| Show neep al G 01 d BY BEATRICE illustrations by irwin myers copyright by hughes massie co service CHAPTER XI continued 19 she did not kiss me back almost she seemed to shiver a little as if with cold I 1 loosed her lot led round and saw that my friend birsett wai wag there he was walking toward us across the marshy grass had reached us was looking at roe me wis sneaking king amory he said I 1 m scriv to say ay I 1 have orders to arrest vou on for the alleged murder of sir richard fan pan shaw I 1 turned not to him but to pla in one moment I 1 un lers stood all she the fearless rider the collid can lid lover over had dared one more risk he had tricked me into doing that which never knowingly I 1 would have d ne tie link my life with hers beneath the shadows of crime and deith tie words were said there was no nn un saying them pla was married to an arrested murderer anything you say warned has bas sett may be used in e evidence against you I 1 paid no more attention to him than to the winds of tl e emilly river 1 I faced my five minutes wife square ly looking her in the ea bejes ejes es you should not have done it I 1 said raid I 1 la looked back at me and tier her ees d d not fall before mine in thit that duel its my answer to you she said I 1 know about everything that you dont don t I 1 was begin ning but bassett cut me short she does he slid I 1 told tier her what d d reason had you to said bassett in his precise man ner net you don t seem to realize that you have no affairs left in any case all this Is very irregular I 1 must ask you to come with me and the police amory I 1 in sure you won t make trouble I 1 wont I 1 answered him give me five minutes talk fir t he ile went away remaining in sl sight ht I 1 turned to pia pla na I 1 at Is it that you know I 1 asked her I 1 inov kno v she said calmly that richard was a leper not proved suspected at all events I 1 know you met him and told him you d lecog nihed him and he said he did not care and he be was going to the main land tor for the wedding and you shot him because you could not stop him any other way you know you might be hanged for it dear love its it a not might its it a will be I 1 don dont t believe it but if it you are go with you to prison and walk with you to the end and til III kiss you before you die like this I 1 met her lips before they had time to reach mine and we clung together caring nothing for the men on the river bank caring nothing tor for who saw us in an embrace fierce long as if it indeed the shadow of the gallows tree rose up above us ready to end all she drew back the little feet that 1 I had swept up away from earth in the long passion of my kiss came down again with their white wedding shoes splashing in the mud they 11 take you in the government launch ate sl e said the I 1 apuan chief s down the river a little way waiting for me where are you going back to port moresby I 1 never went away so many things begin to happen mr turned up he went to fisherman island and ques the old soloman man who 8 caretaker why I 1 never saw no but it seems he was hidden away somewhere afraid to show mr spicer got it out of him he ile mr spicer knew all sorts of things I 1 can t think I 1 can I 1 said remembering that night on daru and the meeting with spicer outside bassett a house lie ile set all this going before he and the other man started up c antry after you he ile must have knonk thead be waiting for you I 1 tere ere all that had pulled me all I 1 had felt and feared was plain to n e now too late well might they take their defeat lightly when it meant so little I 1 well might they stick close on the way down to the thip tl at was to be sprung upon me n e their only ea diel to the gold of Tata tata I 1 im pin going st e said sail it has to be e good by as I 1 sal sat I 1 but I 1 shall be near you all the time and if if lf she conid could not biln brinn forth the black words a second time I 1 understand I 1 told her gods blessing on you darling and upon that we parted bassett took me to 10 the launch it appeared that spicer and lixon were going by the other boat bassett t take them in the launch IN we e shall get there first be he t id me it may matter to yoa and may not anyhow you shall have ha ye the chance I 1 suppose you got something I 1 leaned to pick up my swag opened it and turned out a pile of coarse coerse gold aiom the bottom of a 1 I wasted twelve dishes for that I 1 told him bassett a eyes opened wide what have you struck be asked looks as if you d been raiding a jewelers r 1 I have I 1 told him A jewelers jeweler a hop shop using the local name for some unusually rich area or locket but it 1 11 t likely to matter particularly if they bibik rov my neck at roki jail I 1 shan t have much time to enjoy it babbett had bad n th ug ng to bev iv I 1 tl ti ink he 1 f ted his job so much that he even enen be civil eh 11 I 1 understood its t Is fiame of mind moie more or less lers heared it t nd dd on the ru i t tc I 1 ort or Mr M eby hai hat i lly a brief or e we scarcely ex ch eh I 1 bed ed tn t n es eq on the day w hen we made 1 ort the papuan ch h ef lagging tagging a few miles behind us I 1 was given ghen permission to cibit the mines office more or less in custody and mal e my application so far as i 1 re caution L uld do it it I 1 was holding Tala Tata tata I 1 t that my ten ure tire was it iq none knew better thin I 1 and alcer were in c urt art d iring the tri I 1 wt en it came on a day or t ho 0 o after they watched every boint with the sharpness of prosecuting attorneys I 1 dont know 1 stat I at tl ey made of it WI alit at I 1 made of or it that first d iv was that I 1 was not at all events agolig to be hanged I 1 had a lawyer he was doing his big best and making the most t f fanshaw a at tack on me and his bib attempt to run ir e down the old solon on ts islander lander was wag chief witness rhe boy I 1 had bad hired in port a who ho cleaned ray my rifle and f und ne shot had been fired a stray hula withe wh had been out fishing on the reef and had seen me c me a ay hom fisherman make a long sweep and return were others spicer when tl lt ey called told sl at ame lessly all that he had overl over card un der tie tl e house in daru darn and thereby sheeted home to me the one thing wanting motive I 1 was known of course to be in loye love with miss lau rier her but blat tl at alone would hardly have fixed the cr me if crime one must call it I 1 have never felt inclined to do a so 0 the end of it was that the jury found me guilty of manslaughter and that I 1 was sentenced to five years I 1 am quite certain that these twelve good men and true of port moresby stretched a point in order to save my neck and I 1 am equally sure that the judge and the crown prosecutor one of whom was officially doing his best to have me hanged while the other was officially ready to pronounce the sentence were nere must better pleased with the verdict than they would dally have admitted so I 1 was sent to koll jail and there was no gallows built up inside the yard tor for me after all and I 1 chose out of a dozen who offered a friend to go to Tata tata and do the work that was necessary to hold my claim tor for me they did not consciously make it h I 1 for me in jail ahey 1 I hey were w ere kind ly cold coldly kind as jail officials justly are holly the head jailer with his sharp blue eyes and the smile that a smile and the voice that could rake the hide off a delinquent native natle prisoner turn him with two words into a heap of shiv ering brown jelly holly gasn wasn t my filand kept me to the letter of the jail re regulations gu lations slacked nothing that might have been blacked allowed nothing that could be refused I 1 sup p se re he was justified I 1 could learn working to order I 1 dian didn t a ind piling stones by myself on the new little jetty far removed from the black who were doing similar work I 1 made no trouble about keep ing my cell tidy dlan didn t grui ible at the plain sufficient food IN what hat I 1 could not learn was to avoid answering answerl aig back letting my sore and angry spirit flash out in sudden fury at the least reproof what I 1 did not realism realise for long was that in losing my freedom I 1 had also lost my rights as a hu man being and a man it Is so in j ils its it must he be so there were times when I 1 could I 1 lave ave murdered holly smashed his black warders into butch hutch ermeal er meat yet there was no time I 1 think when right according to prison custom was on my a de this had a bad result when the three months were out and visitors by law could be permitted I 1 got my one hour on sunday once a month and not another minute I 1 got my let monthly always reid re id and in iii Iti Itla aled led the letters I 1 wrote were read and initialed also it if I 1 could have fitted myself into the prison so far as to behave decently civilly remember I 1 was in jail and not in ta tie e hotel australia He heaven aen knows I 1 wis w is admonished aften enoah eno ih I 1 t have wangled many a e little indulgence such as aie are granted to the model usually experienced jail jall bird but for pla and for me there were no extra valts ni unread letters worst of all though perfectly leg legal 11 and right was the fremence ence of holly at all our ant interviews he ile read a paper and pretended kindly en ugh not to be listening but I 1 ask you stat Is love making under such con editions dit ions I 1 pass over months I 1 cannot re member for certain how many it may have been about six and come to a day when it was visiting day and pla pia darling over patient I 1 la was awaiting below at the gate of the palm an avenue denue until the hour wa wien en she might justly climb the hill always she was a little thinner always the lovely apple round of her young cheek check was a little more wasted like a fruit that frosts have prematurely touched bhe was gay aim alin st at merry before me merry with the self mastery taught the well bred girt girl as letters and find languages are taught her she strove to put aside the weariness lone ilmers despair that ravaged gerheart her heart even as they ravaged in ne tie and show a bright face throughout our little tour I 1 our we may have been the better for our pretenses I 1 cannot say I 1 only know that they were hard to keep up pias plas parents I 1 knew maintained a ceaseless afee of her mrs laurier had even vis ted port moresby more or less incognito had practically gone do vu on her knees to pla begging her as she valued the affection of her people her place in society her im mortal welfare characteristically by mrs laurier placed last to leava the black sheep into whose hose pastures she had so unfortunately andre turn to her own fold it would be easy according to mrs laurier to banige a divorce she was as sure I 1 be unreasonable could always be arranged so mrs laurier pia pla in reply but I 1 will let her speak for herself mum almost went on her tier knees I 1 was most frightfully sorry I 1 petted her and told her she austn t worry so I 1 asked her how rhe he d have felt if father but that made her worse she said I 1 t compare him toto to to never mind I 1 don t I 1 assured her there a only one person on earth I 1 mind and that s mrs Laur laurier lers s daughter but all the same I 1 was sorry for my mother in law according to her lights I 1 felt she was justified she said some more about crim trials and I 1 told her that you had made yourself a criminal for me and she said that t matter sh she e un der stood how I 1 felt oh mum isn t half bad when you know her but she said the point was how would society feel and that I 1 was young and d t know what I 1 was wag giving up and that I 1 must simply must come back with her and that it t be too late I 1 could rebuild my life my people would stand by me she Is a quite good little mother you know phil even if well I 1 told her that I 1 was twenty one and had my aunt a money and I 1 was very sorry but I 1 must judge for myself I 1 quoted that thing from tho bible wither thou boest I 1 will go and where thou lodgett I 1 will lodge thy people shall be my people and thy god my god the I 1 ord do so to me and more also if aught but death part thee and me I 1 was shaking all over when I 1 said it phil it was like pronouncing vows and mother what did she you can t down mum she listened as if she rhe had been at church and then sl at e said in that clipped way of hers very nice my dear but dont forget that all that was said by puth to her mother in law not her bus band and don t forget that bv by and by she married boaz like ilke a shot shott I 1 t help myself m self I 1 laughed and head jailer holly sometimes that man was nearly human got so far behind his newspaper and cleared his throat so much and noisily that well what would you have done you had something more to tell me I 1 reminded her when holly had finished gargling with his feelings and pla plas s hat had resumed its usual saucy angle over one eye les she said suddenly grave I 1 hid I 1 should have known about it and told you before if mum a visit hadrit t put things out so until she was gone she simply absorbed me and I 1 it d t phil I 1 in afraid it a something serious Is it about the gold claim yes it Is I 1 made as much as I 1 could of that to mum but you cant get the better of her she shoots so t she went to the point more than I 1 d dared to do myself and said all very well and people will forgive most things to mil lions but my good girl she said do you think that gold a going to lie ile loose till hes reidy to pick it up and I 1 said hes he a sent a friend to loon look after it and she said I 1 understand mum does get to know everything that a gold fields been blen procla proclaimed lined and half the bad characters of australia are there what do you think 8 going to hil hippen pen to a fortune left lying loo loose looe e don t tell me she said one never does tell her she always doea does the telling and shea so right except about you TO BE CONTINUED |
