The Indianapolis times. [volume], October 26, 1922, Home Edition, Page 8, Image 8

About The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965

Image provided by: Indiana State Library

                
8
% Flaming M
§ jewelJl
T W*~. b ROBERT W CHAMBERS
Q i QQCJ, GEORGB H. DORAiJ COMEAfW
SYNOPSIS
The savage fight for possession of the
priceless Flaming Jewel had twice brought
the beautiful
EVE STRAYER near death that day and
now the gem rested under her pillow m
the rough hunting camp In the Adiron
dacks.
The gem was first stolen from the
refuge#
COUNTESS OF ESTHON'IA by the great
international thief.
QCINTANA. and later stolen from Quin
tana by
MIKE CLINCH, who brought the gem to
America and hoarded it as the sole means
of giving Eve “the education of a
lady.”
Around Clinch’s Dump raged a murder
ous battle between rival factions. Clinch
and his men had sworn to wipe out Quin
tana's gang. Guarding Eve was the man
the loved.
STATE TROOPER STORMONT.
With Clinch was
TAMES DARRAGH. known as
HAL SMITH, who had sworn to restore the
gem to the beggared countess. In a fight.
Smith kills Salzar. one of Quintana's
gang, and then sets out for Clinch's cabin.
CHAPTER II
Before midnight Smith struck the
hard forest. Here there was no trail
at all, only spreading outcrop of rock
under dying leaves.
It may have been an hour later —
two hours, perhaps—when from far
ahead in the forest came a sound —
the faint clink of a shod heel on rock.
Salzar’s red bandanna was still wet.
but he tied it across his face, leaving
his oyes exposed. The dead man’s hat
fitted him. His own hat and the ex
tra torch he dropped into his basket
pack.
Ready, now, he moved swiftly for
ward, trailing his rifle. And very
soon It became plain to him that the
people ahead were moving without
much caution, evidently fearing no
mfriendly ear or eye in that sec
ion of the wilderness.
To keep in touch with them Smith
hastened his pace until he drew near
?nough to hear the low murmur of
their voices.
They were traveling in single file;
he had a glimpse of them against
the ghostly radiance ahead. Indeed,
so near had he approached that he
•ould hear the heavy, labored breath
ing of the last man in the file—some
aggard who dragged his feet, plod
ling on doggedly, panting, muttering.
Probably the man was Sard.
Already the forest in front was in
vaded by the misty radiance from the
iearing. Through the trees starlight
glimmered on water. The perfume
jt the open land grew in the night air
—the scent of dew-wet grass, the smell
if still water and sedgy shores.
Lying flat behind a rotting log. •
Smith could see them all now—
spectral shapes against the light.
There were five of them at the forest’s i
edge.
They seemed to know what was to |
be done and how to do it. Two went
down among the ferns and stunted
willows toward the west shore of the
pond two sheered off to the south
west shoulder deep in blackberry and
sumac. The fifth man waited for a
while, then ran down across the open
pasture.
Scarcely had he started when Smith
glided to the wood’s edge, crouched,
and looked down.
Below stood Clinch’s Dump, plain in
the starlight, every window dark. To
the west the bam loomed, huge with
its ramshackle outbuildings straggling
toward the lake.
Straight down the slope toward the
barn tan the fifth man of Quintana’s
gang, and disappeared among the out
buildings.
Smith crouched, listened, searched
•he starlight with intent eyes, and
waited.
Until something happened he could
not solve the problem before him. He
•ould be of no use to Eve Strayer and
to Stormont untfi he found out what
Quintana was going to do.
He could be of little use anyway
mless he got into the house, where
two rifles might hold out against five.
There was no use in trying to get
;o Ghost Lake for assistance. He
felt that whatever was about to
happen would come with a rush. It
would be all over before he had gone
five minutes. No: the only thing to do
was to stay where he was.
A slight sound from one of the out
houses—a sort of wagon shed—at
tracted his attention. Through the
frost-blighted rag weeds he peered In
tently, listening.
After a few moments a faint glow
appeared in the shed. There was a
crackling noise. The glow grew pinker.
CHAPTER 111
Inside Clinch’s house Eve awoke
with a start. Her ears were filled
with a strange, rushing, crackling
noise. A rosy glare danced and shook
outside her windows.
The girl tore open her bedroom
door. “Jaekl” she cried in a terrified
voice. ‘‘The barn’s on fire”’
"Good God;’’ he said, “ —my horse”’
He had already sprung from his
chair outside her door. Now he ran
downstairs, and she heard bolt and
chain clash at the kitchen door and
Itls spurred boots land on the porch.
“Oh,” she whimpered, snatching a
blanket wrapper from a peg and strug
gling into It. "Oh, the poor horse!
Jack! Jack! I’m coming to help!
Lcn’t risk yqur life! I’m coming—I’m
coming—”
Terror clutched her as she stumbled
downstairs on bandaged feet.
As she reached the door a great
flare of light almost blinded her.
"Jack!”
And at the same instant she saw
him struggling with three masked
men in the glare of the wagon-shed
afire.
His rifle stood in the corridor out
side her door. With one bound she
was on the stairs again. There came
ht> crash and splinter of wood and
glass from the kitchen, and a man
with a handkerchief over his face
caught her on the landing.
Twice she wrenched herself loose
and her fingers almost touched Stor
mont’s rifle; she fought like a cor
nered lynx, tore the handkerchief
from her assailant’s face, recognized
Quintana, hurled her very bodily at
him eyes flaming, small teeth bared.
Two other men laid hold. In an
other moment she had tripped Quin
tana. and all four fell, rolling over
m*l over down the short flight of
stairs, landing In the kitchen, still
righting.
Here. In darkness, she wriggled out.
-omehow. leaving her blanket
wrapped in their clutches. In an
other instant she was up the stairs
'gain, only to discover that the rifle
vas gone.
Tt fi red glare from the wagon
house lighted her bedroom; she sprang
inside and bolted the door.
Her chamois jacket with its loops
full of cartridges hung on a peg. She
got Into it, seized her rifle and ran
to the window just as two masked
men, pushing Stormont before them,
entered the house by the kitchen door.
SHE SPRANG INSIDE AND
BOLTED THE DOOR.
Her own door was resounding with
kicks and blows, shaking, shivering
under the furious impact of boot and
rifle butt.
She ran to the bed, thrust her hand
under the pillow, pulled out the case
containing the Flaming Jewel, and
placed It in the breast pocket of her
shooting jacket.
The blows upon her bedroom door
had ceased; there came a loud tramp
ling, the sound of excited voices;
Quintana's sarcastic tones.
Then Stormont’s voice, clear and
quiet: “What are you doing here? If
you’ve a quarrel with Clinch, he’s not
here. There’s only a young girl in
this hofise.’’
“I know thees packet is concel in
thees house. Peaceably, if possible, I
would recover my property * • • If
she refuse—"
Another pause.
“Well?” inquired Stormont, coolly.
“Ah! It Is ver’ painful to say. Alas,
Senor Gendarme. I mus’ have my prop
erty * * * If she refttse. then I mus'
sever one of her pretty fingers • * *
An’ if she will refuse —I sever her
pretty fingers, one by one. until —”
“You know what would happen to
you?" interrupted Stormont, in a
voice that quivered in spite of him
self.
“I take my chance. Senor Gen
darme. she is within that room. If
jcu are her frien’, you shall advise
her to return to me my property.”
After another silence:
“Eve:” he called sharply.
She placed her lips to the door:
“Yes. Jack."
He said: "There are five masked
men out here who say that Clinch
robbed them and they are here to re
cover their property • • • Do you
know anything about this?”
“I know they lie. My father is
not a thief * • • I have my rifle and
1 ienty of ammunition. I shall kill
every man who enters this room.”
For a moment nobody stirred or
spoke. Then Quintana strode to the
bolted door and struck it with the
butt of his rifle.
“You, in there,” he said in a men
i aeing voice. “ —you listen once to me!
| You open your door and come out.
I I give you one minute!” He struck
' the door again: “One minute.
; renorita!—or T opt from your frien’,
here, the hand from his right arm!’’
There was a deathly silence. Then
j the sound of bolts. The door opened.
! Slowly the girl limped forward, still
j wearing the hunting jacket over her
night-dress.
(To Be Continued)
WHEAT CROP LOWER
1922 Yield Fails to Reach Mark of
Last Year in Europe.
ROME. Oct. 26. —It is certain that
this year’s wheat crop from all
EuropeUapart from Russia, whence no
trustworthy data are yet to hand) is
decidedly less than that of 1921. As
regards those European States which
have already furnished particulars,
the Statistical Bureau of the Interna
tional Institute of Agriculture esti
mates the decrease in yield, as com
pared with 1921, at 13 per cent. It is
also announced that the yield of
breadstuffs (wheat, rye and meteil) in
Prussia shows a decline of 21.6 per
cent and that thrashing results in
France indicate that the production of
cereals is that of 1921 and in
some districts under the average.
Poor results are manifest also in
North Africa, where Algeria, Egypt.
Morocco and Tunis have wheat crops
amounting to 68 per cent of last
year’s.
The good returns of India, Canada
and the United States have provided
42.8 million metric tons of wheat this
season, or 17 per cent over those k>f
1921.
CHRIST'S SHADOW
Outline Appears on Slab Under Dif
ferent Light Conditions.
WILKESBARRE, Pa, Oct. 26.
The outline of a figure representative
of Christ appears on a slab of marble
just above the tabernacle of St. Mary’s
< 'atholic Church of this city.
Thousands of people have declared
it a miracle.
The Rev. J. J. Curran, rector and
his assistant priests, however, say the
figure to be merely a shadow caused
by refraction of light beams.
Marble experts will be called by
the rector to discover what effect rays
of light have on the slab of marble at
certain angles.
The figure can be se#n at all times,
but best when clouds obscure the sun’s
direct rays. It appears in a part df
a marble canopy just aliove the tab
ernaele. The form of Christ, as de
picted in the paintings of the great
painters is plainly visible. The head
and body, the latter clothed in the
robes made famous by the artists, is
discernible front nearly every part of
the big edifice.
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UP THE MAYOR- 1
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TITE Os J) HOME TOWN—Bv STANLEY
THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES
The Times Fun Family
THEM DAYS IS GONE FOREVER—Start This On Your Sax; phone—By AL POSEN
FRECKIiES AND HIS FRIENDS—By BLOSSER
OUR BOARDING HOUSE—Bv AHERN
OCT. 2G, 1922