LADY LIL.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 183, 2 August 1913, Page 19

LADY LIL.

IBSSATIONAIi STORY OF A \ SOCIETY BEAUTS".

45E0aaSfCE OF LOVE AND THE (gALVATION ARMY. **

•(Bj; .ARTHUR APPLLN.)

Uflhor of "The Chorus Girl," "The Girl yflo Saver Eis Honour," "The Stage Door" etc. etc. XXXTV.— (Continued.) wrien ther camped the next sight S_yL told LU that they were within a __ac of the village. morning, before sunri-e, T -r.H iro on by myself. If I'm not misfintl Bholm, Sir Rupert, Sfkloidiers already there. If "J £f„ late-well, you'll find evidence SSftEwd you' It may be suffi•Z It certainly will be when you C1 „!t vonT husband again and question v T shall not be gone more than half T'hoxa The men" won't know. You j_|,fbe afraid of being left alone?"" '™ " shall not be afraid to be left— alone," ..,._._ • __ Sleep did not come to Lil that night. o,_ lav awake hour after hour, listening vine erea-t silence, broken at intervals | the crash oi falling branches the shriek of a bird, or the cry of a beast. It-was jnst tne • noUT before dawi * that ler eyes closed and sleep came When de awoke it was with a start. She tacied someone had called to her. She listened. She heard the chattering of ___ niggers. Their voices were raised Eke. the voices of frightened children. ,__ o ____g up her rifle, she left her tenL The stm was pouring down, a burning etrea-nof golden light, through the open_m,i_ the forest where they had camped, gave for {he sounds of the forest awaken- ;_,. and the frightened chattering of the Wo-ves, she could hear nothing. \et it ee-raed as if the niggers, all huddled together, had heard a sound which filled them "with a-t-dety. lil -trained her eaTS. the men cowering in the distance. Faintly on the wet, chilly air she heard a queer cry, almost Uke -the distant howling of a dog. It rose and fell; it came again, then flied away. Suddenly the breaking of twigs, the rustling of leaves—and Joe Savage came into view. His eyes protruded. The sweat was pouring down his face. He held himself almost erect— his starture had increased. He took no notice of the niggers whe scattered before him. He strode straight up to Ifl and seized her arm. He spoke one word. It came in a deep, animal like snarl: — •'d-mef* Without waiting for a reply he com meneed to drag her along, through th; eword-like grass into the steam-mr" jungle. He co-anM-tced to run, holding bei tightly. They Stumbled, tbey fell. Thi queer sounds she had heard increased h volume.. Louder and louder. T!:eEilenced aD. other sounds—the sounds o a-wake__fc_g life in tbe forest. They rose and increased in intensity No longer rthe howlh-g of a dog, but thi terrified howling of human beings Shrieks from women' 6 throats, groan: echoing from men. Su_de__y-_hey broke through the densi foliage and came to a large open spaci of ground. Away in the distance blui ■rater gleamed in the -nmshdne. On thi crirgTit. (the forest ttrowned agaiin, ,_nc alongside it Lil sa-_? a row of broken -niserahle huts. Savage drew her back and forced he down, under the shelter od' _-„mc scrub. As their eyes grew accastomed to tli light she saw what was happening. Sh 6aw in __"hou-!tte against the dark greei farest- the black bodies of Ted-fezet soldiers. She saw -running to and frc mattering and shouting like a madman a -white man; and standing not a hun dred yards away, with his back to hei Kipert, her husband. She sanv these things in a- flash, as one sees a cinenratograph picture which appears and disappears on the screen almost before one realises it. what remained, and -what she saw— though she tried to drag her eyes from the. Bight—was a queer, ludicrous, black thing rolling over and over on the Brass, -wri-fting in circles like a top that las almost finished spinning. She knew what it was, though her uraincould not grasp the whole hideous arreneat first. .She just saw without i____d_tg. It was--; man, a native, a Congo nig-" ger. lAa. <_U1 ______ who had not been able to escape-with the others. Standing over JHrfo-koVing Mm as be gyrated, were W hmnense -black soldiers'. Each held ni Ms lands a whip made of rhinoceros ™c. The hide was an inch thick, smooth ,n w- deai - ye * ™ th sw *°rd-like edge- 3 - Wifch these dreadful weapons the sol•aiens -were -whipping the black creature, wo at each Mow gyrated like a top at lil could bear each dull, deadly blow. It was just as if they were -whipping a-hmnaa top. And no sound came from *«» creature .who rolled and twisted to ant - fi' o in the bkod-s-ained grass. It other villagers 'waiting for their -who howled their fear into ™c 'heeiJlesß jungle. J^-4 tlle "white man running fiercely to ___■__"*» Bholm, was muttering and and shrieking as he ran: — Ahimdred chicotte!" __2*j! ODoe -***- 1 aaw the man g-" 11 b\a '3 hut a M_ w sent him ro ir___g down. omm -tr? 11 * lfa back > the ' wh -T a cut hha ■toT-i He Tolled ov er, and the raw hide tore Mm _^ Atlast nothing was left—just a queen, of red rags. _Sfl 7. 6tffl Watched - She was pariSgi. Sh -- was hypnotised. Her mouth triM+ PM ' io vS" O pr-otruded. She __Sj__! clos *" Iler eve6 > bu * *be lids re*ettto move. She felt the perspiration flßrT B . i™" 1 heThodv - She tried to cry 4,. to s fage to take her away, -to kill • -But no words came. . "c saw the-man Bholm stretch out.his *[&_f- give an order. Two soldiers _T? """Ward and picked up another -ftmfi Creatn -"-- itOTa ' Lhe ground—a girl, 2S wf aB Lil hereelf - They mil- _T er for ward to a stake pro- _~£? ft ™ the ground. The;- lifted Pointed wood—the quiverS.WMk hody-ehe heard one ghastly iesp>tio S3,Vr tlu - rhinocerous iwhip .^^V^ 11 - She heard the siclcening •Z«V g I(rader and louder. SloyL eBSW ihß %we of her husband $££? the nightmarsh scene. His JP&?«w larger and laTger, unifl it the mighty forest, -the Was Mtita S in aB tha ' MmtZ u-.i great fi?" l9 «* hua- ..' *-' **_._.__

Savage had lifted her on to his hump- ti ed shoulders and was -running with her a. through the forest. Running like a mad, S hunted crearture. Fighting -file vines and 81 the tendrils and the-creeping- flowers that blocked hi 6 way. Just running from the S cries of the tortured and the shrieks of those waiting to .be tortured. o Terror had seized him, terror of what vi be had done. And he w-ondered as he tran blindly forward whether the burden -3 he carried were dead or alive. For he had shown her the Unspeak- S able. Tbe sight of which kills those who p See. f, CHAPTER XXXV. I When Joe Savage reached the open tspace of ground where they had camped -n the previous night he found that the natives had all disappeared. He was not *• surprised, though he had not given them c a thought. Instinct had brought him c back to camp. p He laid Lil on the ground and stood beside her, leaning against a tree breath- b ing heavily, straining his ears to hear n any sound that the wind brought. Yet s he dreaded what he might he_.r. p And .there came and went like the ebb -v and flow of the sea a faint, uncanny s howling, and the everlasting warfare of a tbe forest. As soon as Savage had got his breath s he walked round the camp. The porters a had gone, leaving provisions and equip- t ment scattered about the ground. He t searched until he found some tobacco, I and sitting down he lit a pipe and wait- f cd. They might return. If they did t not, and if Sir Rupert, with Bholm and his party returning, found Lady Lil, c the end would not be far off. If tbey i caught him alive 'they would tie him up t and treat him as the3 r had been treating 1 the miserable niggers in the village. c Savage crawled along the grass, and ,1 picking up his rifle, which he had left in camp, examined it. Those fiends f should not take Lil or himself alive. t Half an hour passed, but still Lady Lil showed no signs of returning con- t sciousness. Leaving her where she lay, 1 he plunged into the forest. The only I chance of escape was to find his porters, 1 bring them to the ca-mp, load them up, and tramp by forced marches back to ; Yandjali. An -hour passed, and be had collected i four men. He found them hiding in the ' tangled undergrowth. He persuaded " them back to camp —with the butt-end of his rifle. There was no other way to treat them now. A rough litter was made for Lady Lil. In this the men carried her. Savage and the other two natives loaded themselves with as much of : the stores and ammunition and camp equipment as they could carry. i When the man heard Savage say "Yandjali,"' and point a-way through the forest westward, they started ■£. at a smart trot. And soon they were murmuring and chattering again. All that day tbey travelled witb only one pause -for rest and refreshment. When night came Savage slept outside the rude hnt they had raised for Lil composed of leaves and twigs and grasses. Soon after dawn they were on their way again. A little later one of the porters fell lame*, a thorn had entered his foot. Savage had no option but to leave him behind to shift for himself and follow as beet be could. But he made him swear in the event of Sir Rupert Roper overtaking him not to divulge what had happened, not so much as to speak of the white woman who had accompanied them. If be did they would surely kill him. And now "they had to discard still more of their provisions. On the third day Savage knew he was racing death. For unless they reached Y'andjali within fourteen hours they would be unable to proceed for want of food and water. He had forced the porters forward with blows- And he did not spare himself. His stunted, deformed figure seemed possessed of almost superhuman strength. He was terrible, this small, hump-backed man. 'When he spoke his voice cut like tbe awful rhinoceros hide At "times his face was demoniacal. '"Yandjali, Yandjali!" was the cry for ever on his lips. Lips cut and parched and baking. He refused to drink so that Lil might not lade water whenever she cried for it Fever had seized her, and water was the one .thing she craved night -nd day. It was the only word she spoke. Someimes she lay on her back staring up ito the green gloom. Savage knew that rer eyes saw nothing, understood nohing." When he spoke she did not hear. And a voice, echoed mockingly in his ars: "This is your Tevenge. The man scapes, the woman pays!" Was it not always so in life? The fourth morning, soon after midLay, the track they followed broadened mt, the forest cleared a little, and Savtge knew tbey -were safe. They had cached Yandjali. He called a halt, and vent ahead by himself until he saw the untight gleaming on .Raemboldt's house tnd the mission buildings and the hostige house. He sat down in the green ihadows, srtaring across the fiery, burn- j ng space of ground. Lady Lil was safe! No matter what laembold't discovered, she would be iafe—until her husband arrived. She vould not be safe then any longer. Even 'he mission could not protect her from ier husband. She was his lawful wife; ie would have right and might on his iide. Raemboldt and the red-fezed soldiers! _tra-e laughed aloud, and his laughter H-hoed mockingly from the green dome tbove him. Raemboldt would know where be had raken Lady Lil, and why. He would tell Eloper. And RopeT, remembering everything now, once again his old primeval self, half-man, half-fiend, would take him .nt, back into the jungle, and shoot him ike a dog, or leave him to the mercy of Raemboldt's cannibal soldiers. No, be could not take Lady Lil to STandjali, to 'Raemboldt and the mission, -o wait for the coming -of her husband. Presently, as be stood there, sucking xn empty pipe and starring at the hot sky-line, he saw a tiny wreath of black smoke drift across the blue. Then lie heard the faint shrill -whistle of a steamboat. A steamer going down to Y'andjali, perharps en route for Leopoldville. Rising from the ground Savage crept back into "the forest. He found the porters stretched out in the 6crub fast asleep. He lacked them up, and placing them in front of him, hoTding his rifle under his arm, he -talked to them in . the native dialect, giving "lliem instructions. They would be rewarded, or they would be whipped, raccoTding to the way his instructions -were carried out. Then he knelt beside Lady Lil and told her what he was going to do. She listened, but said no word. He wondered if she had heard, if she -tmdersto-od. An hour later they moved out of the forest into the burning sunshine. Raemboldt would probably be having his afternoron. 6leep. iWith hick the soldiers might bo sleeping too. Anyway, if they did not a-warken 'Raemrbol-dt, Savage knew heis* t-o deal "wSh •Eh-in, Ho did rttoi folic-*'-*'-Ehe l-eaten road now, .rat. -made, a circuitous, route "_owa_-ds the -ri-«s___. J 2_er«____e

-the wharf. The steamer was lying angside, smoke issuing _*rom her funnel, ie had loaded, and was just ready to art for Leopoldville. Telling the bearers to lower the litter, vage forced Lil to get out and walk The captain of the boart was a Belgiancourse, a pleasant enough man, and ill-ing to do anything he was a-sked in ason—if he saw a chance of being ell paid. He would be well paid for carrying r Rupert Roper's wife d'o-wn to Leoildville. She had had a bad attack of ver, Savage explained; she wanted to r*t to rMaitadi, and there find a boat to .ke her hack to Europe. One of the amen from tbe miißeion at Yandjai ould accompany her. He had already sent one of the porters ith a letter to a woman whom he knew mid be trusted. He warned her to ime at once, without making any prewa.tions or saying a word to anyone. An hour later the boat sailed. Her ill clanged noisily as she roiled into id-ts-ream; her smoke blackened tbe :y for a few moments. Then she went rifting her way down the green-gold aters. Away from the forests and vamps towards Leopoldville, Matadi, id the open sea. Nearly eight weeks later, as tbe sun it blood-red in the west over London, nd a 'thin, yellow fog hovered above ie great houses and drifted dismally ■rough the streets, -the boat train from over crawled into Charring Cross staon aud disgorged its passengers on to ie platform. From a first-class compartment an derly woman alighted, quietly dressed i black. Her face looked tired, with ghtly-stretched, wrinkled skin. She j elped a tall fair-haired girl out of the | -mpartmen't. There followed a humpedicked man, with a bronzed face. Lady Lilian Roper. Joe Savage, and the ■male companion who had accompanied lem from Yandjai. 'Peter Allen stepped forward to greet .em -with a glad cry. He seized Lady ril's hands, then stopped when he saw er face. The colour left his cheeks. He ►oked inquiringly at Savage. "Where is she going? What have you rranged?" the latter said. There wras a moment's silence. Ill's omparnion disappeared into the crowd ■ith a porter, and commenced to collect he luggage. Keeping Lady Lil's hand a his, Allen led her towards a waiting _otor-crarr. "Home," he said shortly. Savage waited on the platform, saw he luggage put on to the roof of the uotor, then shut the door. "Bronnington Gardens," he-said to the hauffeur. "Aren't you coming?" Allen whispered, caning out of the window. Lady Lil "took no notice. She was as mc in a dream. The awakening had not ome yet. Savage shook his head. He looked traigbt into the honest eyes of Peter Vllen. "She's safe with you. Ask no quesions. Just take care of her. She's safe vitb you until Sir Rupert Roper's re.urn." "He will return, then?" Savage nodded, and once again "the old rroaking laugh escaped his lips, like the -icious bark of a dog. "Oh, yes, hell return. And I wall be here to meet him. Take.care of her mtil then, Mr. Allen." He raised his hand, and the car leapt orward and rolled out of the station. Savage walked slowly along, down .baring Cross, until he reached the corler facing Trafalgar Square. Then he nounted an omnibus which took him to Pimlico, to his own home, where Naomi Javage, hds mother, was -waiting for him. (To Be continued daily.')