The Bon Homme County independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1904-1913, 1911-01-26
CHAPTER XII-(Continued.)

new vine 10 Dr. Fan, says 1, Oeau Or
alive. That took the ship to st. Mich
aels. Your fine fellow of Jap, he was
alone 20 hours in the hills Man, ne has
the eyes, the ears, the feet Of SER
pent, and IL he's not a match for I'M
roth, may / never drink champagne
again!"
assented little gravely. His news
meant very much to me: You must
know that, before landed at Villa da
Porto at all, 1 had entrusted to Tim
othy and to Captain Larry certain mes
sages which were to be cabled to Eu-
rope In the gravest emergency only.
These messages would tell Scotland
Yard. they would make known TO the
government and to the admiralty and,
even more important than these, to the
great diamond houses, that which
knew of Val Imroth, and of his doings
upon the high seas. From this time
forth, the warships Of three nations
would be securing the ocean for such
witnesses to my story as only the ocean
could betray. II, from one point of,
view welcomed the thought, a shadow
already lay upon my satisfaction. For If
Imroth were arrested, and with him
the man known as General Fordibras,
what. then, of Joan and her fortunes
These men, / believed, were capable
OF any infamy. They might well sac
rifice the child to their desire for ven
geance upon the man who had dis
covered them. They might even bring
her to the bar of a court Of Justice,
charged as an accomplish in those gil
gantic thefts they had committed so
many years To this end they had
put my stolen jewels about her neck
and so baited their devilish trap from
the earliest hours. l am convinced now
that their ultimate object was murder
when it could be safely done and
when the whole of my story was known
to them.
You sent the cables two days ago,
Timothy-and what then?" asked
him, not wishing to make too much Of
1t before them. Have you had any
reply from Murray?"
Captain Larry interviewed, pointing
out that the cables had been sent from
st. Michaels.
I'VE had to get the ship back, sir"
he said. Il was determined not to
ieave this place without you, If we
waited here a twelvemonth. AS for the
authorities, 1t was as Mr.. McShanns
says, all blubber and fingers, and the
generals money hot in their pockets
When we got back from st. Mjchaels
the little Jap came down to the har-
Dor with his story. You were up in the
hills. he said, and there was a spring
TO be damned to get you out. He had
done what he could, rolling the rocks
into the water with his own hands
until he could hardly stand upright
from fatigue. but we sent a boats
crew up last night and another to-
night, and they played bowls with the
stones like the good men that they are
1 would have gone down with your
servant, but he'd the conceit to go
alone. It's natural to such a man-no
words, no fuss, just a coil of rope about
his waist and a couple OF revolvers
In his hands. Ee took the Scotch boat
swain because he says Scotchmen give
nothing away. Honorable Englishman
too much tongue he says. / left ii
with him. because 1 believed he spoke
the straight truth. When he had gone
up we posted q couple of men on the
shore here and Mr.. McShanus and 1
took our stand at the cliffs head. We
hadn't been there more than half an
hour when the first Of the rifle shots
were fired. We saw a number of men
on the hillside and they had fired
rifle for signal, as we supposed, to
others on the shore below. BY and
by we heard another rife shot, but
saw no one. little while after that,
you came down."
I told them that there were two
men stone dead at the entrance to
the tunnel, and this astonished them
greatly. We could only surmise that
amongst themselves and that the sec
ond Of the shots had been fired by
a wounded man as his comrade
emerged from the tunnel Be Ii as IL
might, the hazardous nature of nv
escape became palmer every moment.
1t needed but Larry's intimation that
steamer had left the island two hours
ago, to tell that my life had been saved
almost as by a miracle.
hax Il
the game is up and are running to
another haven" l said. There was no
longer anything to be got from me, so
out came their pistols. If they touch
at any port north of Tangier, the po-
lice will Icy hands upon them That is
not likely. My own opinion is that
the are running for the great ship
which we saw drifting out there in
mid Atlantic. III 1t is correct the game
becomes exciting. We can leave no
message which can be safely delivered.
Should the government send q cruiser,
the officer of it will hardly set out for
a blind mans bluff. If we had coal
enough ourselves"
Captain Larry interrupted me with
scarce an apology.
That was one of my reasons for
going to st. Michaels, doctor. Mr.. Nc
Shanus will tell you that we were
lucky. We filled our bunkers-at a stiff
price, but still we filled them. The
yacht is ready to put to sea this in
slant IL you so desire it."
His news both amazed and troubled
me. l will not deny that I had been
much tempted to stand by the island
until had definite news Of Jean Fordi-
bras and her safety. And now the
clear call came to embark without an
fnstants delay upon a quest which
i owed both to myself and to humanity
Undoubtedly ! believed that Imroth
haG taken refuge upon the Diamond
Ship. Behind that belief. there stood
the black fear that he might have car
ried the child with him to be a hostage
for himself and his fellow rogues, and
to stand between my justice and his
punishment This l knew to be pos
sible. And II it were so, God help her
Captain" said I. "dc the men under
stand that this is voyage from which
none of us may return"
THEY so understand 1t. DR.. Fabios. :"
And do they consent willingly"
Turn back and you are upon the
brink of a mutiny"
Then let us CO." said /. NOW, this
very hour, let us do that duty to which
we are called"
l shall carry you next to a scene in
the southern Atlantic. to a day in the
month following my escape from the
Azores. The yacht White Wings Is
changed but little since last you saw
her at Villa da Porto. A close observer
would mark the mast which carries her
apparatus for Marconigrams: she