Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1911-02-02
CHAPTER xu--(continued.)

~ ~ AAOS
And me friend in his grave! They went
the day before yesterday. Twill be like
new wine to DR.. Fan, says /. dead or
alive. That took the ship to st. Mich
aels. Your fine fellow of a Jap, he was
alone 20 hours in the hills. Man, ne has
h eyes, the ears. the feet of a SER
pent, and II he's not a match for I'm
roth, may I never drink champagne
agafn!"
I assented a little gravely. His news
meant very much to me. You must
know that, before I 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 he admiralty and,
even more important than these. to the
great diamond houses, that which I
knew of Val Imroth, and of his doings
upon III 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. If. from one point of,
view | welcomed the thought. a shadow
already lay upon my satisfaction. For if
1mroth were arrested, and With him
the man known as General F'oraibras,
what. then, Of Joan and her fortunes?
These men. 1 believed, were capable
of any infamy. They might we'll sac
rifice the child to their desire for VEN
geance upon the man VINO had dis
covered them. They might even bring
her to che bar of q court OF justice,
charged as an accomplice 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. 1 am convinced now
that their ultimate object was murder
when 1t could be safely done and
when the whole of my story was known
to them.
You sent the cables two days ago..
T~imothy-and what them" I asked
him, not wishing to make too much of
1t before them. "Have you had any
reply from Murray?"
Captain Larry INTERVIEWED, pointing
st. Michaels.
W. had to get the ship back. SIR"
he said. II was determined not to
leave this place without you, if we
waited here a twelvemonth. AS for the
authorities, it was as Mr.. McShanus
says, all blubber and fingers. and the
generals money hot in their pockets.
When we got back from ST. Michaels
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
uoAo what ZIG coul0, rOlllnS the rocks
into he 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
stone like the good men that they are.
l 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
MS waist and a couple of revolvers
IN MS hands. He took the Scotch boat
swain because he say Scotchmen give
nothing away. Honorable Englishman
too much tongue he says. l left it
with him, because 1 believed he spoke
the straight truth. When he had gone
up we posted a couple of men on the
shore here and Mr.. McShanus and I
took our stand at h cliffs head. We
hadn't been there more thar half an
hour when the first Of the rifle shots
We're fired. We saw a number of men
on the hillside and they had fred a
rifle for a signal, as we supposed. to
others on the shore below. BY and
by we heard another rifle shot, but
saw no one. A little while after that,
you came down."
men stone dead at the entrance to
the tunnel, and this astonished them
greatly. We could only surmise that
1mroth's sentinels had quarreled
amongst themselves M that the Sec
Of the shots had been fired by
emerged from the tunnel. BE it as it
might. the hazardous nature Of my
escape became palmer every moment.
1t needed but Larry's intimation that
a steamer had left the island two hours
ago., to tell h a my life had been saved
almost as by a miracle.
"They have heard from Europe that
the game Is up and are running to
another haven" I 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-
no likely. My own opinion is thai
i the are running for the great ship
which we saw drifting out there in
mid-Atlantic. If 1t is correct, the game
becomes exciting. We can leave nc
message which can be safely delivered
Should the government e a cruiser
the officer Of it will hardly set out 70,
a blind mans bluff. II we la Goa,
enough ourselves"
Captain Larry interrupted me witt
scarce an apology.
That was n of my reasons FOL
going to st. Michaels, doctor. Mr.. Nc.
Shanus will tell you that we werl
lucky. We filed our bunkers-at a stiff
price, but still we filled them. TIL,
yacht Is ready to put to sea this in
slant IL you 80 desire It,"
His news both amazed and troubled
me. I will not deny that 1 had bee
much tempted to stand by the islans
until I had definite news of Jean Fordi
bras and her safety. And now tn,
clear call came to embark without a,
instant's delay pom a quest which
owed both to myself and to humanity
Undoubtedly I believed that Imrot]
had taken refuge upon the damon,
Snip. Behind that belief. there stoo,
- ~ Alaals. 49, AA -lALA