The record-union., 1896-06-21


u.s."
| to ask
Were going after treasure Silence
ALL
We entered an inlet, very similar to
the one we had come from, only it was
| longer and the cliffs were not nearly Sc
high. We ran to the far end of the
Inlet, and landed upon a shelving piece
of beach, making as little noise as pos
s:hle.
A man was waiting for us there.
The ape knew him, and went to him.
You'll stay here the Captain said
to me, "along with this man., pointing
to the new man from the ship, land
mind you keep your mouth shut, what
ever you see or hear, for he's got strict
orders from me to blow your brains out
if you utter a sound"
They all then departed silently into
the darkness.
We waited five minutes, ten minutes,
and then two men returned, carrying
between them a heavy box. This was
deposited in the bottom OF the boat and
then the two men went away again.
Three times they came back, each
time carrying a box between them. 1
could see the boxes were heavy by the
effort it was to carry them.
Then he waited a long while. The
man who had orders to do for me if |
made a sound, began to grow impa-
tient.
They'll overdo it," 1 heard him NUT
ter.
Overdue what?" ventured.
'"Shut up
l said no more. 1t had been quite
dark until now, but the moon came out
suddenly, mistily, but enough to cast
ghostly light around us. I could
not make out why / had been brought
on this expedition. I was not of the
slightest use, and might just as well
have been left on board.
Suddenly the lights flashed. there was
the sound of hurrying feet First came
the two men.
"Shove her off, Jim," they said, and
began pushing the boat, stern first, into
the water. ''The alarms given. It'll
be touch and co.
The woman, | suppose" grumbled
the man who had been my guardian.
That's it."
Everything seemed to happen at once.
was told to get into the boat, but be-
fore I could obey lights were dancing
close to us. The Captain and the ape
rushed down together, and in the apes
arms was something white, which
skrieked
xiii him."
The voice sounded familiar I could
almost have sworn the ape had spoken
A report rang out, and 1 felt a finger
or hot flame upon my cheek. A cry
rent the air. A familiar voice this
time
"Moreen," I shouted, and sprang to-
wards the ape. l caught him even as
his foot was on the gunwale of the
boat. I caught him, and drew him
back with all my strength.
Then two or three revolver shots
cracked simultaneously. The lights
iiashed IN my eyes. 1 felt the ape curl
Up in m. grasp. 1 saw the white figure
SIP from him, and then darkness-black
oblivion.
aWoke to find myself in a comfort
aple bed in comfortable room. with
a KIND, motherly face looking into mine.
IL was all very strange. At first T
dozed off again into forgetfulness. and
II was long time before / could remem-
Der with any distinctness what had
happened, longer still before I was al
lowed to talk of it.
remembering the white figure and
the shrieks, I was not altogether SIR
prlsed to find that 1 was in the bouse
OF Dennis Alinson.
ms is the story they told me. NV
uAcle mad heard of my attachment to
-horeen Allnson, and therefore recalled
ine from Dublln to Moor Hall. He had
iolls ago made up his mind that his son
snould marry her. 1t was one Of his
great schemes for patching ,rp the fallen
fortunes of the house of DarIev. for
Moreen was an heiress My uncle had
approached Mr.. Alinson 1Inon tho sub
ect, but that gentleman had NOT iumnaa
at the idea. He knew that money was
scarce with the Darleys, but that did
not weigh so much with him as the fact
.i1at lie hao always considered the Dar-
leys wild lot and did rot consider Rria n
Soou Hnatcn for his ward. However.
my uncle put 1t all down to a question
OF money, and told Brian so; but beyond
schemlng to obtain money enough to
satisfy Mr.. Alinson, my uncle had done
nethdng. Brian, however took the mat
ter into his own hands. He determined
to win Moreen somehow, and a pecuI
1arlty OF Mr.. Alinson's seemed to s,1n
ply him with the means At his "a st1e
the house in which was then recover
ing, Mr.. Alinson kept the greater mart
of his money, and the money he held in
trust for his ward. In the past. invest
ments had gone wrong with him, and he
rad what amounted to a superstitious
fear of losing Moreen's money. He
converted as much of it as he could into
bullion, and stored it in the underground
cellars of the castle. This Brian found
out by brlblng servant of Mr.. Aim
son, the man who had met us on the
peacn that night. Then by the promise
OF rewards, he got hold of a few des-
perate men to make the venture. The
servant who had betrayed his trust had
told Miss Alinson that Gilbert Dar1ev
would land on the beach that night on,
purpose to see her, SO she had an inter-
est in being secret that evening. and had
unconsciously helped the plot which had
so very nearly succeeded. To carry her
off was really an afterthought. Brian's
cnlef ldea was to get hold of the treas
ure, not with the object of appropriat-
ing 1t, but by threats OF exposing Mr..
Alinson's inability to produce his wards
estate when called upon, to drive him
into consenting to the match. 1t was a
mad idea, worthy of a barley. OF all
this my uncle was ignorant. Brian
knew that his father would have
stopped him had he got any notion of
what he was attempting The excite
ment of the adventure was probably as