Thor, Lord of the Jungles.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART ONE.
I	I
II	Jan's Rival
III	For the Sake of the Girl he Loved
IV	Thor Gets His Name
PART TWO.
V	Gene Takes a False Step
VI	Too Late Gene Learns the Truth
VII	Strangers in a Foreign Land
PART THREE.
VIII	The Hunchback's Revenge
IX	Thor Saves His Mistress
X	Gene Saves Thor From Execution
XI	Back to their Native Land

THOR, LORD OF THE JUNGLES.

Founded on the Famous Selig Photo-Play of the same title, now showing all over the United Kingdom.

THE CAST
HENRY BARLUM, Circus Owner and Hunter
GENE BRANT, The Farmer's Daughter, a pretty girl
JOHN BRANT, An African Farmer
BILLIE, A Hunchback
JAN KARL, A Farm-hand

PART ONE.
I
THOR, mighty King of the Jungles, stirred languidly, and opened his eyes, and rose from his lair beneath a jutting crag. He yawned and shook himself; and then he stalked forth through the deep grass, with stealthy tread and sniffing nostrils, to a glade on which the purple shadows of evening were beginning to fall.
This proud, black-maned lion, the absolute monarch of the wilds, was not at that time, called Thor. But the day was not far distant when he was to know that name, and to chafe under the shackles of bondage; and it may have been a vague prescience of the evil hour that bade him raise his shaggy head and wake the silence by a long roar -- a great, rumbling roar that struck terror to lesser beasts and echoed for miles through the forest and reverberated across the veldt until it could almost have been heard at the farm that nestled amongst the bare kopjes.
There were two men in the farmhouse that evening, and outside of it, not many yards away, two other persons were standing in the shade of a tree. In the simply-furnished room, by a deal table, sat John Brant, an elderly, grey-bearded Boer, and opposite to him was Henry Barlum, a handsome young fellow of twenty-five.

He and his father were owners of a large circus and menagerie that travelled in America, and the young man had been sent to South Africa to trap wild animals.
For several days he had been encamped in the vicinity of the farm, and on more than one occasion he had urged John Brant to accompany him on his expedition to the wilds. He was now trying his persuasive powers, again, and while the two men discussed the subject, the farmer's daughter was in earnest conversation with her lover.
They stood by the sheltering tree, in the purple glow of the twilight. Gene Brant, aged nineteen, was as pretty a girl as could have been found anywhere, with her slim figure and winsome face, her golden hair, and big, blue eyes. She was in marked contrast to Jan Karl, who was tall and sturdily-built, with swarthy, clean-shaved features that had something wonderfully attractive about them, rough and homely though they were. He was one of Nature's noblemen, chivalrous and tender, yet blunt and uncouth. His love for his employer's daughter was a passion that nothing could quench, and the depth of his feelings was reflected in his dark eyes as he gazed at her.

"What are you thinking of?" Gene murmured softly.
"I was wishing I could tell you how dear you are to me," answered Jan, in a low, tremulous voice. "But I can't. I'm not clever enough to put it into words.
"I know how much you care for me.
"And do you care as much for me, Gene?"
"Of course, I do. I could not love you more."
"I don't believe I could live without you, little girl. I am sure I couldn't!"
"You won't have to," Gene replied, ' We are going to be married soon, and we shall be together all our lives.. But let us go in," she added. "Father will be wondering what has become of me."
She raised her lips to her lover, who folded her in his arms for a moment and kissed her. Then they walked slowly towards the house, and just as they reached it the door was opened and John Brant stepped out, followed by his visitor.
"Well, lass, he has talked me over," declared the farmer. "I've agreed to join Mr. Barlum's expedition."
"You said you wouldn't!" the girl exclaimed, in dismay.
"I know I did. I thought I was too old for such a trip. But he has offered me good money, and I don't like to refuse it."
"Then I will go, too, father. I won t stay at home alone.
"The life would be too rough for you, Gene. I sha'n't be away long. Be a good girl, and don't insist on --"
"Let her come; by all means," Henry Barlum interrupted. "There will be no danger, and I will make her as comfortable as possible. I should like to engage this strapping fellow, if he will consent," he went on, turning to the farm-hand. "I will pay him the same as you, Brant."
The young Boer and the young American measured glances. Jan Karl was vaguely uneasy, though it did not occur to him that he might have a rival for Gene's affections. And Henry Barlum, who had conceived a strong admiration for the pretty girl, was not yet aware that she was engaged to her father's hand. Nor would it have made any difference to him if he had known, for he was utterly unscrupulous.
"Jan can do as he pleases," said John Brant, "but I am against the lass coming."
He did not hold out long. He was soon won over by the young American's persuasions and Gene's insistence. It was settled that the girl was to join the party, which led Jan Karl to promptly accept the offer that had been made to him. And thus it happened that when the expedition set forth for the wilds on the following day there went with it the farmer and his daughter and the young Boer. Yet could they have foreseen what the result would be they would have let Henry Barlum go alone.
Jan's Rival

For three days they had been slowly trekking across the veldt, the straggling cavalcade of horsemen, and Kaffirs on foot, and bullocks drawing iron-barred cages, and clumsy carts laden with supplies. On the morning of the fourth day they left the open country behind and entered the dense, far reaching jungle; and towards the close of the afternoon, as the sun was sinking to the horizon, John Brant called a halt.
"We will camp here," he said. "We could not have a better place for our headquarters, Mr. Barlum, for yonder is a water-pool, and there are as many wild beasts in this vicinity as anywhere else."
The half-naked negroes, as black as ebony, grunted their approval and stuck their spears into the ground. The young American swung from his saddle, and with courtly gallantry helped Gene to dismount. And as Jan Karl observed this and saw the smile that the girl bestowed on her courtier, he scowled darkly and bit his lip. He had been uneasy and suspicious since the start, and his jealousy, had now been aroused.
"I'll watch that fellow," he muttered. "It will be a bad thing for him if he tries to come between us. I'll let no man rob me of Gene."
For an hour there was a scene of bustle and activity, and by sunset the bullocks and horses were grazing, and the carts were ranged in a half-circle, and the tents were all pitched. A great fire was built, and the evening meal was prepared and eaten.
The African night fell, and the muffled roar of the monarch of the jungles was heard in the distance. But he did not venture near. All slept peacefully until the dawn, when the girl was the first to rise. She came out of her tent as fresh and rosy as a flower; and when Henry Barlum appeared a few moments later and saw her fanning the red embers of the fire, he drew a deep breath of admiration.
"My word, how lovely she is!" he thought. "She is far too good for that clumsy, hulking Boer, and he shall not have her! Not if I can help it. I'll do my best to win her for my wife.
He had learned during the journey, from John Brant, that Gene was engaged to the farm-hand. But the knowledge had only increased his desire; he had no pity for the rustic swain.
As for the girl, she could not but feel flattered by the attentions the handsome, worldly American had paid her since the start of the expedition, though she was hardly aware that she had begun to be susceptible to his influence. As yet he could not analyse her emotions.
After breakfast several of the Kaffirs, who were skilled in the art of hunting for wild animals, set off to seek for the spoor of a lion, which was the main object that had brought the party to the wilds.
The day wore on, and in the cool of the later afternoon, having wakened from a siesta, Gene strolled away from the camp into the forest. Her departure was observed by Henry Barlum, who bent his steps in the same direction; and after him stole Jan Karl, a prey to torturing suspicions.
"It's time I put a stop to it," he reflected. "He's got to let my sweetheart alone."
Gene stopped and turned at the sound of footsteps behind her, and flushed when she saw the young American approaching. They walked slowly on together side by side, and it was not long until Henry Barlum, seizing his opportunity, began to pour out his feelings.
His ardent words, his low, earnest pleading were as a new revelation to the unsophisticated girl. She listened in silence at first, under the spell of a fascination that she could not throw off; and then, as she realised that he was making love to her, she abruptly checked him.
"You must not talk to me like that," she said, in a low tone of rebuke."
"Why not?" asked the young man, as he gazed straight into her eyes. "Why should I not tell you what my feelings for you are?"
"You know why, my father must have told you that I am going to marry Jan."
"Don't you think that would be a mistake, Miss Brant?"
"A mistake? What do you mean?"

"Are you sure that you love the man you are engaged to?"
"Yes, of course I do."

"But perhaps you don't know what love really is?"
"I know my own mind, Mr. Barlum. And now, please drop the subject. I should not have let you begin it."

The two had paused in an open glade, and from the verge of it, through a rift in the foliage, was peering the face of Jan Karl, contorted with pain and despair. Only a few words of the conversation between the young couple had floated to his ears, and these had given him a wrong impression.

"I am going, back now," Gene continued, after a pause.

"Not yet," urged Henry Barlum. "Wait just a little. I have not finished."

"I asked you to drop the subject."

"But you must listen to me. I want to bring you to your senses. That fellow Karl is no suitable husband for you. He is a rough diamond, while you are a pearl among women, a fair, sweet, little flower of the veldt. I love you, and I wish you to be my wife."

"You have no right to say such things to me, and I ought not to listen. It is not fair to Jan."
"You will learn to care for me more than you care for him. I will give you all that your heart can desire, and I will show you the world, if you will marry me."

The Young American tempts the African Maid to Leave her Native Haunts

"It is impossible, Mr. Barlum. You know it is."
"You like me, don't you?"
"Yes, I -- I think I do. You have been very nice to me."
"Then let us at least be friends. And now, Gene, will you give me one kiss? There, can be no harm in that. You are so lovely, so witching, that I feel I must --"
As Harry Barlum spoke he threw his arms around the startled, shrinking girl, and tried to press his lips to hers. And at the same instant Jan Karl burst from the cover, and dashed across the glade.
"Let her go, you scoundrel!" he cried, in a voice that was thick with passion. "Let her go!"
For the Sake of the Girl he Loved

Stung by the words that had been shouted at him, and by the heavy hand that had been clapped on his shoulder, the young American released his hold of Gene, and turned to face Jan Karl.
"Be careful how you talk to me," he said hotly. "What the dickens do you mean?"

"You are a scoundrel!" repeated the young Boer. "The girl belongs to me, and I will kill you if you try to steal her from me!"
"If I tried to do so you shouldn't prevent me!"

"She is mine, I tell you. And you will let her alone after this. She is going to be my wife!"
"Then I am sorry for her! She is a thousand times too good for such a fellow as you, and if she has any sense she will --"
A staggering blow cut the sentence short on Henry Barlum's lip. He at once hit back at Jan Karl, and when they had struck savagely at each other for a few seconds, while Gene looked on in terror, they came to grips, and swayed and fell. The American was no match for his assailant who pinned him to the ground, and belaboured him as hard as he could until the girl interfered.
"Stop, Jan, stop!" she cried. "You will kill him! Don't strike him again."
She tore the enraged youth away and Henry Barlum rose slowly to his feet, bruised and dishevelled. His appearance stirred Gene to pity. He would have pluckily flung himself at the Boer, exhausted though he was, but the girl stood between them.
"You ought to be ashamed, Jan!" she exclaimed. "You, know how strong you are. It was cowardly to attack a man weaker than yourself, and I am very angry with you. And now go!"
Pride was the strongest element of Jan Karl's nature. The blaze of wrath melted from his bronze features, and a look of bitter pain crept into his eyes. For a moment he stared dumbly like a faithful dog that has been wounded by an injustice, at his flushed and indignant sweetheart, and then, fully believing that he had lost her for ever, he turned and strode off with bowed head.
"She can have her young swell, if she prefers him to me," he sadly reflected. "I love her too well to stand in her light, and I shall love her to my dying day. But to be near them, and see them together, would be more than I could, bear. The only thing for me to do is to clear out of this part of the country, and the sooner the better."
The girl did not realise what she had done. She was already sorry for her sharp words, and was on the point of hastening after her departing lover. But she, too, had pride, and it checked the impulse. As she looked at Henry Barlum she felt again the subtle spell that he had exerted over her while speaking of his love. She blushed, and her heart beat to a faster measure.
"I am so sorry you have been hurt," she said, in a low voice.
"Never mind," the young American replied. "I don't blame the fellow, for I should not have tried to kiss you. But we are going to be friends, aren't we?"
"Yes, we will be friends if you wish," Gene assented.
Henry Barlum was too tactful to say more. They walked back to the camp with a sense of constraint between them, and they had not long been there when the Kaffir hunters returned with thrilling news. Their quest had been successful. They had stumbled on the spoor of a lion, and had followed it to a rocky lair, where they had got a glimpse of a splendid, black-maned animal. The young American's love affair was forgotten.
"Hurrah!" he cried, waving his hat. Come, Brant! Come along, you chaps! We'll set a trap at once, and perhaps the beast will be caught by morning! My word, I hope so!
Within a short time the party set off, taking with them such things as they would need.
Meanwhile, Jan Karl had been lurking in the jungle, no great distance away, brooding in anguish of heart over the blow that had destroyed his happiness. He could have won Gene back to him, but he believed that there was no chance of that. He had resolved what to do, and his decision was to leave the girl at the mercy of a man who was far less worthy of her affections than was the young Boer. Henry Barlum's intentions were honourable, but it was not in him to be a good husband to any woman. '
Thor Gets His Name

Gene was wrapped in slumber when the party returned to the camp a couple of hours after darkness had fallen. They had dug a pit near the lion's lair, and baited it with a live goat, and covered it with grass and brush, beneath which a stout net had been spread, and they were hopeful of success on the morrow.
Before daybreak the Kaffir hunters set forth to visit the trap, and they had been gone for three or four hours when the girl awoke. The sun was shining, and there was sunshine in her heart. She was sorry that she had been so harsh with Jan Karl, and she was looking forward to making it up with him.
"It was really my fault," she said to herself. "I should not have let Mr. Barlum talk to me like that. Yet there is something fascinating about him. I wish I had not come with the expedition."
Having got into her simple frock, and tidied her golden hair, Gene drew apart the flaps of her little tent, and saw pinned to one of them a folded slip of paper. A vague apprehension gripped her as she loosed it from the canvas, and opened it. And this is what she read:
"Dear Gene, -- I am going to the Transvaal to work in the mines. If ever you should want me, I will come to you. Good-bye, from                 JAN."
It was a blow to the girl. She realised how dear her humble lover had been to her. With quivering lips, with tears streaming down her cheeks, she ran to her father, who was standing near-by. She thrust the note into his hand.
"Oh; I have lost him!" she sobbed. "I have lost Jan! He has. left me!"
John Brant read the message, and his brow clouded for a moment. He had not been blind to the course of events, though he had no knowledge of the quarrel of the previous day."
"You have been treating him badly," he said.
"Not -- not very badly," faltered Gene.
" That may be, but you have neglected him for Mr. Barlum. I have seen it, and I wondered at your folly."
"I wish I hadn't, father. I am so sorry. It is Jan I care for, and I want him."
"Well don't cry," bade John Brant, as he slipped his arm around his daughter and kissed her. "That won't mend matters. It is a great pity, though. Jan Karl is a fine fellow, and you would have been happy with him. As for that young American, I don't think much of him. I advise you not to listen to his --"
The farmer was interrupted by a shout from the borders of the forest, and immediately afterwards, just as Harry Barlum appeared from his tent, the Kaffir hunters rushed into the camp.
"It is caught, baas!" they cried. "The lion is in the trap. And it is a big one! As big as an ox, baas!"
The news was hailed with delight, and it interested the girl, whose tears ceased to flow. For some, minutes there was a scene of excitement and preparation, and then John Brant and the young American, and a party of Kaffirs, departed for the trap with a stout cage.
It was a sad and restless day for pretty, foolish Gene, who regretted the neglect that had driven her lover from her. She moped in her tent, and wept at intervals, and hoped that Jan Karl would come back to her. But she hoped in vain, and as the afternoon drew to a close, her grief was dulled by a sense of injured pride.
"Let him go, if he cares so little for me as that!" she thought, stamping her foot. "I will try to forget him! I won't break my heart over any man!"
The sun was low on the horizon when the party returned, proudly bringing with them the captive King of the Jungle, who had been, with much difficulty, transferred from the net to the wooden, iron-barred box.
"There you are!" said Henry Barlum. "Isn't he a beauty, Gene?"
"Poor thing!" murmured the girl. "I am sorry for him! How he will miss the wild, free life of the forest! Would you let him go if I were to beg you to?"
"No fear!" laughed the young American. "But you can give him a name, if you like."
"Very well. He shall be called Thor!"
"Right you are, Gene! It is a better name than I could have thought of. Thor he shall be."
The hours of futile struggling in the net, and the jolting journey through the jungle, had already subdued the lion's proud spirit. There was a pathetic, pleading look in his great eyes as he pawed at the bars of his prison, and uttered a deep, mournful roar.
"Poor, thing!" the girl repeated.
While the splendid beast was chafing in confinement, Jan Karl was standing, with his horse by his side, on the bare crest of a hill from which he could see through the foliage into the camp. He had spent the day there, in bitterness of soul;, and he was still loth to depart from his loved one, though his resolve was as fixed as the stars. The captive Thor, and the stricken young Boer. Two noble creatures broken in spirit! The pity of it!

PART TWO.

Gene Takes a False Step

A month had gone by when the hunting-party left the forest, and trekked back over the veldt to John Brant's farm, bringing with them many other animals in addition to the great lion. By then the girl had not only tamed Thor, but she had won its affections to such an extent, that she could do with it what she liked. She could fearlessly stroke the beast, and pat its head, and twist its shaggy mane, while he would not permit anybody else to approach him without an angry demonstration.
In the meantime, Henry Barlum had been using tact and discretion in his intercourse with Gene, who had been drawn more and more under the spell of his courtly manners and soft words, until Jan Karl had come to be to her only a memory that no longer had power to hurt or grieve. The subject that she had forbidden on the day of the quarrel in the jungle had not since been directly mentioned to her. But the young American had only been waiting for a suitable opportunity of putting his fate to the test, and it came one moonlight night, when he found the girl in the garden, sitting on a bench near Thor's cage. She rose to greet him, and on the impulse of the moment, dazzled by her loveliness, he clasped her in his arms. Her senses half-swooned. For a few seconds she lay passive in his embrace, letting him kiss her lips and cheeks; and then she broke his hold, and looked at him reproachfully.
"Oh! What have you done?" she faltered.
"I could not help it," vowed Henry Barlum. "I love you, and I believe you have learned to care for me. Tell me if you have?"
"Yes, I think I have!" Gene candidly answered.
"Then you must be my wife. Promise me that you will."
"I would like to be. I do care for you, Harry. You have won my heart, though I have tried to hide the truth from you."
"You could not. I guessed your secret."
"I am sorry you have, for we can't be more than friends to each other. My father is old, and I could not leave him. My duty keeps me here."
"Your first duty is to me, Gene. Your father will miss you, but he will get over it in time."
"I cannot leave him!" declared the girl, in a sad voice.
"You must!" insisted the young man. "I am not going to leave you behind when I sail for America. You are coming with me, and you will always be happy."
Gene sighed, and shook her head. But she was wavering, and Henry Barlum, perceiving that she was, artfully pressed his advantage. In graphic language, in glowing terms that thrilled, he portrayed the wonders of the great New World beyond the sea, and the life led by those connected with the circus and menagerie as they travelled from town to town. He spoke of the railway journeys, and the luxury of his private car; of the big white tents, and the crowds that thronged them; of the music of the band, and the equestrian and acrobatic feats; of the gold and tinsel, the glare and glitter -- talked on and on until the girl's heart throbbed with excitement, and she imagined that she could actually see the dazzling pictures her lover was painting for her. In regard to the harder side of the life the young American was discreetly silent.
"You will never tire of it," he continued. "It will be like one long, beautiful, endless dream. It is waiting for you, my darling. Come to it with me. Come, and you shall be the Queen of the Circus!"
Gene drew a deep breath. Her eyes were shining, and her face was flushed and radiant. She could not resist these allurements.
"I will go with you," she said, "if my father will consent to our marriage."
''Do you think he will?"
"I -- I don't know, Harry! It is more than doubtful."
"What if he should not consent? Would you refuse to come, then?"
"Oh, yes; I could not disobey my father!"
"Much as you love me, Gene?"
"It would be hard to refuse, but I should have to."
"Well. I will speak to him to-morrow," said Henry Barlum. "We will let it rest at that for the present. I warn you, though, that I shall not leave Africa without you. Ah, what a sweet thing you are!" he added.
He opened his arms, and again the girl nestled in them, and raised her lips to his. And then they slowly bent their steps towards the house, talking in whispers, while Thor gazed after his young mistress with a doleful light in his eyes, as if he instinctively divined that some danger threatened her.
The lion had cause to be uneasy. There was peril in Henry Barlum's honeyed words, and it would have been averted had John Brant had his way. For on the following morning, when the young man asked him for his daughter's hand in marriage, his face darkened with anger and scorn.
"I saw that it would come to this," he said harshly, "and I am glad of the chance to speak my mind. I have nothing in particular against you, but from what I've observed from time to time, I should not dream of entrusting Gene's happiness to you. Knowing that she was engaged, you came between her and her lover, and drove Jan Karl away broken-hearted. And now you want to carry the lass off to a strange-land beyond the sea, where she would no doubt be miserable, and perhaps ill-treated."

The American is Refused by his Intended Father-in-Law

"You are wrong," vowed Henry Barlum. "She would always be happy with me."
"She is not going to America. Gene is not for you! When she marries, it will be in South Africa."
"Is, your decision final, Brant?"
"Yes; it is my last word. You will only waste your breath if you argue with me. You have done harm enough, sir, and I'll thank you to begone from my place just as soon as you can get ready!''
"Very well, Brant; I will leave to-morrow!"
"The sooner the better. I'll be glad to see the last of you!"
The farmer strode off, and Henry Barlum looked after him with an ironical smile. His defeat had nettled him, but he was not discouraged.
He had to wait until the afternoon before he found a chance to speak to the girl alone, and then, in a secluded part of the garden, he used every argument in his power, every form of entreaty, to induce her to disobey her parent and accompany him to America. His pleadings were at first of no avail. Fondly though Gene had learned to love him, she refused to be his wife unless her father should consent.
"I cannot go against his will," she said tearfully. "He would miss me more than if he had consented."
"And what of Thor?" asked the young man. "Won't he miss you in that strange land?"
"Yes, I suppose he will. I hadn't thought of him!"
"He will break his heart over you, Gene. He will die of grief. He shall be your, very own -- a gift from me. Come and take care of rum. Come, darling! We both need you!"
Henry Barlum had artfully played a trump card. The girl's affection for the lion she had tamed was as strong in its way as her devotion to-her father, and it was that which finally, after further persuasion of the kind, led her to yield to her lover.
"I cannot bear to be parted from Thor," she said. "I will go with you!"
"That is a promise," the young man replied, "and I will hold you to it, remember!"
"I have given my word, and I will keep it. I will be your wife.
"We will be married in New York as soon as we land. That will be best! And now I will tell you what to do. I will write to you from Durban, letting you know when the vessel is to sail, and when you are to leave home. You will ride your horse across country to the railway-station, and travel by train to the seaport, and come straight to the quay. Do you understand?"
"Yes; I will do exactly as you tell me in your letter."
"Very well," said Henry Barlum. "That is settled. You won't regret it," he added. "My life will be devote to your happiness."
And he spoke so earnestly, with such a soft and tender look in his eyes, that Gene quite believed he would be to her the best of husbands. But she did not know him yet. She had seen only the attractive side of his character.
Too Late, Gene Learns the Truth

The day of the departure had arrived, and the big vessel, especially chartered by Henry Barlum to carry his wild animals across the ocean, was in readiness to cast off. The crew were at their posts, and Thor was down in the hold amongst the other beasts, moping and whimpering in his cage. And on the quay stood the young American, straining his eyes for Gene Brant.
For half an hour he had been waiting impatiently, and he was beginning to fear that he would wait in vain; for the girl should have been here before now had she followed his instructions. He paced to and fro, working himself into a fever of restlessness.
"Bother the luck!" he muttered. "Either her courage has failed her, or old Brant has intercepted my letter. Something has gone wrong. It will be hard lines if I have to --"
He paused abruptly as he caught sight of a slim figure in the distance. Gene was coming at last. Neatly dressed, and carrying a small bag, she tripped out upon the quay, and raised her lips for her lover to kiss. Then she shrank from him, and a shade of doubt crept into her blue eyes.
"I have just realised what I am doing," she said. "I think I will go back, if you don't mind."
"It is too late to go back now!" Henry Barlum answered. "You are as good as mine now."
"But my father! How sad and lonely he will be!"
"You can write to him. And one of these days you and I will pay him a visit. Come, they are waiting for us."

"I am afraid, Harry. Oh, do let me --"

"Come, darling! We must be quick!"

Gene yielded. The young man took her bag from her, and drew her over the gangplank to the deck of the vessel, and led her down to the snug little cabin that he had had prepared for her. There he left her, and not long afterwards the big steamer started on its voyage to the distant shores of the New World. The girl was irrevocably committed to her rash venture. She had severed the ties that bound her to her home on the African veldt.

"I will try to be cheerful," she reflected, as she brushed a tear from her cheek. "I am sure that Harry will treat me well."

Gene's misgivings gradually faded. She was in love with the handsome American, though not as deeply as she had been with Jan Karl.

For a few days she was contented, and then the awakening burst upon her, sharply and rudely. She had ascended to the deck one morning, after a visit to Thor, and as she was sitting on a bench in the sunshine, Henry Barlum came unsteadily towards her. She was startled by his appearance. His face was hotly-flushed, and there was a stupid, silly look in his eyes. He lurched to one side, and caught at the deck-house for support.

"You -- you are drunk!" gasped Gene in horror, as the truth flashed upon her.

"And what if I am?" hiccoughed her lover, with another lurch. "Is there any harm in that?"

"I can hardly believe it!"

"I say, don't preach. I couldn't help drinking. Been playing cards with some of the crew, and lost a lot of money. I'll bet they cheated me, bother-them!"

"So that is the kind of man you are! Oh, thank Heaven that I have learned in time!"

"Don't be a fool! I love you, my little Gene! Give me a kiss, dear, and then I'll go back to --"

Henry Barlum reeled towards the girl, who thrust him from her with such force that he dropped heavily on to the bench. Gene's eyes blazed. She had been strictly brought up by the old Boer farmer, and she knew how pernicious and ineradicable were the two vices which she had discovered in her lover.

"Listen to me!" she cried, as much in sorrow as in anger. "You have decoyed me from my home, and I would be ashamed to go back. My pride would not let me. I will come with you to America, and earn my living with your circus, or elsewhere; but our engagement is at an end! Never again shall your lips touch mine nor will I ever be your wife. Nothing could induce me to marry a man who drinks and gambles, for no woman could be happy with him! I am serious. I mean every word that I have said to you, and time will prove it."

Henry Barlum was not too drank to understand. An ugly light shone in his eyes, and, with a oath, he rose to his feet, and tried to seize the girl. But she thrust him from her, and then, bursting into a flood of tears, she fled below to the shelter of her cabin, and locked and bolted the door.

"What will become of me?" she sobbed. "Oh, what a wreck I have made of my life. Father, dear father, if only I was at home with you!"

Strangers in a Foreign Land

The disillusion had come, and after the first shock Gene looked forward to the uncertain future with a calmness that surprised herself. She had meant all that she had vowed, and after futile attempts to win her over, the young man apparently accepted the inevitable and left her to her own devices.

In due course the vessel reached New York, and from there, when the animals had been transferred to a train that was in readiness, the two travelled to a Western town where "Barlum's Great Circus and Menagerie" was at the time exhibiting.

Here, angered by her continued refusals to marry him, Henry Barlum turned the girl adrift with only a few coppers in her purse, telling her to beg or starve.

"I sha'n't do either," she replied. "I shall work."

But after wandering about the strange town all day, and searching vainly for employment, her sore need and her affection for the lion bade her swallow her pride and seek the grounds where the circus-tents were pitched. It was the interval between the two performances, and the young man was in the wardrobe room with some members of the company. He received Gene here, and listened, frowning, with a sneer on his lips, while she humbly beseeched him to find a place for her.

"So you have come to your senses, have you?" he said, with a mocking smile. "I thought you would. I expected a visit from you. Very well. You shall be Thor's keeper, and teach him tricks. But don't put on any of your airs and graces with me!" he added. "Mind that! If you do, I'll soon show you --"

He had been working himself into a temper at the thought of the cutting words that had been spoken to him on the vessel, and now, with a oath, he seized the girl by the arm and shook her roughly. Gene shrieked with pain, and roused the chivalry of a hunchback youth, Billie by name, who was amongst those who were present. Fragile and deformed though he was, he did not hesitate to tear the girl from her assailant and face the latter.

"You ought to be ashamed of yourself, you coward!" he exclaimed, with flashing eyes. "How dare you strike a woman!"

"What the dickens have you got to do with it?" cried Henry Barlum. "I'll teach you to interfere with me, you crooked dwarf!"

His fist shot out, and the hunchback received a blow that sent him sprawling in a heap. Several girls of the company, who had taken a liking to Gene at first sight, spoke to her kindly, and led her away to their dressing-room. With a scowling face, Henry Barlum departed, and there was a venomous, dangerous gleam, in Billy's eyes as he gazed after him.

"He'll be sorry for that!" he muttered. "I'll be even with him!"

It was not only the blow that was rankling in the hunchback's mind. He had long had a deep-rooted grievance against the circus proprietor's son, who had practically ruined his life.

"I'll be even with him!" he repeated. "Just wait till I get my chance!"

In the dressing-room the girls were trying to comfort Gene, and they were so far successful that a wan smile presently brightened her face.

A new life had begun for her, and she had found friends. But she did not confide in them. She was too proud to tell anybody how she had been deceived. She assumed a cheerfulness that she did not feel, and strove to take an interest in her duties as she travelled from town to town. And it was not long before her beauty, and the amazing control she had over Thor, had won for her the title of the "Queen of the Circus"

In the arena and elsewhere during the day, amidst the feverish excitement and the artificial splendour, she wore a mask of gaiety; but it was a very lonely and wretched Gene who, at midnight, when the others were asleep, paid a wary visit to the great lion.

She would crouch for many minutes by the cage, caressing Thor, and whispering soft words to him, and each divined, perhaps, that the other was thinking sadly of the African veldt and the wild, free air of the jungles. Thus weeks passed, while at intervals Henry Barlum still tried to persuade the girl to marry him. But nothing could have induced her to consent. She had written to her father, and she was hopeful that he would forgive her, and would send her money to pay for her passage home.

PART THREE.

The Hunchback's Revenge

I say, Jim!"

"Yes, sir!"

The youth who delivered the letters at the circus had entered his employer's room as usual one morning, and had been called back as he was leaving. A disturbing idea had occurred to Henry Barlum, and he wondered that he had not thought of it before.

"Have you a letter for Miss Brant?" he asked, after brief hesitation.

"Yes, sir, I have one," the youth replied.

"Give it to me, please."

"Very well. Here it is, sir."

"You will hold your tongue about it? Do you understand?"

"Yes, Mr. Barlum, that will be all right."

"Is this the first letter that has come for Miss Brant?"'

"It is, sir."

''You will bring to me any that may come in future. Bear that, in mind, Jim."

"Very good, sir. I won't forget."

"That is all."

Henry Barlum tore open the envelope, which bore a South African stamp; and the mail-carrier went off to the dressing-room, where Gene was waiting in expectation of a letter from home, which she had reckoned to be due. , But none was given to her, and she waited in vain, for day after day, until hope faded from her heart. She believed that her father was determined to cast her off, and her pride would not let her write to him again.

"He is relentless," she thought: "He will not forgive me."
She felt now that she would never see her home again, but she was none the less unyielding towards Henry Barlum, whose patience was at length exhausted by her obstinacy.
"I'm getting tired of this," he said to himself one morning. I am more in love with her than ever, and I sha'n't waste any more breath on her. I'll have her kidnapped, and kept in a safe place, until I can find an unscrupulous clergyman who will marry her to me while she is under the influence of a drug. She will be mine, then, fast and tight." "It was a fiendish idea, but the young man did not shrink from it. That evening he summoned to him, in his private room, several rascally fellows who were connected with the circus, and would have done almost anything for money. The plot was concocted, and arrangements were made for carry in it out the next night.
Fortunately, however the attention of Billie the hunchback was drawn to the men. He craftily followed them, and listened to the conversation from outside of the canvas-door; and when they had left he went off to his own quarters, and sat there for a time considering what he should do.
It did not take him long to decide. His implacable hatred of the man who had ruined him suggested a scheme that brought a sparkle of exultation to his eyes. He had no scruples, no pity. All the good that was in his nature had been withered, and he was as merciless as a tiger towards his enemy.
"Ah, it will be fine!" he muttered. "Gene goes every night to the cage; and the lion loves her. I know what will happen. I shall be revenged on Mr. Barlum, and at the same time I shall be doing the poor girl a good turn."
Billie fetched paper and pencil from his box, and wrote a few words that ran thus:

Meet me at Thor's cage at midnight.—GENE."
He glided back to Henry Barlum's room, which he found to be deserted; and when he had put the note on the table, where it could not escape notice, he made his way to the lion's cage. For a couple of hours he laboured here unobserved with a file, until he had cut nearly through four of the stout iron bars. Then, satisfied that he had done his work well, he withdrew with a smile of triumph on his wizened features.

"I swore to be even with him," he chuckled, as he rubbed his hands in glee, "and now I'm going to do it! He ruined my life, and it will be no more than he deserves if he loses his! Ha, ha, what a sweet revenge it will be!"
Thor Saves His Mistress

The last performance was over, and silence and gloom shrouded the vast circus and menagerie. The arena was empty, and the weary company were stretched on their beds, enjoying their well earned repose after an arduous day. There were two persons who were not asleep. Henry Barlum was in his room, placidly smoking a cigar and Gene was sitting on the edge of her bed, thinking as usual of the father whom she believed to be unforgiving.
It was close to twelve o'clock when she glided forth She always paid a visit to her pet at this hour, and she knew that he would miss her if she were to fail to come. The lion was waiting, and he purred with delight as his young mistress knelt by his cage, and put her hand through the bars and stroked his shaggy head. The moon shone down on her from a slit in the canvas roof.

Gene pays a visit to her pet lion at midnight

"Dear old Thor!" she whispered. "You are longing for your jungle home, I know, even as I am longing for the open veldt. It is bitterly hard for both of us. We are broken-hearted, aren't we? But there is no help for us. No help. We must pine and fade in this strange, cruel land and dream to the end of those happy days when we were --"
Furtive steps startled the girl, and as she sprang to her feet and looked round, she saw Henry Barlum approaching, and perceived from his flushed face and unsteady gait that he had been drinking too much.
"Ah, here you are!" he said, as he drew hear. "So you have changed your mind at last -- eh? I though you would. Everything comes to him who waits, and I knew that one of these days you would be willing to be my wife!"
"But I am not willing," declared Gene, "and I never will be!"
"What the dickens is your little game, then?" asked the young man.
"I don't want to talk to you. I am going to bed. Let me pass, please."
"Not till I've had an explanation. Why did you write to me and make an appointment?"
"I did nothing of the sort, Mr. Barlum."
"You did! I found your note on my table this evening, telling me to meet you at Thor's cage at midnight!"
"You have been deceived. I wrote no such note. It is not likely I would."
"You did, Gene! You can't fool me! I see how it is, Gene! You've changed your mind again, like the fickle woman you are. But I won't have it. You've got to marry me, or I'll -- I'll --"
Inflamed with passion, Henry Barlum sprang at the girl, who resisted him as best she could, and begged him to let her go. But he clung to her the tighter, bruising her cheeks with his lips, and vowing that he would have his way.
For a few moments the two struggled desperately in the moonlight, while the beasts in the surrounding cages sent forth a volume of sounds, and the big lion paced to and fro, uttering thunderous roars.
The young man was blind to his danger. Still he fought with Gene, laughing maudlinly at her appeals, until at length, enraged beyond endurance, Thor bounded against the weakened bars of his cage, and they yielded as if they had been matches.
Henry Barlum saw his peril now. He let go of the girl, and tried to escape. But it was too late. The great, snarling beast leapt upon him, and, with a shrill cry of horror, he was struck to earth.
It was all over in a few seconds. Gene had fled, and was raising an alarm; but when the members of the company arrived on the scene the mangled and lifeless body of the young proprietor was lying by the empty cage, and Thor had seized the opportunity to gain his freedom.
Gene Saves Thor From Execution

A week had elapsed since the grim tragedy. Henry Barlum had been buried, and the true facts of his death had not been learned. The decoy note had been taken from his room by the hunchback, and no mention of it had been made by Gene.
Distressed though the girl was, her heart was lighter than it had been for many a day; for the mail-carrier had confessed to her that he had intercepted two letters addressed to her, and she could not doubt that her father had forgiven her, and would gladly welcome her home. Meanwhile, Thor had been recaptured, and was back in his old quarters.
What was to be done with the noble animal that had taken a human life? The question had been discussed for an hour one morning by the elder Barlum and several prominent officials of the circus; and they had just condemned the lion to death when Gene, who had been informed of what was going on, burst into the room in great agitation.
"They -- they have told me!" she exclaimed. "Don't punish Thor! It was for my sake he did it! Let me have him! Let me take him back to Africa!"
"It is impossible!" Peter Barlum harshly replied. "The brute has murdered my boy and he must be shot!"
"No, no; have mercy on him! Have pity on me. I love Thor so dearly, and he loves me!"
"He must die!"
"Oh, don't say that! Don't kill him, sir! It will break my heart!"
"It is useless to argue with me, my child! The beast has been sentenced to death. And now leave us!"
The girl would not abandon hope. Tears were streaming down her cheeks, but she stifled her sobs, and, in a low, earnest voice, she told how the proprietor's son had won her love, and decoyed her from her home; of her refusal to marry him on learning that he was a drunkard and a gambler, and of his brutal treatment of her afterwards.
"I have suffered much," she went on, "and it is only fair that you should make some amends to me. Oh, sir, won't you please grant me Thor's life?"
Peter Barlum had been moved by the pathetic tale, though his face was still cold and hard. He glanced at his companions, and they nodded.
"I am loth to consent," he said sternly, turning to Gene, "but it shall be as you wish. I will spare the lion. I present him to you, and I will provide the money to take you both back to Africa, if you will depart as speedily as possible. I don't want to see you again. You remind me too strongly of my loss."
"Thank you!" cried the happy girl. "Oh, thank you, sir! I will never forget your kindness -- not as long as I live!"

And in her gratitude she sank to her knees in front of the old man, and pressed her lips to his hand.
Back to their Native Land

After months of toil in the Transvaal mines, his yearning for his lost sweetheart had drawn Jan Karl back to the farm on the veldt, and he had learned from John Brant what little there was to know; that Gene had fled to America with Henry Barlum; that she had written for money to pay her passage home, and that several letters that had been sent to her had remained unanswered.
It was a hard blow to the young Boer, but he endured it bravely. He resumed his former employment with the farmer, and hid his sorrow as well as he could as the weeks rolled on.
One sultry day, when the sun was blazing down from a cloudless sky, the two men rose from their frugal dinner, and came out on to the steep of the house. And as they were standing there Jan Karl drew the farmer's attention to some moving objects that were visible on the bare slope of a hill that was a mile distant.
"Do you see?" he asked.
"Ay, there are some people and a cart," John Brant replied, "and they are coming this way."
"I take one of them to be a woman."
"It would appear so."
"I -- I wonder if it can be Gene?"
"My lass, Jan? I doubt it And yet I hope it may be!"
They clutched eagerly at the hope, vague though it was. Their feelings were too deep for further words. They hastened to the stable, and saddled and bridled their horses, and swung to the saddle. They spurred rapidly and in silence, through the scrubby bush, until they reached the edge of a rough, open trail. They checked their steeds and dismounted, staring incredulously: For here, indeed, was little Gene, walking in front of a bullock-cart. A couple of Kaffirs were leading the animals, and on the vehicle, in his iron-barred cage, was the lion Thor.
"Oh, father!" cried the girl, as she hastened forward. "Dear father and Jan !"
What rapture shone in her eyes! With tears of joy flowing down her cheeks, trembling with delight, she first embraced the old farmer, and then threw herself impulsively into the arms of the young Boer, who strained her to him as if he never meant to let her go.
"I have come back to you!" she sobbed. "Back to both of you! I have come home again, and I have brought Thor with me! Forgive me, dear father! I have learned a lesson that I will never forget! And will you forgive me, dear Jan? I am yours! I will be your wife whenever you wish! It was you I loved all the time, but my heart was blind! Oh, how wretched I have been, and how happy I am now! Home again! It seems too good to be true!"
Jan Karl was speechless. His emotions were beyond words to express. Gene slipped from his grasp, smiling through her tears, and darted to the side of the cart. She shot a bolt, and flung open the door of the cage. At once the lion leapt out, and fawned upon her. She hugged his neck for a moment, and rubbed her cheek over his damp muzzle. She hated to part with him, but she felt that she must.
"Go!" she bade. "Go, dear old Thor! I have my freedom, and you shall have yours!"

Thor lifted his massive head, and sniffed the air. He hesitated, trotted across the road, and turned his great, loving eyes to the young mistress who had given him the precious gift he craved for. And then, with a roar of ecstasy, he bounded into the scrub and disappeared in the direction of the distant forest. The lord of the jungles was on his way back to his native wilds, back to his lair amidst brake and crag, back to the life that knows no wooden walls or iron bars."

THE END