The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1899-06-13
!: A revenge PLOT THAT FAILED.
..HarrY. dear. don't 60. /,


engineer in building q new lighthouse
on the dangerous island Of Skryn, of
the west coast of Ireland
parted with CHS on Tuesday. Fri.
day morning found me on the small
sailing craft which was the only means
of communication between Skryn and
the mainland
Soon we landed, and waded ashore
and walked up the steep path to the TOP
of the cliff
AS l reached the summit man met
me, and, holding out his hand, said.
"Good morning You re Mr.. Brydon.
supposef I'm GALLANT
He was not SO i'll looking-at least as
far as features went. 1t was not till
later that I discovered the peculiar re-
pulsion he inspired me with was due tc
his eyes. These were extraordinarily
dark and piercing, but across the iris
of one was remarkable pale yellow
mark which, combined with a very
slight squint. gave him an absolutely
uncanny appearance.
Next day was up betimes. boiled
my big kettle, made my coffee and was
out on the reef before Callan was visi-
BILE The men were already at work ]
spoke to them. but either they could
not or would not talk. Presently Callan
came out, scrambling along the reef
What burly brute he looked in the
clear morning sunlight He spoke tc
tho mon with ov%ro0,1;po~x, roy, r.b,~oo,
They evidently feared him. and. soon
saw, hated him too.
This puzzled me till knew him bet
ter. But very few days opened my
eyes. If ever there lived a man without
one grain of pity in his composition, il
was Eugene Callan He seemed to take
an absolute delight in cruelty for cruel
tvs sake. There was boy called Bar
ney McKeown who acted as servant to
Callan. The way Callan bullied that
unfortunate boy was appalling. l won
dered how the others could see such
things happening.
A few weeks later we had a storm
which stopped all work.
/ sat in my hut reading most of the
day and listening to the gusts that
roared at times like thunder Once OF
twice Ifancied a shriller sound mingled
with the gale.
Late in the afternoon it lulled lit
tie, and suddenly there came, distinct
and clear to my ears, scream of pain.
| sprang up and listened Again and
again the cry sounded out. 1t was from
Callan's hut it came.
sprang up, rushed across and flung
pen the door. The sight that met my
eyes made me blaze with anger Strip
ped to the waist and writing with
pain, the wretched McKeown was tied
TO the head of Callan's bed, while over
him stood the big black bully. flashing
him with ropes end
whats this for2'' l cried.
Callan turned his crooked gaze on me-
'sTo teach the young hound obedi-
enceP His voice grated with rage at
my interruption. "And what business
is it of yours, Mr.. Pry p"
fancied for an instant he was going
for me- But l was much too angry to
tAlAh VI Consequences.
"You re an Internal bullyi'' shout
ed. ''And if you don t chuck it l can't
make you, but I'll soon let our employ
ers know.
The bully was coward-that /
knew But he could have killed me
with one hand. So my relief was con-
siderable when he suddenly threw
down the ropes end / united Nc
Keown, and. pushing him before me.
left the hut
But kissing whisper followed me-
''All right, young man. your turn
now But you'll pay for it. y
One day letters came across from the
mainland-one from Cts and one in an
unknown hand
Cis' letter, of course, | read first
Then | tore open the other and SKINNED
it through
Only by slow degrees did realize its
import My mothers uncle. old Sir
Bernard Child, had died and left me
everything. Why, l had never seen
him, hardly imagined that he was
aware of my existence l walked out,
and, still in a dazed condition, called
McKeown to pull me across to the
mainland. Then l bolted up to the vii
lage postoffice and sent off a wire. To
ward sunset the reply came. assuring
me my news was correct in every de-
tail looked up the first train from
Culcross in the morning. arranged
oh 70 4o1-
soon rowing back to Skryn.
The sun had long set behind the sea
rim as we pulled into the little cove,
and it was quite dark as we clambered
up the narrow rock path. Reaching the
top, | glanced across to the huts and
Thought saw the CLEAN of light flash
under the door of my shanty. l was
about to hurry on when the boy laid a
hand on my sleeve.
Presently there was scratching from
within. A match famed up. The man
who had lighted it was crouched on the
floor, his body between us and the
light. He was unwinding a piece of
very thin Irvine or strong thread and
carefully stringing it across the floor
from the bed to the stove He passed it
round leg of the stove and then back
again. securing it finally with infinite
caution to a little shiny metal tube
which protruded from the top of small
parcel This parcel was standing we'll
hidden under one of the chairs at the
foot of the bed. As the man turned !
saw his profile plainly 1t was Callan
An instant's thought and my engi-
neering training made plain to me the
whole internal plot The parcel was
gun cotton; the tube held acid in thin
glass receptacle. Above this was lead
en- bullet, kept in place by movable
pin. The string so carefully wound
across the floor was attached to the free
end of the pin. A touch of careless feet
against the string, the pin would pull
out, the bullet fall, the glass shiver and
the acid do its deadly work on the ex-
plosive below
1 had forgotten for the time all about
the boy. Suddenly, in moment Of mad
fury-for he, too, had understood the
plot-he sprang up and beat with his
fists upon the pane Callan raised him
self quickly. but carefully, not forget
ting the deadly string. What he did
forget was how near he was to the stove
As in a dream ! saw his coat catch
against 1t. 1t swung and the big kettle
overbalanced For an instant it seemed
to hang in the air. strove to call out
It was too late. Smash. it fell right on