CHAPTER XVII. (Continued.)

Te Aroha News, Volume III, Issue 154, 15 May 1886, Page 4

CHAPTER XVII. (Continued.)

Sisce the death of De Noreff, the band of I % which Toby was the instrument had no other de3ire than that of leaving France. Lumilia Ludloff had collected all the gold and valuables amassed by her -worthy associate, and was ready for an immediate flight, having thought her situation sufficiently dangerous to induce her to sacrifice the five hundred thoueand francs that De Noreff had expected to force from General De Mensignac's heirs. But before starting ehe wished to complete her vengeance. As Jeanne, poisoned by small doses, might still live, and she must abs*--4«tely die, this terrible woman remained to finish her work,— this exce3s of infamy ruining her. The discharge of the gun had been heard by the officers who surrounded the garden ; and Jottrat, lying on the stepsi saw with despair two of his men coming through the open p"-»te, while a third was climbing over a wall much further on. There was no longer time to stop them ; besides, the unhappy father had not tho strength to do it, having lost a largo quantity of blood ; his eyes closed, and, consciousness abandoning him, he fainted away, wishing only to die. After having fired, Toby thought immediately of warning his accomplices, and, going out of the house by a back door, was running as fast as he could toward the entrance of the cavern. The man who was climbine the wall, eeeing him, jumped into the garden, calling his comrades to his aid. The latter, seeing Jottrat unconscious, thought the most important thing was to arrest the fugitive, as, having entire confidence in their chief, they were convinced there was some important matter at stake, and he said to his companion, who hesitated at leaving the wounded man : "I know our master: he would never forgive us if we were to stop to take care of him, instead of laying hold of these criminals," —and this reasoning deciding them, they started off at full speed. Toby had excellent legs, and would probably have escaped from the three men, had not a fourth sprang up suddenly from the lower part of the garden, drawn by the cries of his comrades : not knowing what was the matter, he manoeuvred immediately to stop the runaway, seizing hold of the door of the cave at the very moment Toby was tiying to shut it behind him. A desperate stpggle took place, and while resisting with, all bis strength, the groom uttered energetic appeals, that resounded through the vaulted building, and that redoubled the ardour of the policemen, who were running to their comrade's aid — understanding very well that the fugitive was crying out to warn his accomplices ; and one, more collected than his comrade?, whistled threo times to call the watches from the river. This signal decided Toby to struggle no longer, for the door yielded suddenly to the four officers, who entered unhesitatingly a dark corridor, and no longer seeing the man they were pursuing, but hearing his hurried steps, followed the sound until it , suddenly ceased. Their situation was disquieting, and, determined as they were, they stopped. •• We had, perhaps, better return to our master for instructions," said one of them, who had seen Jottrat fall. •* You know very well that he is not in a state to give us any," answered his comrade, an old police blood-hound, who never voluntarily gave up the game. ''The garden being watched from the lower part, the birds cannot fly that way ; we have only to look here, and we will be sure of finding them. " A staircase began at the very place the policemen stopped, and, while talking, the officer had lighted a dark lantern. " Let us go down," sa*d he firmly. After going down about twenty steps, the little troop saw a small landing-place, which they carefully explored ; thegroundon which they walked resounding under their feet. "Weareabove a cavern," said theman who had taken the command, and, with the instinct which the habit of searching for criminals gives, he began with his lantern in his band to examine the floor, his comrades looking at Mm attentively and motionless Suddenly they saw him stoop, lie down at full length on the ground, p!acing his lantern beside him, and applying his eye to a narrow opening that he had just discovered. The spectacle before him was a strange one. In the vaulted room, in the midst of trunks, cases, and packages of every form and size, two men and a woman were talking with animation ; and in the corner of the cavern, not bo well lighted, three barrels without covers were standing against the wallAfter looking, the officer wished to bear what they were saying, and, applying bia ear to the hole, distinctly heard their voices. "The boat is a long time coming," said the woman, with a gesture of impatience. " It will be herein twenty minutes," said the elder of the men : "it will not take us more than half an hour to put these trunks on board, and start." " As to the imbeciles who pursued me," said Toby, having just loaded his gun, " before they have found their way through the corridors, we will be far enough from here." *' The police-officer, thinking it time to interfere, "called out: " The imbeciles are here, and you will do well to surrender !" A howl of rage was heard from the end of the cave. Toby turned his gun towards the vault, but the woman tore it from his hands, aad, before her companion had time to prevent her, placed the end of it on the edge of one of the open barrels, The rays of the early morning sun, coming through the window, lighted her livid face and brought out the hues of her goldencoloured hair. " Snrrender 1" eaid a voice that came from the river side. The signal had been heard, and the officers watching in the boat had arrived. "I will die revenged!" said the infernal creature, touching the trigger. A frightful explosion shook the earth, »nd aIL crumbled away in the midst of a cloud of smoke.