
way. The dead l'u?“n tn: it,„bow:tbt
living woman helpless in"' us siti u,
It swept swiftly onward to destruc-
tion.
His next few actions were wholly
unpremeditated. He was conscious
only of her white, staring face, her
strange likeness jto the woman that he
loved.
He ran out upon the bridge, threw
himself down upon the innermost tim-
ber, turned, and let his body fall back-
ward, arms extended at length, and
swung, braced by his feet beneath
the outer timber. \
With a swiftness' that passed con-
scious thought, he v^as aware of the
canoe hurtling onward with the speed
of wind, its sharp prow apparently
aimed directly for hh* head. Then
hands closed round Ills wrists like
clamps; a tremendous weight tore at
his arms, and with an Effort of Incon-
ceivable difficulty he began to lift,
to drag .the woman up out of the foam-
ing jaws of death.
Somehow that Impossible feat was
achieved; somehow the woman gained
a hold upon his body, shifted It to his
belt, contrived inexplicably to clamber
over him to the timbers; and some-
how he in turn pulled himself .up to
safety, and sick with reaction sprawled
prone, lengthwise upon that foot-wide
bridge, above the screaming abyss.
Later he became aware that the
woman had crawled to safety on the
farther shore, and pulling himself to-
gether, imitated her example. Solid
earth underfoot, he rose and stood
swaying, beset by a groat weakness.
Through the gathering darkness—a
ghastly twilight In which tbe flaming
forests on the other shore burned with
aa unearthly glare—he discovered the
wan, watthen face of Judith Trine
close to hla and ha heard her vote*, a
■cream barely audible above the com-
mingtad voices of th* conflagration
and the cascades: i
"Tea fool! Why did *u save mef
I tail yog, I have sworn your death!"
Th* a$er grotesquea*** of it all
broke apon hla IntaUigeno* Uka th*
rorotatton of aoma enormoua funda-
mental absurdity in Nature. H*
laughed a little hysterically.
Dnrknee# followed. A flash of light-
nlng learned to fleam between then ^" 1
Ilk* a flary award. To Its crashing^/
thuader, ha lapsed Into unconscious-
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Carlock, E. A. The Paducah Post (Paducah, Tex.), Vol. 10, No. 32, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 23, 1915, newspaper, December 23, 1915; Paducah, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth756048/m1/19/?q=%22%22~1&rotate=90: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Bicentennial City County Library.