Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1920-03-16

cover NAT the vision was Realty.
not Brousseau's plan to dispatch him
within hearing of the shore.
He heard the sails being hoisted,
and felt the schooner moving from the
wharf. Then he heard low cry and
saw Madeleine upon her knees before
him.
She bent her face to his, whispering
that she loved him. pleading for for
giveness, and beseeching him to rise.
And Hilary opened his eyes to dis
cover that. the vision was reality.
He staggered to his feet and stood
swaying In the middle of the cabin,
while she kept her arms about him.
He began to remember. He knew
where he was now. Madeleine thrust
the revolver into his hand.
"They have planned to murder you y
she cried. 81 learned of 1t and
brought this. You must not die, Hill
ary now that we love each other"
He broke the revolver. 1t was
empty, and the bore so eaten away
with rust that to have fired it would
have been more dangerous to the
shooter than to his object of aim. He
saw the horror on the girls face as
she made the discovery.
Il did not think about the car
tridges," she cried. 81 heard you were
in danger and seized 1t and came to
you. What shall we do? I am going
to die with you"
"We are not going to die" he an
swered. But he felt q trickle of blood
in his eyes. He pulled himself to-
gether to face the situation, thinking
with all the concentration of which
his mind was capable.
He heard the sails being run up, and
the creak of the cordage In the wind
Then the schooner. grinding her
course through the drift ice, began to
roll and pitch as the force of the gulf
current struck her. And through the
portfolios Hilary saw the lights of st.
Boniface reel into the enwrapping fog
and vanish.
With Medicines arm about him he
thought with desperate concentration.
Doubtless the ruffians had gone to as
'sist Dupont In taking the schooner out
into midstream, confident that their
victim was at their mercy. Once the
vessel had passed the dangerous Ice
and deadly sunken rocks Dupont
alone could keep her on her course.
And Dupont had planned his death.
He remembered the hate on the old
mans face; but he could not imagine
the cause of 1t, for he did not connect
it with the story about Marie.
They would return. they would dis
cover that the revolver was useless
his life was worth about ten minutes
purchase, and of Madele:Ees fate he
dared not think. He must fight for
her and live for her. He got his shak-
ing limbs under control.
"I'm all right" he whispered. i've
got my plan now. Keep behind me
and be ready to help. The doors
locked, / supposed"
A quick attempt to open it showed
him that it was. But he had a
chance, If he could break down the
door, for the sound might pass I'M
heard in the gale. with the crashing
of the ice against the sides Of the
schooner, enabling him to pass into
the hold unseen in the darkness.
He hurled himself against the cabin
door, fists, shoulders, body, with every
muscle set tense. It broke upon its
hinges, and Hilary fell. sprawllng into
the passage between the piles of
stacked lumber, which rose to height
of twenty feet on either side of him.
running to within a few feet Of the
cabin and the deck ladder.
He creuehed there for a few sec
onds, hearing Madeleine behind him,
and looked upward. The wind was
roaring through the rigging with a
noise far louder than that made by the
falling door. No one had heard the
crash. Above him swung the great
mainsail. obscuring the gibbous moon
that scurred like a pale ghost among the
drifting clouds, haloed In the fog. Hill
airy could Just discern the hazy 6g-
ures of three men, hard at work to
gain the middle channel. and the lam
tern that hung from the mast above,
family illuminating them.
He had seen, but had not conscious
" observed, till the remembrance
came to him then, that pile Of lum-
Der, placed In the ship but not yet Sc
cured, lay about the center of the
open space in front of the cabin. 1t
could not shift with the rolling OF
the schooner, so as to destroy her equi-
librium, on account of the stacks on
either side. II consisted OF the last
load of logs. which had been dropped
there from the end OF the fume. Hill
airy raised two In his arms and car
ried them In front OF the broken door.
Ii was impossible to make his voice
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