Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 25, 1914)
the omaha sttnday bee: October 25. inu. TRFYO' LOUS JOSEPH .VANCE h I - i 13TH INSTALLMENT fholo-ertma corrtsponcmg to the mjiallrr.in.u of " The Trey O'Hearts" may now fce setn at the leading moving picture theaters. By this unique arrangement vith the Universal Film Mfg. Co. it is therefore not only possible to rtsd " The Trey 0' lie Arts" in this paper. M also to see each tnstsMment of it at the moving ptctxtre theaters. Copyright, 1914, by Louis Joseph Vanoe.) THE JAWS OF DEATH BTNOPSI9 Tha t tit Tirana ! the death-elm" am loved by Rraar Trine In the private war of venseanca which, through the agency of hie daunbtor Judith, a wom an ef violent paeelone Ilk hla own, ha wae eanlnet Ainu Law, eon af tha man (now deedi who waa Innocently r epa1ble for tha accident which laft Tiiaa a h'lpleea crip, pie for Ufa. Alaa loves and la leva by Koee, Judith's twin nd doubt, but In all other raapaota her oppoalta. JndllK vowe to rompaaa Alaa'a death, but Alan eavee har Ufa under dramatla ciroumetancee. and ao. unwillingly, wlna her lova. Tharaaflar Judllh la actuated In turn by ilia old hatrad. tha flaw love, and lealouey of her alatar. Kaaai aha bfconirt alienated from har father throuah har failure to carry out hla homicidal plana, and brceuea of tha aid aha haa ex tended Ala- In hla fllht with Reaa from tha vengeance of Trtne through tha mountalna a" weatern Arlaona. I CAMP FOR-THE-NIGHT. "Well, gents!" the driver observed cheerfully, withdrawing head and hands from long and Inti mate communion with the stubborn genius beneath the hood, "I reckon you-all may'a well make up yore minds to christen thishyeh sslubrlous spot Camp-for-the-Nlght. You won't be goln' no fartheh not Just 't prosent. Pulling this old wagon through them desert sands back yondeh has Just naturally broke the heart of that engine!" "What, precisely. Is the trouble?" Alan Law In quired, rousing from anilous preoccupation. "Plumb bust" all to hell," the chauffeur ex plained tersely. "Nothing could be fairer, more exact and com prehensive than that," Tom Barcus commented. Law nodded a head too weary to respond to the other's humor. Ilia worried eyes reviewed the scene of the breakdown. "What's to be done?" he wondered aloud. "Take it calm." the affable chauffeur advised. "Trettln' won't get you-all nothln". If It waa me, I'd call it a day, make a fire, get them cushions out of the cyah, snd get some rest. You can't do noth ln till I get back, anyway, and that won't be much before sunup." "Where are you golna?" Darcus demanded. "Walkln'. friend; Just walkln'" "What for?" "To fetch help leastways, onless yo've got ntn kick comln' and 'ud ruther stop hyeh permanent' " He turned off and busied' himself with prepara tions against his Journey. : "It's simply thlnga like, this make me believe this isn't, after all, nothing more nor less than a long-drawn-out nightmare," Barcus observed. Mr. Law was not attending: he bad turned away and was Just then standing by the running-board of the motor car and civilly explaining to Miss Judith Trine the purpose of the chauffeur's expe dition. ' 1 1 Discovery of this circumstance worked a deep wrinkle between the brows as well as Into tha humor of Mr. Darcus. Here, he promised himself,' was a situation to titillate the Comic Muse Itself. He pointed out in turn the several component parts: the motor car derelict in the hollow of those awful and silent hills for all the world like a mouse petrified with fright at finding Itself in the midst of a herd of elephants; in the car that aged monomaniac. Mr. Seneca Trine, author of all their woes and misad ventures, gnashing his teeth In Impotent rage to find himself In close Juxtaposition to and helpless to injure the man for whose life he luated with aa Insatiate passion; the latter standing outside the car. In polite conversation wilh Mr. Trlne's muti nous Judith talking to her in the friendliest fash Ion imaginable, precisely as If she had not fallen little ahort of compassing his death, not once, but half a docen times; Judith herself poised on the , running-board and smiling down at her victim with a warmth patently even more than the warmth of friendship; and at some little distance. Rose, Mr. Law'a fiancee and Judith's sister, eating her heart out with Jealousy of this new-sprung Intimacy be tween her Bister and her loverl "Bad business, my friend!" Barcus mentally apostrophised the unwitting Alan Law. "Bad busi nessand only the beginning of It, or I'm no prophet. If you had the wit with which Providence has endowed the domestic goose, you'd realise that you might as well encourage the attentions of a coy young cyclone as the affections of that handsome, upstanding and able-bodied young woman who's spilling her heart out of her eyea Into yours this blessed minute as ever was! Not to mention the troubl you're brewing for yourself with the young woman to whom your affections are unswervingly devoted!" He Interrupted himself to nod knowingly and with profound conviction: "I knew it. Now It begina again!" For Rose had abruptly taken a hand In the affair, a gesture of exasperation prefacing her call: "Alan!" To her Mr. Law turned Instantly, with auch atae lity that none who watched might doubt which of ttve two women came first In his esteem. Nor was this wasted upon the understanding of Judith. Eyeing her narrowly though furtively, Mr. Barcus saw her handsome face darken ominously. And her father waa as quick to recognise these portents of trouble and to seek to advantage him self of them. His bead craned out horribly on his long, wasted neck as he pitched a sibilant whisper for her ears, and his face In the moonlight aeemed to glow with the reflection of that Inferno which smoldered In bis evil bosom ... But one waa silenced, the other quenched, all In a twinkling. His daughter turned on him In a flash of Imperial rage. "Be silent!" Barcus heard her aay. "Be silent, do yon bear? Don't ever speak to me again unless you want ma to replace that gag. I say, don't apeak to me! ... I am finished with you once and for all time: never again ahall you pervert my nature to your damnable purposes never again shall word or wish, of yours drive me to lift my hand against a man who haa never done you the leaat harm, though yoar persecution of him would have acquitted him of a charge of manslaughter la any court on grounds of self-defense! ... Un derstand me!" she ragsd. "I'm through. Hence forth I go my way, and yon yours . . Her votce broke. Bhe clenched her hands into two tight fists with tLe effort at ss-U-cpetrel. and lifted a wrlthen face to the moonlight "Ood help lis both!" she cried. . II AS IN A GLASS, DARKLY. Thoughtfully Mr. Barcus returned his attention fo the lovers. If the evidence of his senses did not mislead him, he was witnessing their first difference of opinion. It was not an argument acute enough to deserve the name of quarrel; but undoubtedly the two were at odds upon soma question Rose In sistent, Alan reluctant. " This last gave way in the end, shrugged, returned to the car. "I'm going back up the trail," he announced, and hesitated oddly. "Feeling the need of some little exercise, no doubt," Barcus suggested. "Rose thinks it's dangerous to stop here," Alan began to explain, Ignoring the Interruption. "Miss Rose Is right eh, Miss Judith?" Barcus Interpolated. Judith nodded darkly. "So I'm going to see If I can't buy burros from the prospector back there. Rose says he has some doesn't know how many " "Three will be enough," Judith interposed. "I them on place so perilous that It shocked them temporarily awake. This was simply a spot where the trail came abruptly to an end on one aide of a cleft In the hills quite thirty feet wide and several hundred In depth and was continued on the farther side, the chasm being spanned by a bridge of the simplest character. Alan tested ttte bridge cautiously. It bore him. Re returned, helped Rose to cross, and with her once safely landed on the farther side, took his life In bla hands and, aided by a Barcua unaffectedly afflicted with qualms, somehow or other (neither ever knew precisely how) persuaded tha burros to cross. After that, though the way grew more broad and easy and even showed symptoms of a decline, they had not strength enough left to sustain through another hour. And what they thought good fortune, opportunely at this pass, brought them to a clearing dotted with the buildings of an abandoned copper mine. Not a soul was In evidence there, but the rude structures offered shelter for beast aa well as man. Barely had they made Rose aa comfortable as might be upon the rough planbfloorlng of one of out Into the sunlight, carried a considerable dis- tance, and deposited unceremoniously within a few feet of the mouth of the abandoned mine. Then he was left to himself once more, but only for a few moments: the Interval ended when the two appeared again, thla time bringing Rose In similar fashion. .Not until she had been put down beside him did be discover that Alan was likewise a captive trussed to a tree at some distance. The remaining arrangements of their captors were swiftly and deftly consummated, though their design remained obscure to Mr. Barcus until ho, after Rose, was dumped like a bale into a huge bucket, and therein by means of rope and windlass lowered to the bottom of th shaft a descent, he estimated shrewdly, of something like a hundred feet A hideous screeching followed, the protests of rusty and greaselesa machinery. Twisting his neck, Barcus saw the dim opening of the shaft slowly closing, as If a curtain were being drawn, down over it Jimmy was closing the bulkhead door, leaving them definitely prisoners, beyond hu man aid, there In that everlasting black hole . . . With a final squeal and thump the bulkhead set- 7T V r-:? . hi t fit f Y-.i'H W 'i Tha ArrangemMto of Their Captora Were Swiftly and Deftly Consummated. mean, don't get ont; for me. I'm stopping here." "But" Alan started to protest. Bhe gave hlra pause with a weary gesture. "Please! It s no good arguing, Mr.. Law: I've made up my mind; I can be most helpful here, by my fathor'a side," she asserted, and nodded at Trine with a e'sniflcnnt smile that maddened him. "He needs me and np harm can come to me: I'm pretty well able to take care of myself!" At this the Innocent bystander breathed an un heard but fervent little prayer of thanksgiving, whose spirit he doubted not was shared by Alan. For it stuck In the memory of Barcus that their friend, the prospector (whose shack bad sheltered Rose and Barcus after their transit of the desert and prior to the msn-made avalanche, which, had afforded this temporary Immunity from pursuit) had mentioned In the hearing of Rose the fact that hla string of burros waa limited to three. This. then, must havo been the nub of the lovers quarrel: Rose's Insistence that Judith be left be hind, Alan's reluctance to consent to this lest ha convict himself of the charge of rank Ingratitude, remembering the great service his erstwhile antag onist had done him. It only Judith might not find cause to change her mind! He set himself sedulously to divert Judith with the maglo of his conversational powers an offer ing Indifferently received. He was still blithely gossiping when Judith flung away to her sister's side. The ensuing quarrel seemed but the more por tentous In view pf the restraint Imposed upon themselves by both parties thereto. He believed, however, that a crisis Impended when the tinkle of mule-bells sounded down the canyon road; and at this he threw discretion to the winds and ran toward the two with hands upheld In mock horror and a manner of humorous protest "Ladies, ladles!" he pleaded. "I beg of yon both, let dogs delight to bark and bite" He got no farther: Judith's ears were aa quick' as his own; she, too. had caught the Bound of bells behind the base of the hill. And of a sudden, with out another word, she turned and flung away Into the heavy tbicketa of undergrowth that masked all the canyon, to either side of the wagon-trail. In a twinkling she had lost herself to view In their labyrinthine shadowa. . . . The remainder of that business was traaaaeted rapidly enough. There were no preparations to be made; oaee Alan had ridden up with hla three burros, nothing remained but to mount aad make off without delay. Before morning they were all riding Ilka ao many hypnotised subjects, fatigue bearing so heavily on all their senses that aoae spoke or cared to speak. Barcua ao often caught himself nodding In the saddle that he had little deubt ha alept through long stretches of that perilous way. Broad daylight surprised them in this state, still stubbornly traveling; a&4 ghortjj aiterwaf.4 showed, tha sheds and tethered the burros out of Bight when Alan collapsed as If drugged, while Barcus, who had elected himself to keep the first watch and purposed doing It In a sitting position, with his back against the door-Jamb, felt sleep over coming him like a dense, dark cloud. HI THE BOWELS OF" THE EARTH. Awakening befell Mr. Barcus In a fashion suffi ciently sharp and startling to render him Indiffer ent to the beneficial effects of some eight hours of o'reamless slumber. He dlecovered himself lying flat on his face, with aoraeaedy's Inconsiderate, heavy hand purposely grinding the said face Into the aged and splintery planks of tha shed flooring. At the same time other hands were busy binding his own together by the wrists and lashing tha same to the email , of his back by means of a oord passed rouad his middle. While his natural if somewhat spasmodic efferta to kick were sadly hampered by the fact that hla ankles had already been secured by means of half a deien half hitches and a square knot. His hands attended to. hla head was released. Promptly he lifted It and essayed a yell: an effort rendered abortive by the gag that was thrust be tween his teeth the Instant his Jaws opened. Then ha heard a laugh, a cold and mirthless chuckle. Now tha blood of Thomas Barcus ran cold (or he thought It did; which amounts to much the same thing). For If his senses had played fair, the laugh ha had heard was tha laugh of Mr. Marro phat head-devil In the service ef Beneca Trine. He twisted hla head to one aide aad glancing along the floor, saw nothing but tha wall. Twisted the other way. at the coat of a splinter In his nose, the effort waa repaid by the discovery ef Rose Trias In plight like unto his own wrists and ankles bound, gagged into tha bargain the width of tha ahed between them. But ef Alan Law, no sign . . . Tha heart of Mr. Barcua checked momentarily; he shut his eyea and ahlvered In am uncontrollable sal sure ef dread. Then, tormented beyond endurance by the fears ha Buffered for the safety of his friend, he began to wriggle and squirm like a crippled snske. pain fully inching his way across the floor toward Rose with what design, heaven alone knows! Dimly his mental visloa comprehended the bare possibil ity ef his being able, with his fast-numblag fingers, to work loose tha kaete at Rose's wrists; but deep In his heart ha knew thla to be nothing but the forlorneat af hepea . . . With Infinite palna he had contrived to bridge tha distance by half, or possibly net quite bo much, when a dark body put the aanlight of the open doorway Into temporary eclipse. Another followed It Boots clumped heavily on the fieoriag. Tha laagh aeuaded again, apparently In Ironlo appre ciation of Mr. Barcus' efforts. Two nalra of hands seised him, one beneath the shoulders, the other k beneath the knees, and ha was lugged laboriously tied Into place. A confusion of remote sounds thereafter Indicated that Jimmy (with, perhaps, Marrophat'a assistance) waa making the bulkhead fast beyond question wedging and blocking It with timbers. These ceased and tha silence was broken by Alan'a voice. "Barcus!" The latter grunted Boulfully by way of answer: ho could do no more. Tto worked my gag loose," Alan pursued In a hurried whisper, "but my hands are tied behind my back. Are yours? Grunt once for 'yes'." Dutifully Barcua grunted a solitary grunt "Then roll over on your face and give me a chance at your bonds with my teeth. I ought to be able to Work them free that way, given time . . ." 8oon all were free of their bonds. Alan was first to speak. "Barcus old man!" "Yes?" . "Did yon notice what that blackguard had fixed up?" "What do you mean?" "Why at the bottom of the shaft I got only a glimpse coming In the door of the powder room waa open, and I aaw a fuse set to the top of a keg of blasting powder . . ." "Whafe the good of that? We're fast enough aa It Is!" "Simply to make assurance doubly aura by caus ing a cave-In . . ."-ft "I seem to remember hearing or reading, aome place, that tunnels have two ends. If that's true, the far end of this ought to be about the aafest place when that explosion happens if it ever does." "Something in that!" "Got any matches r Barcua inquired, aa Alan hurriedly helped Rose to her feet "Never one." -Nor L Well have to feel our way along. Let ma lead. If I step over the brink of a pit or any thing, 111 try to yell and warn you in time." A ticklish business, that groping their way through blackness bo opaque that it aeemed as . palpable as a pool of Ink. And haste was Indicat-' ed: they stumbled on with what caution was pos sible sgalnst pitfalls a gingerly scramble. Then an elbow in the tunnel sensed rather than felt or Been cut them off from direct communication with the bulkhead, and at the same time opened up a ahaft of daylight, striking down through that pitchy darkness like a column of fine gold. Cries of Joy, amassment, incredulity choking In their throats, they stumbled forward, gained the Pot Immediately below the shaft looked upward, dazzled, to ae blue sky like a coin of heaven's minting far above them, at the end of a long and almost perpendicular tunnel, wide enough to per mit the passage of a man's body, and lined with wooden ladders. The end of the lowermost ladder hung within easy reach from tha floor ot tha tunnel. But even as Alan lifted his hands to grasp the bottom rung the opening at the top of the shaft waa temporarily obscured. Thrilled with apprehension, he hesitated: Mar rophat was up there, he little doubted; hardly Ilka that one to overlook the ladder-shaft In preparing the tunnel to be a living tomb. Marrophat or no Marrophat at the top, there waa nothing for him to do but to grasp the nettle dan ger with a steady hand, unflinching. Even though he were shot dead on emerging from the shaft It were better than to die down there, like a rat la a trap. . . . He had climbed not more than half a dozen rungs when a voice hailed from above: "Law Oh, Mister Law I say don't come up here's a present for you." , Pausing without answer, he looked up. A few drops of water spattered his face, like heavy rain. Almost Immediately the blue sky was permanently eclipsed: a heavy cascade of water, almost a aolld column, shot down the shaft with terrific force. Alan sought vainly to escape it, to mount against It. Seeming to gain In strength and volume with each Instant, it beat upon his head and shoulders with Irresistible power. Before he knew it hla grasp had been wrenched away from the ladders and he was shooting feet first back into the tunnel. Half-drowned and wholly dazed, he felt himself Picked up and dragged away from the waterfall. Then, as his senses cleared, he comprehended the fact that the tunnel was already filling; that where they stood it was already ankle deep; while the water continued to fall without hint of letup. IV FLOOD AND FIRE. Screaming to make himself heard above the roar of the deluge, Barcus yammered in Alan's ear: "That devil! He's found the reservoir opened the sluicegates turned it Into that shaft! We're) done for!" Alan bad no argument with which to gainsay him. Silently getting on his feet, silently he groped for Rose in the darkness, momentarily be coming more dense as the fall of water shut out the light, and drew her away with him, up tha slight incline that led back to the bulkhead. . . . as an hour In hell. To die there, in the darkness, like bo many nox ious animals trapped in a well! . . . The water mounted rapidly. Within five minutes It drove them back to the elbow In the tunnel; within ten It lapped their ankles as they lingered there, doubting which was the greater peril, to advance or to stand fast and let the flooding tide snuff out the fires of life. To return to the neigh borhood of the bulkhead was to court the death Indicated by the fuse and tha keg of blasting pow der . . . Of a sudden the thought crossed Alan's mind that Marrophat had arranged the latter solely ta keep them away from the bulkhead. He was decidedly of tha opinion that it were bet ter to be extinguished once and for all time, in the space of a second, annihilated by an explosion, than to die thus llngerlngly. On this consideration, ho drew Rose with him, back to the bulkhead. When they had been some fifteen minutes -beside the bulkhead, the water mounted the head of a slight rise perhaps ten feet behind them, and poured down In ever deeper volume to back up against the barrier. In fifteen minutes mora It had reached their chins. And they stood with heads against the roof of the tunnel. Holding Rose close to him, Alan kissed her Hps, that were as cold as death. Then, fumbling under water, he found the hand of the man at hla side. The water lapped his lips like a blind hand . . . In the tnnnej that branched off from the main ahaft, beyond the bulkhead, some thirty minutes before this Juncture, a candle had guttered in its stick, left carelessly thrust into the wall by Mar- rophat'a lieutenant and guttering, had dropped a flaming wick Into a little heap of bone-dry debris. This last flamed, licked hungrily at the timbering that upheld the walls of the tunnel. The timber ing caught lira without delay. In a space of time Incredibly brief the flames were spreading right and left the tunnel was a vault of blistering fury. As Alan said .his last mute farewell to Rose and Barcus, the fire spread out in the bottom of the ahaft and Invaded the powder room. Alan had guessed aright at Marrophat's design; tha keg of blasting powder was less than an eighth full; its explosion could not possibly have effected the cave-in Alan had at first feared. But what Marrophat bad overlooked was tha proximity to the keg of some several sticks of dynamite, masked by a film of earth that had fallen from the crumbling walls. When the blazing fuse dropped sparks into the blasting powder this last exploded right willingly and the dynamite took Ita cue without the least delay. The resultant detonation was terrific. The bulk head waa crushed in like an eggshell barrier. Part of the walls fell In, but the tunnels and abaft re mained Intact Swept with the stream as It poured out of the tunnel, Alan contrived throughout to retain his hold round the waist of Rose. Barcus shot past him unseen in the darkness. Half-blinded and stifled as he was by the reek of steam and powder fumes. Alan struggled with himself until his wits were passably clear. Immediately before him dangled the hoisting bucket and rope. Surrendering the care of Rose to Barcus, Alaa climbed Into the bucket and stared upward, exam ining the walls of the shaft for a way to the top. There was none other than the most difficult: gaps too great to be bridged by climbing showed in the wooden ladders. The one feasible route waa via the rope. And there waa nobody at the top to work the wlndlaaa and Alan hoped there would bo nobody to op pose his essay. He addressed himself to the task without mur muring lifted himself upon the rope, wound It round one leg, and began that heartbreaking climb. He arrived at the top of the ahaft far too ex hausted to show surprise when, falling la half fainting condition within two feet of the brink, ha saw Judith Trine running like mad across th clearing. But without her aid he would not within hours have been able to work the windlass and lift Rosa and Barcus to the surface. TO BB CONTINTJEa