Waterbury evening Democrat., 1895-02-19

,tO fCu i,ldIS uI I.It t...tI,,CC
 mith, stripped t0 the waist and shovel
 ng coals for dear life. They may have
 nd some doubts nt first as to whether we ere really pursuing them, but now WIG allowed every winding and turning which hey took there could no longer be any .ucstinn about it. At Greenwich we were ,bout 3U0 paces behind them At Black wall we could not have been more than 250
 have courscd many creatures in many OuntriCs during my chcCkCrCd career, but lovCr did sport give me such q wild thrill IS this mad flying man hunt down the Thames Steadily wu drew in upon them, ard by yard In the silence of the night ve could hear the pauting and Clanking If their machinery Tho man in tho stern till crouchCd upon the deck, and his arms were moving as though ho were busy, while every now and then he would look mp and mCaSuro with glance the dis tancc which still separated Us. Nearer we camc and nearer Jones yelled to them to stop We were hot more tran four boats lengths behind them, both boats dying nt Il trcmr;.,iuuS pace. It w"S a lear reach of the river, with BHking ,ovrl upon on" side and the m,IIr, h"ly i'lumStCad marshes upon the Oil,r At 'ur hail the mtAn in tho stern sPrahX up from the drrk and shook his two Vlinchcd :tSiS at uS, Cnr>inE tho whilv in a high, .rao kvd voice lie was q g,',d led DOW
 rful man, and aS he stood l.utsiug him elf with lvoS astridc, l could s,c that from the thigh downward thcrC was but wooden stump upon the right sid" At he sound ut his strident, angry cries here was movement in the huddlrd tun- 'le upon the deck lt raj2htencd itself into a little black uan-tLe smallest l b.ry . la, l head and s!.Och ot tangled, uISb,vr!ed E4.r Hol..ts hAI a!gl -dy drawn Us re volvcr, aud l whipped out mine It the sight of this savage, distorted creature | He was wrapped In some sort Of dark ul | ster or blanket which left only his face exposed, but that face was enough to give l n man a slecplCss night Never have seen features so deeply marked with all | bestiality and cruelty His small eyes gluwcd and burned with a somber light and his thick lips were writhed back from his teeth, which grinnCd and chattCrrd at us with a half animal fury
 Fire if he raises his hand, said | Holmes quietly We were within a boat $ length by this time and almost within touch of our quarry l can see the two | of them now as they stood, the white man, with his legs far apart, shriekinG
 
 with his hidvous face and his strong vel 1 low teeth puashing at us in the light of | our lantern
 l It was we'll that Sc had $" clear view of him Even us wo looked he plucked out | from under his covering short, round piece ot wood, like a >c!.uOl ruler, and clap ped it to his lips Our pistols rang out together He whirlCd round threw up his arms and with a kind of choking cough fell sideways into the stream l l caught one glimpse of his venomOuS, mon l aCing eyes amid tho white swirl of the | waters At tho same moment the wooden | legged man threw himself upon the rud- | der and put it hard down, so that his boat made straight in for the southern bank, while we shot past her stern, only clearing | her by few feet We were round after her in an instant, but she was already nearly at the bank It was a wild and desolate place where the moon glimmered upon a wido cxpanse of marsh land, with pools of stagnant water and beds of decay l ing vegetation The launch, with dull thud, ran up upon the mud bank, with | her bow in the air and her stern flush with tho water The fugitive spranS out, but his stump instantly sank its whole length into the sodden soil. In vain he struggled and writhed. Not one step could he possibly take either forward or backward He yelled in impotent rage and kicked frantically into the mud with his other foot, but his struggles only bored his wooden pin the deeper into the sticky bank When we brought our launch alongside, he was so firmly anchored that it was only by throwing the end of a rope over his shoulders that we were able to haul him out and to drag him, like some evil fish, over our side
 The two Smiths, father and son, sat sullenly in their launch, but came aboard smeekly enough when commanded. The Aurora herself we hauled of and made fast to our stern. X solid iron chest of In dian workmanship stood upon the deck. This, there could be no question, was the
 same that had contained the ill omened treasure of the Sholtos. There was nc key, but N was of considerable weight SC we transferred it carefully to our own lit
 tie cabin As we steamed slowly up stream again we flashed our searchlight in every direction, but there was no sign of tht
 islander. Somewhere in the dark oozo al
 the bottom of the Thames lio tho bones oi
 that strange visitor to our shores.
 "See here" said Holmes, pointing e(
 the wooden hatchway. We wore hardly
 quick enough with our pistols.
 There, sure enough, just behind wher'
 we had been standing, stuck one of thos' { murdcrous darts which we knew SO we'll ] It must have whiZzcd between us at thu
 instant we fired. Holmes smiled at it and
 shrugged his shoulders in his easy fash
 ion, but confess that it turned me siel
 to think oi the horrible death which hat
 passed so close to us that night.
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