Argosy, Vol. 122, No. 1 — page 113: what you’re looking at

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VIALS ‘Moffat’s jailer, which the youth observed with interest. Another fifteen minutes succeeded before a second visitor came to the door. This time it was the other Barbanera, the little Emilio, and in a state of great agitation; for ignoring the prisoner, if he indeed per- ceived him, he called José into consultation. Jerry glanced desperately around. For that interruption presaged greater danger ‘for him than ever, since Emilio’s excite- ment could mean only that the absence of the paper portfolio. had been discovered. With the wallet of documents missing and with Jerry here the two circumstances would inevitably be associated in the smaller brother’s shrewd mind as effect and cause, which was the exact truth. Then, he beheld Anita Carley again, as if she had appeared through the wall. The explanation was, however, that she had noiselessly opened a door which he had noted but forgotten, and while remaining out of sight of the two men near the main entrance to the room, was beckoning to Jerry. Her intention was manifest. She desired to assist him out of the hands of his enemies, doubtless believing him an absolute prisoner. . Cautiously he stole from his seat to the spot where she stood, an escape facilitated by the attention the two brothers gave to the topic with which they were concerned. The girl closed the door. ‘““Qh, my Heavens!” she breathed; and Jerry could hear the hurried, suppressed gasps of relief issuing from her lips. “TI nearly dropped dead with amazement, Mr. Jerry, when I first saw you seated there. And I knew you had been captured after you left me. Come, ‘come quick! This way, down the passage.” She led him along a dim and narrow hallway, which after a turn led in a direc- tion that the young man judged to be toward the rear of the house. Finally they stepped into a small room, utterly dark, across which she guided him by a hand. Then she opened a door and pushed him forth, steppimg out after him. . Much obliged,” said Jerry. “n.. Fi couldn’ t have left you these! And what? s more, I can’t myself remain. OF HATE. 103 Those beasts of Barbaneras! When I came into the house after seeing you by the river, first one and then the other annoyed me with hints and looks, until my heart turned to ice. The storm made no differerice to them. Perhaps in its uproar they thought I should be so terrorized that I’d yield to anything they asked. It’s dreadful. Take me with you now!” “ But we’re still prisoners; we can’t cross the bayou,” Jerry exclaimed, appalled at this impetuous demand. ‘““ Keep me with you, anyway, Mr. Jerry. I'll not go ck into the power of the two men again, one a serpent and the other a. wolf, never! I don’t mind the rain and mud. The wind has dropped, so it mat- ters no longer. Somehow and somewhere we'll cross the water to safety. If I don’t go with you now, I’ll never go; I know that as well as I know anything. For one or the other of those men will seize me, and bear me off alone, and that will be the end.” How much of this was truth and how much was acting was quite beyond one of Jerry’s direct nature. He suspected that it was a mixture of both, for very likely ‘ she did desire to flee her persecutors, but on the other hand the case was not so bad as she pictured and in thus appealing to his chivalry she sought to use him as a tool in her game, whatever it was. ‘He remembered what he had told Gail- lard; she was a crook at heart. Whatever the circumstances, she never would be en- tirely open, entirely honest, but keep some- thing in concealment. She was one who would bear- watching continually. ‘‘ All right; come along with me,” he said, suddenly. He would enter the game himself. CHAPTER Xqv. DAWN AND DUSK. ERRY MOFFAT and Anita Carley crouching among bushes on the bank of the bayou beheld in the early morning light a negro launching a boat upon the opposite Side, one that had been dragged high from the water. At Jerry’s hail he gazed in sur- cComiclbooks.com