The Celina Democrat. (Celina, O. [Ohio]) 1895-1921, 1915-11-26


there in a rack. Then he darted back
and with ringing strokes began his as
sault upon the wall Suddenly from
within he heard a womans shrek.
Meal" cried Annettes voice within,
and it was the voice of a girl beside
herself with agony and fear. Meal,
it is Annette. Come, for Gods sake,
come"
Neal delivered one more crashing
blow, then he motioned TO his fellows.
Come, boys he said, there's not
a second to lose. This thing has got
to 60"
The corridor was fairly broad. The
! little squad OF sailors withdrew and
huddled against the opposite wall.
Then as one man this human batter
ing ram lunged and lurched across the
hall and propelled itself against the
already splintered partition
With a crash the secret door went
down, and with bound Neal was in
the room. Annette, her dress torn,
her hair disheVeied, struggled with
the brute in one corner of the room.
Ponto had released her. With bound
he crossed the room and jerked aside
the fireplace, disclosing a secret exit.
He crawled through the aperture and
disappeared.
Hernandez, stupefled with astonish-
ment. yet had an expression of tri-
umph and glee upon his face. He was
thrusting a yellow parchment into his
pocket. Annette with a final struggle
slipped from the brutes grasp and
darted toward Hernandez, calling to
Neal.
Meal, Neal" she cried, hes got
my fathers map"
With one spring Neal was upon Her
nandez. He snatched back the hand
with which Hernandez was pushing
the map into his pocket. The map
came out torn and crumpled An
nette, beside herself, snatched al it
with both hands. Neal grabbed at it
and also got hold. Hernandez still
held it in his iron clutch.
All this took place in an instant. In
another instant the three had fallen
back, each in separate direction. The
map had parted and each clutched a
piece of it.
Hernandez, with an oath, turned
and dived into the secret passageway.
Five minutes later the fastest boat
along the shore-the boat which Inez
Castro called her Own-was chug
chugging out to sea with three fig
ures huddled in her bottom-the brute
and Ponto and their chief, Hernandez.
They had wriggled somehow through
the surrounding circle, had zig-zagged
in and out of shots-had made good
their escape.
When the chase was over Neal re-
turned and half apologized to Inez.
Sorry, Miss Courtier" he Said but
they've made away with your fast mo-
torboat. We couldn't get to ours in
time. We landed half a mile or 80
just up the shore. How do you feel?"
Better" exclaimed Inez. "It's the
excitement, the noise, the pistol shots
they have made me well again"
Neal thrust his hand into his pocket
and pulled forth a crumpled piece Of
parchment.
What did you get, Annette?" he in
quired
Annette thrust her hand into her
dress and pulled forth her own tat
tered portion. Inez, watching, bent
her head to listen. Neal and Annette
spread their two pieces of the map out
upon the little stand. Between them
they had the bulk Of the lower portion
of the map. 1t was blank surface,
save for three things-a little tail of
the island sticking down and the words
Longitude" and latitude" and moth
ing else. Annette laughed in glee.
We've got everything we want,
she said to Neal What is here is
important. What the man with the
saber cut upon his face has got is of
no use to him or US. We beat him
to it, Neal we beat him to it."
Over on the bed Inez, in her crouch
ing attitude, still listened, wondering
(TO BE CONTINUED.)