THE DOCTOR'S PROTÉGÉE.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 507, 9 October 1912, Page 2

THE DOCTOR'S PROTÉGÉE.

(All Rights Reserved.)

e By ALBERT LEE, Author of "The Baronet in Corduroy," "The Key of the Holy House," King Stork of the Netherlands," " The Black Disc," &c.

Published By Special Arrangement,

CHAPTER XVl.—{Confined). Yet, thought I, he was surely amenable to bribery. Would his master, or masters, pay him so handsomely for his services that he could not be bought? Was he insensible to the potency of money? I had yet to learn that the love of money is less of passion with the Italian than with the Englishman. I have yet to find the man into whose nature the idea of gain does not enter. Ido not mean by that that every man is to be bought, or that he will part with his honour for money—but multitudes will. In the - olden times Ovid declared that "money nowadays is in-high repute; money confers offices of State, money procures friendship." Why, then, should it not purchase me h friend on board the Vallauris who would do something towards obtaining me my freedom? Why should the men of Ovid's day be open to a bribe, and this Italian be so thoroughly the soul of honour as to reject it scornfully? I did not believe that he would, and therefore I put him to the test. "Tarsilla," I said, when he was one day fastening up the bandage, "are you poor or rich?" The man looked round at me, his eyes alert, and the loose end of the bandage falling out of his fingers. He yet held the already wound portion in its place with the other hand. "Poor, signor—detestably ppor." "I could find you money," said I. "How, signor " "It should be yours when I once set foot on shore, and was safely out of reach of those who brought me here." • "How much, signor?" cried Tarsilla, his whole body and soul apparently set on the question of gain. "Twenty golden sovereigns," I answered; but the Italian shook his head. "Not enough, for if I were caught in the act of setting you free, he whom you call Berens would shoot me down like a dog, for he is very handy with his weapon-." "Surely you could devise some way by which the thing should be so' secretly done that no one would suspect you of havin»g any hand in my escape? Tarsilla, I will give you forty pounds to get me safely on shore when we touch at some port." "Well, signor, 'tis a strong temptation, for I am abominally poor. And as for a quarrel against you, I have none, and why you are here I can only guess, unless it be that——" He broke off abnuptly, and began afresh at the bandage. "Unless it be wbiat? " I cried. "Nothing, signor ," said the man, rising to his feet. Nor would he say another word, but turned and left me to my uncertainty as to whether he would.' aid me or not. The same morning Telamone and Berens came to the cabin, but I returned no answer to their greeting. "Have you thought over the matter we put beifore you a few days ago, Dr. Carson?" asked Telamone. "Yes," I replied, with assumed indifference. "And your conclusion?" "The same as before." Telamone,, who had been standing at the foot of the couch, as if he would the "better see my face, and thus read my thoughts, moved impatiently ; but I saw that he was endeavouring to restrain himself. "I will be plain with you, Dr. Carson. If you give me the information I desire, you shall go free the instant I hiave obtained possession of the vSc.irlet-Cross package." "It is in the signora's care, not mine," I interrupted. "That may be. But you know where she is, . and where the package is. If you tell us where she is hiding, we sha.' 11 find her —" "And the vendetta?"

"It will be set aside, provided we gain possessior t of that which we are seeking." "But if she refuses to give it up to you when y ©u find her?" "The vende tfca holds,, and she will die." "Then leav "e me instantly," I cried. "I re fiuse absolutely to say one word tha will help you in your search." "It would 'fee' well to consider, Dr. Carson, ] <'ou do, for we shall do our worrit," cried Telamone, angrily, his fjyes ; ablaze with passion. But for t'ne fact that he would have to give rsome exj Sanation to the crew I belie\ 'e he would have shot me dead where I fa* v. "Go and get the chart,"? he went . on, turning to his companion. who left us in the cabin together "While Be rens was gone no word passed between' me and the Italian standing at the foot of my couch. Turning my eyes away I looked out of the cabin wim low and gazed at the waters, from 'hich the mist had lifted, and on wfii ich the sun was shining. Someti'ira es the green hoi-

the spray would become a thousand sparkling diamonds; the foam flecks leaped up the ship's side. Far away and near, were vessels moving onward, some white-sailed and majestic, others leaving behind them a comet tail of smoke which lost itself in the clear blue sky.

Berens came at last. In one hand was a folded chart, and under his arm was a bulky volume. This latter he placed on the table, then brought up two chairs to my side, and on these he spread the open chart. I wondered what this meant, but I presently discovered that the men were presenting to me an alternative as terrible as death.

"Will you tell him, Andrieno, or shall I?" asked Berens.

"I will. Then, perhaps, Dr. Carson may get it into his head that we are in deadly earnest, and that his position is really serious." He now placed his forefinger on a spot on the chart. "You see that speck in mid-ocean, Dr. Carson?" I was sitting up and gazing at the chart, wondering how it was to concern me. I nodded when Telamone put the question, and waited.

"That is the Island of Damala. There is not so much as a rocky islet nearer than this," Telamone adcled, placing his other forefinger on another spot. "Get the compasses. Berens, and measure the distanceThe two places are eight hundred miles apart, and, as you may see, altogether out of the track of the ships."

"What has Damala to do with me?" I asked; for I failed to see how that lonely island in mid-ocean concerned me.

"Wait and see, said Telamone, impatiently, for I was evidently annoying him bv my apparent indifference. "Berens, read what it says in the book about the island."

Berens took up the bulky volume, referred to the index, and turning to the page indicated, began to read.

"Damala lies seven hundred and sixty miles north-west of Norton Island, and eight hundred and ten miles distant from Comeriss Point, on the western coast of North America. The island is about a mile and a twentieth long, by less than a mile broad ; its area is thus not more than one square mile. It is only accessible from the north, and is entirely devoid of vegetable life. It offers no sustenance for man beyond the gannets eggs that are found here and there, and such shell fish as may be secured along the shore. The' shelving rock is composed of volcanic conglomerate.'

Berens broke off to ask whether I wished to hear more, and my retort was that I had expressed no desire-to hear anything whatever.

"What has Damala to do with me," was my inquiry, for I still failed to see how such a place could concern me.

"I can only say," exclaimed Telamone, sharply, "that it concerns you very much indeed. If we searched the Pacific through and through we could not come to a more desirable spot on which to land a man we wanted to get rid of, who, knowing so much about us, must tell no tales. You see, Dr. Carson, the case stands thus : You have information which you refuse to part with. We are just as determined to obtain it, and for that reason must, sooner or later, return to England in order to do so. With yoi| in the way to set the police on our track, for having treated you as we have done, and so frustrate our search and land us in one of your English gaols, would be ruin to our plans. Having heard so much, can your intelligence carry you further?"

My heart quailed, but I did my best to hide my perturbation. My native obstinacy, however, gave me courage for my answer. "The matter is simple enough. Your plan, I suppose, is to maroon me on Damala, leaving me there to starve. Is it not so?"

ships, and if by any strange freak of fortune I found a boat when I was so marooned—one, perhaps, that had drifted on the inhospitable shore — I should have to traverse hundreds of miles of that boundless waste of sunlit sea, without chart or compass, and with no more food than I contrived to store by gathering together a scanty supply of shell-fish. What man could outlive that ordeal of drifting day and night without seeing the faintest speck on the mighty sea ? £ "What is your decision?" asked Telamone, in>patiently, breaking in upon my reverie. But I turned and answered angrily. "Do you suppose that a decision on a mater so momentous can be arrived at off-hand?" I asked. "It has taken you days of thought, no doubt, before you concocted this fiendish scheme of yours for forcing my hand and effecting the ruin of your wife. I, too, must have time to consider my answer." "How long?"

"Not less than four-and-twenty hows," I answered; and with that I lay back on the couch, and refused any reply to his further questions.

CHAPTER XVII

THE MAN IN THE BOAT,

Convinced by my tone, and doubtless by the look on my face, that there was no probable chance of extorting an immediate decision, the two men turned away and left the cabin, Berens -going last, and drawing the door after him. Then I heard the key turn in the lock, and I was left alone to consider a difficult problem —whether to save my own life, and give up Teresina and her charge to men who in all probability would compass her death, or die myself in the hope of saving her. But there came another question. If I died in the endeavour to save her, should I achieve her safety? Might there not be some on the -watch who would by persistence trace her to her hiding-place, in spite of the care I knew my sister would take to keep her whereabouts a secret. It was disheartening to think that in spite of my own obstinate refusal to satisfy them, Telamone and Berens might find her, notwithstanding what I should suffer.

It was worthless to indulge in the hope that they were only pursuing a policy of compulsion, but would be unprepared to push the matter to the extreme. One could not look into Andrieno Telamone's face without being convinced that he was vicious and cruel to the very backbone, and that he would be absolutely callous in the matter of leaving me on the inhospitable island of Damala. It would cost him no more feeling to leave me to my certain death than to drown a; stray mongrel dog. Indeed, I felt that were it not for Berens, who calculated on possible consequences, he w r ould have pulled out his revolver to shoot me where I lay' without compunction. There would, of course, be a call from the captain for an explanation, but I had formed such an opinion as to the resourcefulness of these men, that I believed them capable of returning satisfactory replies to any questions that might be asked. For a long time I sat up in stony silence, and my mind was so busy that I had no thought of the flight of time. Rightly or wrongly, my regard for Teresina had grown until, knowing that she could never be mine, I hesitated to give it a word I should have owned to readily and eagerly had she been free to marry me. I brushed the thought aside that I loved her, for she was another man's wife, merciless though he was, and ready at a moment's notice to take away her life. Notwithstanding the fact that by his cruelty and scandalous plans he had forfeited all claim to be dealt with as her husband, still there was the fact that she was his, and could not be mine. Consequently, whenever I thought that I loved her, I crushed down the feeling, and endeavoured to make myself believe that I was her friend, and that I had promised solemnly to protect her from her enemies. If I really persuaded myself that I only thought of her as a friend who wanted all my help, many will feel that I did not see what was plain enough to everybody else. More than once I was disposed to parley —to promise full information on both points when, but only when, I was safely on shore. Then, I thought, it should be a race between these men and myself as to who should reach England first. Money should run like water in order to achieve a swift journey home, and then I would see what the police of England could do to frustrate these abominable plans which would certanly end in Teresina's death, if they were successfully carried out. (To be Continued.') D,P« —13.

"Exactly," responded Telamone. "That is the alternative unless you give us the desired information. Of course, we should hold you as hostage until we had obtained possession of the thing for which we are searching. But then you would be free, and meanwhile you would be taken care of and treated kindly." I turned away to think, for this was an alternative which seemed to blench my soul. I thought of Teresina. She might as well be dead as in the hands of these men. At any time, indeed, since Telamone had already perjured, his soul concerning her, he might break away from whatever oath I might exact, and when the fancy took him, revive the vendetta. Even if betrayal should result in her personal safety, there ■was that longing desire on her part to carry out her father's wish concerning this trust. But if I yielded, my own comfort and safety were assured. That was one side of the question. There was another side, however. Suppose I ;refused to part with the secret? I thought of the absolute loneliness of iDamala. The chart showed the is-