Frank Owen

“ I see before me a clearing in the great, impenetrable African forest about five hundred miles inland from Mombasa. It is noonday, but it is almost as dark as night. Overhead the foliage, creepers and branches unite to form a natural roof of verdure. The forest is uncanny and filled with weird, fearsome noises. The buzzing of millions of insects, the Satanic screeching of countless flesh-eating animals, and the hissing of venomous, poisonous snakes gliding stealthily through the grass on their unholy errands of death—these are the sounds which haunt the heart of the jungle. ”

“ Anniston flushed, and rose to his feet. "I thank you for your offer from the bottom of my heart," he murmured softly, "and have already chosen."
"You have?" ejaculated Menehem Sorcha in great surprise. "Which is your choice?"
For a moment the American hesitated, then he said softly, "I choose Berenice, the finest jewel of all."
The old man seemed dazed by Anniston's reply and for a few seconds he gazed silently from one to the other. In both of their eyes he read the same plea—love. Where love reigns, fathers should not interfere. ”

“ Down in Zanzibar, from the balcony of the European Club, one lone man stood silently watching the sun set over the distant maze of gnarled and matted forest. Nine hours of darkness, and a new day would dawn. The world would slowly take up its endless duties as it had done for countless ages. On and on the days would go, but they would go without Coningsby. ”

“ Far in the distance, the faint, mist-covered hills of Kishm were dimly discernible above the fierce, fiery gleam of the Persian Gulf. Here and there stately sycamores, larches and oleanders swayed gently in the breeze. Patches of poppies, irises and carnations gave exquisite coloring to the picture. Beneath the cool, inviting shade of bushy palms flowed a tiny natural rivulet upon which a gondola gently glided, the gondoliers swaying rythmatically with one accord. ”

“ But her beauty was physical, not mental; it was rather of the face and body than the soul. She was one of those women incapable of love for love's sake; not a lover of men but of wealth and riches. From a man's first entrance into the world till the day of his death, he keeps moulding in his own mind the ideal woman as a sculptor might mould the plaster caste which precedes the finished statue. Ever and anon, he keeps changing his ideal as the days speed by, perchance making her older, gayer or sadder as his moods and ideas develop and grow more mature. ”

“ As she lay there, tortured by a mental anguish which she could scarcely bear, the words Jerold Wharton had used on that never-to-be-forgotten night at the Waddington's recurred to her as though the very blackness were shouting them in her ears: "You can't overcome Destiny, but you can change it." ”

“ The next moment he had flung several handfuls of small coin at the angry populace and while they scrambled about on the ground, cursing, fighting, struggling for the money, he cut the ropes that bound the Jew to the framework of poles and placed him on his feet. He was so weak and frightened that he could scarcely stand, and Anniston, noticing this, lifted him up on his shoulders like a bag of meal, and disappeared with his burden into the night.
"What those fools need is a leader!" he ejaculated as he strode off.
"Sahib," groaned the little Jew; "it is you who are the fool." ”

“ I almost let the girl of my heart marry a man who would ruin her life, simply because in her blind ignorance, she thought she loved him. But she shan't marry him, Dan, old man, not if I have to pick her up bodily and take her to the North Pole. If Roger Patterson wants fight, he'll get it. Some people were put on earth just to be carpets for other people to walk on!"
"What do you mean?" gasped Dan Burnett.
"Mean!" raved Barney Creighton like a throbbing furnace. "I mean that I'm sick of being a doormat for other people to trample on. All my life I've been smeared with easy-going softness. ”

“ When it had almost reached them Mochanda turned deathly pale.
"A curse must be upon us, Sahib!" he exclaimed shakily. "It is the Pasha's boat, and the two rowers are his servants. Nothing can save us now. Our destinies stare us in the face."
"Never say die," replied Anniston grimly, as the gondola drew up alongside, and his jaw set with a determined snap.
The gondoliers recognized Mochanda and instantly pandemonium broke loose. One of them lifted his oar and struck the Jew sharply across the forehead with it. With a smothered groan he collapsed in a limp heap on the raft. ”

“ I must find Warburton. If it cost me my life I must find him. And then, abruptly, almost in a day, he slipped from my mind entirely, for I met the one woman in the world whom I could love. Down in the jungle by the side of my camp-fire, in the dark of the evening, I used to smoke my pipe and reverize. 'Smoke and dreams,' I often murmured. 'Neither is more tangible than vapor. Smoke stays for a moment, then vanishes into nothingness. ”

“ In about an hour we had turned and started back toward Zanzibar. Four Swahilis carried Coningsby swung in a hammock across their shoulders. I wish I could describe to you the events of that fearful morning. Picture if you can the silent trails of the jungle, dark as twilight, although it was early morning. Through the grim forest fifty natives push their way, loaded with supplies and the necessary camp implements. And among that motley throng only two white men, one lying in a hammock burning with fever, cursing and raving in a manner truly frightful. ”

“ Death alone can make a man give up the fight, not the death of others, but the death of himself. Thus, as I say, for five months we had lived like dogs. Nothing kept us alive but our own will power. It seemed as though all the horrors of earth were concentrated in that terrible march of death. And every morning a Somali uttered a sickening groan and pitched forward on his face, to rise no more. But finally a day came which marked the end of our quest. We found Warburton—a filthy, maudlin, drunken wreck—married to a native woman more beastlike than himself. ”

“ After that almost every day Olga spent several hours by Coningsby's bedside, hours which he declared were made up of the most happy, glorious moments of his life. One day he said to Jerold Wharton:
"Jerry, I am making up for the wasted years, the years which contained no love. And do you know somehow when a person doesn't love he is missing one of the really greatest things of life. Old man, take my advice and settle down."
As Coningsby spoke, Jerold Wharton had walked to the window, a terrible hunger gnawing at his heart. Yes, he needed love, the love of Olga Fullerton. ”

“ Inadvertently she could not help comparing him to the chauffeur, whose back rose up before her. To all appearances, he was no more ruffled than if he were driving at a moderate speed through a city street. With a shudder, she realized that Roger Patterson was a coward. In that moment, she felt as though she detested him.
Again a great hill with a perilous cliff road loomed up ominously before them. Roger Patterson noticed it and shuddered.
"This is our last opportunity!" he entreated wildly. "For God's sake, jump!"
"No," she replied coldly. "I am not going to jump." ”

“ Anniston's pipe had gone out unnoticed in his eagerness to hear Mochanda's words.
"Quite romantic," he observed. "It appears like the seed of a dormant romance."
"Every form of human life is romantic," quoth the other, settling back comfortably among the cushions, "but it takes a good eye to find the romance in it."
"Romance is the brother of Adventure. I have known the latter many years. Don't you think it would be a good idea to introduce me to the other member of the family?"
"You would have me take you to the Isle of Constantine?" burst out the Jew in great astonishment. ”

“ She started back at his words as though she had been struck.
"But I do not love him!" she gasped weakly, and her words seemed to choke her.
"No," said Jerold Wharton. "Men like Coningsby, women admire but they do not love. I sometimes think they are not big enough to understand great things. All his life Coningsby's lived and suffered without the love of women. Now he must die as he has lived." ”

“ When news of the incident filtered back to civilization, Coningsby had been severely criticized by many. But probably no one summed up the matter so well as did Jerold Wharton.
"To judge of a man's actions in the jungle," he had declared curtly, "one must live in the jungle."
Now as Arthur Coningsby lay, racked by a terrible fever, all this flamed out in his mind in startling vividness. Fever sometimes dulls a man's faculties but it often intensifies his memory. ”

“ And suiting the action to the word, he lifted the body of the insensible Musselman onto it. With a look that made the other tremble, he commanded him to follow. Silently the man obeyed, his wicked eyes gleaming with hatred, but not daring to voice his sentiments. Anniston noticed his look and chuckled. "Hatred unspoken can do but little harm," he reflected, pushing the raft away with one of the oars. ”

“ At his words, so earnestly, yet so tenderly spoken, the tears rose in her eyes at last, and her slender form shook with uncontrollable sobs. Jerold Wharton could not speak. A woman's tears will sap the strength from even the strongest of men. ”

“ Ever and anon there comes a crack like the report of a gun and a great tree totters over and falls to the ground, a victim to the onslaughts of armies of deadly white ants, which, though insignificant in size, are yet strong enough to conquer these monstrous kings of the forest.
"In the dim twilight the jungle presents a wonderful blending of magnificence and awefulness, for it is simply teeming with lovely flowers—vampires, beautiful but deadly poisonous. ”

“ She was engaged to Roger Patterson. Barney Creighton was a thing of the past. To change the trend of her thoughts, she leaned toward Roger.
"Tell the chauffeur to drive fast," she urged lightly. "I feel as though I would like to fly."
Obedient to her wish, Roger directed the chauffeur to increase the speed. And he did. The car shot forward as though it were trying to overtake Barney Oldfield. On over the country it tore like a thing possessed. Up hill and down dale, on and on it sped. Once it almost tipped into a lake, and Roger Patterson's heart jumped into his throat. ”

“ He sees the one and thinks of the other, till at length he recreates the two into one, the living one. But finally a day arrives when he realizes his mistake and laughs at his foolishness, but the re-separating of the two is hard and causes him many an hour of indescribable misery, but when it is over and the bitterness is past, he rejoices and is glad. Such a woman was Catherine Lucio. I mistook her for my ideal because of the physical resemblance.
"Now, it so happened that in Teheran there dwelt another youth, Abdulla Pasha, a Musselman, who also became enamored by her beauty. ”

“ He paused for a moment, then he continued softly, "And now Coningsby is dying. The man who has given the best years of his life to danger lies dying in quiet old New York. He often told me that he hoped to die in the jungle. Once when he saw an old truck-horse stricken in the street, Coningsby declared that he envied the old fellow, for he had died in harness. But none of Coningsby's hopes ever materialized. He always fought and worked like a man, but he never received a man's reward."
By the tone in which Jerold Wharton spoke, Olga Fullerton knew that he implied more than he had said. ”

“ You can't overcome Destiny, but you can change it. Since that day I have never beheld a wretched woman in the streets but what I have thought of 'The Better Self.' Plays like that are like oases in the desert. They don't poison or corrupt; they just give life and make us understand. ”

“ And yet in every shadowy corner I seemed to see your figure hiding, only visible when the tip of the cigar glowed bright. And in the smoke I drew pictures. Poets may eulogize on the reveries of a bachelor, but I tell you, girl, they don't begin to compare with the reveries of a man in love."
As Coningsby spoke, he leaned down and touched his lips to the tips of her fingers. Olga Fullerton sat speechless, her face almost as white as the roses growing in the garden. She wanted to tell him the truth and yet she seemed almost powerless. ”

“ Nobody'll ever use my spine for a ladder again. And as for Roger Patterson, I'll crush him against the wall until the streak of yellow in his nature rubs off on the bricks. You spoke just now of his deal in Bleecker's Infused Steel. The poor fool thinks he has a snowball in his hand when in reality he has a live-hot coal which he will eventually find he cannot handle. ”

“ Roger Patterson smiled in spite of himself. "Scarcely complimentary," said he.
"I only compliment the men to whom I sell," said Barney cynically. "It's one of the new business policies which I have just adopted. Another is, to hold a man to his contract at any cost. I am running a business office, not a kindergarten. If a signed contract is of no consequence, what is there upon which to base business?"
"Can't we come to terms in some way?" begged Roger Patterson.
"Yes, by delivering the stock." ”

“ He dwelt upon the terrors of the Kermashan Valley; the insects, the poisonous snakes, the heat and fear.
"And this fellow Warburton," he finished slowly, "is the same man whom we went in search of, up into the Rana Country over a year ago, the miserable, drunken wreck of a beast whom we found married to the native woman. Don't you realize, old man, what a disgrace it would be to Liane Warburton if the truth ever became known? No other white men must ever find Warburton save you and I. I couldn't go back to Olga if I left this task unfinished. ”

“ As he did so, Berenice excused herself and glided softly from the room. When the dishes had been removed and the tobacco lighted, he began, "Now is the time for the two of us to become acquainted. If we are to be friends, we must know each other better than we do at present. I will start by telling you, as Mochanda did, that you were foolish to come to Constantine."
"Why?" puffed Anniston laconically.
"It is dangerous."
The American smiled. "Mystery has always been my weak point," he observed; "you bid me beware the island and thus make a mystery of the danger at the start. ”