The L'Anse sentinel., 1915-09-18

on IT. axis. They nashsd thsir ~
terms fun on II and. - it moved, thev
could see disclosed huge piles Of goll
and silver coins and bars and ornar
rnents, = chest literally flled WITH
brilliants. bet and unset rubiss, en-
eralds. precious stones Of sveFy con-
coivable variety. cave that would
have stAgtsrsd even Aladdin.
For 4 moment they could merely
stand IN avaricious sxultation.
Painfully and slowly We managed 70
tran Long Sins footprints. until We
came to . road where they were lost
In the hard macadam.
Kennedy chose the most likely direcs
tion. for the trail had been at an angle
to the road and Long Sin was not like
~ to double back. We had not gone
many rods before Kennedy paused .
minute and looked about in the moon
light.
'Tt's right. Walter" he cried. do
you recognise TT"
I looked about. Then Il flashed over
me. This was the back road that led
past the entrance to the treasure vault
at Aunt Tabby's.
We went on now more quickly, lis
tening carefully to catch any sounds.
but heard nothing. At last Kennedy
stopped. then plunged among tho
rocks and bushes beside the road.
We were at the cave.
you 80 this way. Walter" he d.
rected. "rll go around and down
where It caved in"
had gone only yard or two when
it seemed as though something had
grasped my foot
With great wrench managed to
pull It loose. But the weight on my
other foot had imbedded 1t deeper in
something. struggled to free this
foot and got the other caught. My re-
volver which had drawn, was Jared
from my hand. and in the effort to re-
cover It, I lost my balance. Unable
to move a foot in time to catch myself
I fell forward. My hands were now
covered by the Shiny. sticky stun. and
the more struggled, the worse I
seemed to get entangled.
WI and Long Sin paused only .
minute in establishment. Then they
literally fell upon the wealth that lay
before them.
Suddenly they paused. There was
the slight tinkle OF Chinese bell.
Kennedy had reached Aunt Tabby's
garden. outside the roof Of the subter.
ranean chamber where 1t had given
way, had gone down carefully over the
earth and rock, and in doing SO had
broken string stretched across the
passageway. The tinkle Of bell at
tached to It aroused his attention and
he stopped short, second, to look
about. Wu Fang had arranged q
primitive alarm.
Quickly, WI and Long Sin blew out
their lanterns while Wu gave the rock
a push. Slowly, as 1t had opened, It
now closed and they stood there listen
ing.
was still struggling in the bird
lime, getting myself more and more
covered with It, when the reverbera.
tion of revolver shots reached me.
Wu and Long Sin had opened fire on
Kennedy, and Kennedy was replying
in kind. In the cavern It sounded like
a veritable bombardment. As they re-
treated, they came nearer and nearer
to me and I could see the revolvers
splitting fire in the darkness.
watched them fearfully as they
hoped deftly from one stone to an
other to avoid the ime-and were
gone.
Craig! Craig!" I managed to sly
feebly. BE careful. Keep to the
stones
Stepping from stone to stone. ne fol.
lowed the retreating Chinamsd. But
they had already reached tie mouth
Of the cave and we're making their
way rapidly down the road, to q
bend. in the opposite direction from
which we had come. There Wu's auto
mobile was waiting.
A moment later Kennedy appeared,
but they had msde their getaway.
Bafiied, he turned and retraced his
steps to the cave.
L lucy BOJ bWoyp Woitoip NO ooAus
lighting q lantern they had dropped.
by George" he added. I think lit
tie vexed that had not been able to
intercept them. you are q sight!"
He was about to laugh, when FAINT
ed. can remember nothing until I
woke up over by the wall Of the cham
Der where he dragged me.
Kennedy had been working hard to
revive me. and, a. opened my eyes.
he Strengthened up. His eye suddenly
caught something on the rock beside
him. There was q little slot carved
in It. and above the slot was peculial
inscription.
| For several minutes Kennedy pus-
zled over It, as WI had done. Then
he discovered the little cup near the
ground.
"The ringl" he suddenly cried out.
was too muddled to appreciate at
once what ne meant, but saw him
reach into his fob pocket and draw
forth the trinket which had caused 90
much disaster, % II II had been cured
by the Clutching Hand himself. He
dropped II into the slot.
Struggling to my feet, saw acroeG