The Winslow mail., 1899-11-16
from Valparaiso by a friend to the gen.


from Valparaiso by friend to the gen.
tleman in the boat. We can prove 1t
belongs to him by its contents! But
help US to recover it, and you shall have
the $4,000 reward which we have ad-
Il thought a moment My voice
nonld not ee""" n f"s oaOlD0t
would not carry to the shore against
the wind. How could L attract the at
tention of those at the station on the
cliff? Like a flash, and as if some invis-
ible person had spoken, came the words:
by the telegraph"
The thought no sooner occurred to
me than | hastened to put it into prac-
tice, explaining what | was going to do
as worked, to Bilson, as the man called
himself. By the time had set the coil
going the boat and its occupant were
within half mile of the shore, for the
man was still using almost superhuman
eXertion.
l sent the inquiring signal, and await
ed an answer. 1t must be understood
that we had on board only transmit
ter, not also a receiver, the coastguard
men replying by flags. A moment
passed, and no reply. Again and again
/ signalled. Were the men in the place?
The seconds seemed like hours! Then,
to my great delight, up to the masthead
fluttered flag. With all the speed L
could command, l sent the words:
''Seize-box-car carried = by = man
nearing-shore-in-boat-he - has
stolen-it.''
Bilson was as excited as myself, and
joined in my frantic cheer, when the
signal went up that my message was
understood. Just as the boat grated
on the beach, Bilson and | descended
into ours, and we rowed rapidly to-
wards the shore.
But, after a moment or two, I turned
my head, and an exclamation of de-
spair 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 | 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 a 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 /
watched his efforts to pull up, but hG
was descending a slope, and could not
For moment his short figure swayed
backwards and forwards upon the
brink, then, with cry that echoes in
my ears as l write, he tottered over, to
fall headlong upon the jagged rocks be-
meath, an unrecognizable 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 vis-
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 it at last, split
wide open by its impact with the rocks.
Inside was a bulky envelope, inscribed:
''The Last Will and Testament Of
Samuel Gotridge."
Bilson, who was a solicitor, took pos
session of this, showing it to his COM
panion, whom [ have not introduced,
Arthur Gotridge The reader will un-
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 Sunfower. Bryan's OBJ
iect 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.
l received the large reward Of 6 5000,
and made the three coastguards happy
with handsome present. When I read
of the important developments of wire
less telegraphy, ! think of what l, in
connection with the present owner OF
the Gotridge estates owe to it.-Tit-
Bits.
Better walk in Java.
A gentleman who has been travelling
in Java thus writes about the Dutch
colonial railways. He says: 'Trains
are used in Java, not on account of their
sDeed, but on account of the long dis