Produced by Suzanne Shell, Janice Piette, Sheila Vogtmann,

Elaine Walker, and Project Gutenberg Distributed
Proofreaders

THE BRONZE BELL

By LOUIS JOSEPH VANCE

1909

F. E. Z.

Chatelaine of Juniper Lodge

This story is dedicated by one to whom her hospitality, transplantedfrom its Kentucky home, will ever remain a charming memory.

[Illustration: "NOT ONCE DID HE LOOK BACK WHILE AMBER WATCHED—HIMSELF
DIVIDED BETWEEN AMUSEMENT, ANNOYANCE, AND ASTONISHMENT" (PAGE 14)]

CHAPTER

I DESTINY AND THE BABU

II THE GIRL AND THE TOKEN

III MAROONED

IV THE MAN PERDU

V THE GOBLIN NIGHT

VI RED DAWN

VII MASKS AND FACES

VIII FIRST STEPS

IX PINK SATIN

X MAHARANA OF KHANDAWAR

XI THE TONGA

XII THE LONG DAY

XIII THE PHOTOGRAPH

XIV OVER THE WATER

XV FROM A HIGH PLACE

XVI SUNRISE FOR TWO

XVII THE WAY TO KATHIAPUR

XVIII THE HOODED DEATH

XIX RUTTON'S DAUGHTER

XX A LATER DAY

XXI THE FINAL INCARNATION

CHAPTER I

DESTINY AND THE BABU

Breaking suddenly upon the steady drumming of the trucks, the prolongedand husky roar of a locomotive whistle saluted an immediategrade-crossing.

Roused by this sound from his solitary musings in the parlour-car ofwhich he happened temporarily to be the sole occupant, Mr. David Amberput aside the magazine over which he had been dreaming, and looked outof the window, catching a glimpse of woodland road shining whitebetween sombre walls of stunted pine. Lazily he consulted his watch.

"It's not for nothing," he observed pensively, "that this railroadwears its reputation: we are consistently late."

His gaze, again diverted to the flying countryside, noted that it hadchanged character, pine yielding to scrub-oak and second-growth—theragged vestments of an area some years since denuded by fire. This,too, presently swung away, giving place to cleared land—arable acresgolden with the stubble of garnered harvests or sentinelled withunkempt shocks of corn.

In the south a shimmer of laughing gold and blue edged the fadedhorizon.

Eagerly the young man leaned forward, dark eyes the functions ofwaiting-room and ticket and telegraph offices. From its eaves dependeda weather-worn board bearing the legend: "Nokomis."

The train, pausing only long enough to disgorge from the baggage-car atrunk or two and from the day-coaches a thin trickle of passengers,flung on into the wilderness, cracked bell clanking somewhatdisdainfully.

By degrees the platform cleared, the erstwhile patrons of the road andthe station loafers—for the most part hall-marked natives of theregion—straggling off upon their several ways, some afoot, a majorityin dilapidated surreys and buckboards. Amber watched them go withunass

...