LITMIR.BIZ

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Miss French’s mule, and the animal presumably knew the road. I did not care particularly whether or not Schneider were really coming. In any event, he would find himself too late.

      When at length the slow gray dawn stole over us, it found us struggling along the mountain trail through a steady rain. Everything was sodden and dismal. Either the path was slippery and dangerous, or it was slimy with mud and yet more dangerous. No beast but a mule could have negotiated that road through the dawn-darkness. Indeed, we came to one narrow place where one of O’Grady’s mules had slipped and slid from the edge; not so long before, either, since the tracks of the dismounted Jap were visible among the hoof-marks that went onward.

      There is nothing so lonely as a trail among desolate mountains in the pouring rain. These hills were desolate enough, too. Before the gray morning had fully come up, the path ahead of us was suddenly bisected by a tremendous flash of tawny color; a huge tiger had gone across the trail like a streak. Perhaps we had frightened him away from some kill made during the night.

      Now the trail become dangerous in the extreme, for it wound along a narrow shelf of rock that followed a hill shoulder for a mile or more. The rain and storm had brought down occasional falls of earth and rock; twice O’Grady’s men had been forced to chop a path through huge fallen trees. Once the mule ridden by Yu went clean over the edge with both hind feet, and only our line saved Yu, while he managed to pull up the poor brute after he was out of the saddle. Taken all in all, it was not a pleasant journey.

      We had reached the end of that narrow strip, thank fortune, when I made out somewhere ahead of us the very thing I had been half hoping and half dreading to see. It was the thin smoke of a fire trailing up through the rain, and as nearly as I could tell it was not very far distant. I pulled up at once, and pointed it out to Yu.

      “I thought they wouldn’t go on for ever, through this storm! Miss French has been on the trail since yesterday noon, and she’s had to give in. Now, she’s safe enough with O’Grady; it’s a question whether we can slip past them or not.”

      Yu shook his head in dissent, eyeing the smoke with puckered-up eyes. Then he took out a tiny sleeve-pipe, filled it with black native tobacco, and lighted it. He puffed for a moment until the little steel bowl was empty, and knocked it out.

      “You are both right and wrong, master. I think I know what lies ahead; it is a place of which the guides told me last night. There is a deep chasm in the earth, and they expected that the rain might wash away the rickety old bridge that spanned the gap. They told me, however, that a half mile to the right there is a place where a man may jump across. If O’Grady does not know about this, he may go in the other direction to find a passage. There is another bridge, but it is several miles away over the hill.”

      “But Miss French came this way during the night!” I objected.

      “Yes, master; and the bridge probably went down this morning with the rain. She may not know about the jumping-place. We may as well leave the mules here and go ahead on foot. They will follow us slowly.”

      In the light of Yu’s information, I assented, and we started cautiously forward, while the two animals slowly followed after us.

      Fortunately, from here on we had a straight and fairly open trail ahead, so that it was not difficult to see what waited us. I reckoned that we were not more than half an hour behind O’Grady, since he must have made slow progress along that bad stretch of trail.

      To right and left of us lay forest, and the dark shoulders of hills lifting into the gloomy sky. Directly ahead, and slightly below us, we could see a huge chasm or fault in the rock—a great rent thirty feet in width, which had been bridged by a bamboo suspension affair. This bridge now was gone.

      Near what had been the bridge-head, two Japs were hard at work finishing up a little brush shelter. Miss French, obviously, had given up here. She was sitting under a tree, near the mules. Since O’Grady and his three remaining men had vanished, we knew that they had left the girl here while he sought a way of crossing the rift in the rock.

      “Circle around to the left,” I told Yu. “When I get close, tell those fellows to put up their hands. No need of murdering ’em.”

      He nodded and darted in among the trees.

      I stole forward with some caution, but the sturdy little Japs were expecting no one and were working too hard to exert much of a lookout. When I was close enough to cover them with the rifle, I heard Yu’s voice ring out, and I ran forward openly. The Japs both started for the mules, but I put a bullet over their heads and they gave up. Yu came from his shelter and, pistol in hand, took charge of them.

      I turned to the girl. She was standing staring at me in blank amazement.

      “Good morning, Miss French!” I took off the wide woven hat as I spoke, and her eyes widened. “Yes, it’s the gentleman whom you were told last night was stark mad, but don’t be alarmed. My name’s Breck, and Mr. James Sze Kohler sent me up here to see your brother. O’Grady is a competitor, and rather caught me off guard last night. You were quite right in thinking that I did not have the opium pallor!”

      That fetched her, and a slight smile came to her lips. Yet she was incredulous, startled, uncertain of me.

      “You say—you come from Mr. Kohler?”

      “Yes, Miss French. Now, I beg you, accept the matter without further question. To tell you the truth, I have to reach Kiuling ahead of O’Grady, before he can impose on your brother. My purpose is to buy that lacquer formula. There’s another chap behind us, an agent of Dubonnet & Cie., and we’ve had quite a race of it from the coast. I’m ready to pay your brother whatever price he asks, and to secure his services in future on behalf of Kohler. But I must get ahead of O’Grady. Did he go to right or left?”

      A sudden laugh came to her lips.

      “You’re an American all right, Mr. Breck. Strict attention to business!” she exclaimed. “Why, Mr. O’Grady went to the left.”

      “Good! Then he’s missed the crossing,” I said delightedly. “There’s a place over to the right where the gap can be jumped. How far is it to Kiuling from here?”

      “About ten miles, I think.”

      At this I grimaced. Ten miles on foot, over these roads, through storm!

      “Well, it has to be done. O’Grady drugged my whole outfit last night, but my number one boy was suspicious, and escaped. He let me free after you had gone, and we followed. Now, if you’re not equal to the tramp ahead, I’ll leave Yu here with you. He’ll take good care of you—”

      “Wait a minute, please! Don’t be so breathless!” she begged, laughingly. All the while, she had been scrutinizing me closely, and had probably convinced herself of my honesty and sanity. “I only remained here because I knew it was miles over the hill to the next bridge, and that road circles back on the other side of the gorge. O’Grady is coming back here, rig up a line, and get me across, to save that long trip.”

      “Good for him,” I said. “He’s a generous foe, and no mistake! Well, then you want me to leave you here—”

      “Not at all! I’ll go with you.”

      I stared at her, dumfounded.

      “But, my dear girl! We’ll have to tramp on to Kiuling on foot, and you must be dead weary this minute.”

      “I’ve been asleep under this tree ever since O’Grady departed,” she said. “Besides, I’m quite equal to it, I assure you! And I would sooner be with you than alone here. And you can tell me all about your journey here and your race, as we go along.”

      Already I was thinking ahead. If O’Grady came back and heard from those two Japs what had happened, it would never do; I wanted to get to Kiuling first, and trap him. If he came back and found everyone gone, he would perforce have to go on to Kiuling at once, and a little anxiety over Miss French would do him good. Perhaps he would think that Schneider had come up, had brought her along, and had followed him the roundabout way to the other bridge.

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