The Gold Magnet

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 30, 28 April 1927, Page 16

The Gold Magnet

by

T.C.Bridges,

t Author of ** The Whip Hand," Price of Liberty," " The Home Her Fathere," &c., &c.

SYNOPSIS OF PREVIOUS CHAPTERS CHAPTERS 1. to in.— a reroclous race pressed against the window of. a train, frightens a mysterious passenger. Stuari Egerton, and just afterwards the train is wrecked. Bruce Carey gets Egertou out of the wreck, but the man is dying He gets Bruce to promise that he will deliver a bag which contains an invention to his. daughter, Silvia. James Lurgan. who has ruined Bruce’s half-brother also wants the invention. Bruce finds an American friend. Randolph Colt The motor in which they are travelling to Silvia's cottage is held up by armed men CHAPTERS m. to Vlll—Having no alternative, Bruce hands over the bag. After the interruption the two men reach Silvia’s home. When Bruce tells her of the robbery ot the invention she says it is useless without the directions, which are in her possession. When Bruce is returning from a visit to Silvia Lurgan steps out of a wood. He proposes a half share in the new Gold Recovery Syndicate. Bruce tells him that he would sooner go into partnership with the devil. CHAPTERS IX to Xlll.—A strategic step is made by Claude, who cultivates the friendship of Duggan, one of Lurgan> henchmen. Bruce sets out to make the raid on Lurgar.’s place single-handed. He forces iron bars apart and gets Egerton's bag from the strong room. The burglary is discovered and Bruce is pursued and shot at. He trips on an obstacle and becomes unconscious. CHAPTERS XIV. to XX.—Bruce wakes L.p to find himself trapped. Lurgan renews his offer of a partnership and Bruce refuses thougn he is threatened with imprisonment not only for burglary but for manslaughter our hero having knocked down and killed a man who tried to stop him from escaping. At the inquest the jury brings in a verdict of murder. Silvia Is in her bed when Lurgan calls. He says that the only chance of saving Bruce is to form a partnership of the three of them Though Silvia feels the hypnotic power of Lurgan she refuses his offer. CHAPTER XXI. to XXIV.: Bruce comes up for trial Lurgan gives his damning evidence. Bruce’s barrister tells ihe whole story of the magnet. The weal; points in the defence are attacked and the jury brings in a verdict of guilty and Bruce is sentenced to seven years* penal servitude. Silvia bears up bravely and all Bruce’s friends decide to do their utmost to get him released If they could Ind the man who stole the bag they realise that he would be a great help. CHAPTERS XXV. to XXIX: The conference of Lurgan, Orme, Grane and stroud has just decided that Silvia will have to be held in order that they may get the papers, when the others discover that Stroud is a fake. With the aid of a smoke-bomb, the masquerader —Colt—gets away. Silvia visits Bruce in prison and the engagement is celebrated while the warder turns his back. Lurgan renews his offer of assistance, Silvia's refusal wins her the villain’s admiration. Afterwards she suggests that if he should find the witnesses of the robbery of the handbag, an arrangement might be come to. Lurgan says this is impossible. CHAPTERS XXX. to XXXVI.—While motoring to Dartmoor, Silvia and Claude help to save the life of Jack Trant. a warder at the gaol, who had fallen into

a torrent. Lurgan again turns up and offers to arrange Bruce’s escape tor a half share in the profits of the invention. Silvia consents and on the morning chosen for the escape, Colt arrives back from New York. Silvia and Colt watch the attempt. A gorse lire is started and a prisoner gets away in Lurgan’s car. But Bruce suddenly appears in front of Silvia's car. They are trying to find the way to Brim Tor when they see two men following them. All four wander on to the range of an artillery battery and one of the men who is following is killed by a shell. He turns out to be Oakes and Bruce changes clothes with him and hides at Brim Tor. Colt goes away on another mission. CHAPTER XXXVII. —Lurgan discovers Bruce and threatens him with imprisonment. Silvia and Bruce escape over a track through a bog and Lurgan tries to follow them. CHAPTER XXXVIII.—CONFESSION. “Hulloa!” he exclaimed in surprise as he pulled up. “I must apologise,” he said, lifting his hat to Silvia. “I had no idea of meeting a lady up in quite still with his keen, pale blue eyes fixed upon Bruce. “So it is you, Carey,” he remarked in a voice that was suddenly cold as ice. Bruce drew himself up. “It does not seem much use denying it, does it, Colonel Peyton?” he answered. Then he turned to Silvia. “It is the governor of the prison,” he explained. “Curious!” said Colonel Peyton in his cold, measured tones. “I had some private doubts that the body found was yours, Carey, and I rode up here with the purpose of viewing the spot and seeing whether I could find anything to substantiate my suspicions. I confess, however, that I had no idea of picking up the prisoner who has given us so much trouble.” Bruce stood silent. His thoughts were too bitter for words. The colonel fixed his gaze on Silvia. “You, if I mistake not, are Miss Egerton,” he said. “I presume that you are aware of the penalties attached to helping an escaped prisoner.” “Perfectly,” replied Silvia defiantly. “Penalties which I have risked willingly, and would risk again, to save a perfectly innocent man from that horrible prison of yours.” The governor’s expression did not change in the slightest. “The guilt or innocence of the prisoner is quite out of my province. The law has pronounced his sentence. My only duty is to see that it is carried out. At any rate, Carey will have no second chance of escape, for during the rest of his sentence he will not be allowed outside the prison walls. He paused. “Will you come with me quietly, Carey ?” “I want first to ask you something, sir,” said Bruce. “I beg you to forget that you have seen this lady*with me.” Colonel Peyton hesitated. Then he shrugged his shoulders. “Unless I am questioned in court I shall say nothing about her,” he answered. “Now come at once.” But Bruce paused. “We cannot leave Miss Egerton alone, here,” he said. The colonel frowned. “She found her way here alone. She can surely get back again.”

“No,” replied Bruce, firmly. “She is not safe. There is another man after us—and a very dangerous one.” “Very well,” said Peyton, curtly. “She can walk with us until we are within sight of the road. Now I have no more time to waste. Walk in front of me, please. There is a bridle track close above, and you will keep on that.” They started in silence. Bruce glanced at Silvia, and her expression hurt him far worse than any of his own troubles. All the life had gone out of her sweet face, and from a girl she had suddenly changed to a sorrowful woman. Bruce tried to think of something to say to comfort her, but could find nothing. He knew, just as she did, that this was the end of all things, and that the only result of all her efforts was the loss of his remission of sentence and heavy punishment into the bargain. Side by side they walked together with the governor riding at foot pace behind, and so they reached the bridlepath. Then from out of the fog came a sound which brought them all three to a sudden standstill. "Help! help! "came a great roaring voice, hoarse with dreadful terror. Bruce spun round. “Lurgan!” he cried. “He’s in the mire!” “Lurgan,” repeated Peyton. “The man whose house you burgled?” “The same. It was he who was following us. He is in Mill Tor Mire.” Peyton hesitated. “All right,” said Bruce curtly. “I have given my word. I shall not run away.” “Then you had better come with me to help me get this man out,” said the governor, and quickly turned his horse downhill. “Help!.” came Lurgan’s voice again. “Help! Help!” “Bruce,” said Silvia, urgently, "Bruce, if you went first —if Lurgan saw you only, perhaps he would speak.” “It is worth trying,” replied Bruce rapidly. He spoke to the governor. “Colonel Peyton, this man, Lurgan, is the one person who can clear me. Will you let me go on alone?” Peyton did not pull up. “What do you mean?” he asked harshly. “I mean that I don’t want Lurgan to see you,” said Bruce, urgently. “If he does he will not speak, but if he believes his rescue depends on me, he may confess.” “That sounds to me like blackmail,” retorted the governor. “I’ll have none of it.” Silvia stopped quickly in front of the horse, and, as she did so, stumbled and fell. Peyton had to pull up sharply,

and Bruce stooped swiftly to help Silvia to her feet. “Go on,” she whispered, urgently. “Go on, Bruce; I will keep him.” At the same instant Lurgan shouted again—“ Help!” he shrieked in a voice that was hardly human. “For God’s sake, help!” Bruce sprang up. “I’ll get him out, sir,” he said to Peyton. “You look after Miss Egerton,” and leaping away down the hill he vanished into the fog. The mist was not too thick for him to get his bearings, and he soon found the path along which he and Silvia had passed. The footmarks in the ooze guided him, and he had not gone far before he caught sight of a dark something which struggled in the mire. This was Lurgan, and just as Bruce had guessed, it was the gap in the path where Silvia had slipped, which had trapped him.

The man was waist deep and sinking steadily, while all around the black slime seethed and bubbled with his frantic struggles. “Help!” he croaked again as he saw Bruce. “Help me, Carey!” Bruce stopped and looked down into the face of his enemy, which was purple with congested blood, and hardly recognisable. Even a brave man—and Lurgan was no coward — may give way when caught in bog or quicksand. “Why should I help you?” asked Bruce, coldly. “The one thing that will make me safe is your death.” “But I will save you if you get me out,” Lurgan answered, eagerly. “I would like to believe you,” said Bruce. “But you know I cannot.”

“I swear it,” replied Lurgan, earnestly. “I will swear it by anything you like.” “Oaths mean nothing to you, Lurgan. The moment you are out you will forget them.” “You can’t leave me to die like a dog in this filth,” cried Lurgan. “What can I say to convince you?” “Nothing would convince me except the return of the model of the magnet.” “You shall have it. You shall have it, to-morrow-—as soon as I can get back to town.” “Oh, then you confess that you have it?” “Of course I have it,” snarled Lurgan. “You know that as well as I do. But give me a hand. I am sinking. This cursed mud has no bottom.” Bruce pulled aff his coat, took it by one sleeve, ana passed the other to Lurgan, who gripped it fiercely. “No, I am not going to pull yet,” Bruce said. “That will keep you from sinking altogether, but I want to know a bit more before I help you out. Where is the model?” “At my London flat, Chesterton Mansions, in Orme Street, Hammersmith.” “You admit then that you stole it?” demanded Bruce. “What’s the use of asking fool questions,” snapped Lurgan. “Of course I stole it, and, by God, I’d do it again if I had the same chance.” Bruce’s lip curled. “That’s honest, at any rate. Another question. As to that night when I broke into Friars Bank. You had arranged it all in advance —you were waiting for me?” Lurgan’s teeth were chattering with cold. “I don’t know what you are driving at,” he answered. You must know well enough that we set a trap for you.” “You own to that?” “Ye£—yes, but help me out. I am dying with the cold of this cursed mud. You shall have the model tomorrow,” he added. “I swear you shall.” “Hang on there,” said Bruce, and began to pull. The coat sleeve ripped under the strain, but Lurgan took fresh hold of the skirt, and inch by inch Bruce drew him inwards until he was close against the big stones of the Causeway. Once he got foothold on these, he was able to help himself, and presently he clambered out. The slime poured off him in streams and at first he staggered when he tried to stand. But his strength was enormous and in

a few moments he was able to follow Bruce back along the hidden path. Bruce looked eagerly for Silvia, but the fog was thick again, and he could not see her. Even when he at last reached firm ground there was still no sign of her, and he began to feel seriously uneasy. He turned and faced Lurgan. “How, and when, do I get the the model?” he demanded. “I shall address it to Dartmoor Prison,” Lurgan answered with his old sneer. “Oh, yes,” he added, “I shall keep my word as to sending it, but that is your legal address, and will be for the next seven years. As to what I told you out there, that goes for nothing. A confession is worthless without witnesses.”, Bruce’s fists clenched and Lurgan saw it and drew back a step. Then a shadow darted through the fog, and Silvia was between them. She faced Lurgan. “You spoke of witnesses. I heard every word you said, and can swear it in any court.” Lurgan still tried to bluff. “But ,it is in the dock you will be, Miss Egerton, not the witness box. Two years’ hard labour is the penalty for helping a prisoner to escape.” “I think that is about enough,” came another voice, and as Colonel Peyton stepped up Lurgan seemed to collapse like a pricked bladder. “I too heard all that you said,” continued the Governor, “and in virtue of my office as Prison Governor, I place you under arrest on a charge of theft and conspiracy. You will accompany me to the police station at Princetown.” He paused. “You, too, will come with me, Carey, for until you are legally freed you must remain in the prison.” “But —but not for long?” said Silvia imploringly. “Not for very long, Miss Egerton,” replied the Governor, and now his tone was as kind as previously it had been harsh. “It will give you time to buy your trousseau, young lady,” he added, with a smile which quite transformed his usually stern face. [The End.]