The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1899-05-12

Demetrius. | had left the two at the
back of the house. building a small
sloop upon plans furnished by me. The
Greek was no mean mechanic. and Mark
had proved an enthusiastic apprentice.
Demetrius 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 waistcoat and
proceeded to put away his tools.
Don't alarm yourself, sir; can find
Mr.. Mark. He is around somewhere"
Somewhere! Of course; but where?"
"1e 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 leff his bucket and wan
dered north, searching. probably. for
shells in the masses of seagrass and
kelp which u recent storm had flung
upon the shore. | noted his footprints
in the wet sand, and close beside them
the large. deeply-indented tracks of
Burlington.
Perdition! What If arrived too
late?
To the south the sands stretched
widely fiat for miles, a 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 were exquisite
medusn. pink, purple and green. star
fish, echinoderms, monstrous abalones
and other marvels. One cavern, to
which the Portuguese had given the
melodramatic title Pirates cave. had a
mighty fascination for Mark. He
listened to the yarns of the ancient
mariners and believed implicitly, with
the glorious faith of youth, that chests
of doubloons, dead mems bones aud 9TH
er relics of Spanish buccaneers were
awaiting discovery. Upon the Pacific
slope, especially in springtime. tidal
waves are not infrequent and Mark had
received strict orders from his mother
never to venture alone into the caves.
l make no doubt that he ignored these
commands whenever opportunity
served.
AS I ran, vagabond thoughts whirled
like dervishes through my brain. l
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 l shuddered
to think what foul use he would make
of it.
When l 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 the
waters were tapping idly at the base of
the cliffs. Seagulls screamed overhead.
The wet sand was blood-red with SUM-
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 anxiously the semicircular
cove in front of me. No human being
was in sight. Hurrying on, struck
again the sand, and on it the footprints.
These l followed to the mouth of the
Pirates cave. There-where the peb-
bles hid the tracks-the spoor was lost.
My worst suspicious were realized.
listened intently for the murmur of
voices. Then, slipping off my shoes, l
ctanna6 nnica1oSc1u fnrxyorl Nv Y.iorbf
hand gripped the stock of q pistol
which lat the urgent request of Gerard)
l carried habitually in my pocket. The
cave had two chambers, an inner and
an outer, the latter lighted by small
aperture in the roof. l remembered,
with a sudden gust of hope, that it was
possible to crawl through this aperture
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 of
escape.
The silence, accentuated by the drip
and trickle of water, was horrible. A
more appropriate stage setting for
tragedy could scarcely be conceived.
The danl1 walls, Shiny with fungoid
growth, harbored no echo. What
nymph, indeed, would haunt so fearful
grot? The pools of water courted
blood-stained hands. And in the deep
crannies and assures were hiding places
for n hecatomb of victims.
am no coward, but horror smote me
in the face.
AS l glded in the shadows to the en-
trance of the inner chamber | heard a
peculiar noise-a fretting of garments
against rocks. Pistol in hand. plunged
forward. High up, crawling painfully
across jagged rocks, was Burlington;
but where was the boy?
Haiti" l cried, sternly.
The sound of nay own voice startled
me; and it startled the mailman above.
He turned suddenly. grasped helplessly
at the Shiny walls, lost his hold and
crashed headlong to my feet. He had
fallen in the most awkward possible
place. a rift between two rocks. For
the moment every feeling was ban
ished save that of pity; but how to ex-
tricate him passed my understanding.
lie lay senseless upon his back. The
muscles had borne the brunt
of the shock and saved him a broken
neck: but in the nature of things he
must have suffered very grave internal
injuries. But the catastrophe added
fuel to the flames of my anxiety on
Marks account. Had he escaped
through the hole in the roof? Or-I