Waterbury evening Democrat., 1890-01-27

lelicate, but somehow tonight 1t did | lct seem cheerful; the lamp was not l burning so brightly as usual, and, once l ,a!e in her pretty berth, Madge could | 1ot see to read as she had intended. She tries to sleep, but never felt moro | vide awake, and now six bells arc l struck, and she reflects with joy that in an hour at latest her husband will be back. All is wrapped in stiffness. No sound falls on her ear but the 'wash of the wave" on tho yachts side at her head, and the drip, drip of tho rain on deck. But stay! that surely is louder sound than the water that ripples so close to her. It is too muffled to be oars; all the same there is distinct splash, and sort of jar on the ships side. Madge sits up to listen, and h CT sense of hearing seems to become preternatural- ly sharpened; she hears a footstep, soft as velvet, on the deck, right overhead. That is not the way Beftie would come on board, let alone the party who, head ed by the captain, had gone ashore.
 Now she hears moro footsteps and then-oh! what is that going on? There comes low, deep growl from Cheviot, a, growl that ends in an odd kind of gurgle, and a noise of something heavy falling.
 Light steps seem to cross the deck and come down the companion, and through the keyhole of her door shines the faintest glimmer of light; in one moment sho is out of her berth and at her door-alas! it has got no key, and those in the yacht, whoever they are, have got her at their mercy.
 For few minutes the poor child feels utterly confused, and then all of sud den her senses return to her; she rolls herself in a long, dark boat-cloak that is hanging on a hook, puts out her light, and cautiously-for her life depends on it-opens the door and looks out
 There is little bit of passage be- tween her and the main cabin, from which comes dim light; faint clash of metal can be heard, but neither voice nor sound.
 Tho companion-ladder is between the two cabins and the passage Is nearly pitch dark, while there is always the friendly shelter of one or two unused cabin doors.
 Shall she wait in her cabin, perhaps to be caught like a rat in trap; or shall she crawl along the passage, make dash for the companion, and get on deck somehow to give tho alarm to the sailors? She elects to attempt the lat ter.
 Three steps and she is crouching at the foot of the stair, and can see into the saloon. On the floor, with his back to the door, one man kneels, and she sees him filling an empty bag with all the yachts silver. The door of Bertie's dressing room is open, and another beetle-browed and brawny Italian ruffian has his hands on heap of sove- reigns, the broken cash-box being on the floor at his feet. A third man Is in the main cabin. Ho is standing beside an open drawer, his head partly turned away from tho door, but Madge feels he is the greatest danger, and that at any moment he may look round.
 As she stands there her eye falls on the strong key that is in the lock of the main cabin door. She can almost touch it. If she did but reach it could she lock thom in before they could stop her? Above all, would the key turn? She knows nothing about its locking powers, and it might easily be rusty. But Madge Hepburn is no coward, and the fighting blood of a wild border strain runs hotly in her veins. As she made up her mind she acted.
 Concealment was now of no use; she sprang at the door, and as she did so the third man turned and saw her. Two steps and he was across the room, but ono second had sufflced for Madge. The door banged to; the key was stiff, indeed, but terror gave her fingers a strength she did not knGS they pos sesse(a and before the burglar actually touched the door handlc the bolt shot home. A volley of Italian oaths and a blow which all but knocked panel out of the door followed, but Madge seemed as if sho had wings to her feet. She flow on deck, and now? What is that which falls on her ears but the blessed sound of oars? But alas! What is that black form that at the same moment she sees stretched on the deck, and what is the dark stream that stains its surface? She does not know. Her eyes are dim; her senses fail her, and whe1 Bertie Hepburn jumps Nn board the first thing he sees is his pretty Madge in a dead faint at his feet lying across the lifeless body of poor Cheviot.
 The noise the three ruffians make 1T the cabin soon gives him the clew tt what has happened, and before pool Madge has recovered her senses free fight has taken place, and if the Italian gentlemen W re good deal knocked about by the English sailors, they de served double as much as they got, ant the Vice-Consul made it his business t< see they got it in the long run.
 In some mysterious manner these ses robbers had discovered that the ownel and good many of the crew of the Cormorant had gone ashore, and they thought they would have it all thei1 own way on board. The last thing tha they locked for was that mere gir should ''up and bar the door" in thei faces.-The Queen.