, 1924-10-22

he
his
lieutenant, who anne running Up.
Take that man out of sight and hang
him to the nearest tree |" he ordered.
The lieutenant saluted. gave n
brisk order. and the men closed In
around Price and marched him away
up the slope of the ravine. Then the
captain broke in on Bess' words. Mr..
Archman," he ordered. sharply. "be
good enough to lead me to his high
ness !"
For perhaps ten minutes Archman's
boat, with its lantern cleaning at the
bow, pushed on through the darkness,
following the ~convolutions of the
stream. AT last a CLEAN of daylight
appeared ahead, evidently shining in
through some opening in the rocks.
Close to it Archman's boat stopped
and Its passengers clambered out.
This is as far as the boats can
go ut this stage of the tide, captain"
he explained, as the latter's boat
came up. AT high tide we can row
through, but at present the chan
mel beyond the opening is practically
dry and we have to walk. If you will
follow"
%Strlndberg bowed. Lead on" he
said.
The distance to be ~traversed was
not great. and luckily so, for to unac-
customed Adventures the surround
ings were terrifying. Geyserlike bursts
Of steam puffed up again and again in
their faces; the crust on which they
walked was hot to their feet, and
almost continual tremors ran through
the earth. When at last they pushed
through the final curtain of mist and
came out close to a house. there
was not one of the party but drew a
long breath of relief, even though
they all knew that the crater had
long been occupied by men and must
be perfectly safe.
In front Of the building Archman
halted. "Friends ALL" he said. Gap
tain Strindberg! The time has come
to lift a curtain that fell more than
twenty years ago, when one whose
name l will not mention. even now,
quit his great place in the world to
marry the woman Of his choice. He
sailed away with her to conceal him
self SO that he might live In demo
cratic freedom from the restrictions
that hedge about a court. Here he
came and here he has lived since, and
here his wife is buried.
aua llt not 1.-Two fdly Ha hod nj
ready won n reputation for chemical
research, and here he b%roadened and
expanded his knowledge. He called
to his aid the heat and gases that
nlone survived Of the mighty forces
that once filed this place. Many In
ventions he made and marketed
through me, his servant. Many secrets
Of nature he discovered. among others
the secret Of the diamond. He har-
messed the volcano and bent 1t to his
will.
zone lot Of diamonds he made n
sent to me by the hands OF his serv-
ant. Morbnch. Most of you know how
Morbach was robbed and murdered.
l do not know whether the criminal
has been discovered"
"Not the murderer, father" II was
Nellie who interrupted. But the
man, Henry Harrison, who picked Mr..
Morbach up after the auto accident.
has confessed that he came back to
Miss Grants cottage In disguise and
got the map and the diamonds from
Mr.. Morbach. Later he shipped on
board the lei Rio under the name OF
Price and led the mutlny."
"Humphl That explains muchl i
will shy here TINT his %highness has
made no more diamonds and will
make no more. The secre is lost. And
now perhaps Captain Strindberg will
explain why he seeks his hlghness-
why he has sought him so desperately
that he or his friends corrupted my
secretary and bribed him to play
traitor"
"Akln7" The exclamation came from
nil.
"Yesi Akin was the traitor. 1
suspected him before l left New York,
but l thought that oncc | had gotten
nwny he would be harmless. But
Cnptnln Bunker and I are now satis-
fed that II was he who signnled to
the pursuing ship nnd"-Archman
broke OFT Will ask Captain Strind-
berg to remove him from the I'll Rio.
He turned to the officer. Captain"
he finished. perhaps you Will exc
plain"