The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-11-21

tram, the lost heir of the Ellangowan
She knew him now without a waver-
Ing, her heart, her eyes and, as she
thought, invisible spirits told her the
truth-it was the boy Of whom she had
been so fond and whom, in that very
place, she had so often rocked to sleep
upon her knee. But her time for revela-
ton, she felt, was not yet come Ber-
tram, as we must now call him, saw a
dying man with bloody bandages about
his head stretched on a rude cot and at
the same moment heard voices approach
Ing Old Meg, whispering. Your life is
not worth bawbee IL you do not as
say" hid him under some straw in the
further corner of the room Just as four
rough-looking men smugglers, evidently.
by their talk and appearance, evidently
Bertram saw with some anger that one
OF them carried his own valise, which thew
! had evidently stolen from the carriage
after overcoming the position. But what
could he do, unarmed as he was, against
these armed and desperate ruffians? The
wounded man died and his fellow SNUG
glers buried him in the ravine. When
they had gone Meg hurried Bertram
away saying, Promise me that when I
call for you you will come, be 1t in church
or market, at wedding or burial I am
not mad. Ye shall soon know ALL"
The next day Bertram met Lucy, Julia
and Lakewood as they were coming from
skating. At his sudden appearance Julia
screamed, and young Hazlewood, think
Ing Bertram some evil-minded person,
3hreatened him with the gun he was
carrying. In the struggle which ensued
the gun was discharged, the shot lodging
In Hazlewood's shoulder, and Bertram
was arrested charged with attempted
murder. He declared he was Capt. Van
beest Brown of His Majestys regiment
of horse. They laughed at him Dirk
Hatteraick had appeared on the coast
again and Vanbeest Brown was the name
of his lieutenant who had been killed In
an attempt of the smugglers to retaka
some esized goods-in fact, was the man
Bertram had seen die the night before
He wrote to his lieutenant-colonel for
proof of his statement, but they would
not wait for reply. He resolved to APP
peal to Colonel Mannering but the coll
onel was In Edinburgh. Julia, rendered
Ill by her agitation, resolved to await the
return of her father before speaking
Glossin realized only too surely that Har-
ry Bertram had reappeared, and, seeking
out Hatteraiclz, whom he had hired years
before to abduet the heir of Ellangowan,
arranged with that worthy mariner that
the next night he should break open the
Jail at Portanferry and seize Bertram
whom he would manage to have confined
there, and take the young man out of
the way-even limiting at murder. Clos
sin, as a magistrate, would arrange to
have the troops usually at Portanferry
withdrawn that night.
Bertram in his prison was surprised by
the arrival Of Dinmont, who Insisted
upon staying that night with him. The
honest farmer had received a mysterious
message, sent 1t is needless to say by Meg
Merrilies. which had warned him that his
friend was in danger and he had fastened
with all speed to obey the commands it
contained. That night the smugglers
opened the jail, but as Bertram was being
hurried away by his captors the soldiers,
warned by Meg, Unexpectedly returned
and in the confusion which ensued Ber-
tram, aided by Dinmont and a nephew of
Meg's, whom she had sent for the pur-
pose, escaped to a waiting carriage sent
there by the gypsy's contrivance, which
took him to Woodbourne and the pres
ence of Mannering, who had that day
returned home. Julia confessed ALL ex-
plantations ensued and the colonel and
the captain were reconciled. while Mr..
Pleydell, an Edinburgh lawyer, who was
visiting Mannering and who had once
been sheriff of the region exclaimed.
Lord save us, it's old ElIangowan come
to life again.
Bertram told what he could remember
of his life; of having in his early youth
lived in a country like that in which he
now found himself; of beng an ill-used
cabin boy on smuggling lugger; of being
called by the name of one of the SNUG
glers; of having been adopted by Hol-
land merchant and sent out to India,
where he had FIRST been a clerk and then
soldier. His hearers were convinced
that he was the lost heir of Ellangowan
and a small bag which he had worn
around his neck as long as he could re-
member disclosed the identical horoscope
cast by Mannering at his BIRTH
"Pro-di- gi-oust' cried Sampson.
The next day Hatteraick and Glossin
were seized while in conference in a
cave below the Point Of Worrock, their
trysting place being betrayed by Meg.
The smuggler was placed in jail charged
with various capital crimes, while Clos
sin was incarcerated upon a charge of
being his accomplice. In the melee of the
capture poor Meg was killed, shot from
Hatteraick's pistol piercing her breast
She died willingly, singing her own death
song and declaring that now Bertram's
might and Bertram's right had met in
Colonel Mannering and the lost heir. Clos
sin was killed that night in an alterca-
ton with Hatteraick In the prison, and
the confession of the smugeier rsnoved
all doubt of the personality OF the young
man who had been known as vanbeest
Brown.
OF course Capt. Harry Bertram got
back his ancestral estates and married
Julia Mannering, and of course the COL
onefs fortune went to restore the pros
perity of the ancient house. Lucy, OF
course, married young Lakewood and
they used to visit often at Elangowan
New Place. where the colonel lived hap
PLY to the day of his death with his
daughter and son-in-law, and Dominic
Sampson grew to be very old in the work
of rearranging the library OF the colonies