Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1899-11-09

on the beach, Bilson and 1 descended
into ours, and we rowed rapidly to-
wards the shore.
But, after n moment or two, turned
my head, and an exclamation of de-
SPAR escaped my lips. The man, with
the box In his hand, was already half
way up the cliff. He was nearing the
top, and still none of the coastguard
men had made an appearance.
But moment later l saw one Of them
run to the edge of the cliff and peer
over. Then, having caught sight Of
him to the right, he fastened back to
the station. Just as our quarry reached
the top, three men ran out to obey my
order! He saw them, and instinctively
divining their intention, halted unde-
cided as to what he should do. Then,
gathering himself together, he turned
and fled. With the boat broadside on,
we rested on our oars to watch the race.
1t could only have one ending, for Bry-
an was not at all fresh. The distance
between pursuers and pursued grew
less and less, and had begun to cal
culate roughly how many seconds
would elapse before he was caught,
when, to my surprise, the men sudden
ly stopped! 1 saw them wave their
arms, and family, heard them shout.
But Bryan did not turn round; instead,
he increased his pace, taking course
along the edge of the cliff, unaware of
the terrible danger ahead.
Again the warning shouts and the
frantic gestures; one Of the men going
so far as to fire pistol. Still, he did
not look back, and then-how shall |
tell it?-Bryan suddenly saw yawn-
ing chasm before him, where the cliff
went back some yards. A chill struck
to the very marrow of my bones as L
watched his efforts to pull up, but he
was descending slope, and could not.
For a moment his short figure swayed
backwards and forwards upon the
brink, then, with a cry that echoes in
my ears as I write, he tottered over, to
fall headlong upon the jagged rocks be-
meath, an unacceptable and mangled
corpse.
We took up the oars in silence, and
rowed slowly to shore, for the tragedy
which had so direfully ended the chase
after the iron-bound box lay like pail
upon our spirits. We landed and Wis
tied the spot where the corpse lay, and
arrangements were made for its con-
veyance to the village, where the in
quest would take place. Having dis
charged this duty, search was made for
the box, and we found 1t at last, split
wide open by its impact with the rocks.
Inside was bulky envelope, inscribed:
THE Last Will and Testament OF
Samuel Gotridge."
Blson, who was solicitor, took pos
session of this, showing it to his COM
panion, whom l have not introduced,
Arthur Gotridge! The reader will I'M
derstand the whole story now. 1t can
hardly need explaining that Samuel
Gotridge was the "old fool" and Arthur
the wild young scamp" and that the
friend intrusted with the will went
down in the Sunhower. Bryan's OBJ
ject in obtaining the will is also plain.
BY some means he got wind of the fact
that Bilson knew the last will was made
in Valparaiso, and was in an iron-bound
box in the sunken Mayfower, OF course,
he wanted to get it first to destroy it,
in order that nothing would ever dis
turb his possession of the Gotridge es-
tates.
1received the large reward of $4,000,
and made the three coasteuards happy
with handsome present. When read
of the important developments of wire
less telegraphy, think Of what 1, in
connection with the present owner of
the Gotridge estates owe to it.-Tit-
Bits.