•She
Ragged Edge
by
Harold MacGrath
CHAPTER XXVII
His idea, cleverly planned,
was to shatter her resistance, to
confound her suddenly by strik
tug her mind with words which
would rob her coherent thought.
Everything in his favour—the j
luck of the gods! The only white
men were miles down the coast.
She might scream until her
voice failed; the natives would
not come to her aid; they never
meddled with the affairs of the
whites.
1 “It is droll," he said. “Your
father—poor imbecile!—believes
we ran away together. I ar
ranged that he should. So that
way is closed. You never can go
back."
There was a roaring m her
ears like that of angry waters.
Wanton! . . . This, then, was
what her father had meant. And
he had gone away without
knowing the truth!
“My pro boys are ready; the
wind is brisk; and in an hour we
shall be beyond all pursuit. Will
you come sensibly, or shall I car
ry you? You are mine!”
Ruth’s peculiar education had
not vitiated the primitive senses;
they were always on guard; and
in a moment such as this they
rushed instantly to the surface.
Danger, the most terrible she
had ever faced, was substantial
ly in this room. She must kill
this man, or kill herself. She
knew it. No tricks would serve.
There would be no mercy in this
man. Any natural fineness would
be numbed by drink. To-mor
row he might be sorry; but to
day, this hour!
She rose, not quickly, but
with a dignity which only ac
centuated her beauty.
“And you ran away with a
weakling! You denied me for a
puppet!”
“My lawful husband.”
“Ah, yes, yes; lawful hus
bands in these . arts are those
who can take and. hold . . .
As I shall take and hold.” The
Wastrel advanced.
“If you touch me I will kill
you,” said Ruth, grasping the
scissors which lay beside the
pencils—Hoddy’s!
The Wastrel laughed, still ad
vancing. “Fire! That was what
drew me to you in the beginning
Well, kill me. Either we go
forth together, or they shall
bury me.”
“Beast!”
For a little while they ma
noeuvred around the table. Sud
dcnly the Wastrel took hold of
the edge and flung the table
aside. Even in this dread mo
ment Ruth was conscious of a
pathetic interest in the scatter
ing pencils.
lie reached for her, and she
struck savagely. Hut with the
skill of a fencer he met the blow
and broke it, seizing the wrist.
“It looks as though we should
go together,” he said, pulling
her toward him.
Ruth was strong in body and
soul. She fought him with
tooth and nail. Three times she
escaped. Chairs were overturn
ed. Once she reached the bam
boo curtain, clutched at it and
tore it down as his arms went
around her waist. The third
time she escaped she reached the
inefnisequent barricade of the
overturned table
“If there is any honour in
you, stop and think. I love my
husband. I love hnu!” She was
weak and dizzy: from horror as
much as from physical exertion.
She knew that the next time he
caught her she would not be
able to free herself. “What
good would it do you to destroy
me? For I have courage to kill
myself. ’ ’
The Wastrel laughed, lie had
heard this talk before.
The race began once more;
but this time Ruth knew that
there would be no escape. If
only she had thought to plungt
the scissors into her own heart!
Hoddy ... to return and find
her either gone or dead! But
even as the Wastrel’s arms
gathered her, there came the
sound of hurrying steps on the
veranda.
“Ruth?”
“Hoddy l” she cried.
Spurlock stepped into the
room. One of thoss hanging
moments ensued—hypnotic.
Spurlock had seen Rollo head
ing for tho jungle, and for some
reason he could not explain the
incident had bothered him. Fret
ting and fidgeting, he had, after
an hour ov so, turned to Mc
Olintock.
I’m going hack for Ruth."
"Nonsense!"
"Something’s wrong."
"Wrong? What the devil
could be wrong?" McClintoek
had demanded, irascibly. He had
particular reasons for wanting
to keep Spurlock away from the
iettv.
“I haven’t any answer for
that; but I’m going back after
her. She wanted to come, and
I wouldn’t let her.’'
“Run along, then."
“To me, you dirty black
guard!” cried Spurlock, fling
ing aside his helmet. That he
was hot and breathless was of
no matter; in that moment he
would have faced a dozen Sam
sons.
“She was mine before you ever
saw her.” The Wastrel tried to
leach Ruth’s lips.
“You lie!”
Head down, fists doubled,
Spurlock rushed: only to b* met
with a kick which was intended
.for the groin but which struck
tjie thigh instead. Even then it
sent Spurlock spinning back
ward to crash against the wall.
He felt no pain .from this coward
ly kiclc. That would come later
Again he rushed. He dodged the
hoot this time, and smashed his
lett upon the Wastrel’s lips,
leaving them bloody pulp.
The Wastrel did not relish
this. He flung Ruth aside, care
less whether she fell or not.
There was only one idea in his
head now—to batter and bruise
and crush this weakling, then
east him at the feet of his love
lorn wife. He brought into ser
vice all his Oriental bar-room
tricks. Time after time he sent
Spurlock into this corner or
that; but always the boy regain
ed his feet before the murderous
boot could reach the mark. Frora
all angles he was at a disadvan
tage—in weight, skill, endur
ance. Hut Ruth was his woman,
and he had sworn to God defend
her.
“One of us has got to die,”
he panted. You’ve got to kill
me to get out of here alive.”
The Wastrel rushed. Spur
lock dove headlong at the other’s
legs, toppling the man. In this
moment he could have stamped
upon the Wastrel’s face, and
ended the affair; but all that
was clean in him, chivalrous, re
volted at the thought. Not ever,
lor Ruth could he do such a
beastly thing. So, bloody but un
beaten, weak and spent but un
daunted, be waited for the Was
trel to .spring up.
The unequal battle went on.
It came to Spurlock suddenly
that if something did not react
in his favour inside of five
minutes, he was done. In a side
glnnee—for the floor was vari
tusly encumbered with over
turned objects—he saw one of
bis paper weights, a coloured
glass ball such as MoClintock
used in trade. As the Wastrel
lushed, Spurlock sidestepped,
swept the ball into his band, set
1 imself and threw it. If the
Wastrel bad not turned the in
stant he did, the ball would have
missed him; as it was he turned
directly into its path. It sruek
his forehead, splitting it, and
brought him to his knees.
Luck. Spurlock understood
that bis vautage would be tem
porary; the Wastrel had been
knocked down, not out. Still,
the respite was sufficient for
Spurlock to look about for some
weapon. Hanging on the wall
was a temple censer, bronze,
moulded in the shape of a lotus
blossom with stem anti leaves—
deadly as a club. He tore it
down just as the Wastrel rose;
wavering slightly. Spurlock ad
vance.!, the censer swung high.
The Wastrel wiped the blood
from his forehead. The blow
had brought him back to the
realm of sober thought. He
glanced at liuth (who had stood
with her back to the wall, pinned
there throughout the contest by
terror and the knowledge of her
own helplessness), then at the
bronze menace, and calculated
correctly that this particular
adventure was finished.
His hesitation was visible, and
Spurlock took advantage of this
to run to Ruth, lie put his free
: arm around her aijd held the
j censer ready; and as Ruth
snuggled her cheek against his
sleeve, they were, so far as in
tent, in each other's arms. With
out a word or a gesture, the Was
trel turned and staggered forth,
out of the orbit of these two. hav
ing been thrust into it for a
single purpose already described.
For a while they stood there,
silent, motionless, staring at the
doorway where still a few strings
of the bamboo curtain swayed
and twisted, agitated by the
Wastrel's passage.
“I was going to die, Hoddy!”
she wdiispered. “You do love
met”
“God knows how much!”
Suddenly he laid his head on her
shoulder. “But I’m a black
guard, too, Ruth. I had no right
to marry you. I have no right
to love you.”
“Why not?”
“I am a thief, a hunted man.”
“So that is what separated us!
Oh, Hoddy, you have wasted so
many wonderful days! Why
didn’t you tell me?”
“I couldn’t!” He made as
though to draw away, but her
arms became hoops of steel.
“Because you did not wish to
hurt me?”
les. If I let you believe I
did not love you, and they found
ine, your shame would be neg
ligible.5’ ,
“And loving me, you fought
me, avoided all my traps! I’m
glad I’ve been so unhappy. Re
member, in your story—look at
it, scattered everywhere!—that
line? We! arrive at true happi
ness only through labyrinths of
misery.”;
“I am a thief, nevertheless.”
“Oh, that!”
lie raised his head, staring at
her in blank astonishment. “You
mean, it doesn’t matter?”
“Poor Hoddy! When you
were ill in Canton, out of your
head, yon babbled words. Only
a few, but enough for me to
understand that some act had
driven you to this part of the
world, where the hunted hide.”
“And you married me, know
ing?”
“I married the man who
bought a sing-song girl to give
her her freedom.”
“But I vms intoxicated!”
“So was the man you just
fought in this room. There is no
hidden beast in you, Hoddy. I
could not love you else.”
“They may find me.”
“Well, if they send you to
prison, I’ll be outside when they
let. you go.”
He took her face between his
hands and kissed her on the
lips. “I’m not worth it. You are
all that I am or hope to be—the
celestial atom God put into me
at the beginning. Now He has
taken that out and given it form
and beany—you!”
“Wonderful hand!” Ruth
seized his right hand and kissed
it. “All the wonderful things
it is going to do! If I could only
know for certain that my mother
knew how happy I’m going to
be!”
“You love the memory of
your mother?”
“It is a part of my blood . .
my beautiful mother!”
He saw Enschede, putting out
to sea, alone, memories and re
grets crowding upon his wake.
Her father was right : Ruth must
never know. The mother was far
more real to her than the father;
the ghostly far more substantial
than the living form. So long
as he lived, Spurlock knew that
in fancy he would be reconstruct
ing that scene between himself
and Ruth’s father.
I heir heads touched again,
their arms tightened. Gazing
into each other’s eyes with new
found rapture, neither observed
the sudden appearance in the
doorway of an elderly woman
in travel-stained linen.
There was granite in her face
and agate in her eyes. The lips
were straight and pale, the chin
aggressive, the nose indomitable.
She was, by certain signs, charg
ed with anger, but she saw upon
the faces of these two young
fools the look of angels and an
ineffable l^jndness breathed up
on her withered heart.
“So, you young fool, I have
found you!” she said, harshly.
Ruth and Spurlock separated,
the one embarrassed, the other
utterly dumfounded.
“ Auntie f” he cried.
“Yes, Auntie 1 And to date
you have cost me precisely six
teen thousand dollars—hard
earned, every one of them.”
Spurlock wondered if some
thing hadn’t suddenly gone awry
in his head. He had just passed
through a terrific physical test.
Surely he was imagining this
picture. His aunt, here at Mc
Clintock’s? It was unbeliev^Je.
He righted a chair and sat*?uit,
his face in his hands. But when
he looked again, there she was!
‘‘I don’t understand,” he
said, finally.
“You will before I’m done
with you. I have come to take
you home; and hereafter my
word will be the law. You will
obey me out of common decency.
You can scribble if you want to,
but after you’ve given your
eight hours daily to the mills.
Sixteen thousand! Mark me,
young man, you’ll pay it back
through the nose, every dollar
of it!”
“I owe you nothing.” Pain
i was stabbing him, now here, now
there; pain was real enough; but
he could not establish as a fact
in his throbbing brain the
presence of his aunt in the door
way. ‘‘I owe you nothing,” he
repeated, dully.
‘‘Hoity-toity! You owe me
sixteen thousand dollars. They
were very nice about- it, in
memory of your father. They
telephoned that you had ab
sconded with ten thousand, and
that if I would make good the
loss within twenty-four hours,
they would not prosecute. I
sent my check for ten thousand;
and it has cost me six thousand
to find you. I should say that
you owed me considerable.”
Still his brain refused to as
similate the news or . to deduce
the tremendous importance of
it.
“You are Ruth?”
“Yes,” said Ruth, stirred by
anger and bitterness and as
tonishnient. This, then, was th«
woman from whom Hoddy would
not have accepted a cup of
■water.
“Come here,” said the petti
coated tyrant. Ruth obeyed, not
willingly, but because there was
something hypnotic in the
authoritative tone. “Put youi
arms about me.” Ruth did so
but without any particular fer
vour. “Kiss me.” Ruth slightly
brushed the withered cheek. The
aunt laughed. “Love me, love
my dog! Because I’ve scolded
him and told him a few truths,
you are ice to me. Not afraid
of me, either.”
“No,” said Ruth, pulling
back.
(TO BE CONTINUED)
AMERICANSARE
WORST TOURISTS
This Is Conclusion of Writ
er in London “Daily
Graphic”
London.—The world's worst travel
lers have been found. They are the
Americans.
At least that’s the conclusion ot
a writer In the Dally Graphic, who
claims he conducted an American
tourists party through Europe last
summer.
“Say, this Is a bum tour. I’ll tell
the world,’’ the American tourists
are alleged to have declared In dis
gust. "No Pullman cars up the Jung
frau. and cabmen who can’t talk
English. What do you know about
that?’*
The travelling American's thirst
for information Is prodigious, accord
ing to the conductor. They firs a
continual barrage of questions and
expect truthful answerers. When they
suspect that the guide Is only guess
ing they fish their own guide books
from “grips” for corroboration.
“Geography does not appear to be
taught with any degree of thorough
ness in the United States,” declares
the conductor. “Members of the party
were continally demanding impossible
Journeys and mixing up one district
with another. Thus:
“ ‘Say, why can’t we go from Rome
to Naples and back in an afternoon?’
“ ‘Because the Italian train average
less than 200 miles an hour.’
“Or: ‘Why do they spell I.ucerne
this funny way?’ ’What funny way?’
“’L-A-U-S-A-N-NE.’ ’They don’t.’
“Altogether I was rather glad when
I finally shepherded my flock to Cher
bourg (some of them though: it was
Calais and bade them a last fond
farewell.”
First Fishing Party
Surprise for Lillian
Norwalk, Conn.—Her first fishing
party brought a surprise to Lillian
Stoots, aged 12. Fishing, with her
father and others. In the harbor here,
the girl pulled up her line at the first
tug and found an eight-inch oyster
on the hook. Attached to the oyster
was a dead oyster about as long, and
within that shell was found a burgall
—a small fish that preys on oysters
and annoys mackerel fishermen by
stealing their bait.
COOLIDGE SIDES
WITH REGULARS
IN SENATE HGHT
Indicates Sympathy With G.
O. P. Leaders in Ousting
Western Insurgents
BY DAVID LAWRENCE,
Special Tribune Correspondent.
Washington. Dec. 21.—The war on
Insurgency in the republican party
is war to the hilt. Pdresident Cool
ldge now has taken a step which de
monstrates to the political world his
absolute sympathy with the move
whereby the republican leaders oust
ed from their ranks the Insurgents
of the west who, in the last cam
paign, gave aid and comfort to the
La Follette candidacy.
This is the most significant hap
pening In politics since the election
and more than anything else may
lay the lines of battle for the future.
President Taft endeavored to use the
weapon of “patronage” to fight the
enemy within the ranks but it proved
£ boomerang to him. Mr. Coolidge
has the advantage, however, of be
ginning the fight not In the middle
of his term, when most of the am
munition is usually spent, but at the
unprecendented time when he has
four full years to serve and his own
Inauguration is still more than two
months away.
Backs Regulars
The president made no public
statement when the republican lead
ers In the Senate and House read
out of the party the La Follette in
urgents. In presenting to the Senate,
however, last week, the names of
postmasters recommended by antl
La Follette republicans of Wis
consin, Mr. poolidge lined himself up
definitely with the regulars in Wis
consin and fired the first gun of the
1326 congressional fight when Sena
tor Lenroot,- stauhch administration
supporter, will be up for renomina
tion.
Undoubtedly the La Fo’llette forces
will enter a candidate in the prim
aries to defeat Lenroot and the latter
has for several months known that
he had a fight ahead of him. The
White House was urged repeatedly
before the last national convention to
make war op the La Follette group
but it was deemed *by the White
House strategist to be unwise to pre
cipitate a controversy until after Mr.
Coolidge had been nominated. The
action of Wisconsin delegation at
the convention, followed as it. was by
the La Follette condidacy for the
presidency left the administration no
alternative, however, and from that
time forward the republican national
committee began to realize that it
must build up a new organization
In Wisconsin, or rather organization
the regular republicans who had been
making the fight year after year
against I^a Follettism with heavy
odds.
Usually the La Follette people have
been helped in the republican
primaries by democrat votes. The
Lenroot forces know that conserva
tive democrats can be drawn to a
republican ticket when a radical is
in the race and there is no doubt
that the Lenroot campaign will need
democratic support.
The use of patronage may or may
not be of value so far as actually
getting votes. But it has a great
deal to' do with the spirit of an
organization. If, for instance, the
workers understand that they can
hope for no rewards at Washington
when they support for congress, men
who are not recognized by their own
party organization and who, of
course, can expect nothing from the
democrats if the latter come into
power, the whole problem of political
organization in local precincts is
likely to be made very difficult.
The theory hack of political ap
pointments is that deserving workers
get rewards. The opposition usually
attacks this theory as the "spoils”
system. That political offices are
traded for support is not a demon
si ralde prospect ion as a rule, but the
LaFollette people will not hesitate
to develop a controvery over it in
the hope that sympathy will come
to them as they feel themselves be
ing punished for trying to make the
republican party a ‘'progressive” in
strumentality.'
Already there are signs that even
friends of the administration in some
western states doubt the wisdom of
■ending eastern money to western
i primaries and warnings are given
that the surplus preserved by the
republican national campaign com
mittee after the last election should
not be used for that purpose. The
Lincoln (Neb.) State Journal, which
supported Coolidge, says that a
“westerner could think of no more
certain way than this to insure the
nomination these (.insurfent) sena
tors" and that "if Pennsylvania and
| New York are to furnish money to
control western primaries, they will
need to be very secretive about it.”
Senator Capper’s own paper, the
Topeka (Kan.) Capital adds that the
national committee has ''more west
ern than eastern men on it and will
hardly fall for such a political game
-—if it should, new western men
would undoubtedly be elected to rep
resent the west.”
Bad Weather Causes Delay
In Test Trip of Dirigible
Universal Service
Lakehurst, N. J., Dec. 21.—High
winds which raced across the naval
air station here Sunday, and the pre
diction of heavy snow, caused anoth
er postponement of the secon 1 test
flight in America of the dirigible Dos
Angeles. The possibility that (he
weather might clear by Monday save
rise to hopes that the trip ira> be
undertaken Monday afternoon.
SPECIAL COURT
ON NAVY LEAKS’
OPENS MONDAY
Investigation of Statements
By Officers Called By
Secretary Wilbur
Universal Service.
Washington, Dec. 21.—Are officers
of the United States navy to be pro
hibited from expressing their opinion
of the merits or demerits of the ad
ministration’s national defnse policy?
This was the questioning going the
rounds In naval circles here Sunday
while a special court of inquiry was
preparing to feivestlgate socalled
“leaks” of certain information con
cerning the strength of America’s sea
forces.
The court of inquiry, convened by
order of Secretary Wilbur, will meet
Monday at the Brooklyn navy yard.
Orders to appear have been sent to
Capt. Hugo W. Osterhaus and Capt.
Robert L. Berry.
The “leak” which so perturbed Wyh
officials of the navy department. It
Is understood, resulted from the pub
lication of a letter presumably writ
ten by Captain Osterhaus to Captain
Berry, in which the Washington arms
conference was severely criticized as
detrimental to the proper strength of
the American navy. Attention was
also called, in the letter, to the In
ferior position which the navy now
holds among the maritime powers of
the world. ,
William B. Shearer, civilian naval
expert of New York, released the let
ter for publication without revealing
who had written it or to whom it
had been sent. He expressed a de
sire to testify before the special
board and assume all responsibility
for the publication. As Shearer no
longer is a . naval officer, doubt has
beep expressed as to whether he
could be forced to appear if he were
unwilling to do so.
Certain naval . officials Jiave
charged before that they suffered
discrimination when they made bold
to .express their opinion of the condi
tion of the navy or. of the method of
administration of the . department..
They want;the "gag” rule effaced.
They declared that If the regular of
ficers of the fleet had b.een allowed to .
voice their opinions of the terms of.
the arms conference the navy would
not be in the condition it now oc
cupies.
WEST LEADS IN
RAIL EXPANSION
Roads Lay Several Hundreds
Of Miles of New
Rails
BY J. C. BOYLE,
Consolidated Press Correspondent.
New York, Dec. 21,—‘Tve been
working on the railroad.” That half
century old song accurately describes
the business occupation of thousands
of men during the last year and
there is every indication that fully
as many handlers of the pick and
tamping bar will be found along the
rights of way in 1925.
Construction and betterment work
has been active in all sections, but
the west has witnessed more new
construction of rail lines than all the
remainder of the country combined.
The construction program of the
Southern Pacific called for the ex
penditure of $49,000,000 and about
half this sum will be carried over
for disbursement during the coming
year. Altogether 382 miles of new
road were started by the company in
Oregon, California, New Mexico, Ne
vada and Lower California. The con
struction in the latter district will
serve to link the west coast of the
United States with Mexico City and
promises to develop valuable trade
with Mexico.
The Atchison, Topeaka and Santa
Fe road laid 133 miles of new rails
this year and will spend $11,000,000
for 119 miles of additional double
track the coming season, providing
a double track system all the way
from Los Angeles to Chicago. Each
road has ordered thousands of new
refrigerator cars and other equipment
to handle the traffic which these
improvements will open up.
Hunter Traps 16 Large
Wolves Within 10 Days
Nellavllle, Wis., Dee. 21.—Within
10 days Walt Dangers, hunter, has
brought 18 large wolves Into this
''Ity from his hunting lodge, 12 miles
west of here, where the animals had
trapped themselves in the window
of the cabin.
Dangers said that he was awak
ened the first night he spent in the
shack by a terrific commotion and
howl of pain at the window. Leap
ing from his bunk and striking a
match, he saw the head of a wolf
caught beneath the window. A blow
from his hatchet killed the beast.
NEBRASKA'S FORECLOSURE
STATUTE IS ATTACKED
Lincoln, Neb., Dec. 18. (Special.)—
Attorneys for W. H. Pilger of Ante
lope county attack in supreme court
the constitutionality of the present
law governing sales of land under *
mortgage foreclosure...
Formerly the law forbade the sale
of land to satisfy claims unless it
sold for two-thirds of the appraised
valuation. The law was recently
changed so that the decision rests
with the trial Judge as to whether
the land brought an adequate price.