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LOUIS JOSEPH VANCE
TTTTC OMAHA STTKDAY BEE: AT7CTST 30, 1014.
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FIFTH INSTALLMENT
7e phcfo-dnma eorrerponding to tht mttaUmentt of
"The Trey O'Htarts" may now be teen at the leading
moving picture theaters. By this antqae Arrangement
i'tlh the Universal Film Mfg. Co. tt it therefore not only
pctsible to read " Tht Trey O' Hearts" tn this paper,
hit alto to tee each instalment of it et the mcMj
picture theaters.
(Copyright. 1911, by Louis Joseph Vane.)
TUB SUNSET TIDE.
SYNOFSIS Tb W Heart I Ik "death (1(11" em
ployed by Sueur Tria In th private war of vennr
which. through hi daughter Jodltk, woman of violent
piMlon Ilk hi own, h wage rlnt Alaa I .aw, eon of
th man (now deadt whom Trine held rponibl for th
accident which mad him helplea cripple Rom, Judith'
twin and doubl. learn of her enter campaign (gelnet
Alaa and leaa her horn to aid him, whom ehe love. I ri
der dramatle circumstance Alan save Jadlth'a lire and
win her lore But failure to etitk hi constancy tn floee
kindle Jndlth' jealouay and aettl her In her hnmlnlilal
purpo. She I largely reeponelble for a ahlpwreck In Nan
tucket mind. from which Alan and Re eecipe with their
friend Bare In a power-driven lifeboat.
I THE MASKED VOICE.
Tor a matter of twelve hours the for,, leaden,
dank, viscous, as Inexorable as the dominion of
evil, had wrapped the world In an embrace as
foul and noxious as the colls of some great, grry,
slimy serpent.
Through Its sluggish folds the ponderous, power
Impelled lifeboat crept at a snail's pace. Its stem
parting and rolling back from either flank a heavy
hearted sea of gray.
In the bows a young woman rested In a state of
semi-exhaustion, her eyes closed, her head pil
lowed on a cork-belt life-preserver.
In the stern, Tom Parous presided morosely oyer
the steering gear; and Law was no more Jealously
heedful of hie sweetheart than Parous of the
heavy-duty motor that chugged away so purpose
fully at Its business of driving the boat heaven-knew-where.
Lacking at once a compass, all notion whatso
ever of the sun's bearings, and any Immediate
hope of the fog lifting or chance bring tbem either
to land or to rescue by some Isrger and lens com
fortless craft, Barcus steered mainly through force
of habit
And now for more than an hour the silence had
been uncannily constant, broken only by the rum
ble of the motor, the muted lisp of water slipping
down the side, the suck and gurgle of the wake.
Forebodings no less portentlous thsn Law's
crawled In the mind of Barcus. It was as likely
as not that the lifeboat was traveling straight out
to sea. And gasoline tanks can and oftentimes do
become as empty as an official weather prophet'a
promise of fair weather fpr a holiday.
Mora than this, Mr. Barcus was a confirmed
skeptlo In respect of marine motors.
Id view of all of which considerations he pres
ently threw open the battery switch.
And the aching void created In the silence by
the cessation of that uniform drone was startling
enough to rouse even Rose Trine from her state of
semi-somnolence.
With a look of panto she sat up, thrust damp
hair back from ber eyes, and nervously inquired:
' "What, the matter."
"Nothing." Barcus told her. "I shut the engine
off that's all."
Tempers were short In that hour: and Alan was
annoyed to think that the rest of his beloved
should needlessly have been disturbed.
"What did you do that for?" he demanded
sharply.
"Because I Jolly well wanted to," Barcus re
turned In tone as brusque.
"Oh. you did eh r
,Tes. I did eh! I happen to be bossing this
enf of the boat and to have sense enough to real
ise there's no sense at all In our wasting fuel the
way we are cruising nowhere!"
"Well," Law contended, struck by the fairness
of this argument, but unable to calm his uneasi
ness "Just the same, we might- "
"Yes; of course, we might,", Barcus snapped.
We might a whole lot. We might, for Instance,
be heading for Spain, for all you or I know to the
contrary. And in such case, I for one respectfully
prefer to have gas enough to take us home again
If ever this da blessem fog lifts!"
And for seversl seconds longer the stillness
strangled their spirits In 1U ruthless grasp.
Then of a sudden a cry shrilled through the fog,
so near at hand that It seemed scarcely more dls
tsnt than over the side:
"Aheyl Helpl Ahoy there! Help!"
So Instant, so urgent was its accent that, cou
pled with the surprise. It brought the three as one
to their feet, all a-tremblc, their eyes seeking one
another's faces, then shifting uneasily away.
"What can It beT" Rose whispered, aghast,
shrinking Into Alan's ready arm.
He replied, obviously with an effort overcoming
' the superstitious constriction of his throat: "Some
other unfortunate . . ." But still his flesh crawled
with dread; for he knew that voice; and It waa
the voice of one whom he had believed dead,
drowned fathoms deep In the sound, miles from
that spot.
"A woman," Barcus put in harshly.
"Judith." the gtrl moaned.
Alan shook himself together. "Impossible!" he
contended. "I saw ber go down . . ."
, "That doesn't prove she didn't come up," Barcus
commented acidly.
"Aheyl Meterbeat ahe-e-oyl Hslpl"
"And that." Barcus pursued sadly, "Just proves
uhe did come up blame the luck! Alive she is.
tind kicking: stand clear. An able-bodied pair of
lungs was back of that hail, my friend; and you
iBeedn't tell me I don't know the dulcet accents of
.that angelic contralto!"
, Without heeding him. Alan cupped hands to
rx.outh and sent an answering cry ringing through
the murk:
"Ahoy I Where are youf Where away,"
"Here en the reef -ha If -drowned perishing with
Jthlll "
' "How does my vote bear Alan called back.
"What the dickens do you care?" Barcus inter
polated auspiciously.
1 . ."To port," the response rang through the fog.
"Starboard your helm and com In elowlyl"
"Rlght-ot Half a minute!" Alan replied reas
suringly. "Like hell!" Mr. Barcus muttered In his throat
as be Jumped down into the engine-pit and bent
ver the fly-wheel.
Leaping on the forward thwart and balancing
ifclmeelf perilously sear the gunwale, Alan strained
'His vision vainly against the opacity et th fog.
"Can't make out anything." he grumbled, look
ing back. "8tart her up but slow's the word
and 'ware reef!"
"Nothing doing," Barcus retorted curtly. "The
motto Is now 'Full speed astern!' as you must
know."
"O come! We can't leave a woman out there
in a fix like that!"
"Can't we? Tou watch!" Barcus grunted male
volently, rocking the heavy fly-wheel with all his
might; for the motor had turned suddenly stub
born. "Alan!" Rose pleaded, laying a hand upon his
sleeve. "Think what it means! I know It sounds
heartless of me and It's my own sister. But you
know how mad she Is wild with hatred and Jeal
ousy. If you take her Into this bnnt, it's your life
or hers!"
"If we leave her out there," Alan retorted, shak
ing his arm Impatiently free, "it's her life on our
heads!"
At this Juncture the motor took charge of the
argument, ending It In summary fashion. With a
smart explosion In the cylinder, It started up un
expectedly, at one and tho same time almost dis
locating the arm of Mr, Barcus and precipitating
Alan overboard.
It was not given him to know what was hap
pening until he found himself In the water: he
struggled to the surface Just In time to see the
bows of the lifeboat back away and vanish Into
the mist.
II THE ISLAND.
Not more than twenty seconds could
elapsed before Barcus recovered from the
and Actually Got Time
of the motor's treachery sufficiently to reverse the
wheel, throttle down the carburettor and jump out
of the engine-pit.
But in that small space of time the lifeboat and
Alan Law had parted company as deflnltely as
though one of them had been levitated bodily to
the far side of the earth.
It could not have been more than a minute atter
the accident before Barcus was guiding the boat
over what, going on his sense of location and Judg
ment of distance, he could have sworn wss the
precise spot where Alan hsd disappeared, but with
out discovering a sign of him.
And for the next twenty minutes he divided his
attention between attempts to soothe and reassure
the half-dlstracted girl and efforts to educe a reply
from Alan by stentorian hailing with as little
success In the one as In the other.
"Alan!" he shrieked at the top of his lungs.
"Alsn! Give a hsll to tell us you're safe!"
There was a little pause: he was racking his
brains for some more moving mode of sppeal when
the answer came In another voice In the voice of
Judith Trine, clear, musical, effervescent with sar
donic humor:
"Be at peace, little one bleat no more! Mr.
Law Is with us and safe Oh, quite, quite safe!"
In dumb consternation Barcus sought the coun
tenance of Rose. Her eyes, meeting his. were
blank with despair. He shook his head helplessly
and let his hands dangle Idly between his knees.
With no wsy on her, the llfebost drifted with a
current of unknown set and strength.
"What can we do?" Rose Implored. "We must
do something. We csn't leave him ... Oh. when
I think of hlra there, in her hands, I could go
mad!"
"If only I knew," Barcus protested; "but my
hsnds are tied, my wits as helpless as my eyes
are blind. There's nothing to go by except the
bare possibility that the reef she spoke of may be
Norton's."
The girl wrung her hands. "But how could
Judith get there and with her men and ammuni
tion?" "Don't ask me. Going on my experience with
the lady. I'd be willing to bet that she was picked
up by the steamer that ran us down, and proceed
ed to make a prize of it or to try to. One thing's
certain: she must have found or stolen a boat from
somebody; they couldn't have made Norton's reef
by swimming It's too far. That's the answer:
they were picked up, stole ft boat, and piled It up
on the reef."
"And there's no hope!" "
"Only of the fog relenting. If we could make
the mainland and get help . . ."
His accents died away into a disconsolate si
lence that was unbroken tor upward et aa hour.
V I 7;h-ir,4f3 &4 "Well," She Demanded Brusquely, "How Much
. . '.' I ' A Longer Do You Thing I Am Going to Tolerate
r ' '" J : ' '' I Your Interference?"
So slowly the current bore the lifeboat toward
the beach, and so still the tide that Barcus never
sppreclated they were within touch of any land
until the bows grounded with a slight Jar and ft
grating sound.
With a cry of Incredulity he leaped to his feet
"Land, by all that's lucky!" and stooping, lent
a hand to the girl, aiding her to rise.
Hardly had Rose had time to comprehend what
had happened, when Barcus was over the side and
wrestling with the bows, dragging the boat far
ther up upon the shoals.
She was, however, more than one man could
manage;, and when her stem had bitten a little
more deeply Into the sands, Barcus gave over the
,hock bFjfi: hht V.fe
k? I U -
to Whisper a Word to Alan.
attempt and, lifting Rose down, set her on dry
land, then climbed back into the vessel, rummaged
out her anchor and cable, and carried them aBhore,
planting the former well up towards the foot of
the cliff.
And as he rose from this last labor he was half
blinded by the glare of the westering sun as It
broke through the fog.
In less than five minutes the miraculous com
monplace was an accomplished fact: the wind had
rolled the fog back like a scroll and sent it spin
ning far out to sea; while the shore on which the
two hsd landed was deluged with sunlight bright
and beautifully warm.
He showed a thoughtful and considerate coun
tenance to the girl.
"Tou're about all in?"
She nodded confirmation of this, which was no
more than simple truth. "Where arc we?" she
added.
He made her party to his own perplexity.
"Tou're not able to travel," he pursued, "bo
you mind being left alone while I take a turn up
the beach and have a look round? We can t be
far from some sort of civilization: even If It's
an Island,- there are no desert isles along this
coast. I'll find something soon enough, no fear."
And so, reiterating his promise to be gone no
longer than absolutely might be needful, he left
ber there.
Ill THI3 MORTAL TIDE.
She was very certain she would never sleep be
fore her anxiety was assuaged by word of Alan'a
fate; but she reckoned without her host of trials
that had bred in her a fatigue anodynous even to
her mental anguish.
It was not true, she told herself, that people
never die of broken hearts.
She knew that, were he taken from her, she
could no longer live. . . .
And sleep overwhelmed her suddenly, like ft
great, dark cloud. . . .
But Its dominion over her faculties was not of
long duration. Slowly, heavily, mutinously, she
was rescued from its nirvana came to her senses
with an effect of one who emerges from some vast
place of blackness and terror, to find Barcus kneel
ing over and gingerly but persistently shaking her
by the shoulder.
And then she sat up mith a cry of mystified
compassion: for In the brief time that he had
been absent It had not been more than an hour
Mr. Barcus had most unquestionably been se
verely used.
He had acquired ft long cut over one eye. but
ahallow, upon which blood had dried, together with
ft bruised and swollen cheek that was badly
scratched to boot And what simple articles ot
clothing remained to him, after his strenuous ex
periences of the last forty-eight hours, had been
reduced to even greater simplicity: his shirt, for
example, now lacked a sleeve that had been alto
gether torn away at the shoulder.
"No!" he told her, as soon as he saw her wits
were awake once more "don't waste time pitying
me. I'm all right and so Is Alan! That's the
main thing for you to understand: he's still alive
and sound "
"But where Is he? Take me to him!" she de
manded, rising with ft movement of such grace
and vigor that It seemed hard to believe she had
ever known an Instant's weariness.
"That's the rub," Barcus confessed, squatting
on the sands and knuckling his balr. "I dassent
take you to him. Judith might object. Besides,
you can see for yourself It isn't safe to mingle
with the Inhabitants of this tight little island
and you can't get to where Alan is without ming
ling considerably. Sit down, and I'll tell you all
about it, and we'll try to figure out what's best to
be done. Maybe we can manage a rescue under
cover of night."
And when the girl had settled herself beside him
he launched Into a detailed report.
"It's Katama island, all right." he announced:
"but a change has come over the place since I
visited it some years ago. Then It was a com
munity of simple-hearted villagers and fishermen;
now, unless all signs fail. It's a den of smugglers.
I noticed a number of Chinese about; and that,
taken in connection with the fact that, when I
ventured to introduce myself to the village gin
mill s-nd ask a few Innocent questions, the entire
population, to a child, landed on me like a thou
sand brick the two circumstances made me think
we'd stumbled on a settlement of earnest workers
at the gentle art of helping poor Chinamen evade
the exclusion laws."
With a wry smile, he pursued: "As for me. I
landed out back of the Joint, on the nape of my
neck, and took the count, surrounded by a lot of
unsympathetic boxes and barrels that had seen
better days.' And when I came to and started to
crawl unostentatiously away. I waa Just In time
to witness the landing of your amiable sister, that
gang of cut-throats she keeps on the pay roll, and
Alan, in company with as choice a crew of scoun
drels as you'd care to see. I gathered from a few
words that leaked out of the back door of the bar
room, that It was as I had thought: Judith had
stolen a boat from the ship that picked her up,
and rammed It on Norton's reef; and after she
gathered Alan In, the schooner of these smugglers
happened along, and she hailed It and struck a
bargain with the captain and signed co-partnership
articles, or something like that. Anyway, her
lot and the islanders were soon as thick as thieves,
and tanking up so sociably that I actually got a
chance to whisper a word to Alan and tell him you
were all right, and that he'd find us both down
here on the beach, If luck served him with sn
escape. That was all I got a chance to say, for
Judith marched up Just then and yanked him off to
his cell. I mean to say, he's locked up now In a
little stone hut on the edge of the cliff, with the
door guardeB and the window overlooking a sheer
drop of thirty feet or so to the beach. When I'd
seen that much, I calculated it was about time for
me to get quit of that neighborhood, before Mam'
selle Judith nicked me with the evil eye."
"You don't think she saw you?" the girl cried.
"I don't think so," Barcus allowed gravely; and
then, lifting his gaze, he added as he rose In a
bound: "I Just know she did thst's all!"
In another Instant he was battling might and
main with three willing ruffians, who hsd come
suddenly Into view round a shoulder of rock; but
his efforts were short-lived, foredoomed to failure.
He was weakened with suffeslng and fatigue and
the three were fresh and had the courage at least
of their numbers. He was overborne in a twink
ling, and had his face ground brutally into the
sand while his hands were made fast with stout
rope behind his back. And when he rose. It was
to find, aa he had anticipated, that Rose's resis
tance had been as futile as bis own; she, too, was
captive, her hands bound like his. the huge and
unclean paw of one of Judith's crew cruelly
clsmped upon her shoulders.
They were granted time to exchange no more
than one despairing glance when a curt laugh fair
ly chilled the blood In Mr. Barcus, and he swung
sharply between his two guards to confront Judith
Trine.
He was by no means poor-spirited, but he shrank
openly from the look she gave him, and was re
lieved when she, with ft sneer, passed him by and
planted herself squarely before her sister
"Well?" she demanded brusquely. "How mnch
longer do you think I'm going to tolerate your In
terference you poor little fool! How many more
lessons will you require before realizing that I
mean to have my way, and that you'll cross me
only to suffer for it?"
"80 you've tried again?" she Inquired obliquely,
with a tone of pity. "You've offered him your
love yet another time, have you?"
"Silence!" Judith cried In fury.
"Only to learn once more that he would rather
death than you?" Rose persisted, unflinching.
"And so you come to take your spite out on me,
do you? You pitiful thing! Do you think I mind
knowing ss I do know that he could never hold
you In anything but compassion and contempt?"
"You will see," she said in even and frigid ao
cents. And the light ot her mania leaped and
leaped again In her eyes like a living flame. "I
have prepared a way to make you understand what
opposition to me means . . ."
She waved a hand toward the nearer point of
rocks. "Take them along," she commanded.
The understanding between her and her men
was apparently complete; for these last, without
hesitation or further Instructions, marched Rose
and Barcus down to the end of the spit and on,
into the water.
It was nearly knee-deep before Barcus was hslt
ed with a ssvage Jerk, backed up to a rock, forced
despite his frenzied resistance to sit down In the
water, and swiftly, with half a dozen deft hitches
of rope and a staunch knot, made fast in that posi
tionsubmerged to his chest.
This accomplished, the men turned attention to
RoBe, lashing her in similar wise at Barcus' side.
Standing Just above the water-line, with every
sign of complete calm and sanity other than that
ominous flickering in her eyes, Judith superintend
ed the business till its conclusion, then waved the
men away.
Quietly, like well-trafned servants, they turned
their backs and marched off.
And again, after a brief wait, the woman laughed
her short and mirthless laugh.
"The tide will be high," she said, "precisely at
sunset. You may time your lives by that. When
the sun dips into the sea, then will your lives go
down with it."
She turned on her heel and strode swiftly away,
with not bo much as a backward glance, overtook
her men, and passed quickly from sight around the
further point of rocks.
Barcus noted that already the waters had risen
more than an inch.
Humbled even in his terror by that radiant calm
that dwelt upon her, he ventured diffidently: "Rose
Miss Trine"
She turned her head and found the heart to
smile. "Rose," she corrected gently.
"I'm sorry," he said which was not at all what
he had meant to say, "I've done my best. I sup
pose it's wrong to give up but they've made it too
much for me, this time."
"I know," she said gently.
"You," he stammered "you're not afraid?"
"There is nothing to fear," she said, "but
death." . . .
"Then," he said more bravely, after a time the
water now was near his chin "good-bye good
luck!"
"Not yet, dear friend," she returned, "not yet."
The water was now almost level with his lips;
It seemed strange that his throat could be so dry,
so parched . . .
He opened his eyes, shuddering.
"It's good-bye now," he faltered.
"Not yet!" her voice rang beside him, vibrant
"Look up there along the cliff!"
He lifted his gaze ...
Two men were running along the cliff and the
man in the lead was Alan. But his lead was very
scant, and the man who pursued waa one of
Judith's, and stuck to the trail like ft blood-hound
fresh from the leash.
And now the water waa at his lips: Baronf
could no more speak without strangling.
Of a. sudden he groaned In his heart; thongn
there was no possible way down the cliff, still the
sight of his friend alive and unharmed had brought
with It a thrill of hope; now that hope died as
he saw Alan stumble and go to his knees.
Before he could rise the other was upon him,
with the fury of a wolf seeking the throat ot ft
stag.
For an Instant they fought like madmen: then,
in a trice, the sky-line of the cliff was empty; one
or the other had tripped and fallen over the brink,
and falling had retained hold of his enemy and
carried him down as well.
By no chance, Barcus told himself, could either
escape uninjured.
Yet, to his amazement, he saw one man break
from the other's embrace, and rise. And he who
lay still, a crumpled, inhuman heap upon the
sands, wss Judith's man.
With a violent effort Barcus lifted his mouth
above water and shrieked.
"Alan! Alanl Hslpl Here at the end of the
point In the water help!"
A precious minute was lost before Alan discov
ered their two heads, so barely above that swiftly
rising flood.
Then he ran toward them as he hsd never run
"before, and as b came whipped out a Jack-knife
and freed its blade.
Even so since It was, of course. Rose whom
Alan freed the first Barcus was half-drowned be
fore Alan helped him In turn up to the beach.
And as this happened the last blood-red rim of
the sun was washed under by the waves.
Two minutes later the lifeboat was afloat, and
Mr. Barcus, already recovered, was laboring with
the flywheel of the motor, stimulated to supreme
exertion by the sight of a party, led by Judith,
racing madly down the beach.
But It was not until well out from shore and on
the way to the safety promised by the mainland
now readily discernible on the horizon that any
one ot them found time for speech.
Then Mr. Barcus straightened up from his as
siduous attentions to the motor, and observed:
"You bear a charmed life, ray adventuroua
friend. I want to tell you that when I saw you
go over that cliff I made up my mind your useful
ness would be at least permanently impaired. Aa
it Is, I don't mind telling you that If ever I get
out of thla affair alive, I'm going to have a try at
your life, myself, just once, for luck!"
To be continued
