OUR SERIAL The Diamond Trail

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume XXIV, 29 April 1929, Page 8

OUR SERIAL The Diamond Trail

By

OTTWELL BINNS,

Author of

“Java Jack,” “The Drums of Doom,” “Ringing Sands,” etc.

CHAPTER Xlll—(Continued). “ Oh, m’sieur, it is Pedro! ” Dudley Langdon remembered the name as one of the men who had been responsible for her abduction, and looked at her swiftly. “Are you sure, Mimi?” “ How can I be mistaken, m’sieur ? Oh, quick. Let us hide. The others may be near, you comprehend?” “ But Sandy ” “ M’sieur, he has the rifle, we have none. And sick as you are, you cannot fight that man there. He is a tiger, and the Indians will ” “ You’re right, of course, Mimi. There’s nothing for it but to take to the trees. Come, let us go. That man has seen us, so we can go in open flight ” He turned as he spoke, and stepping quickly to his side, ti»e girl gave him an arm. “ Hola 1 Hola! ” ■ Pedro’s voice hailing them came up the waterway, but they' ignored the summons and slipped under the hanging lianas, between the trunks, into the shelter of the forest. In less than a minute they were out of sight of the creek, and in two minutes deep in the shaded recesses of the forest. From the creek came the sound of Pedro’s voice in objurgation, urging the Indians forward, and the girl in fear pressed Langdon on.

“ You do not know the man, m’sieur. He is capable of any evil. And the others, Philibert and the woman ” In her fear she pressed Langdon beyond his strength. His foot caught a trailing creeper and, tripping, he crashed to the ground. Mimi cried out in contrition: “ Oh. I have hurt ” “ No 1 ” he answered, his face twisted with the pain of the fall. It is nothing.” He tried to rise, and, in his weakness, slipped down again. In an instant, with a little cry of concern, the girl stooped over him and began to lift him. He was amazed by her strength, but more amazed at the infinite concern for him which her eyes betrayed; and as he stood on his feet, dizzy, clinging to her, with her arms about him, supporting him, he felt again the subtle call of her beauty, enhanced by her apprehension for him. Momentarily he forgot all things else, and spoke whisperingly, as he had done on the creek bank: “ Mimi 1 ” Her eyes, dark, mysterious as the forest itself, looked straight into his own for one moment. Then a burning light blazed in them, and a second later was dimmed by brimming tears. “ Ah—mon cher 1 ” Her whispered answer thrilled him quite as much as the embrace of her strong young arms. Taller than she by a head, he stooped towards her, and for a second their lips met; then the bliss was broken in by’ the sound of Pedro’s voice: “ Drive her, you fools.”

“He comes,” whispered the girl, swiftly withdrawing from his embrace. “ Quick, m’sieur ” “Msieur, Muni! That’s no way “ Then quick, my dear one 1 If Pedro finds us, we are helpless.” She took his arm and put it round her shoulders. “ I am strong. Lean hard, mon cher.” They moved forward again, with Pedros voice behind them shouting directions to his Indians. " He has landed,” whispered the girl. “He comes to seek us. Oh, hurry’ Making the best speed they could, they reached a place where at some time or another human hands had made a clearing, and Langdon guessed that an Indian village had stood there, of which now not a vestige remained. Young trees were sprouting in the open place, and the trees on the outskirts of it, dying in the clutch of vines that sucked or choked their life, bathed in sunshine, were a very riot of bloom. There an orchid, like a cascade of fire, fell in a long stream from one of the high trees; here a living rope of green broke into a single flower that might have been a bird perched on it, but was not; and where a score of butterflies seemed to have gathered was really a patch of white blooms flecked with gold. In this open place, with the hot sun streaming down, life mimicked life with marvellous fidelity, and beauty was everywhere. But as for a moment they halted, Langdon’s eyes saw nothing of the beauty that hung from the trees and flamed in such a riot of colour. His eyes, fixed on the girl at his side, beheld beauty that outshone all that the open glade could offer.

Her dark eyes were swimming with love. The flush of love was in her cheeks, her bosom heaved with the tumult it occasioned. He himself was glowing with passion, and in that momentary halt he recalled the shadow that had been between them, but which, in the revelation that had come to them, had withdrawn. A sharp fear of its return assailed him, and a desire to remove that which had given it being surged in him. Henry de Faramond —far away in Paris, as he conceived him to be—was in that hour no more than a shade; the horrors he had suffered light, since they had led to this golden moment. He had perhaps little enough to offer Mimi for her love; but on 3 sacrifice he could make, and with Pe.lro shouting to his Indians in the w.rfxl behind them, he made it. ' That promise you sought, Mimi—ab t Henr de Faramond, I mean ” 7he name as he spoke it, seemed to w ■ the gladness from her eyes. Her

face paled in a way that shocked him, and he felt her shiver under his arm. “Oh, mon cher! ” she cried in an anguished whisper. “You have it, Mimi. I give it you. Henri de Faramond can go hang for me. I’ll never lay a finger on him — now.” “Beloved I ” The blood surged in her face again, the light came back into her eyes, she reached up and kissed him, then whispered : “If you only knew ” He guessed again some mystery, and was conscious of a stir of curiosity, but repressed it resolutely. “I don’t want to know. It is enough that you desire the promise ” A shout away to the right broke on the words. The girl started forward. “Come! Pedro follows. We must hide.” They crossed the clearing, reached the trees on the farther side, and had just plunged into the shadows when the harsh crang! of a rifle shattered the. forest stillness. The parrots in the tree-tops screamed, near at hand a frightened chattering of monkeys broke out, and through all came Sandy Muir’s voice roaring with passion: “Ye domned scut 1 ” Another rifle cracked, a clamour of voices followed, and in acute apprehension Mimi clung to her lover, who listened intently, trying by sound to follow the drama that was hidden from his eyes. In the confusion he caught a sharp order, and explained to the girl : “That man—Pedro—is running back to the creek. He calls his Indians.” Again a rifle cracked, and the girl shuddered, whilst Langdon himself was shaken by apprehension for his friend. Then came reassurance. “Coo-e-e-e! Dudley.”

“Coo-e-e-e 1 ” answered Langdon joyfully. and looked at Mimi. “All’s well I Come, let us return to the camp. That Pedro has gone.” They -began the return. But a few minutes had elapsed since the canoe had surprised them as they stood by the creek; but for each of them the face of the world had changed, and the stream of life had taken a turn round which it could never go back. With his arm about her shoulder, they re-crossed the clearing, and entered the w’ood running down towards the creek. Sandy Muir's Coo-e-e-e reached them again, and Langdon answered cheerfully: “Coo-e-e-e! ” “We come, Sandy!” cried the girl. Between the trees and the clinging lianas they caught the gleam of the water. In a minute, two at the most, they would reach the open bank, where apparently the Scot awaited them, and Langdon made a snatch at momentary joy. Halting, his arm still about her, he drew her to him to kiss her. Mimi laughed gaily and gave him willing lips. Then from a little distance away came Sandy’s voice: “Verra interesting, I’m sure.” The girl broke from her lover’s arms so swiftly that in his weakness he came near to falling, and then as quickly, with a little cry of concern, she leaped back to support him, and though her face was scarlet and her dark eyes full of shy confusion, she faced Sandy with laughter on her lips. The Scot, with complete understanding, grinned broadly, but otherwise ignored what he had seen. “Scared almost to death, I was, when I saw yon man an’ his two niggers runnin’ about and shouting after ye ——” “Where is he?” interrupted Langdon quickly. “Paddling down stream for his life. If I knew who he was ” “It was Pedro—the comrade of Philibert,” cried Mimi. “Ye never say!” The Scot nodded thoughtfully. “I more than half suspeecioned he was one o’ that crowd; an’ his coming here means that he was looking for us.” “I’m afraid it does,” .agreed Langdon. “And it means more; it means that he has found us.”

“Ye'll be thinkin' he’s gone to carry the news to the rest o' that crowd.” “A sure thing, I should say.” “And if they come —Filbert’ll sure be in a tearing rage.” The Scot considered. “There’s three or four of them —an’ we count one rifle, an’ no more, for I was fool enough to leave Filbert's guns against the shack wall for him to find in the morning, though I had meant to bring ’em along. It's verra long odds, one rifle against three—an’ they’ll shoot. That scallywag fired at me on sight.” “You think we had better move on, Sandy.” “Weel now’, laddie, it’s for ye to choose. There's a thing ye don’t know, an’ that I didn’t know’ till Mimi here told md the morning ye came out of the fever. Ye’ll be safe enough wi’ them sweeps——” “What do you mean?” Sandy explained. “There’s some chum of yours back in Cayenne who is to pay them a big reward if they deliver ye to him alive ” “But who can that be?” asked Langdon sharply. “An American,” answered Mimi quickly. “Harborough 1 ” cried Langdon excitedly. “Maybe, I dinna ken! But from what Mimi says, ye’ll be safe wi’ them. ’Twas I made a mistake in thinkin’ they meant to deliver ye back to that Heil of a prison. But they’ll no hurt ye, an’ Mimi here—— “Sandy, you forget Philibert! ” “Aye, so I do. He has pretensions to the lassie’s hand ” (To be continued).