I— -^
THE
^ TEETH OF THE TIGER j
MAURICE LEBLANC
TRANSLATED BY
ALEXANDER TEIXEIRA DE MATT03
CHAPTER EIGHT. (Continued.)
He was standing near a large,
half ruined barn, built against a
very tall bank. Its worm eaten
doors seemed merely balanced on
their wings. He went up and
looked through a crack in the
wood. Inside the windowless barn
was in semidarkness, for but little
light came through the openings
stopped up with straw, especially
as the day was beginning to wane.
He was able to distinguish a heap
of barrels, broken wine presses,
old ploughs, and scrap iron of all
kinds.
“This is certainly not where my
fair stroller turned her steps,”
thought Don Luis. “Let’s look
somewhere else.”
Nevertheless, he did not move.
He had noticed a upise in the
barn.
He listened and heard nothing.
But as he wanted to get to the
bottom of things he forced out a
couple of planks with his shoulder
and stepped in.
The breach which he had thus
contrived admitted a little light.
He could see enough to make his
way between two casks, over some
broken window frame, to an
empty space on the far side.
Ilis eyes grew accustome'd to
the darkness as he went on. For
all that, he knocked his head
against something which he had
not perceived, something hanging
up above, something rather hard
which, when set in motion, swung
to and fro Avith a curious grating
sound.
It Avas too dark to see. Don Luis
took an electric lantern from his
pocket and pressed the spring.
“Damn it all!” he swore, fall
ing back aghast.
Above him hung a skeleton.
And the next moment he ut
tered another oath. A second
skeleton hung beside the first!
They wrere both fastened by
stout ropes to rings fixed in the
rafters of the barn. Their heads
dangled from the slip knots. The
one gainst Avhick Perenna had
struck Avas still moving slightly
and the hones clicked together
■with a gruesome sound.
He dragged fonvard a rickety
table, propped it up as best he
coul(l, and climbed onto it to ex
amine the two skeletons more
closely. They were turned toward
eaeh other, face to face. The first
Avas considerably bigger than the
second. They were obviously the
skeletons of a man and a woman.
Even when they were not moved
by a jolt of any kind; the wind
bloAving through the crevices in
the barn set them lightly sAving
ing to and fro, in a sort of very
slow, rhythmical dance.
But wdiat perhaps Avas most
impressive in this ghastly spec
tacle Avas the fact that each of
the skeleton, though deprived of
every rag of clothing, still wore a
gold ring, too wide noAV that the
flesh had disappeared, but held,
as in hooks, by the bent joints of
the fingers.
He slipped off the rings Avith a
shiver of disgust, and found that
they were wedding rings. Each
bore a date inside, the same date,
32 August, 1887, and tAvo names:
‘ ‘ Alfred—V ictorine. ’ ’
“Husband and wife,” he mur
mured. “Is it double suicide? Or
a murder? Hut Iioav is it possible
that the two skeletons have not
yet been discovered? Can one con
ceive that they have been here
since the death of old Langer
nault, since the government has
taken possession of the estate and
made it impossible for anybody to
walk in?”
He paused to reflect.
“Anybody? I don’t know about
that, considering that 1 saw foot
prints in the garden, and that a
woman has been there this very
day!”
The thought of the unknown
visitor engrossed him onee more,
and he got down from the table.
In spite of the noise which be had
heard, it was hardly to be sup
posed that she had entered the
barn. And, after a few minutes'
search, he Avas about to go out,
when there came, from the left, a
clash of things falling about and
some hoops dropped to the
ground not far from; where he
stood.
They cams from above, from a
21
loft likewise crammed with vari
ous objects and implements and
reached by a ladder. Was he to
believe that the visitor, surprised
by his arrival, had taken refuge
in that hiding place and made a
movement that caused the fall of
the hoops?
Don Luis placed his electric lan
tern on a cask in such a way as
to send the light right up to the
loft. Seeing nothing suspicious,
nothing but an arsenal of old
pickaxes, rakes and disused
scythes, he attributed what had
happened to some animal, to some
stray cat; and, to make sure, he
walked quickly to the ladder and
went up.
Suddenly, at the very moment
when he reached the level of the
floor, there wras a fresh noise, a
fresh clatter of things falling: and
a form rose from the heap of rub
bish writh a terrible gesture.
It was swift as lightning. Don
Luis saw tho great blado of a
scythe cleaving^ho air at the
height of his head. Had he hesi
tated for a second, for the tenth
of a second, the awful weapon
would have beheaded him. As it
was, he just had time to flatten
himself against tho ladder. The
sc^lhe whistled past him, grazing
his jacket. He slid down to the
floor below.
But he had seen.
He had seen the dreadful face
of Gaston Sauverand, and, behind
the man of the ebony walking
stick, wan and livid in the rays of
the electric light, the distorted
features of Florence Levasseur 1
ciiXpter IX.
LUPIN'S ANGER.
He remained for one moment
motionless and speechless. Above
was a perfect clatter of things be
ing pushed about, as though the
besieged were building themselves
a barricade. But to the right of
the electric rays, diffused day
light entered through an opening
that was suddenly exposed; and
he saw, in front of this opening,
first oue form and then another
stooping in order to escupe over
the roofs.
He levelled his revolver and
fired, but badly, for he was think
ing of Florence and his hand
trembled. Three more shots rang
out. The bullets rattled against
the old scrap iron in the loft. The
fifth shot was followed by a cry
of pain. Don Luis once more
rushed up the ladder.
Slowly making his way through
the tangle of farm implements and
over some cases of dried rape
seed forming a regular rampart,
he at last, after bruising and
barking his shins, succeeded in
reaching the opening, and was
greatly surprised, on passing
through it, to find himself on level
ground. It was the top of the
sloping bank against which the
barn stood.
He descended the slope at hap
hazard, to the left of the barn,
and passed in front of the build
ing, but saw nobody. He then
went up again on the right; aud
although the flat part was very
.narrow, he searched it carefully
for, in the growing darkness of
the twilight, he had every reason
to fear renewed attacks from the
enemy.
He now became aware of some
thing which he had not perceived
before. The bank ran along the
top of the wall, which at this
spot was quite 16 feet high. Gas
ton Sauverand and Florence had,
beyond a doubt, escaped this way.
Perenna followed the wall,
which was fairly wide, till he
came to a lower part, and here he
jumped into a ploughed field
skirting a little wood toward
which the fugitives must have
run. He started exploring it, but
realizing its denseness, he at once
saw that it was waste of time to
linger in pursuit.
He therefore returned to the
I village, while thinking over this,
| his latest exploit. Once again
I Florence and her accomplice had
, tried to get rid of him. Once again
I Florence figured prominently in
I this network of criminal plots.
At the moment when chance in
formed Don Luis that old Longer
nault had probably died by foul
play, at the moment when chance,
by leading him to Hanged Man’s
barn, as he christened it, brought
him into the presence of two
skeletons, Florence appeared as a
murderous vision, as an evil
genius who was seen wherever
death had passed with its trail of
blood and corpses.
“Oh, the loathsome creature!”
he muttered, with a shudder.
“How can she have so fair a face,
and eyes of such haunting beauty,
so grave, sincere, and almost
guileless”
In the church square, outside
the inn, Mazeroux, who had re
turned, was filling the petrol tank
of the motor and lighting the
lamps. Don Luis saw the mayor
of Wamigni crossing the square.
He took him aside.
“By the Avay, Monsieur le
Maire, did you ever hear any talk
in the district, perhaps two years
ago, of the disappearance of a
couple 40 or 50 years of age? The
husband’s name was Alfred-”
“And the wife’s Victorine,
eh?” the mayor broke in. “I
should think so! The affair cre
ated some stir. They lived at Alen
con on a small, private income;
they disappeared between one day
and the next; and no one has since
discovered what became of them,
any more than a little hoard, some
20,000 francs or so, which they
had realized the day before by the
sale of their house. I remember
them well. Dedessuslamare their
name was.”
“Thank you, Monsieur le
Maire,” said Percnna, who had
learned all that he wanted to
know.
The car was ready. A minute
after he was rushing toward Alen
con with Mazeroux.
“Where are we going, chief?”
asked the sergeant.
“To the station. I have every
reason to believe, first, that Sau
verand was informed this morn
ing—in what way remains to be
seen—of the revelations made last
night by Mine, Fauville relating
to old Langernault; and, second
ly, that he has been prowling
around and inside old Langer
nault's property today for reas
ons that also remain to be seen.
And I presume that he came by
train and that he will go back by
train.”
Perenna s supposition was con
firmed without delay. He was
told at the railway station that a
gentleman and a lady had arrived
from Paris at 2 o’clock, that they
had hired a trap at the hotel next
door, and that, having finished
their business, they had gone back
a few minutes ago, by the 7:40 ex
press. The description of the lady
and gentleman corresponded ex
actly with that of Florence and
Sauveraud.
“Off avc go!” said Perenna,
after consulting the time table.
“We are an hour behind. We may
catch up Avith the scoundrel at
Le Mans.”
“We’ll do that, chief, and Ave’ll
collar him, I SAA'ear: him and his
lady, since there are tAvo of
them.”
“There are tAvo of them, as you
say. Only-”
“Only what?”
Don Luis Avaited to reply until
they Avero seated and the engine
started, Avhen he said:
“Only, my boy, you will keep
your hands off the lady.”
“Why should I?”
“Do you knoAv who she is?‘IIave
you a Avarrant against her?”
“No.”
“Then shut up.”
“But-”
“One Avord more, Alexandre,
and I’ll set you doAvn beside the
road. Then you can make as
many arrests as you please.”
Mazeroux did not breathe an
other Avord. For that matter the
speed at AA'hich they at once be
gan to go hardly left him time to
raise a protest. ^"Not a little
anxious, he thought only of
watching the horizon and keeping
a lookout for obstacles.
The trees vanished on either
side almost unseen. Their foliage
overhead made a rhythmical
sound as of moaning leaves. Night
insects dashed themselves to death
against the lamps.
“We shall get there right
enough,” Mazeroux ventured to
observe. “There’s no need to put
on the pace.”
The speed increased and he said
no more.
Villages, plains, hills; and then,
suddenly in the midst of the dark
ness, the lights of a large town,
Le Mans.
“Do you knoAv the way to the
station, Alexander?”
“Yes, chief, to the right and
then straight on.”
Of conrse they ought to have
gone to the left. They wasted
seAren or eight minutes in wander
ing through the streets and re
ceiving contradictory instruc
tions. When the motor pulled ud
r
at the station the train was
whistling.
Don Luis jumped out, rushed
through the waiting room, found
the doors shut, jostled the railway
officials who tried to stop him,
and reached the platform.
A train was about to start on
the farther line. The last door
was banged to. He ran along the
carriages, holding on to the brass
rails.
“Your ticket, sir! Where’s
your ticket?” shouted an angry
collector.
Don Luis continued to fly along
the footboards, giving a swift
glance through the panes, thrust
ing aside the persons whose pres
ence at the windows prevented
him from seeing, prepared at any
moment to burst into the com
partment containing the twro ac
complices.
He did not see them,in the end
carriages. The train started And
suddenly he gave a shout: they
were there, the two of them, by
themselves! He had seen them!
They were there: Florence, lying
on the seat, with her head on Sau
yerand’s shoulder, and he, lean
ing over her, with his arms around
her!
Mad with rage he flung back
the bottom latch and seized the
handle of the carriage door. At
the same moment he lost, his bal
ance and was pulled off by the
furious ticket collector and by
Mazeroux, w'ho bellowed:
“Why, you’re mad, Chief! you
will kill yourself!”
“Let go, you ass!” roared Don
Luis. “It’s they! Let me be,
can’t you! ’ ’
liie carnages rued past. He
tried to jump on to another foot
board. But the two men were
clinging to him, some railway por
ters come to their assistance, the
station master ran up. The train
moved out of the station.
“Idiots!” he slioutetO‘Boobies!
Pack of asses that tyou are,
couldn’t you leave me alone? Oh
I swear to Heaven-!”
With a blow of his left fist
he knocked the ticket collector
down; with a blow of hjs right he
sent Mazcroux spinning; and
shaking off the porters and the
station master, he rushed along
the platform to the luggage room,
where he took flying leaps over
several batches of trunks, packing
cases, and portmanteaux.
“Oh, the perfet fool!” he mum
bled, on seeing that Mazeroux had
let the power down in the car.
“Trust him, if there’s any blunder,
going!”
Don Luis had driven his car at a
fine rate during the day; but that
night the pace became vertiginous.
A very metor flashed through the
suburbs of Le Mans and hurled
itself along the highroad. Peren
na had but one thought in his
head: to reach the next station,
which was Chartres, before the
two accomplices, and to fly at
Sauverand’s throat. He saw noth
ing but that: the savage grip of
his two hands that would set Flor
ence Levasseur’s lover gasping in
his agony.
“Her lover! Her lover!” he
muttered, gnashing his teeth.
“Why, of course, that explains
everything! They have combined
against their accomplice, Marie
Fauville; and it is she alone, poor
devil, who will pay for the horri
ble series of crimes!”
“Is she their accomplice even?”
he wondered. “Who knows? Who
knows if that pair of demons are
not capable, after killing Hippo
lyte and his son, of having plotted
the ruin of Marie Fauville, the last
obstacle that stood between them
and the Moruington inheritance?
•Doesn’t everything p.oint to that
conclusion? Didn’t I find the list
of dates in a book belonging to
Florence? Don’t the facts prove
that the letters were communi
cated by Florence? * * *
“Those letters accuse Gaston
Sauverand as well. But how does
that affect things? He no longer
loves Marie, but Florence. And
Florence loves him. She is his ac
complice, his counsellor, the wom
an who will live by his side and
benefit by his fortune. * * * True,
she some times pretends to be de
fending Marie Fauville. Play act
ing! Or perhaps remorse, fright
at the thought of all that she has
done against her rival, and of the
fate that awaits the unhappy
woman!
“But she is in love with Sauve
rand. And she continues to carry
on the struggle without pity and
without respite. And that is why
she wanted to kill me, the inter
loper whose insight she dreaded.
And she hates me and loathes
me-”
(Continued Next Week.)
About 13,000’ Chinese laborers have
been shipped to France, according to
the Shun Tien Shlh Pao, a Chinese
daily newspaper. Their wages are
from $30 to $40 a month. Thirty
thousand more men are needed, and*
will be recruited by French agents In
Shantung, China and other northern
provinces
AMERICA BECOMES
WORLD SILK CENTER
Washington (special).--The United
States has become the silk manufac
turing center of the world as a result
of the war. which has stimulated the
manufacture of silk here and in the
Far East at the expense of Europe.
A study of the silk industry, the first
official inquiry of the kind, has just
been completed* by the tariff commis
sion.
Japan continues to lead the world in
the production of sHk, while the
United States, first among the nations
*n its manufacture, does not produce a
single pound of the material. France
continues the chief European manufac
turer of silk and the principal source
of American imports, Japan ranking
second. '
The annual requirements of the
American silk industry are 20,000 tons
of silk and silk waste, 10,000 tons of
cotton and other yarns, and 1,000 tons
of metallic tin for weighting. Most
striking of all the developments due to
the war lias been the expansion of the
spun silk industry. The government Is
requiring vast amounts of coarse silk
cloth, made from silk noil, tot making
powder bags for the big guns.
Many finer varieties of silk manu
factures are not made in this country
or else are manufactured in very small
quantities. Switzerland supplies prac
tically all of the silk bolting cloth
needed by the flour millers of the
world. Hatter's plush, from which is
mado -men's silk hats, comes .from
France. Silk lace, silk netting, silk
embroideries, veils and veilings, rib
bons and handkerchief material largely
are imported. In all other branches of
the Industry, even fine wearing apparel
and velvets, the imports are relatively
small compared to the total consump
tion.
Habutae, of which silk handkerchiefs
are made, a soft smooth plain-woven
fabric of pure silk, is the largest single
Item of silk brought from abroad. It
has been a Japanese specialty for more
than 1,000 years.
Artificial horse hair is made of silk
in coarse single filaments. Artificial
silk is made in fine filaments, which
must be combined before use.
Some silk filament is so fine that it
measures 3,000,000 yards, or about 1,700
miles to the pound.
MODERN METHODS USED
. IN BUILDING BOATS
-— j
Detroit.—Quantity production Is to
be the watchword of the great Ford
shipbuilding yard whi«h is being
erected here for the construction of
the United States navy "Eagles’’, the
little vessels which. It Is hoped will
help rid the seas of German U-boats.
The assembling plan has been great
ly elaborated and will be applied to
the building of the "Eagles”. The raw
material will enter one end of the
plant to emerge at the other end a
completed fighting craft. Each of the
little vessels will be passed along by
powerful machinery from one group of
workmen to another and, as It passes
each group will add something to the
boat.
When the last rivet has been driven
In the steel hull, the boat will be picked
up bodily by a powerful hydraulic lift
and deposited further down the ways
where skilled worSnen will install the
motor equipment.
Three ways have been constructed,
eath to hold seven of the submarine
chasers. It Is generally understood
that the plant will be able to put into
the water one completed "Eagle” a day
and some estimates have placed the
number as high as three for each 21
hours.
There will be no champagne christ
enings nor elaborate launching cre
monies. No efforts are being made to
give the boats any touch of artificial
beauty, the sole effort being to turn
out with as great speed as possible an
efficient weapon against German ruth
lessness on the seas. Government
secrecy shrouds the major details of
construction.
"If these boats will hasten the end of
the frightful carnage and bring a last
ing peace, there will be no occasion to
wo1' ry over the cost," said Henry Ford
In discussing the project. “This is your
war and my war, and although we did
not make it, we must see It through to
a successful conclusion.
Sixty days ago the land on which
the plant In being erected was a deso
late marsh, a vast acreage of mud
through which wandered aimlessly a
sluggish river. Now it is a network of
railroad tracks with locomotives run
ning between great buildings of steel,
tile and glass.
What engineers here say Is one
of the largest buildings In the world
will be used to house at one time a
score of the little vessels. It is 1,700
feet long, 300 feet wide. The building
where the boats are to be assembled is
fully half a mile from the Rouge river.
The launching basin adjoins this
building and thence a channel is be
ing excavated to the river.
Music.
From Thoreau’s Journal, as Quoted by
F. B. Sanborn.
What a fine and beautiful communica
tion Is music, from age to age, of the
fairest and noblest thoughts—the aspira
tions of ancient men preserved—even such
as were never communicated by speech.
It is the flower of language—thought
colored and curved, tlngeu and wreathed
fluent and flexible; its crystal fountain
tinged with the sun’s rays, and its puring
ripples reflecting the green grass and the
red clouds. • • •
The brave man Is the sole patron of
music; he recognizes It for his mother
tongue—a more mellifluous and articulate
language than words; in comparison with
which speech is recent and temporary.
His language must have the same majes
tic movement and cadence that philoso
phy assigns to the heavenly bodies. The
steady flux of his thought constitutes
time in music. The universe falls In and
keeps pace with it—which before pro
ceeded singly tynd discordant.
There is as much music in the world as
virtue. In a world of peace and love
music would be the universal language;
and men would greet each other in the
fields in such accents as a Beethoven now
utters at rare intervals, from a distance.
A man’s life should be a stately march
to an unheard music; and when to his
fellows it may seem irregular and inhar
monious, he may be stepping to a livelier
roeasuro which only hia nicer ear can
detect.
Crown Prince Called Down.
From the San Francisco Argonaut.
Some years before the war tho German
erown prinee got a very neat call down
from Miss Bernice Willard, a Philadel
phia girl. It was during the emperdr's
regatta, and the two mentioned were sit
ting with others on the deofc of a yaeht.
A whiff of smoke from the prince’s
cigaret blowing lnto_ the young lady’s
face, a lieutenant near by remarked:
"Smoke withers flowers."
"It is no flower," said the prince. Jocu
larly, "it is a thistle.”
Miss Willard raised her eyes a trifle.
"In that case.” she said. "1 had better
retire or I shall be devoured.” The party
■aw the point.
In a kite frame patented by a Wis
consin man, ribs radiate front a men
tral disk of metal.
—-«
'
Got an Excellent Start. Big i
Yields Now Assured. j
Never In the history of Western
Canada did the seed enter the groum^^®
under more favorable conditions.
weather during the month of April
was perfect for seeding operations,
and from early morning until late at
night the seeders were at work, and
every acre that could be profitably
sown was placed under requisition. -
Farmers entered heart and soul into
the campaign of greater production.
There was the time and the opportu
nity for careful preparation, and as a
consequence with favorable weather
from now on there will be a vastly in
creased yield. They realized It was a
duty they owed to humanity to produce
all that they could on the land, not
only this year but next as well. In
addition to the patriotic aspect, they s
are aware that the more they produca..
the greater will be their own return
in dollars and cents.
In many districts wheat seeding was .
completed by the 1st of May, after
which date oats and barley on larger '
acreages than usual were planted.
As has been said, favorable wentheb
conditions made possible excellent
seed-bed preparation, and the seed has
gone into the ground in unusually good
shape. The available moisture in the If
soil has been added to by rains, 'jjdch_ ]
have not been so heavy, however,
Interfere long with the work In the 1
fields.- The grain is germinating read- 1
ily, and on many fields the young green \
trades of the cereal are already show- ■
Ing. ' A’-w I
An optimistic feeling prevails among 1
farmers that Western Canada will reap |
a record harvest. If the season from s
now on Is as favorable as it has begun, 1
these hopes should be realized. Mr, fl
J. D. McGregor of the Federal Food !
Board, who Is also an old and success- i
ful farmer In Western Canada, assert*
ed a few days ago at Calgary that crop
conditions throughout the Prairie
Provinces were excellent. “Speaking -
generally,” he said, “the crops have
never gone into the ground In better j
shape than this year, and with an i
even break of luck as far as the weath
er is concerned, there should be an {
enormous crop.” His present duties in
connection with the Food Control rj
Board, taking him In all parts of theV
West, Mr. McGregor has exceptional \ ^ I
opportunities of observing conditions
all over the country.—Advertisement, V
His Turn to Command. 1
“Stand easy dad!” was the unusual m
command received by a man at Grims
by, England, the other day. An elder- fij
ly man, who is a corporal in the Lin
colnshire regiment, and who has been
on active service, returned home on
leave. He was met by his son, who
went straight into the force from
Charterhouse school, and obtained a
commission. The returned father
gravely saluted the hoy, and the lat
ter smilingly retorted : “Stand easy,
dad.’’
MAGIC! HAVE IT
ON THE DRESS V'
CORNS STOP HURTING THEN
LIFT OFF WITH FINGERS.
Just drop a little Freezone on that
touchy corn, Instantly It stops aching
then you lift that corn right off. No
pain at all! Costs only a few cents.
I 01
Get a tiny bottle of Freezone for d ^^B
few cents from any drug store. Keep fl
it always handy to remove hard corns,
soft corns, or corns between the toes,
and the callouses, without soreness or
Irritation. You just try It!
Freezone Is the sensational discov
ery of a Cincinnati genius.—Adv.
But She Made Fine Fudge. |
Hobbe—I see we are now restricted
to a two-ounce bread ration. How j
much is that? t
Dobbs—Of my wife's bread a piece Hj
about two inches square.—Boston j
Transcript. 1
Dandruff and Itching. \ j
To restore dry, falling hair and get rid\ 1 j
of dandruff, rub Cuticura Ointment \«j
Into scalp. Next morning shampoo with n
Cuticura Soap and hot water. For Vj|
free samples address, “Cuticura, Dept.
X, Boston.” At druggists and by mail. Jl
Soap 25, Ointment 25 and 50.—Adv. |
Love should never be treated light- j
ly. That is probably the reason why |
the light is turned down so often. ?
Moit particular women uee Red Croee Jflj
Ball Blue. American made. Sure to please. \
At all good grocers. Adv. !
-T-- 1
With plenty of ambition and hustle
a man Is equipped £05, wonder working.