8-n
TTIK OMAHA SI-XDAY BEE: AIT.U.ST 1fi, 1014.
& LOUIS
JOSEPH VANCE
MY
THIRD INSTALLMENT
The phcto-crama torrtspcnctr.g to the installments of
"The Trey O'hearts" may now be teen at the leading
moving picture theaters. By this unique arrangement
Kotlh the Vnrvtnal Film Mfg. Co. H is therefore not only
possible to read " The Trey 0' Hearts" in this paper,
bvt also to see each installment of d ot the moving
ptctore theaters.
(Coprrtcht, IS 14, br Louis Joseph Vance.)
STKCPRIS Ttia t of Tirana la the "dm! h-elan" uA by
mmiicm Trtna In tho private war rf v Manra whloji,
through Ms dauKhinr JuillUi, a woman of vlolant arid crim
inal lmpr and quretlonabte eanltjr, ha ware axaltiat
Ala Law, whoa fethxr (now da5 Trine held rreponet
ble for the accident which ma.lt him a haiplrae eripplt,
Boea, Jndlth'e twin and dmilile, learning of hr eleirr
ram pal an aa-alnat Alan, lnvn hfr hm to all him, whnm
aha loTta I'nder dramatlu clrrumatana Ala aavra Jo
dlth'e Ufa and ao wlna hr Inyo, hut fillura to aliak hia
conaiascy la Hoaa fli.e Judith In har purpnee.
I FOREWARNED.
The thing was managed with an ingenuity that
i-lan termed devilish: It was indisputably Machia
vellian. The lovers had coma down from the North in
hot haste and the shadow of death. Two days of
steady traveling, by canoe, by woods trail, by lake
steamer forty-eight hours of fatigue and strain
e&Bed by not one instant's relaxation from the high
tension of vlgllanco upon whirh their very lives
depended wore to a culmination through this
tedious afternoon on the train from Moonebead: a
trip of phyBlcal torment only made possible by
Alan's luck in securing, through sheer accident,
two parlor-car reservations turned back at the laat
moment before leaving Klnpo station.
No matter: the longest afternoon must have Its
evening: the pokiest of trains comes the more
surely to Its destination; in another hour or two
they would be In Portland freo at last to draw
breath of ease in a land of law, order and sane
living. .
As If In answer to this thought, the train slowed
down with whistling brakes to the last hill-station;
and as the trucks groanod and moved anew, a lout
of a boy came galloping down the aiulo, brandishing
two yellow envelopes and blattlng like a stray calf:
"Mlsta Lawrl Mlsta Lawr! Tcl'grams for Mlsta
Lawr!"
Alan had been expecting at every station a pro
paid reply to his wire for reservations on tho night
express from Portland to Now York.
Rut why two envelopes superscribed "Mr. A.
Law, Klneo train southbound, Oakland Sta."?
He tore one open, unfolded the enclosure, and
grunted disgust with Its curt advice, opened the
other and caught his breath sharply as he with
drewpart way only a playing card, a Trey of
Hearts.
Thrusting It back quickly, ho clapped both en
velopes together, tore them Into a hundred frag
ments, and scattered them from the window. Rut
the fiendish wind whisked one small scrap back
and only one! into the lap of the woman ha
loved.
Vainly he prayed that ehe might be asleep. The
silken lashes trembled on her checks and lifted
elightly, disclosing the dark glimmer of question
ing eyes. And as she clipped the acrap of card
board between thumb and forefinger, he bent for
ward and silently took It from her one corner of
tho Trey of Hearts, but Inevitably a corner bearing
the figure S above a heart.
"The Pullman agent at Portland wires, no resor
rations available on any New York train in the
next thirty-six hours," he said with lowered voice.
"Couldn't we possibly catch the New York boat
tonight?"
He shook a glum head. "No -I looked that up
tlrst It leaves before we get In."
She said. "Too bad," abstractedly, reclosed her
yes, and apparently lapsed anew Into semi-somnolence
but without deceiving him who could well
guess what poignant anxiety gnawed at her heart.
He could have ground his teeth In exasperation:
the Impish Insolence of that warning, timed so
precisely to set their nerves on edge at the very
moment when they were congratulating them
selves npon the approach of a respite!
The sheer insanity of the whole damnable bust
sees I
The grim, wild absurdity of HI
To think that this was America, this the twen
tieth century, the apex of the highest form of
civilization the world had ever known and still
a man could be hunted from pillar to post, haunted
with threats, harried with attempts at assassina
tion in a hundred forms and that by a slip of a
girl with the cunning of a madwoman, the heart
of a thog. the face of a charming child the face
of the woman that sat beside him, duplicating Its
every perfect feature so nearly that even he who
loved the one could scarcely distinguish her from
the other but by instinct, Intuition, Wind guess
work. . . .
He nodded heavr-hearted confirmation of a sur.
mlse slowly settling Into convic-Jon In his mind,
that such cunning, such purpose and pertinacity
could not posalb'y spring from a mind well bal
anced, that the woman Judith Trine, sister to the
Rose he loved so well, was as mad as that mono,
maniac her father, who sat helpless in his cell of
silence and shadows In New York, day after day
eating his heart out with impatience for the word
that his vengeance had been consummated by the
daughter whom he had inspired to execute It. v
An hour late, in dusk of evening, the train lum
bered Into Portland station; and heart in mouth,
Alan helped Rose from the steps, shouldered a
way for her through the crowd, and almost lifted
her Into a taxicab.
"Best hotel In town," he demanded. "And be
quick about It for a dovble tip."
He communicated his one desperate scheme to
the girl en route, receiving her endorsement of It.
tSo, having registered for her and seen her safely
to the door of the beet available room in the house
within ready call of the public lobby and office, be
washed up. gulped a hasty meal which Rose had
declined to share, pleading fatigue and hurried
away into the night with only the negro driver ot
' a public hack, picked up haphaxard at some die-
. tance from the hotel, for his guide.
II FORTUITY.
He wasted the better part of an hour In fruit
less and perhaps ill advised Inquiries; then his
luck, such as it was, led him on suspicion down
a poorly-lighted wharf, at the extreme end of
which he discovered a lonely young man perched
atop a pile, hands In pockets, rase turned to a tide
whereon, now black night had fallen, pallid wraiths
of yachts swung Just visibly beneath uneasy rldlng
llghts. "Pardon me," Alan ventured, "but perhaps yon
can help me out "
"You've come to the wrong shop, my friend," the
young man Interposed with morose civility: "I
couldn't help anybody out of anything the way
I am now."
"I'm sorry," said Alan, "but I thought possibly
you might know whore I could fnd a aworthy
boat to charter."
The young man slipped smartly down from his
perch. "If you don't look sharp." he said omi
nously, "you'll charter tho S'avcnture." Ho waved
his hand toward a vessel moored alongside the
wharf: "There she Is, and a better boat you won't
find anywhere: schooner-rigged, fifty feet over all,
twenty five horsepower motor auxiliary, two state
rooms all ready for as long a coastwise cruise
as you caro to tako. Come aboard. "
He led briskly across the wharf, down a gang
plank, then aft along the deck to a companlonway
by whirh the two mon gained a comfortable and
roomy cabin, bright with fresh white enamel.
Here the light of tho cabin lamp revealed to
Alan's searching scrutiny a person of sturdy build
and Independent carriago, with a roughly-modeled,
good-humored face, reddish hair, and steady though
twinkling blue eyes.
"Name, Barcus," the young man Introduced him
self cheerfully: "ohristcned Thomas. Nativity,
American. State of life, flat broke. That's the
rub." be laughed, and shrugged, shame-faced. "I
found myself hard up this spring with this boat on
my hands, sunk every cent I had and then some
fitting out on an oral charter with a moneyed
blighter In New York, who was to have met me
here a fortnight since. He didn't and here I am,
In pawn to the ship-chandler, desperate enough
for anything."
"How much do you owe?"
"Upwards of a hundred."
"Say I advance that amount: when can we sail?"
The young man reflected briefly. "There's
Witt'-' xvp&ft&w&C -,Vw
' w ''sit JrV-.wc
?1
Nor Did They
Know They Were Riding With
a Spy.
.vi.iraunig so rnKttgingiy luiotic about this pro
ceeding," he observed wistfully, "I've got the
strangest kind of a hunch It's eanr, to go through.
Pay my bills, and we can he oft inside an hour.
That Is "
He checked with an exclamation of dismay, chap
fallen: "I may have some trouble scaring up a
crew at short notice. I had two men engaged, but
last week they got tired doing nothiug for nothing
and left me flat."
"Then that's settled." Alan said. "I know boats:
I'll be your crew and the better satisfied to have
nobody else aboard."
The eyes of Mr. Barcus clouded. "See here, my
headlong friend, what's your little game, anyway?
I don't mind playing the fool on the high seas, but
I'll be no purty to a kidnaping or"
"It's an elopement," Alan interrupted on in
spiration. "We've simply got to get clear of Port
land by midnight"
"You're on!" Barcus agreed promptly, his face
clearing. "God only knows why I believe you,
but I do and here's my hand!"
Hi BLUE WATER.
Anxiety ate like an acid at Alan's heart. If this
shift to the sea might be thouKht a desperate ven
ture, he was a weathered salt-water man and un
dismayed: nothing would have been more to his
liking than a brisk coastwise cruise in an able
boat under auspices less forbidding.
But when he re-entered the hotel, one surpris
ing thing happened that gave him new heart:
momentarily It seemed almost as if hia luck had
turned. For as he paused by the desk of the
cashier to demand his bill, the elevator gate
opened and Rose came out eagerly to meet him,
with an eager air of hope that masked measurably
the signs of fatigue.
"I worried so I conldnt reet," she told hirn
guardedly as he drew her aside; "so I got up and
ready, and watched from the window till I saw
you drive up."
He acquainted her briefly with his fortune.
But she seemed unable to echo his confidence
or even to overcome the heaviness of her spirits
when their cab without misadventure set thera
down at the wharf.
Here, Alan had feared, was the crucial point
of danger: If the Influence of the Trey of Hearts
was to bring disaster upon them, it would be here,
In the hush and darkness of this deserted water
front. And he bore himself most warily as he
helped the girl from the car and to the gangplank
of the Seaventure. But nothing happenod; while
Mr. Barcus was as good aa his word. Alan tad
barely jet Joot on deck, followlug the glrL when.
the gangplank came aboard with a elntter, and
the Seaventure swung away from the wharf.
Until the distance was too great for even a
flying leap. Alan lingered watchfully on deck.
At length, satisfied that all was well, he returned
to the cabin.
"All right," he noddcJ: "we're clear of that lot,
apparently: nobody but tho three of us aboard.
Now you'd best turn In. This is evidently to be
your statoroom, thin one to port, and you'll have a
long night's sleep to make up for what you've
gone through dearest."
He drew nearer, dropping his voice tenderly.
And of a sudden, with a little low cry, the girl
came into his arms and clung passionately to him.
"But you?" she murmured. "You need rest as
much as I! What about you?"
"Oh, no, I don't," he contended, "Besides I'll
have plenty of time to rest up once we're fairly
at sea. Marcus and I stand watch and watch, of
course. There's nothing for you to df but be com
pletely at your ease. Dut you must let mo go."
Eyes half-closed, her head thrown back, she
seemed to suffer his kiss rather than to respond,
then turned hastily away to her stateroom leav
ing him staring with wonder at her strangeness.
Cy midnight the Seaventure was spinning swift
ly south-southeast, close reefed to a snoring sou'
west wind the fixed white eye of Portland head
light fast falling astern.
IV DOWN THE CAPE.
At four o'clock, or shortly after, Alan was awak
ened by boot-heels pounding imperatively over
head, and went on deck again, to stand both dog-
2 f . v V - i . - i law
"Once Aboard and the
watches saw the sun lift up smiling over a
world of tumbled blue water, crossed the wake
of a Cunard liner inbound for Boston, rained
and overhauled a graceful but business-like
fisherman (from Gloucester, Barcus opined
when called to stand his trick at eight) and
saw it a mile or two astern when still aching
w-lth fatigue he was free to return to hia
berth for another four hour rest.
This time misguided consideration induced
Barcus to let his crew sleep through the first after
noon watch. Plx bells were ringing when. In
drowsy apprehension that something had gone sud
denly end radically wrong, Alan waked.
He was on dock age.ln nimost before he rubbed
the sleepiness from his eyes, emerslna; abruptly
from the half llpht of tho cabla to a darzle of sun
light that filled the cup of day with rarefied gold,
even as he passed from conviction of security to
realization of immediate and extraordinary peril.
His first glance discovered the wheel dererted.
the woman with back to him rtanding at tho
taffrail, Barcus nowhere to be seen. The second
confirmed his surmlne that the Seaventure had
come up into the wind, nnd now was yawing off
wildly into the trough of a stiff If not heavy sea.
A third showed him to his amazement the Glou
cester f.sherman overhauled with such ease that
morning and now, by rights, well down the north
ern horlton not two miles distant, and standing
squarely for the smaller vessel.
Bewildered, he darted to the girl's side, with' a
shout demanding to know what was the matter.
Fhe turned to him a fare he hardly recognized
but still he didn't understand. The inevitable
inference seemed a thing unthinkable; his brain
faltered when asked to credit it. Only when he
saw her tearing frantically at the painter, striving
to cast it off and with It the dory towing a hundred
feet or so astern, and when another wondering
glance had discovered the head and shoulders of
Mr. Barcus rising over the, stern of the dory as be
strove to lift himself out of the water only then
did Alan begin to appreciate what had happened.
Even so, it was with the feeling that all the
world and himself as well had gone stark, raving
mad, that he seized the girl and, despite her strug
gles, tore her away from the rail before she had
ucceeded in unknotting the painter.
"Rose!" he cried stupidly. "Roee! What's the
matter with you? Don't you see what you're
doing?"
Defiance Informed her countenance and accents.
"Can't you ever say anything but 'Rossi Ross!
Rose I' Is there no other name that means any
thing to you? Can't you understand how Intoler
able It Is to me? I love you no less than she
better than she ever dreamed of loving you be
cause I hate you. too! What Is love that Is no
more than love? Can't you understand V
"Judith!" he cried In a voice of stupefaction.
"Bnt good Lord! how dtd you get aboard?
Where's Roee?"
"Where you'll not find her easily again." the
woman angrily retorted. "Trust me for thai!"
"What du jou utuuiT" lUumlA&tlon came la
V:S i.:
. MONO" .yi-t. ,
a blfnd!ng flash. "Do you mean It was you you
whom I brought aboard last night?"
"Who else?"
"You waylaid her there In the hotel, substituted
yourself for her, deceived me into thinking you !"
"Of course," she said simply. "Why not? When
I saw her sleeping there the mirror of myBelf,
completely at my mercy what elso should I think
of than to take her place with the man I loved?
I knew you'd never know the difference at least,
I was fool enough for the moment to believe I
could stand being loved by you In her name! It
was only today, when I'd had time to think, that
I realized how impossible that was!"
A sudden flap of the mainsail boom athwart
shlps and a simultaneous cry from over the stern
rouBed Alan from his consternation to fresh appre
ciation of the emergency. With scant considera
tion he hustled the woman to the companlonway
and below, slammed its doors and closed her in
with the sliding hatch all in a breath then
sprang to the taffrail, Just In time to lend a help
ing hand sorely wanted by Mr. Barcus in his ef
forts to climb aboard, after he had pulled the dory
up under the stern by its painter.
Ho came over the rail in a towering temper.
"I hope you'll pardon the apparent imperti
nence," he suggested acidly, as soon as able to
articulate coherently "but may I inquire if that
bloody-minded vixen is your blushing bride-to-be?"
Alan shook a helpless head. The thing defied
reasonable explanation. He made a feeble stagger
at it without much satisfaction either to himself
or to the outraged Barcus.
"No it's all a damnable mistake! She's her
1
' ff . " 1
Man Is Mine."
sister I mean, the right girl's sister and
precise double fooled me not quite right in
her
the
head, I'm afraid."
"You may well be afraid, you poor flat!" Mr.
Barcus snapped. "D'you know what she did?
Threw me overboard! Fact! Came on deck a
while ago, sweet as peaches and all of a sud
den whips out a gun as big as a cannon, points
it at my head and orders me to luff Into the wind.
Before I could make sure I wasn't dreaming, she
had fired twice in the air a signal to that blessed
fisherman astern there: at least, they answered
with two toots of a power-whirtlo and changed
course to run up to us. Look how she's gained
already!"
'ut how did she happen to threw
board?"
you over-
' ' "Happen nothing!" Barcus snapped, getting to
his feet. "She did it a-purpose Hew at me like a
wildcat, and beforo I knew what was up I was
slammed backwards over the rail."
"I can't tell you how sorry I am," Alan respond
ed gravely. "Thoro's more to tell but one thing
to be done first."
"And that?" Mr. Barcus Inquired suspiciously.
"To get rid of the lady," Alan announced firmly.
"Make that fisherman a present of the woman In
-the case. You don't mind parting with the dory
in a good cause if I pay for it?" .
"Take It for nothing," Barcus grumbled. "Cheap
nt the price!"
He took Alan's place, watching him with a sar
donic eye as he drew the tender in under the lee
ward quarter, made it fast, and reopened the
companlonway. ,
As the girl came on deck without other Invita
tion, in a sullen rage that only heightened her
wonderful loveliness, Alan noted that her first
look was for him, of untempered malignity; her
second, for Barcus. with a curling lip; her third,
astern, with a glimmer of satisfaction as sho rec
ognized how well the fisherman had drawn up on
the Seaventure.
"Friends of yours, I Infer?" Alan inquired
civilly.
Judith nodded.
"Then It would save us some trouble yourself
included If you'll be good enough to .step Into the
dory without a struggle."
Without a word, Judith stepped to the rail and,
as Barcus luffed, swung herself overside Into the
iory.
Immediately Alan cast off, and as the little boat
sheered off, Barcs, with a sigh of relief, brought
the Seaventure once more back upon her course.
For some few minutes there was silence be
tween the two men, while the tender dropped
swiftly astern, the woman plying a brisk pair
of oars.
Then suddenly elevating his nose. Barcus
sniffed audibly. "Here." he said sharply, "relieve
me for a minute, will you? I want to go forward
and have a look at that motor."
In the time that he remained invisible between
decks, the fiaheruaa luffed, picked up the dory
and Its occupant, and came round again In open
chase of the Seaventure.
When Barcus reappeared it was with a grave
face.
"The devil and the deep She," he observed ob
scurely, coming aft, "from all their works, good
Lord deliver us!"
"What's the trouble now?" 1
"Nothing much only your playful Uttle friend
has been up to another of her light-hearted tricks.
. If you should happen to want a smoke or
anything hot to eat when you go below, Just find
a mirror and kiss yourself goodbye before strik
ing the match. The drain-eocks of both fuel
tanks have been opened, and there are upwards of
a hundred nnd fifty gallons of highly explosive
gasoline sloshing round In the bilge!"
V NO QUARTER.
"Yes, yes," said Mr. Barcus indulgently, break,
ing a long rllence. "Very Interesting. Very in
teresting, indeed. I've seldom listened to a more
entertaining life-history, my poor young friend.
But I tell you candidly, as man to man, I don't
believe one word of it. It's all damn foolishness!"
His voice took on a plaintive accent. "Particu
larly this!" he expostulated, and waved an indig
nant hand, compassing their plight.
"Tho rest of your adventures are reasonable
enough," he snid; "they won my credulity and
I'm a native son of Missouri. But this last chap
ter is impossible. And that's flat. It couldn't hap
penand has. And there, in a manner of speak
ing, we are!"
Against the western horizon a long, low-lying
strip of sand dunes rested like a bar of purple
cloud between the crimson afterglow of sunset in
the sky and the ensan.ulned sea that mirrored it.
The wind had gone down with the sun, leaving
the Seaventure becalmed her motor long since
Inert for want of fuel In shoal water a mile or
so off tho desolate and barren coast that Barcus,
out of his abounding knowledge of those waters,
named Nauset Beach.
Still another ml!o farther off-shore, thoeo-called
Gloucester fisherman rode, without motion, waters
as still and glassy. Through the gloaming, with
the aid of glasses, figures might be seen moving
about her decks; and as It grew stll? more dark
she lowered a small boat that theretofore had
swung in dnvlts. A little later a faint humming
noise drifted across the tide.
"Power tender," the owner of the Seaventure
Interpreted. "Coming to call, I presume. Sociable
lot. What I can't make out 19 why they seem to
think it necessary to tow our dory back. Uneasy
conscience, maybe what?"
He lowered the binoculars and glanced inquir
ingly at hia employer, who grunted his disgust,
and sold no more.
"Don't take it so hard, old top," Barcus advised
with a change of note from Irony to sympathy.
Then he rose and dived down the companlonway,
presently to reappear with a megaphone and a
double-barreled shotgun.
"No cutting-out parties in this outfit," he ex
plained, grinning amiably. "None of that old stuff,
revised to suit ycur Infatuated female friend:
Once aboard the lucger and the man Is mine!"
Stationing himself at the seaward rail, where
his figure would show in sharp eilhouette sgalnst
the glowing sunset sky, he brandished the shot
gun at arm's length above his head, and bellowed
stentorouBly through the megaphone: , i
"Keep off! Keep off! This means you! Come
within gunshot and I'll blow your fool heads off!"
Putting aside tho megaphone, he sat down again
"Not that I'd dare firo this blunderbuss' he con
fided, "with this reek of gasoline; but Just for
moral effect. Phew-w! I'd give a dollar for a
breath of clean air: I've inhaled so much gas in,
the last few hours, I'm dry-cleaned down to my
silly old toes!"
Gaining no response from Alan, he observed
critically: "Chatty little customer you are;" and
resumed the binoculars.
For thirty minutes nothing happened, other
than that the sound of the fisherman's launch was
stilled. It rested moveless in the waters, two fig
ures, mysteriously busy in its cockpit, the Sea
venture's dory trailing behind it on a long painter.
Gradually these details became blurred, and
were blotted out. by the closing shadows. The
afterglow in the west grew cool and faint. The
crimson waters darkened, to mauve, to violet, to
a translucent green, to blackness. Far up the
coast two white eyes, peering over the horizon,
stared steadfastly through the dark. "Chatham
lights," Barcus said they were.
Abruptly he dropped the glasses and Jumped up.
"Hear that!" ho cried.
Now the hummiiiK of the motor was again audi
ble and growing louder with every instant; and
Alan, getting to his feet In turn, infected with the
excitement of Barcus, could Just make out at some
distance a dark shadow beneath a dim, spluttering
glimmer of llfht, that moved swiftly and steadily
toward the Si-aventure.
"What the devil!" ho demanded, puzzled.
"You uttered a mouthful when you said 'devil'!
Barcus commented, grasping his arm and hurry
ing him to the landward side of the vessel. "Quick
kick off your shoes get set for a mile-long
swim! Devil's work, all right!" he panted, h.istlly
divesting himse'f of shoes and outer garments.
"I couldn't make out what they were up to till I
saw them lash the wheel, licht the fuse, start the
motor, and take to the dory. They've made one
grand little torpedo-boat out of that tender "
He sprang upon the rail, steadying himself with
a stay. "Ready?" he asked. "Look sharp!"
By way of answer, Alan Joined him; the two
had dived as one, entering the water with a single
splash, and coming to the surface a good ten
yards from the Seaventure. For the next several
seconds they were swimming frantically, and not
until three hundred feet or more separated them
from the schooner did either dare pause for
breath or a backward glance.
Then the impact of the launch against the Sea
venture's side rang out across the waters, and
with a husky roar the launch blew up, spewlngi
skywards a widespread fan of flame. Over tho
Seaventure. as this flamed and died, pale fire
seemed to hover like a tremulous pall of phos
phorescence, a weird and ghastly glare that sud
denly descended to the deel s. There followed a
crackling noise, a sound as of the labored breath
ing of a giant; and bright flames, orange, crimson,
violet and gold, licked out all over the schooner,
from stem to stern, from deck to topmasts.
It seemed several minutes that she burned in
this wise it was probably not so long beforf her
decks blew up and the flames swept roariij-to
the sky.
By the time that Alan and Barcus, swimming
steadily, had gained a shoal which permitted them,
footing In waist-deep waters, the Seaventure had,
burnod to the water's edge.
To he continual ).