The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1916-11-18
A TRAP
FOILED
BY SARAH BAXTER

A40
for an attorney. She said that her IA
Their, who was a widower and an old
man, had been i'll for more than a
year, under the care of a trained nurse.
The nurse, Miss Dartmore, was a wo-
man about thirty-ive years old. She
was attempting to marry her charge
with a view to getting control of his
fortune. A struggle was going on be-
tween the nurse and the daughter, the
one trying to accomplish this marriage,
the other endeavoring to prevent it.
My client, Miss Ambrose, was having
the worst of the struggle at the time,
for Miss Dartmore had taken the old
man aboard his yacht, the Rowena,
n had sailed away with him on the
high seas, taking with her a consider
able portion of his property In negoti-
able bonds and cash.
1t occurred to me that the proper
course for me vas to get a warrant for
Miss Dartmore's arrest on a charge of
kidnapping, a deputy sheriff to serve 1t
and give chase. l called up a friend
who knew all about yachts and where
n could be procured. and within a
few hours l had chartered the Nau-
titus, an auxiliary boat, and before sun
set Miss Ambrose, an aunt of hers, my
self and a deputy sheriff were off In
the wake of the Rowena.
All we knew of the direction taken
by our adversary was that it was east
ward. 1t occurred to me that Miss
Dartmore would endeavor to lose her.
self among the islands lying beyond
Portland, though she might stop at
that city for the purpose of being mar
r1ed. Miss Ambrose informed me that
so far as she knew her father had not
thus far consented to a marriage, but
he was quite feeble. and if the nurse
had sufficient time she would doubtless
dominate him to her purpose.
On reaching Portland we put In
there, made a hurried search of the
harbor and, not finding the Rowena,
pushed OF eastward, striking the is
lands as soon as we left port. They
are very thick, and we passed many
landings, which enabled us to make
inquiries without stopping if any one
had seen the yacht we were after. We
soon got track of the Rowena, but she
had twelve hours start of us. and this
was a great advantage to her. Never
theless we tracked her, sometimes by
inquiring of those on shore, but usually
of those on the water. She kept in
among those islands nearest the main-
land and nearest together.
Miss Ambrose was very much trou-
bled lest her father give way before
we could catch the party. and If he
did there would be no trouble in get
ting a clergyman to marry the couple
at almost any of the villages on the
shore. I did all l could to encourage
her and directed the engineer to keep
up full speed. From those of whom
we inquired who had seen the Rowena
we new we were gaining on her.
One advantage we had of our enemy
"a description of his yacht, while 1t
was not likely she had any idea even
that she was pursued. Consequently
we could approach her without u in
tention being discovered. But Miss
Ambrose had learned that the sailing
master of the yacht was in league with
lA0 nOLIdu anu ina n0 Add cAl1SLC0 a
crew on whom he could rely to resist
capture.
Well, we kept hearing of the Rowena
being nearer and nearer to us until at
last, rounding an island, we saw her
at anchor in a cove not a mile away
from us. In order not to excite sus-
picion I put the Nautilus off a little.
hut clomad dhun ", Spood Aftar coi1-
ing about for awhile with no apparent
definite purpose, constantly getting
nearer the enemy, l saw that she had
a sufficient number of men on board
to resist us if they saw fit. If l could
get les enough for the deputy to read
the warrant, should they refuse to
yield, they would be subject to the
penalty of the law, and this would be
a great advantage to Us.
l told the deputy to tie his white
handkerchief around his neck instead
of a cravat and otherwise make himself
look as much as possible like a parson.
Then sailing up to within a cables
length of the Rowena l hailed her and
asked if she would take a gentleman
aboard-a clergyman-waiting for an
opportunity to go to Portsmouth.
There was a long delay in getting a
reply. l believed that Miss Dartmore,
if she had not yet been married. would
welcome one who could marry her. l
was not disappointed. A reply came
that the clergyman would be welcome,
but there was not room for any one
else. I ordered out the dinghy, the
supposed clergyman and l got in and
were pulled to the ROwena. We had
a description of Miss Dartmore and
found a woman on deck whom we rec
ognized as u quarry.
The deputy stepped on the deck and
began at once to read the summons.
For a moment she flushed angrily,
but. realizing that she had been trick
ed, looked very much crestfallen. I