St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1910-06-22

AuOSt eAAluSAeS =
"You mean the object of John
Steele.s visit to the continent?
Exactly And. the object OF that
visit solved. | have now matter OF
greatest Importance to communicate,
so important it could only be impaired
nv word of mouth" The police agent
smoke hastily and moved nearer.
Indeed. You have reached a con-
clusion. one that you sought to re-
fect perhaps, but that wouldn't be dis
carded?'
Mr.. GiIlett looked at him earnestly.
.You don't meant isn't possible that
YOU knew all the while"
"I.et us start at the beginning"
..True, your lordship." Mr.. Gillett
swallowed LAS your lordship is
aware. we were fortunate enough in
the beginning to find out through our
agent in Tasmania that John Steele
came to that place in little trading
schooner, the Laura Deane of Ports
mouth: that be had been rescued from
q tiny uncharted reef, or isle, on Dec.
81, some three. years before. The spot,
by longitude and latitude, marks,
through an odd coincidence, the place
where the Lord Nelson met her fate"
"a coincidence truly" murmured the
nobleman. But at this stage in your
reasoning you recalled that all on
board were embarked in the ships
boats and reached civilization. except
possibly
"a few of my charges between
decks? A bad lot of ugly brutes, The
story of John Steele's rescue" went on
Mr.. GiIlett. las told by himself, was
well known in Tasmania. A lawyer
by profession, he had been passenger
on a merchant vessel, the Mary Yer
non of Baltimore. United States. This
vessel, like the Lord Nelson, had come
to grief All of those in John Steele's
boat had persisted except him. Some
had gone mad through thirst and suf-
fering. Others had killed their fellows
in frenzy. Being of superb physique,
having been through much physical
training"-the listener stirred in his
chair-.he managed to survive, to
reach the little isle, where. according
to his story, he remained almost
year.
mania about four years after the Lord
Nelson went down. observed the no.
bleman, a curious gill in his eyes.
-Four years after" he repeated, ac-
centing the last word.
"Such were the details gathered in
Tasmania" answered the police agent.
'Go on said Lord Ronsdale.
From the mate of the Laura Deane,
| the schooner that rescued him from
| the isle, and one of her crew whom
managed to locate at Plymouth, as
1 have Informed your lordship by let
| ter" answered Mr.. Gillett. '"These
men now furnish lodgings to seamen
and incidentally shanghai few OF
| them for dubious craft Both of them,
| the mate and the sailor, recalled the
| man of fine bearing and education
whom they found on the little isle, q
sort of Greek statue, half clothed in
| rags, so to speak, who made his per-
sonality felt at once on these simple
! ignorant fellows. At the spring on the
| little island the seamen filed the1l
water butts This kept them several
days, mixing labor with skylarking
up something-a pouch marked with
a name.'
(Which WASP"
Mr.. Gillett leaned forward, spoke
softly; Lord Ronsdale stared straight
ahead "Of course" he said; ''o1
course!'
'"This, 1 will confess, startled. puz
zled me-" continued the police agent
81 tried to explain it in dozen differ
ent ways. Then it was that the line
of special investigation helped. JOIN
Steele's outing to which you directed
my attention was passed on the con
tinent. After good deal of pains W.
discovered that he visited a certain
large building in Paris.
''This led to an inspection of thu
tenants. They proved of all sorts ant
kinds. The place was beehive. Hun
dreds of people entered and left ever.
day At this time l happened on al
item in a periodical about some re
markable work in a certain line by
high class medical specialist Here 1
the para graph
Lord Ronsdale took the slip of pape
Cne oIHer AflAueu nAhu anu "a A0HJ 80
ed at it. you visited this person?
Eyes, as his Office address was men
toned as being in the large buildin
we were interested in. But at the me
ment l had no suspicion that job
Steele's pilgrimage to Paris could hav
been for the purpose of consulting
IAN eminent specialist in the line
removing birthmarks," read the noble
man, glancing at the slip of paper. &C
other disfgurements"-
"One question. my lord. He is dii
cerning-knows that you are''--
KNOWS? Yes. He found that OF
one day in Hyde park"
"And yet he comes down here, dare
to leave London. where at least hi
| e..l. l,,441.,. hut Ilu y,