CHAPTER II. A CHASE.

Te Aroha News, Volume III, Issue 113, 1 August 1885, Page 6

CHAPTER 11. A CHASE.

Not more than ten minutes had passed after Doris and Leila had left the house, when Mrs Driscoll's attention was called to a light footfall upon the stairs leading up from the lower hall ; and shortly thereafter a gentle rap was given upon the door of the sick-room, The watcher arose and answered the summons, giving entrance to a young man whose presence called a smile and a flush of pleasure to the wan face upon the pillow.' We will introduce him at once ; and as he s to bear a prominent part in our story, you shall know what manner of man he was. George Bertram, aged oneand-twenty ; tall and perfectly proportioned, with a muscular development that might have been the envy of a professional athlete ; his hair, of a light brown colour, was thrown back frem his expansive brow, falling in silken curia over his collar ; his eyes were grey, full of light and life, and brilliantly expressive ; the other features being all that could be required to fill up the sum of manly beauty. His was a strong face— the face of one truthful and just ; full of kindly sympathy, yet as brave as the bravest ; one who held his honour of mor6 value than an empty life ; whose word was a bond ; and whose ready hand left no possible good undone. His mother had died while he was yet a child. In his early youth he had been sent from England to join his father, who was a colonel of cavalry in the British army. His father had died — killed in a skirmish with rebellious native troops— two years previous to the opening of our story, leaving him of worldly goods a few thousand pounds, and a lucrative office— a clerkship— in the employ of the Military Department of the East India Company. Though a clerk, he yet had gained a thorough military education ; and, partly as a token of respect for his father, but not without merit of his own, he had been commissioned as a Lieutenant of Hussars, and had seen hard service. Touching his associations with the family of Asliton, we will simply say, Col. Bertram and Col. Ashton had been comrades in the same corps, and warm personal friends for many years." Upon George's arrival in India, at the age of thirteen, he had found his father and Col. Ashton occupying the same quarters, so Doris, then a sparkling, laughter-loving child of eight, had been his first playmate, and since that time the twain had been firm and steadfast friends, loving one another with fervent truth and loyalty. George went to the bedside, and pressed a kiss upon the sufferer's brow, and then asked for Doris. When told that she had gone for the doctor, he started with quick alarm, though he sought to hide his emotion from Mrs Ashton. " Leila went with her," Mrs Driscoll said, who had been quick to read the youth's feelIngs. "Could not Leila have gone alone ?" " Aye, she was very easier so to do, but Doris would not listen. She felt that ehe ought to see the physician herself. I do not think she will be long gone." " How long since she left ?" " Not more then ten minutes. Perhaps a minute or two more." " I think I will join her. " And he looked towards the occupant of the bed to see if the proposition met with her approval. " Aye," she approved heartily. "I am glad you are going, George. I cannot banish the fear that haunts me when Doris is exposed out of doors. Though she may go and come in safety, y6t there is danger." "Of course there is danger," George echoed, more emphatically than he had intended ; and, without further remark, he arose from his seat and took his hat. • • I shall probably find her at the doctor's, " he said, as he moved towards the door. " She had no other errand ?" "Nothing more." "Then keep up a good heart. We will be with you very soon, and, I trust, bring Doctor Bloom with us." And in a moment more he was gone. Arrived at the nearest corner of the square, he considered whether he should cross it, or go around by the way of the street. "Of course," he said to himself, "Doris took the open street. She would not have ventured in such darkness to thread the narrow paths to the park. The distance is but little more. I will follow in her track ; that will be safest. And then, if anything should have happened — " He left the sentence unfinished, and moved rapidly on down the west side of the square to the Dhurrumtolla ; there turned to the left, and held his pace at a doublequick until he reached the residence of the doctor, which stood by the side of the Union Church. His summons at the door was answered by a servant, of whom he inquired if Doris Ashton was there, or if she had been there. No ; no one had called since dark. " Not been here ? Are you sure ?" " I am. I alone answer the door-bell, and yoa are the first caller this evening." " Is Doctor Bloom in ?' "He ia." "I will step in. I must see him instantly." " You know where his apartment is. He is there." George knew the arrangement of the house well, and went at once to the doctor's sanctum, where he found him with a book in his hand, " Doctor Bloom, pardon my intrusion. I am very anxious. Have you seen Miss Ashton this evening ?" "Doris?" "Yes." "No." " She left her home, not half an hour ago, to come hither in quest of yourself to attend upon her mother, who is suffering anew." " She may have gone upon another errand first." " No, she had no other errand ; and it is not like her to loit9r, especially when on Buchbueiness. Either an accident, or worse, must have befallen her." "Worse?" "Aye, worse, I fear. But I must not stop to explain. You have, of course, heard mention made of the lurking scoundrel who so mysteriously hangs upon the dear girl's footsteps, and who has more than once betrayed an unmistakeable disposition to abduct her," "Yea, I have heard something, but I never rightly understood it, My supposition has been that the fellow was a senseless loon, attracted by the damsel's extreme beauty." ' "No, noj the brute knows nothing of beauty. But let that pass for now. If. you will hasten to Mrs Ashton, I will set forth, calling help if I can find it, and do what I can to discover Miss Doris." The youth, in his eager haste, had turned towards the door, with his hat still in hand, when' the doctor stopped Kirn. "Bertram J you speak of a lurking scoundrel who would abduct our little Doris. Is there more than one ?"

George started.', »" Ah! Jfor a fcime\th,e^ was only qne ; but of late— for six months, or more~l think there has been another. Why do you ask ?" - . , .:<.., "Because I saw two men. this evening, as I was' on my way home, and the thought has at this moment for the first time oqeurred to me that ' they .had .an eye upon Mrs Ashtqnta residence. I waa deeply buried In study at the time, and passed theni without giving a thought to their presence ; but I can call to mind now that they were looking up at the chamber windows of that* house. This I saw as I came in sight bf that angle of the square. After -that they turned and went in under the Doric arch, where I passed them." "Can you tell me what they looked like?" " I only looked at one of them. It was just at dusk, you will understand, so that I could not see plainly ; but I could see that the man nearest to me was a broadshouldered, slouching fellow, with a garb that smacked of the sea." " That is the man ! I must away at once. You will go-" "I will look to the mother. But— a 1 word : Are you armed ?" " No." " Then take this. It is loaded, and I will warrant every cap and every cartridge. You will be safer with such a friend." "Aye, and I thank you for it. 0 ! if the villain would give me good and sufficient cause to shoot him, I think I would be thankful." * It was an array revolver of American manufacture, with six chambers. Bertram put it away in his breast pocket, and as he moved towards the door he said : "The two men were in the square the last you saw of them ?" "Yes, — within a few yards of the entrance, and slowly coming this way. I passed them." The youth thanked him again, and hurred away. It was now almost nine o'clock, and but few people were stirring out of doors. There would be more after the places of amusement were emptiod. Upon reaching Wellington Square he entered, feeling now assured that Doris had started to come that way, and took the diagonal path which she would have followed had she accomplished her purpose. He dared not hesitate, ,He judged as best he could, .and acted quickly. Near the centre of the park he met a policeman, of whom he made inquiries. The man had been on duty since dark, and he was very sure no female hed passed his beat ; nor had be seen any men answering to the description which George gave. On again, across the square, and down into the broad street running from the extreme eastern road to the Strand, a distance of two miles, or more. At the corner of the square and Dhurrumtolla-sfcreet he met anotherpoliceman, of whom he made further inquiry. This man startled him. Half an hour before he had seen two men going down towards the Strand who seemed to have come from the street flanking the square on the west side. They were sailors, he thought, with their clothes-bags on their shoulders. He had thought at first of stopping them, but they were at a considerable distance from him — he had been them as they passed under a gaslight— and, like his confrere in the park, he had not cared to leave his beat. This our hero deemed of importance, and he resolved to act upon the information thus received. Having been assured that the men went towards the river, he started in ■pursuit—started upon a run, which he kept up until he had reached the Chauringhi Road, a thoroughfare running parallel with the strand, and three-fifths of a mile distant from it. He stopped here because he saw a number of psople standing upon one of the corners, by a strong gas-light, and two policemen with then?. And this was not all. Hisheart gave a grateful bound as he recognised amid the group two of his dearest f riends - Dick Alford and Mark Nottling — one a clerk and the other a lieutenant, both employed in the same office with himself "George, what has happened? Are you running a race ? Where is your — " George, as soon aa he could regain his breath, put out his hand and stopped his friend where he was. "It is serious, Dick. That double distilled villain has got Doris within his grasp, after all. I have told you of him." " Good heavens ! Where is he?" " That is the question. Let me ask this officer." He approached one of the policemen, and asked him if he had seen two men, with sacks on their shoulders, pass that way. The man thus questioned was shaking his head in token of No, when policeman Number Two, who had overheard, volunteered a response. "The sacks weren't on their shoulders, but carried in their arms. I saw 'em not more'n fifteen minutes ago. They Beemed to be goin' along on their own business ; and as I was pertickerlily engaged just then, I didn't trouble 'em ( I took 'em to be sailors goin' aboard their ship." The policeman had been particularly engaged at the moment when thoso two men had passed his post, as he had been for a considerable time before, and for several minutes afterwards, in an interesting conversation wifh a couple of females well known on his beat. Being further questioned, he said that the two men had gone directly down towards the Strand, where, he had no doubt, a boat had been in waiting for them. " Dick ! Mark ! Will you go with me ?" "Of course we will. Have you got your barker, Mark?" "Yes." , . "So have I. Andyou, George?" "I have one that Dr. Bloom let me. Come on. 0, if we can find them !" " We'll find them, if they are this side of the river. Quick's the word !" They made a race of. it to the Strand, covering the distance in a very few minutes, and did not stop until they had reached the boat-landing by the Court-House, where they found a solitary man in the act of making fast the painter of his boat to one of the ring-bolts on the pier. Him our hero addressed. He proved to be a Lascar, though clad like an English seaman. Yes, he had seen the two men, and he was afraid of them, and his fear had caused him to lie still in the bottom of his old boat, and give no sign of his presence. He had just come to the landing when they arrived upon the pier, and, knowing them to be up to mischief, he deemed it safest to keep out of their sight ; s6 he had quietly drawn his boat in the well under the shadow of the pier-head, and there lain quiet. "Did they have sacks or bags with them ?" " Aye ; and wonderful bags they were. The men had brought a girl down in each bag, but before starting away they had set their captives free from the bags and allowed them to walk." " How long ago was that ?" Lascar held iip his hand, with the fingers spread, intimating that the men had not been gone much more than so many minutes. Bertram was anxious,' but there waa one question more that he must ask. "Look you. ..You say you knew one of those men. Who and what is he ?" , As near ■as could be made from the Hindoo's wretched English, the man was,

t kfcbwn'as 1 Jacob' Wenzell. He was 4 an American,^ and people thought he had -been ajpirate* " At /all events, a pirate Jbrig was known to have been in the river, and the man Wenzell. went freely on board. question more. Can you tell me whither those men meant to oarry their captives ?" ,Xes, k* had heard their destination spoken. ( The pirate brig, be was very sure, was at tliat moment somewhere between Diamond JPoint and Calcutta. They were to carry the" girln to the Old SJtairs, near the Fort, where a boat was waiting for them. "We may be too late ! 0, the precious time wasted ! But we'll overhaul them yet." " Aye j we're good for it," responded Alford. Nottling added his word of oheer as the three set forth upon the run. The road was hard and smooth, and they went swiftly over it. Shortly after they had left the last of the government buildings behind them, Bertram, who was a few paces in advance, cried out that he paw something ahead that looked like men walking. " Aye," he cried, a few moments later, '* I see them plainly ; and the girls, also. Ha ! they are off upon the run ! They have picked the girls up in there arms, I do believe. Yes, they are carrying them." It was now a chase for dear life. The pursued were heavily burdened, but they were strong men, and desperate, and ran swiftly. Moreover, they were not far from the objective point. As nearly as George could calculate, the Old Stairs .were less, than a quarter of a mile distant, while the ruffians must- be almost there. The only hope was that in detention at the landing. The boat might not be ready to put off. Could they have but one poor minute— it might be a precious minute— could the boat be hindered from putting off, be it for never so short a space of time, they might come up in season. "Ha! they are there !" So shouted our hero as he saw the fugitives turn sharp to the right, down to the river's side. Be drew his pistol and dashed on, his companions close behind him, and anon by his side. As they reached the head of the stairs, they, saw the boat, with a number of men in her, the two girls being in ths stern sheets, and at that moment nearest the shoreAs George's feet touched the topmost landing of the stairs, he saw the oars lifted and he heard a man, ia quick, eager tones, shout : "Let fall ! Pull away ! Pull for your lives ! Ho ! we'll—" He heard no more, for at that point his own voice was raised in a loud cry to Doris. The boat's head had been pushed off, and he saw that if the girls would leap into the water, he and his companions could save them. At all events, that was the only way, as he couid hope to gain nothing by leaping into the boat. So he called out at the top of his voice, at the same time stretching forth his arms : " Doris ! Doris ! into the water I Leap ! I will save you ! Leila ! jump with Doris 1" At this moment the men Jacob and Jonas having seated their fair captives in the sternsheets of the cutter, were in the act of stepping over the thwart next forward, the first named at the same time giving the orders to the crew which we have heard : so they did not hear, or did not notice, the call of B9rtrara to the girls ; but there was a man who did hear —a man who stood with a boathook in his band, having just given the last push from the landing. "Jump ! Jump '"' Doris had kno'vn the voice from the first and now she could recognise the well-known form and features of her dear lover. At that moment she had no fear of the water — she knew that George would save her. "This way! Leap towards me!" cried the eager youth, as he saw his darling ready to spring. She had stepped upon the little combdeck, ready to go over the stern, when the man nearest her drooped his boat hook, and caught her arm. " No, no, my little one ! Not quite so— " He did not live to finish the sentence. Dick Alford had anticipated a movement of the kind, and was prepared for it. He had held his pistol ready, and when the need had come, his aim had been unerring. The bullet went crashing through the pirate's brain. Luckily Doris did not lose her presence of mind. She knew that the man who had grasped her arm bad been shot, and she saw that his fall had thrown the ruffians momentarily into confusion ; and at that moment she sprang to the water, Leila following close by her side, and so luckily had they made the leap that Bertram was able to reach them both from the bottom step of the stairs. "Back! Back! If you put a hand on that girl, you are a dead man." It was the man Jake who had sprung aft. and was in the act of reaching after the floating skirt of Doris's dress, but he saw the muzzle of Alford's pistol, and he evidently did not consider the game worth the risk. At all events, he drew quickly back, while the two girls were drawn safely to the stairs and carried to the landing. Dick Alford, by virtue of his rank, wore the uniform of the Royal Hussars, seeing which the rascals in the boat probably thought there might be a squad of troops from the fort close at hand, else they would not have fled as they did ; for there were certainly eight of them, all told,— sufficont to have quickly overcome our three friends had they landed for that purpose. As it was, however, as soon as it had been seen that their late captives had escaped them, the order for pulling away was given, and the boat was soon lost in the distant gloom.