Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1897-08-06
CHAPTER ~.

III AiNS oolllC MY lIISl
impulse was to follow and console. but
luty and curiosity nailed me to the
spot. From the shadow of the cypress
fence could see Burlington, myself
unseen. He strobe past. looking
neither to the right nor to the left.
walking as man walks when he has
his goal in sight. waited, thinking
hard; then returned to the house.
Nancy met me as passed the thrash-
old. Her sweet ice was puckered and,
lined by anxietr Mother" she gasped,
sis so i'll. Plerse come to her at once. i
am frighteng L."
l entered ,he parlor. Upon the couch
lay Mrs. Gerard. Her eyes were closed;
her breath came and went in short
gasps; her pulse was rapid and feeble.
At my suggestion Nancy left the room
to procure some aromatic spirits of am
monia. Before she returned Mrs. &C.
rard opened her eyes.
Mark" she murmured, family
"where is he? This faintness will pass;
but my child-Mr. Livingston, find my
child"
hamored her instantly, fearing hys-
terra. The sight of the lad. reflected.
would still her poor futtcring heart
more quickly than all the drugs in
Christendom. Mark, of course, was with
Demetrius. / had left the two at the
back of the house, building small
sloop upon plans furnished by me. The
Greek was no mean mechanic, and Mark
had proved an enthusiastic apprentice.
Demctrius found busily at work, but
the boy was not with him.
The impassivity of the Greek, as re-
cited the facts, annoyed me. He leis-
urely assumed coat and waistcoati and
proceeded to put away his tools.
Don't alarm yourself, sir; can ind
Mr.. Mark. He is around somewhere"
Somewhere! OF course; but where ?'
"He ran down to the sands to get
some fresh water for his aquarium"
"The sands! Good God, man, and we
are standing here! Follow me-
l ran at top speed to the waters edge.
Yes, he had left his bucket and wan-
dered north, searching. probably, for
shells in the masses of seagrass and
kelp which recent storm had flung
upon the shore. I noted his footprints
in, the wet sand, and close beside them
the large, deeply-indented tracks OF
Burlington.
Perdition! What if l arrived too
late?
To the south the sands stretched
widely flat for miles, superb high.
way, fringed with low sand dunes; to
the north were the cliffs, jutting prom.
ontories of red sandstone, honey.
combed with caves. These caves could
be entered only at the lowest tides
and were favorite haunts of the boy
In their dim recesses We're exquisite
medusm, pink, purple and green, star
fish, echinoderms, monstrous abalones
and other marvels. One cavern, tc
which the Portuguese had given the
melodramatic title Pirates cave, had q
mighty fascination for Mark lie
listened to the yarns of the ancient
mariners and believed implicitly, with
the glorious faith of youth, that chests
! Of doubloons, dead mems bones and 9th.
er relics of Spanish buccaneers were
! awaiting discovery. Upon the Pacific
slope, especially in springtime, tida
waves are not infrequent and Mark hac
received strict orders from his mother
never to venture alone into the caves
I make no doubt that he ignored these
commands whenever opportunity
served.
AS I ran, vagabond thoughts whirled
| like dervishes through my brain.
recalled the proverbial patience and
cunning of madmen. Burlington, armed
with powerful field glasses, must have
watched and waited possibly for {
| full month) for this very chance. From
my knowledge of the man shudderec
to think what foul use he would make
of it.
When reached the end OF the sand ]
paused. A cove was directly in front Of
me-in fact, a succession of coves, shell
tered, each one, by frowning headlands
AT high tide these coves were inaccessi
BILE from the shore; and already thu
waters were tapping idly at the base Of
| the cliffs. Seagulls screamed overhead
The wet sand was blood-red with sun
set reflections. The sun itself was be
low the horizon. the day dying fast
and the short spring twilight stealing
swiftly from landward.
Scrambling across the rocks,
scanned anNiously the semicirculal
cove in front of me. No human being
was in sight. Hurrying on, l strucl
again the sand, and on it the footprints
These I followed to the mouth of the
Pirates cave. There-where the peb
bles hid the tracks-the spoor was lost
Ny worst suspicious We're realized.
listened intently for the murmur O.
voices. Then, slipping off my shoes,
stepped noiselessly forward. My RICH
hand gripped the stock of a pisto
which lat the urgent request of Gerard,
I carried habitually in my pocket. The
cave had two chambers. an inner ane
an outer, the latter lighted by small
aperture in the roof. remembered
with a sudden gust of hope, that ii wa!
possible to crawl through this apertur,
and regain the cliffs above. had per
formed this feat myself at much per
sonal inconvenience, but Mark made lit
tie of it. Here, then. was loophole O
escape.
The silence, accentuated by the driI
and trickle of water, was horrible. 4