OCR Text |
Show ' By ELLERY H. CLARK Copyright lttt br Eobb-Merrlll Co. Li ; CHAPTER X Continued 15 The Intervening space was narrow, ,nd It took me but a few moments to traverse It. In a small opening ahead of me I could see McAllister's figure bent over and fumbling as If for something some-thing hidden In the ground. Irresistibly Irresist-ibly I thought of Capt. Francis Barclay Bar-clay and his cross-bearings. Then, hurriedly, as if In fear, for he glanced constantly over his shoulder, the itooplng figure began to dig until presently pres-ently I heard the grating sound of metal. Evidently, like Captain Barclay, Bar-clay, McAllister was n hlder of treasure. treas-ure. And then all at once I realized the truth. Douhtless and my heart beat faster at the thought this was the hoard itself, this was the treasure reddened with Barclay's blood, and for which Barclay's lady had laid down her life. Instantly I saw that, knowing know-ing the spot where it lay hidden, 1 might be In a position to drive a ihrewd bargain, might betray the treasure without betraying McAllister, nlfht even save his miserable life, and, of far more importance to me, might save Helen's life and my own. But my thoughts went no further. As I have told you, I am not a believer In the supernatural, but I declare to yon that at this moment something I know not what possessed me ; an Indefinable fear which shook me from head to foot, a nameless dread of some terrible, impending doom. In the nexr fraction of a second I was aware that something man or ghost was concealed con-cealed In the mangroves behind McAllister. Mc-Allister. All was dark and shadowy, but from the fixed shadows one that moved detached itself and crept noiselessly noise-lessly nearer and nearer. McAllister was on his knees; he had raised the box, for such I was sure that it was. from Its hiding place and was, I imagined, imag-ined, examining it to see if its contents con-tents were Intact. It all flashed ovei me now. He was worried by the thought of the mysterious visitor In the canoe thinking, perhaps, that it was Barclay himself and had now crept forth to examine his treasure. There was something terribly fascinating fasci-nating In the picture. The miser, Intent In-tent upon his gold and jewels, forget- y M of all else In the world ; and here, almost at his shoulder, this vengeful shadow drawing nearer and nearer. ( advancing stealthily on its prey. As I waited, pistol half-raised, suddenly the crisis came; I saw the crouching figure rise to its full height, the figure of a man, Immensely broad, head set grotesquely low on his shoulders and In that Instant I leveled my pistol and fired. For a moment all was confusion. Simultaneously Si-multaneously I heard a shriek from McAllister and a cry that was almost a roar of pain and rage; and instantly instant-ly some one whether it was McAllister McAllis-ter or his assailant I could not tell crashed by me in the thicket, heading In the direction of the house. Without less of a second, I dashed in pursuit, and, emerging, saw that It was not McAllister but the other. Evidently, too. raj- bullet had taken effect, for the 'mre run curiously bent over, as If nailly hurt, and still straight for the house. Then in a flash I thought of "IC rP leading to my room, and mrseil myself for leaving it there. If iMs fiend should see It, should gain lie house and pull the rope up after l'11". what might he not do before I rould gain admission through the door. Tlle "'ought of Helen filled me with "'Prehension. Yet in the uncertain light I dared not (Ire my rifle; I prayed a ray of moonlight For a moment the figure, rounding lie corner of the house, was lost to t!"w- And as I followed, I saw that gravest fears were realized, for the "Wive, with a speed and agility which joined incredible, was swarming up t'ie rope nnd even in this short space ' "me was nearly at the top. On such slight chances does life or death epend! Even as I had hoped and pi-ed. at that Instant the moon shone 'orlh from behind a cloud, and, ries-W-nte with the dread of the climber Jln'ng the shelter of the house, 1 W'e a terrific shout, In the hope ol resting his progress. The expedient w successful. He stopped for an In- an. ns If surprised, and turned to " f"wn: I caught a momentary Hussion Hu-ssion of a horrible, bestial face. , PS drnwn bnck anil grinning then threw my rifle to mv shoul- mined for the brain, and tired. "or a second I could not Judge the lo n my Sl,ot- T1,e head seemed ( copse nnd sink, but the hold on (vt ope not loosen; and there, be-htm be-htm Mrth nnd sk"' lhat huge milk hmrf; "r"' a" l m'' IC released Its st"noT Came crnsllinK t0 t,le ground. Mirn Ul' 'Vins "lotloness without " or movement. Yet such was ran n"'' drea1 0f 11 that eTcn now 1 fore I nSkS bUt rel(1iU,ed my rille be-mPns be-mPns ,lllous,y ventured near. Im-nii'inrVaree Im-nii'inrVaree my v,ctl", '"onied i" the Hor ' ' anJ somehow more and till T Un"ke a '"-m ; yet It was pat t trmh rit0d by lt3 sllle that tlie Uhm nod on for now, in one ramp "ash' tlle wll0,e mystery bedim be-dim r, C"'ar as day. The fiend which Pursue"88'15 the Is,and nnd eluded our la , ,"' and which had been stopped s B'b of destruction only by the most fortunate chance, was not a human hu-man being but a huge bull ape, possessing, pos-sessing, according to the naturalists seven times the strength of a man the far-famed orang-utan of Sumatra and Borneo. CHAPTER Xr The Crisis. The events of that night nearly finished fin-ished McAllister. Luckily, however, for his secret, the maroons were so terrified by the uproar and the sound of shots that not one of them ventured forth; and It was I who, going back to the mangroves, found him stretched prostrate on the ground, apparently djad. A hasty examination showed that his heart was still beating. I dared not waste time, therefore, In examining the chest, although one hurried hur-ried glance disclosed gold and jewels In magnificent abundance; and closing clos-ing the lid, I lowered it Into its resting rest-ing place, replacing the dirt above lt as skillfully as I could. Then, lifting McAllister in my arms, I made my way back to the house, and with the aid of the key, which I found In his pocket, I got him indoors, and, summoning sum-moning Helen to help me, we worked until daylight over the unconscious man. He hnd a constitution of iron, and, rallying from the shock, appeared next day to be almost as well as ever. As to the mystery of the giant ape. that was now not hard to understand. The captain of the Ashantee was a great lover of natural history, and was ilia CmMmm Jilt tm For a Second I Could Not Judge the Result of My Fire. given to bringing home from foreign parts beasts, birds and reptiles of nil descriptions. That he had somehow obtained possession of the orang-utan either at Sumatra or Borneo, was clear. Next, with the coming of the hurricane, it was evident that either by accident or design the ape had been freed from his cage or the quarters where he was confined, and that his enormous strength had enabled him to cling to some piece of wreckage and to make the shore of the island In safety. Unquestionably, also, my strange sensations on the night of the wreck hnd been caused by the passing of the ape toward the grove of trees, to which he had Instinctively turned for shelter. Here he had taken up his abode in the tree tops, and had In turn trailed and killed the dog, the heifer and the two negroes. My discovery of the canoe and shooting of Its occupant was one of those coincidences which Justify the good old rule thnt circum- 'I stantial evidence is a dangerous thing on which to rely. Presumably the occupant of the canoe was some harmless harm-less fisherman cruising up the river; he may have been approaching the Island with the most peaceful Intent, and his sudden flight have been by terror at hearing Cudjo's shriek of agony. - As I expected, McAllister questioned me at length as to what I had seen on the night of the encounter, but while he appeared somewhat chagrined that I knew of the whereabouts of his treasure, treas-ure, yet after all I had saved his life and he was scarcely in a position to be otherwise than grateful. AH this time I had naturally not been unmindful of the future, but, as may well he imagined, the constant strain of these tragic events had made it Impossible for me to settle on any definite plan. I felt, however, that one point was clear: I could no longer deceive Helen as to my identity ; whatever she might think of me, I must tell her the truth. And accordingly the next evening, at our favorite station near the point of the Island, I took, as the saying is, my courage in my hands, and told her, first of all, that I loved her with all my heart and soul, but that before I spoke of that further there was something some-thing else which I must make clear to her. And then, reluctantly enough, I told her the whole story, explaining to her, in conclusion, that I was in duty bound to return to the captain with my report. How she answered my declaration of love I may not tell you here; some things In the life of each of us are too sacred for the printed page. It Is enough, perhaps, to say that when she realized the danger which confronted us, all her mocking gayety dropped from her like a cloak, and I saw, for the first time, the depths of courage nnd truth that lay beneath. It was lhen that I knew, beyond all doubt, that she loved me, so that suddenly, to my eyes, the whole world seemed bathed in glory, nnd I felt that hereafter here-after nothing could really alarm us. neither fate nor misfortune nor death Itself. But at length, when our first transports trans-ports had subsided, there was much else to consider. As to McAllister. Helen, with her quickness of wit. saw the situation in a flash, grasping the meaning of all that he had done, and believing Implicitly, ns I did, the story that Barclay had told. Then, very seriously, se-riously, she asked me what reception I should meet with from the captain. I was In such an exalted state, and so splendid did the world appear, that I think I half persuaded myself that the captain might look upon our love affair with favor, and might even help us to solve our diflicultles. And thus, my arm around her waist, we strolled slowly hack to the house. To McAllister I made the brief explanation ex-planation that private business demanded de-manded a visit to the fort; and accordingly ac-cordingly the next afternoon I took leave of nelen, not letting her see that I felt any uneasiness as to .my return, nnd left the Island behind. Once headed head-ed for the plantation, however, my heart suddenly turned heavy, for when I thought of Barclay's hatred of McAllister, Mc-Allister, I became fearful lest this hatred should extend both to Helen and myself. Yet I reasoned, too, thai I had at least been faithful, and could only hope that this fact might sway the balance in my favor. Thus debating the matter in my mind. I came to the mainland and unwillingly un-willingly enough went In search of Shively. On my way I came across one of his assistants, a decent enough looking lad, and the youngest of the lot. He, casting .a quick glance around him to see that we were not observed, signed to me to follow him Into one of the outbuildings. And here, swearing swear-ing me to secrecy, lie told me that matters mat-ters on the plantation were going from bad to worse, that he suspected a gen- eral rising among the slaves, and hf begged me. If I heard anything of this on my trip to the Port, to be sore on my return to let him know. "What is there to stop them?" he asked. "IIre we are, a dozen whites against seven hundred blacks. And who could blame them for rising? Shively" he tiptoed to the entrance of the building, recon-noitered recon-noitered and returned. "He's a beast," he confided with bitterness. "The things he does! The way he persecutes perse-cutes these poor devils! Pah! lt would sicken you to know. But I'm mortally afraid of him. He has told us that he's short-handed, and that if any one of us tries to leave him he'll make him rue the day. I ought to cut J and run for it this very minute, but he'd hunt me out, and when I think what he'd do to me when he caught me " He broke off short, his pause more eloquent tnan words, and I could not help pitying him. Still I could hardly advise this irresolute lad to take a chance, which, if unsuccessful, would mean his death. So I told him to keep up his courage and that I would see him on my return, and forthwith continued con-tinued my- search for the overseer. I found hlin Inflamed with drink, not yet at the quarrelsome stage, but for him in what might almost have been called a mood of good humor of a brutal bru-tal sort. On my saying that I was In ' haste, he had saddled for me a good horse, a fleet, gentle iron-gray, bade me good luck and returned to his liquor. I had gone perhaps a mile or two of my Journey, and was Jogging leisure- j ly along, when I came face to face with a fellow traveler, mounted, like myself, on horseback. To shield his eyes from the declining sun, he had pulled his hat well over his face, giving giv-ing me but a glimpse of him; and yet, absorbed though I was in my meditations, medita-tions, I seemed to find, in his dress and hearing, something of home, some-1 thing that turned my thoughts toward Straltsmouth, and New Jersey's sandy-shores. sandy-shores. As we passed, it seemed to me that he threw me a glance, almost of recognition, and for an Instant, indeed, in-deed, he made as if to rein in his horse and hail me ; then, appearing to think better of It, and with the air of one who had mistaken his man, passed on. Tet of all this, in my abstraction, I thought little at the time, and, con-rlnulng con-rlnulng on my way, cuine to the Port about . sundown, and cantered out to the race course to put up my horse, and to have a chat with Q jashy. I was disappointed in his greeting, for he did not appear glad to see me, nnd though, as we talked once again of the great race and Satan's famous victory, he thawed to some extent, he still seemed solicitous to know why I had come to the Post ; and when I gave him, as I was obliged to do, somewhat some-what . evasive answers, he Inquired with an earnestness there was no mistaking mis-taking whether I meant to go hack to the island that night. To this I replied re-plied truthfully enough that I hoped to return late in the evening, nnd this appeared to please him greatly, for he repented several times, "That best way. Tort bad place to stay. Island good place. ' Go hack to Island quick." And with that I was forced to he content; con-tent; and at length, having received his promise that he would look after my horse, I took leave of him. but as I did so, he again displayed his anxiety anxi-ety by saying. "If yon no go bnck tonight, see tne first thing in morning." And I promised him I would do this. Arrived at the Palace, I found that Its gayety no longer charmed me. For one thing, Ceorge Lewis had departed, and for another, so changed had I become be-come in this brief space of time that what had before seemed dazzling and alluring now appeared cbenp and tawdry. taw-dry. Altogether I had little appetite for my supper, ate but sparingly, and then, with a careful eye to my weapons, weap-ons, started down the winding road toward the trystlng place. As I came nenrer and nearer to the shore I was suddenly filled with a wild hope that there might be no one there to meet me. But when I had made my way through the well-remembered belt of trees that fringed the shore, and had emerged at the very spot where I had landed two weeks ago. my heart suddenly sank like lead at the sight of the familiar boat upon the beach, two sturdy members of the crew holding her bow against the snnd. while the figure of Burford reclined re-clined comfortably In the stern. As we made our way toward the vessel, ves-sel, I perceived that my companion was not In a communicative mood, and Indeed I was too much occupied with my own thoughts to care for conversation, conver-sation, and presently, harassed with J grim forebodings. I found myself once more on the deck of the Black Panther, Pan-ther, j ' Let me he honest, however, nnd con- j fess that It was not without a thrill of j pleasure that I again clasped Barclay's ! hand. Whatever his merit1! or his failings, after the furtive McAllister niid the drunken, bullying Shively. It I was like a cool breeze on a summer's ' day to find myself again In the pros- j ence of a Man. ' "Well. 1 1 1 v lad." was his f,rt mi- J merit, "so you have kcj.t your pron.N..'' i My nerves. I iiMiL'ir.e. ni 'i -1 !.;''. j l.een. with all mv v.-orrs. In r:i;l,er ; an uncertain Hate, for I fh.red up. ; thoii-li quite without o.-.-.!o:i. ft h'" words. ; "Then yon doi:l.'oi .,.? I rrhd. ; At this he i e i-r.r- of his sun '. nl.'st sn.il'S. V.-ver." 1 c atf;rr-I rne "The hoy w!:o fiwri'-'I to ml:r.g 1 : : bird oPT t'.e Jersey coast, thnt t.,.rr ;nr In the foe-, would never br'-ns a f r : 7: . - ' se. P.ofcre you tell ine of vo ir do-ires. do-ires. ne question f.rsi. Have yon r - . oon.e admirer of t'.e brave M-t lister? A disciple of the her.e- o;ioi : S'lilvcly? If so. my hihors hav b4t. In vain." 1 ITU BE CONTlNUi-ii.;- |