Motion Picture Story Magazine (Aug-Dec 1913)

(8 TEE MOTION PICTURE STORY MAGAZINE At this, there was an outburst of mirth. ^'L'lionneurf^^ repeated Talmin, as if the word was one to muse over. Then, like a flash, his easy nonchalance hardened to a threatening attitude. ''What have I to do with honor?" he sneered. "Je m'en fiche pas mal! There is but one thing which commands my respect — this," and he made a gesture indicative of counting money from the palm of one hand into the other. "Your demand is preposterous. I have paid all I can afford. So give me the child," demanded Captain de Valen. The Apache ^s eyes narrowed and glinted dangerously. "I must warn you," he said, "that the compagnons stop at nothing when refused. It is another check for twenty-five thousand francs, or your child will be killed." The trapped man looked at each villainous face in turn, and knew that he could expect no relenting. He wrote the second check. Examining it minutely, Talmin said: "Of course, you cant expect to leave here now. First, I must cash these. Until then, you will remain in the adjoining room." The captain was seized and carried to a small bedroom, where he was bound and strapped to the bed. When his men had carried out his orders, Talmin smiled his approval of their dexterity. "And now, clier capitaine, have patience for a couple of hours. If all is well, you will then be released. If you have deceived " A warning cry from the barroom slashed thru his threat. '^Les gendarmes! Sauvez vous.f The band scurried, ratdike, to window and door and stairway. Talmin snatched at Marie, who, frightened and shrinking, was a tragic elf among this set of ruffians. The finesse of "Edouard, the Artist" having been mysteriously checked in this deal, he admitted only momentary defeat. For his next move he would need the child. When the gendarmes reached the captain, Talmin 's flight with Marie had led him thru a passage, down into a cellar, and out again into a rag-picker's hut on the next street. As the officers of the law unbound the captain, an excited, crippled boy rushed in. "Where is she?" he asked. "Where is la petite Marie f "Who is this boy?" demanded the captain. "He is the one who brought us here," answered the sergeant. "He suspected these Apaches of some treachery, so he followed when your child was taken from the cobbler's." "My boy, I can never thank you enough. We shall talk of that later, for now we must find Marie," said the captain, as the last bonds were cut. He sprang to the door in a frenzy of impatience, and ran thru the passage to rooms at the rear. The gendarmes swarmed upstairs and into the court. But Bosco, knowing the nature and the expedients of the denizens of such warrens, looked underfoot for signs. In the passage, a slight unevenness in one of the boards brought him to his knees to investigate. Yes, as he thought, a trap door ! With his shoemaker's knife, he found the catch. In a moment more he was in a tunnel and following swiftly on Talmin 's footsteps. The rag-picker 's hut was empty, but the sharp imagination of the hunchback built up a theory. The Apache had disguised himself as a rag-picker. Darting from the hut, Bosco espied a crumpled envelope near the door. He picked it up and smoothed the creases. ' ' Ah ! " he exclaimed, ' ' this is where he will go." For the envelope bore Talmin 's address. Bosco set off bravely, on a run, tho the distance was considerable. His poor, weak body seemed miraculously equal to any demands he might make upon it. And unwonted vitality seemed to permeate his being and give to him the assurance of strength. He inquired of policemen on the way if they had seen a rag-picker. They had