Argosy, Vol. 122, No. 1 — page 117: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

VIALS OF HATE. ings in my heart should have given me warning. But now—now I know.” “Louis, Louis!” she said, gasping a little. In the darkness his arm encircled her figure; she felt herself brought close against his breast; a tumult of feeling was loosed in her being. “And you love me,” came his fierce whisper. . -Her body began to tremble. ‘““Oh, I know not, I know not! ”” she replied. ‘Let your heart speak, then.” She was drawn yet closer; his lips feund hers; in a languor of passion, she was unable to resist, had no desire to resist; in truth, welcomed his lips. Off in the gloom a stick snapped. “‘ Hark!” he breathed in her ear. Then: ‘Steal away. Tl be here the third night from this, at the same hour. One kiss more. Oh, my Isabel, you carry my love and life and all that’s dear with you!” Without a sound she vanished. Gaillard gripped his revolver. The next sound he heard was from the water; a swish of bushes and a slap of a wave on wood. And he knew his boat was gone. CHAPTER XV. BETRAYED. pours GAILLARD began to walk stealth- ily forward, for behind him now lay no road of escape unless he cast himself into the waters of the bayou to swim, and this he .did not as yet choose to do. In truth, he was in a mood to strike a sharp and telling blow at his enemies. experienced a sudden revulsion of feeling from the exalted state in which he had separated from Isabel Zorrilla. When he heard some furtive hand draw his boat out of reach, he felt as if his brain had received a blow; his presence here had been anticipated, and his movements watched in spite of the darkness; and but one explanation was possible: Isabel Zorrilla had been acting: Her hate for him and his house, though dissem- bled, was real, active, malevolent. She had For he had 107 less old grandsire. Her kiss was a false kiss. Isabel? Better were she named Jezebel. What made his anger the hotter was the knowledge that he should have counted on nothing less, that at bottom he had no one to blame but himself for the perilous posi- tion in which he found himself. She had merely played on his self-assurance. All at once, as he moved ahead in the gloom, a pair of arms were flung about him. Struggle as he would, he was unable to break free from that powerful hug in which his own arms were kept helpless at his sides, his revolver rendered impotent, the very breath crushed out of him. The great limbs encircling him were like those of a gorilla for strength; they yielded not a particle under his resistance; indeed, they but increased the tightness of their hold. On his neck he felt the other’s warm breath. Then his captor uttered a low call, and a second man approached, snapping on an electric-torch. ‘Ha! we’ve caught the bird,” exclaimed a voice Gaillard recognized as Emilio Bar- banera’s, as the glare of the light was di- rected at his face. ‘“ Keep him fast, José, until I extract the revolver from his fingers and bind his wrists. This time, my dear Gaillard, you’ll not escape as you did frem those clumsy scoundrels in New York.’” ‘I suppose it’s your intention to cut my throat,” Gaillard returned, cool enough now that he knew with whom he had to deal. “In good time, in good time, my dear and charming young man. But first we propose to make use of you. Why should we send your spirit forth from this world before we’ve emptied your pockets and re- lieved you of your property? We, the Bar- baneras, are, in addition to being poor, quite thrifty; and it’s our idea to correct our poverty by our virtue of thrift. Ah, now, you'll not succeed in breaking or loos- ing those knots, I think.” The prisoner was of a similar way of thinking. As the smaller Barbanera had talked, he had been busy tying Gaillard’s hands; and though the cord was fine, it was _ strong and was knotted by the little man with exceeding care and cunning. No, it betrayed him into the hands of her ieat ae not likely that the captive would suc- cComiclbooks.com