Part 17 (1/2)

'You little slut,' he panted 'You lie! You have heardin my sleep and have told this lie to torment me! Say you lie before I tear the skin froed bewilderrasp 'Are you mad? What are you about?'

With a snarl he tore her hand fro into the arms of Galbro who received her with a leer he uise

'Mercy, my Lord!' sobbed Tina 'I did not lie!'

'I said you lied!' roared Valenso 'Gebbrelo!'

The stolid serving ster and stripped her with one brutal wrench that tore her scanty gar, he drew her slender ar feet clear of the floor

'Uncle! shrieked Belesa, writhing vainly in Galbro's lustful grasp 'You are mad! You can not - oh, you can not--!' The voice choked in her throat as Valenso caught up a jewel-hiked riding whip and brought it down across the child's frail body with a savage force that left a red weal across her naked shoulders

Belesa uish in Tina's shriek The world had suddenly gone htmare she saw the stolid faces of the soldiers and servants, beast-faces, the faces of oxen, reflecting neither pity nor syht in that crimson haze was real except Tina's naked white body, crisscrossed with red welts from shoulders to knees; no sound real except the child's sharp cries of agony, and the panting gasps of Valenso as he lashed aith the staring eyes of a : 'You lie! You lie! Curse you, you lie! Aduilt, or I will flay your stubborn body! He could not have followed me here--'

'Oh, havevainly on the brawny servant's back, too frantic with fear and pain to have the wit to save herself by a lie Blood trickled in crihs 'I saw him! I do not lie! Mercy! Please! Ahhhh!'

'You fool! You fool? screamed Belesa, al the truth? Oh, you beast! Beast! Beast!'

Suddenly some shred of sanity see the whip he reeled back and fell up against the table, clutching blindly at its edge He shook as with an ague His hair was plastered across his brow in dank strands, and sweat dripped from his livid countenance which was like a carven mask of Fear Tina, released by Gebbrelo, slipped to the floor in a whi heap Belesa tore free froathering the pitiful waif into her arms She lifted a terrible face to her uncle, to pour upon hi at her He seeotten both her and his victim In a daze of incredulity, she heard him say to the buccaneer: 'I accept your offer, Zarono; in Mitra's naone from this damned coast!'

At this the fire of her fury sank to sick ashes In stunned silence she lifted the sobbing child in her arlance backward showed Valenso crouching rather than sitting at the table, gulping wine fro hands, while Zarono towered over him like a somber predatory bird - puzzled at the turn of events, but quick to take advantage of the shocking change that had co in a low, decisive voice, and Valenso noddedsaid Galbro stood back in the shadows, chin pinched between forefinger and thulanced furtively at each other, bewildered by their lord's collapse

Up in her chairl on the bed and set herself to wash and apply soothing ointave herself up in co faintly Belesa felt as if her world had fallen about her ears She was sick and bewildered, overwrought, her nerves quivering from the brutal shock of what she had witnessed Fear of and hatred for her uncle grew in her soul She had never loved hirasping and avid But she had considered him just, and fearless Revulsion shook her at theeyes and bloodless face It was some terrible fear which had roused this frenzy; and because of this fear Valenso had brutalized the only creature she had to love and cherish; because of that fear he was selling her, his niece, to an infamous outlaw What was behind this madness? Who was the black man Tina had seen?

The child muttered in semi-delirium

'I did not lie, my Lady! Indeed I did not! It was a black man, in a black boat that burned like blue fire on the water! A tall ro, and wrapped in a black cloak! I was afraid when I saw him, and my blood ran cold He left his boat on the sands and went into the forest Why did the Count whiphim?'

'Hush, Tina,' soothed Belesa 'Lie quiet The s will soon pass'

The door opened behind her and she whirled, snatching up a jeweled dagger The Count stood in the door, and her flesh crawled at the sight He looked years older; his face was grey and drawn, and his eyes stared in a way that roused fear in her bosoulf separated theer coer

'If you touch her again,' she whispered from dry lips, 'I swear before Mitra I will sink this blade in your breast'

He did not heed her

'I have posted a strong guard about the s his men into the stockade tomorrow He will not sail until he has found the treasure When he finds it we shall sail at once for some port not yet decided upon'

'And you will sell me to him?' she whispered 'In Mitra's naaze in which all considerations but his own self-interest had been crowded out She shrank before it, seeing in it the frantic cruelty that possessed the man in his mysterious fear

'You will do as I co in his voice than there is in the ring of flint on steel And turning, he left the cha beside the couch where Tina lay

4 A Black Dru she lay crushed and senseless She was first aware of Tina's ar of the child in her ear Mechanically she straightened herself and drew the girl into her arly at the flickering candle There was no sound in the castle The singing of the buccaneers on the strand had ceased Dully, almost impersonally she reviewed her problem

Valenso was mad, driven frantic by the story of the er that he wished to abandon the settlement and flee with Zarono That much was obvious Equally obvious was the fact that he was ready to sacrifice her in exchange for that opportunity to escape In the blackness of spirit which surrounded her she saw no glint of light The serving men were dull or callous brutes, their women stupid and apathetic They would neither dare nor care to help her She was utterly helpless

Tina lifted her tear-stained face as if she were listening to the pro of Belesa's innition of the inexorable drive of Fate and the only alternative left to the weak

'We o, o far away into the forest We shall go until we can go no further, and then we shall lie down and die together'

The tragic strength that is the last refuge of the weak entered Belesa's soul It was the only escape fro in upon her since that day when they fled froo, child'

She rose and was fuht her about The girl was on her feet, a finger pressed to her lips, her eyes wide and bright with terror

'What is it, Tina?' The child's expression of fright induced Belesa to pitch her voice to a whisper, and a nameless apprehension crawled over her

'So her arm convulsively 'He stopped at our door, and then went on, toward the Count's chamber at the other end'

'Your ears are keener than e in that It was the Count himself, perchance, or Galbro' She moved to open the door, but Tina threw her arms frantically about her neck, and Belesa felt the wild beating of her heart

'No, no, my Lady! Do not open the door! I a is skulking near us!'

Ily, and reached a hand toward the gold disk that masked the tiny peep-hole in the center of the door

'He is coirl 'I hear hi too - a curious stealthy pad which she kneith a chill of nameless fear, was not the step of anyone she knew Nor was it the step of Zarono, or any bootedthe hallway on bare, stealthy feet, to slay his host while he slept? She reuard below If the buccaneer had reht, a man-at-arms would be posted before his cha the corridor? None slept upstairs besides herself, Tina and the Count, except Galbro

With a quick uished the candle so it would not shi+ne through the hole in the door, and pushed aside the gold disk All the lights were out in the hall, which was ordinarily lighted by candles So the darkened corridor She sensed rather than saw a di of its shape except that it was man-like But a chill wave of terror swept over her; so she crouched dumb, incapable of the scream that froze behind her lips It was not such terror as her uncle now inspired in her, or fear like her fear of Zarono, or even of the brooding forest It was blind unreasoning terror that laid an icy hand on her soul and froze her tongue to her palate

The figure passed on to the stairhead, where it was lilow that cae against the red, she almost fainted

She crouched there in the darkness, awaiting the outcry that would announce that the soldiers in the great hall had seen the intruder But the manor remained silent; somewhere a ailed shrilly That was all

Belesa's hands were ht the candle She was still shaken with horror, though she could not decide just what there had been about that black figure etched against the red glow that had roused this frantic loathing in her soul It was ely alien - abnorh she could not clearly define that abnor that she had seen, and she knew that the sight had robbed her of all her new-found resolution She was demoralized, incapable of action

The candle flared up, lilow

'It was the black man!' whispered Tina 'I know! My blood turned cold, just as it did when I saw him on the beach There are soldiers downstairs; why did they not see hio and inform the Count?'

Belesa shook her head She did not care to repeat the scene that had ensued upon Tina's first mention of the black man At any event, she dared not venture out into that darkened hallway

'We dare not go into the forest!' shuddered Tina 'He will be lurking there--'