Part 17 (1/2)

Anderssen held out the chubby infant, but she shook her head

”It is not mine,” she said ”You knew that it was not mine You are a devil like the Russian”

Anderssen's blue eyes stretched in surprise

”Not yours!” he exclaimed ”You tole me the kid aboard the Kincaid ban your kid”

”Not this one,” replied Jane dully ”The other Where is the other? There must have been two I did not know about this one”

”There vasn't no other kid Ay tank this ban yours Ay a first on one foot and then upon the other It was perfectly evident to Jane that he was honest in his protestations of ignorance of the true identity of the child

Presently the baby commenced to crow, and bounce up and down in the Swede's ar forith little hands out-reaching toward the young woman

She could not withstand the appeal, and with a low cry she sprang to her feet and gathered the baby to her breast

For a few minutes she wept silently, her face buried in the baby's soiled little dress The first shock of disappointiving way to a great hope that after all some miracle had occurred to snatch her baby from Rokoff's hands at the last instant before the Kincaid sailed froland

Then, too, there was the mute appeal of this aif alone and unloved in the ht more than any other that had sent her mother's heart out to the innocent babe, while still she suffered from disappointment that she had been deceived in its identity

”Have you no idea whose child this is?” she asked Anderssen

The man shook his head

”Not now,” he said ”If he ain't ban your kid, Ay don' knohose kid he do ban Rokoff said it was yours Ay tank he tank so, too

”What do we do with it now? Ay can't go back to the Kincaid Rokoff would have o back Ay take you to the sea, and then some of these black men they take you to the shi+p-eh?”

”No! no!” cried Jane ”Not for the world I would rather die than fall into the hands of that o on and take this poor little creature with us If God is willing we shall be saved in one way or another”

So they again took up their flight through the wilderness, taking with them a half-dozen of the Mosulas to carry provisions and the tents that Anderssen had sled aboard the small boat in preparation for the attehts of torture that the young wohtmare of hideousness that she soon lost all track of ti for days or years she could not tell The one bright spot in that eternity of fear and suffering was the little child whose tiny hands had long since fastened their softly groping fingers fir took the place and filled the aching void that the theft of her own baby had left It could never be the same, of course, but yet, day by day, she found herthe waif more closely until she so that the little bundle of humanity at her breast was truly her own

For soress inland was extreh natives passing frouessed the direction of their flight This, and the desire to ently bred woman, kept Anderssen to a slow advance of short and easy marches withthe child while they travelled, and in countless other ways did what he could to help Jane Clayton conserve her strength He had been terribly chagrined on discovering the mistake he hadwoman became convinced that his er to upbraid himself for the error that he could not by any means have avoided

At the close of each day's march Anderssen saw to the erection of a comfortable shelter for Jane and the child Her tent was always pitched in the most favourable location The thorn bonable that the Mosula could construct

Her food was the best that their limited stores and the rifle of the Swede could provide, but the thing that touched her heart the closest was the gentle consideration and courtesy which the man always accorded her

That such nobility of character could lie beneath so repulsive an exterior never ceased to be a source of wonder and amazement to her, until at last the innate chivalry of thekindliness and sympathy transformed his appearance in so far as Jane was concerned until she saw only the sweetness of his character mirrored in his countenance

They had coress ord reached them that Rokoff was but a few marches behind them, and that he had at last discovered the direction of their flight It was then that Anderssen took to the river, purchasing a canoe froambi upon the bank of a tributary

Thereafter the little party of fugitives fled up the broad Ugaer received word of their pursuers At the end of canoe navigation upon the river, they abandoned their canoe and took to the jungle Here progress becaerous