Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1920-03-12

cover nat the vision was heality.
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.
'sThey have planned to murder you'll"
she cried. 81 learned of it and
brought this. You must not die, Hill
airy, now that we love each other"
He broke the revolver. It was
empty, and the bore so eaten away
with rust that to have fred 1t 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.
II did not think about the car
| tridges," she cried. 81 heard you were
In danger and seized it and came to
you. Whst shall we do? I am going
to die with you"
Eve are not going to die," he an
swered. But he felt 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 Madeleine's arm about him he
thought with desperate concentration
Doubtless the ruffians had gone to as
sist Dupont in taking the schooner oui
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 ole
mans face: but he could not imagine
the cause of it, for he did not connec
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 Madeleire's fate b,
dared not think. He must fight 70
her and live for her. He got his shak
: ing limbs under control
I'm all right" he whispered. "Pv
got my plan now. Keep behind M
and be ready to help. The door
locked, suppose?"
A. quick attempt to open it showe'
him that it was. But he had
chance, if he could break down tn
:. door, for the sound might pass un
' heard in the gale, with the crashin
: of the ice against the sides of tn
/; schooner, enabling him to pass int
the hold unseen in the darkness.
1 He hurled himself against the cabi
door, fists, shoulders, body, with ever
S muscle set tense. 1t broke upon it
e hinges, and Hilary fell, sprawling int
the passage between the piles
y stacked lumber, which rose to heigf
d of twenty feet on either side of hin
y running to within a few feet Of th
s cabin and the deck ladder.
He crouched there for a few se
g onds, hearing Madeleine behind hin
l. and looked upward. The wind ws
e roaring through the rigging with
e noise far louder than that made by tt
n falling door. No one had heard tf
r, crash. Above him swung the gres
,e mainsail, obscuring the gibbous moo
le that scurred like pale ghost among tn
le drifting clouds, haloed in the fog. hi
ary could just discern the hazy FL
ID ures of three men, hard at work
le gain the middle channel, and the la
TX tern that hung from the mast abov
lg family Illuminating them.
He had seen, but had not consciou
ly observed, till the remembran'
1t came to him then, that pile of luI
C. Der, placed In the ship but not yet S
lie cured, lay about the center of Il
n, open space in front of the cabin.
could not shift with the rolling
the schooner, so as to destroy her eq'
ed librium, on account of the stacks
either side. 1t consisted Of the la
in load of logs, which had been dropp
nd there from the end of the flume. II
ed ary raised two in his arms and CT
nd ried them in front of the broken do
1t was impossible to make his vol
n heard, for the ship was staggeri