SHORT STORY

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 350, 22 January 1903, Page 7

SHORT STORY

(Continued from last week.) 'Another day of disappointment, and yet not altogether so, for I got the end of a lilt from the siren. After that, however, she could not be induced. to favor me. J did not go to the top of the cliff aa I purposed yesterday, but resolved to examine the recks with my glass from the sea, so went instead to the little port—the Pic~ calo Marina they call it—and engaged a boat. There was some delay about the negotiations, far the boatman iaauted on aecompanj nag me, which I would not permit, as I did not wish to let any gossiping native into the secret of the song. These Capri people cannot understand why a foreigner should wish to undergo either the exertion of rowin* or walking. However, at last I got the boat. I could hear <he soig fbatiag faintly in the air, and there was- another boat, a smaller craft than the one of yesterday, making in - towards the rocks where there in no landing. This gave further verisimilitude to the song of the siren, and I resolved to intercept the lone boatman for the purpose of making inquiries. He was too Expert for me. I find these Capri boats «re very clumsy when compared with our skiffs- on, the Cam.- The lone boatman seemed to go into the Bed Grotto, and I hb-rioualy followed him, but he was nowhere to be seen. He could easily have eluded, me if he lad wasted to do so, but why should be want to P He could have gone through Turk's Grotto, which has two entrances, and which gets its name from the fact that some Capri fishermen gave the Turks the slip by doing the .very thing, this man seems to have done. As, before, the siren's song changed from its plaintive tone to the shriller pitch before it ended, and for all I could tell, she got her man this time. The notes floated from some spot mid way up the cliffs, aUhough, what is more probible, the song may have been sung by some one lying in the grass at the dixay summit. Prom the boat I examined the cliff with ay glass most minutely, but could discern no resting place even for an eagle along that sheer wall. Unfortunately, she stopped singing at the very moment when I wanted her to go on, hoping the sound' would be Borne sort of guide to my scrutiny of the cliff. Perhaps the was crunching her *ic tim. Anyhow she differs from her sisters of old in remaining invisible. I shall take to the boat again to-morrow, if the weather is fair, go further oat, and come slowly is, hoping for a song all to myself. * Yesterday's resolution was annulled by a fierce Scirocco, which 'made boating on the southern side impossible. I therefore went to the top of the cliffs, but without result. Toere was a grand view over a whitened, sea, but -no boats were visible, so my siren proves herself true sister to the ancients by wasting no music on an empty sea. I must get a long stout rope ana investigate these cuffs at close quarters. It will be quite an Alpini experience, for the precipice certainly looks terrible enough from this altitude. 'The Scirocco is still blowing, so I acquired a rope, a stsut iron stake and a hamrmr. I let myself down over the cliff in several places, but without result. It ia rather exhausting work, and needs nerve as well as strength, both of which, lam thankful to say, I possess. I drive ia the iron stake very securely, and so let myself down, feet against the rock face, hands clutching tfe rope. I shall be able to earn my living as an acrobat when this task is oxer. If I capture the W siren, 1 may make such affluent terms with Borhum for the two of us, that I can retire on a fortune. However, there was neither sight nor sound of the siren today, bat much fruitless fatiguing rope work. -■ -

'By an awaring chance I actually believe I have discovered the abiding place of the modern siren. The quest has been so Interesting tbat it has taken entire row anion of me. Last night I went out in my small boat to scan the rocks in the darkness. Once I thought I heard the sken'a call, bat could not be sure. . Later,, however, I think I discovered her in the unromantic act of striking matches. Thin sounds extremely prosaic, but jjbfA you,take into consideration the intense' darkness of the night, her perilous : pereh on the face of a beetling cliff, and the strangeness of the whole affair, you will find it is sot without its touch of mystery. ' The matches flared for a moment, and went out, or perhaps she had a lantern with which she was signalling. She is much further west than I had supposed from her song, but how she reaches ner eyrie, and how she maintains herself there ia beyond my comprehension. There must be -a shallow eave op aloft which gives some sort of footing, but the ledge is -B0 lofty that it is invisible from the sea. • t*V\ ' »'-•'•

'Since writing of the night light, I hare had an adventure which even now makes me shudder to think of. I hope it will not be repeated. I got down over the cliff with my rope, at about the spot where I supposed the light to have shown. All at once I noticed a quiver in the rope, as if some unseen person above me were trying to saw it asunder. .1 got my feet on-a shelf not more than sue inches wide, tad just in time, for the severed rope came down in coils around me. I found myself entirely cut off from the cliff top, plaatered against the rock, hardly daring to breathe. I shouted for help, toping some boatman below might hear me, but at last realised that if I was to be saved it must be through my own exertions. My Swiss rock climbing experience now stood my friend, face against the wall, with outs{ reul arms I worked my way cautiously along the precipice, doping the shelf would last my turn, until 1 reached the •green depression which X was making for, a shallow valley in the cliff tcp. Once, through exhaustion I feared my stamina tu not gtiiag to" itand the a - rain, fori hid a sort of momentary vision, which showed me my .mind was not so entirely under my control sb it should have been in such t crisis.' I thought I saw a human face petxufc me fxom an impossible paint in the cliff above me. It was distorted with rage and hate, or so I regarded it at the time, for it was gone in a moment—a girl's face—the mirage of the siren that nas been haunting, my brain, and yet it vil a face I had seen somewhere before,

A Modern Fire.

but I cannot remember where. For an instant I persuaded myself that she, and not a protruding rock, had cat the rope. I palled myself together aßd determined to see no more such disquieting illusions until I was safe on more level ground. I reached the valley thoroughly done up, and lay there for along time, panting and unable tj believe that the danger was past. ' I am as resolute as ever to solve this puztle. Doubtless the answer will ba commonplace enough oEce 1 hare reached it. But I shall go no more alone in this affair. I shall engage a stalwart islander or two, who will look after the rope above while I am descending, and be ready to throw me another line, should the one that supports me show signs of giving way. You sh all hear news of me to-morrow, for I feel certain I am going to unravel the great mystery.'

These ware the last words written by Professor Wallis Dent. I paid a visit to Capri, and talked with the two men who had bee.n with Professor Dent on the day of the disaster. They were rather stupid persona who plainly .took, ifc, for granted that the rope had 'parted because of abrasion on a sharp rock. On this occasion the professor had tied the rope around him, and the two men had lowered him slowly. He evidently knew something was going wrong, although they had no suspicion of it, for he signalled them to pull hire up again. They were about to obey, when taey suddenly found the line loose in their hands, which caused them to fill. backwards to the ground. lam convinced that Professor Dant had unluckily became involved in the operation ef tobacco smugglers, who were running their illicit cargoes into a cave at the foot of the cliff, bringing their tobace pro- \ bably from Malta and distributing it from Capri to Naples and the mainland. The girl was doubtless perched in soma slight cavern, with an extended outlook to signal by voice or light that the coast was clear. Dant's actions must have convinced the smugglers and their watchwoman that he sought, and perhaps had obtained evidence against them. I see no reason to disbelieve that she cut the rope on each occasion, and I expect that she shared the fate she had so ruthlessly dealt-out te the doomed man, for the fishers say that one night an appalling and prolonged scream was heard down the face of the cliff, followed by a crash, and silence These devout ashen crossed themselves, and thought this the ghostly re-enactment of the former tragedy. However, the men who were with him say that Professor Dent did not cry out as he fell, but that statement does not shake the belief of the fisher in their ghost story.—Bobkbt Babe, of Detroit.