Part 1

The Crimson Gardenia

and Other Tales of Adventure

BY REX BEACH

AUTHOR OF "HEART OF THE SUNSET" "THE SPOILERS" ETC.

ILLUSTRATED

HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS NEW YORK AND LONDON

THE CRIMSON GARDENIA AND OTHER TALES OF ADVENTURE Copyright, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1916, by Harper & Brothers Copyright, 1910, 1913, by Cosmopolitan Magazine Copyright, 1906, by The Metropolitan Magazine Co. Printed in the United States of America Published April, 1916

CONTENTS

THE CRIMSON GARDENIA

ROPE'S END

INOCENCIO

THE WAG-LADY

"MAN PROPOSES--"

TOLD IN THE STORM

THE WEIGHT OF OBLIGATION

THE STAMPEDE

WHEN THE MAIL CAME IN

MCGILL

THE BRAND

ILLUSTRATIONS

HER EYES FLASHED TO THE WHITE GARDENIA ON HIS BREAST, THEN UP TO HIS OWN

AS FLORÉAL ROSE FROM HIS FATHER'S BODY HE HEARD A SHOT AND SAW THE SOLDIERS OF THE REPUBLIC CHARGING HIM

"TAKE YOUR HAND OFF THAT GUN, BARCLAY"

"BARCLAY WASN'T MORE 'N HALF DEAD, AND THE WOMAN FELL TO BEGGIN' FOR HIS LIFE AGAIN"

THE CRIMSON GARDENIA

The royal yacht had anchored amid a thunder of cannon, and the king had gone ashore. The city was bright with bunting; a thousand whistles blew. Up through the festooned streets His Majesty was escorted between long rows of blue-coated officers, behind which the eager crowds were massed for mile upon mile. Thin wire cables were stretched along the curbs, to hold the people back, but these threatened to snap before the weight of the multitude.

In the neighborhood of the raised pavilion where the queen and her maids of honor waited, the press was thickest; here rows of stands had been erected that groaned beneath their freight, while roof-tops and windows, trees and telegraph-poles, were black with clustered humanity.

The king was tall and dark; a long beard hid his face. But the queen was young and blushing, and her waiting-women were fairer than springtime flowers. To a crashing martial air, she handed him a sparkling goblet in which he pledged her happiness, while the street rocked to the roar of many voices, and in the open spaces youths, grotesquely costumed, danced with goblin glee.