UNKNOWN

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 127, 2 June 1904, Page 4

UNKNOWN

I pF THE FATHERS. Kbtttlnued.) Hn feet brought him to Bad he instantly kindled ptn which he had brought lose. A narrow tunnel Kk through the cliff and It was very shaikh to stoop to traverse was foetid, and fit He was almost overKhe took a pull at the ■MfLyad, saturating a HffPfhe/spirit, ha tied Buth ana nostrils. It through the heart of 1 P. - till he stood under the ■The houses of the inIre above him, and a Irossed his dark face as if them, asleep in their pndered as to what they could they but see him, lis landowner, torn and ep down beneath their Bill on he toiled, holding I tern high against the b tunnel, till a great ' opened above his head x that his journey was mpliahed. ling the light of his laniturned it to his pocket nd the great hole above at he knew should be (there it was—a roughlyRadder of iron piping set •of the well. Lifting himhis foot on the first tood his weight, and he ttWOt. The rungs were Wttl lie counted them as ; Eighty-two ! The ladnd he looked up. <ff»,waß above his head, of satisfaction i saw it. There ®e&_Jt was simply droppWtßng. He took a kniie from bis waist-belt, fttUp between the trap surrounding woodwork. > a sharp rasping sound, r the lodfe along the crack t.of the trap. Two of the Mr sides he served in a his long knife raspKt went. Then he put and pushed viand, gripping it bad been up, taking care should make Kveffort, and he stood up- & tk, terribly dark. Yet he where he was. He was ■.the foot of the stairs in lbs Rutherford's houseit. the smugglers, which i";to Rex Rutherford at so ,lqw a rental. The hall svered with stout linoleMTO expense before the n*d token possession of kod through this his long, tad ctrt its way. yy* * ' * «.woke with a start, ranonition of impending jpd her {o sit upright in ft>om was in darkness, gaeito be heard save the lie:. Storm without. The etfe asleep, and all was n&ig had seemed to pat ateenaod warn her of was that ? ■■■breath and listened, rasping sound in Bent she hesitated, del.what she should do. Ight be nothing, and'ahe Erouse Rex for fear this ■e case. He had a hor-Fqnduly-timid, ultra-ner-kal sort of woman, and [never been guilty of cowr life. noiselessly to the floor, the gas-jet in her room ttired herself in dressingtippers. She would go n the hall and see if anyamiss. She was not ie dark, so took no light, Btly down the wiading rhall below. She heard hug as she descended, me was waiting for her—the dense darkness that

by the foot on the ear feet on J footfall was a was sure. What might be Lucilla. Blot harm her for his heard him ? He he saw all his JPlniCSted. Ten short 'ne would havo been in Lord's room. And anlooger and keener than had as yet used, would ided over his victim's bus the murder of SarnujW have been avenged, he must do it. But he > of the girl first. 1 nearer she came. lie One step more, uM have gone headlong BljJng abyss. But his 'as about her waist, his 3S»ed tightly over her struggle in so firm a tile. cely a sound he carried he ball, and, still with On her mouth, laid her ptaJtffinh he searched pffcet'i and produced rlriciShi had brought in geney, rata struggling violently, Elll "?uh weight upon her t back exhausted. Then, be elipped the handkeris own mouth and bound tNext came rere even now •antic, despertn. Close untd them, passer slim waist. two ankles ig the ends of se of a great i-stand that he wall, so or even crawl absolute darknothing conray she attrithe unknown of roWiery. And she

Could give no warning to her lover ' The thought maddened her, and she made one more desperate fight for liberty. The handkerchief slipped from her mouth. A cry was on her lips. But its utterance was checked almost instantly, and the handkerchief was drawn with painful tightness about the bloodless lips. But that half-uttered cry had not passed unheard. The sound of q door opening in a room above caught the ear of David Snow. A few moments' breathless suspense and he heard another foot upon the stair. It was a man this time, and the light of a candle flickered above his head. What should he do ? Reviling his ill-luck, he slipi>cd nls feet down upon the topmost rung of the pipe ladder in the well. Down, down he went, rung alter rung, till he was out of reach of that approaching light. Then he stopped and peered upwards to the mouth of the well,waiting, waiting, for what ? Hex Rutherford was turning the last bend in the stairs. In an instant his eye lit on the figure of Lucilla, bound and gagged, in the hall below. TVith a cry of horror and alarm he plunged forward. Lucilla stroVe wildly to cry to him to stop ere it was too late. Down, down he came, the abyss he did not see yawning at his very feet. Lucilla's blood froze with horror, but she was powerless. One step—a cry—and Rex Rutherford went hurling down the gaping well into the smugglers' tunnel. But he did not go alone. He who openly defies the mandate of God and metes out vengeance to whom he win ia in danger of a similar judgment. Cold and grey dawned the morning. And when at last poor Lucilla Morton was found and rescued, the chilly horror of the long, dark silence that had preceded the dawn had bereft her of consciousness. But grief and misery do not long remain in abeyance. Strong, rough-mannered men shrank back in horror at the story she had to tell. Slowly they descended the yawning hole in the floor of the hall. It seemed an age ere they re-appear-ed ; and when they came they led her away, that she might not see their ghastly burdens. But later she slipped upstairs and entered the darkened room that Rex had left but a few short hours before. There he lay, his face so pale in its last, long sleep, yet with a smile upon it,- as {hough a glimpse of futurity had been vouchsafed him ere he died. Mi's Rutherford was sitting by the bed, her eyes swimming with tears. But at sight of Lucilla she rose, and drew the girl's head down upon her shoulder. "My poor child !" she whispered brokenly. "We have naught in all the world now but each other." Lucilla's lip quivered. "God's will be done!" she murmured. "But it is so hard—so very, very hard, for—l—loved him so !" So they comforted each other,there in the presence of the dead, whom both had loved. And afterwards? Ah, that rests with the future ! Sydney Snow —frank, kindly, generous to a degree —had also passed through the dark waters of tribulation. His father's purpose came home to him in a flash, and the shock sent him staggering to his room like a drunken man. But the years are passing,and time is patching up the wound it can never quite heal. Lucilla utill calls him her friend, for her intimacy with him is not diminishing because of his father's sin. The sins of the fathers have been visited upon tho children. All the old hatred is dead. And who knows ? It is better to love than to hate. (The End.)