"THE WEB."

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8878, 12 November 1907, Page 2

"THE WEB."

CHAPTER XXlll.—Continued. Strangways turned to the Captain. "If what I suspect be true, we have a long score to settle. I think it would be well if I kept in the background until you have got them safely aboard." /, ' The Captain was looking eagerly through his glass—"Right you are, sir. If I'm not mistaken those two men over there are sailing as fast to the gallows as they can, thinking they've got safe away. And, lord, they haven't even painted out the name of the Alice on her side. I can read it as clear as anything from here." "Don't let them suspect anything till we get them aboard," Strangways put in. "They may shift their course if they think there's danger. We can't afford to waste the time to " go chasing after them." "Oh, you leave it to me, Mr Strangways," the captain replied, putting his glass down. "I'll receive them as kindly as if they were my own children I'd lighted uponjn the middle of the ocean. I'll be as soft with them as soap and water till I get'em on deck." He moved the handle of the indicator, and the White Rose slowed down, while Strangways hurried from the bridge and took up a position at one «of the deckhouse windows. As the boat neared them the sail was let down, and a rope deftly thrown aboard soon pulled her, tumbling and hissing through the waves, • alongside. For a minute Strangways could -see or hear nothing. The only indication he had that the miscreants 1 were landed was the bell in the en-gine-room for full steam ahead. Then he heard voices as the two ship-wrecked men appeared on the (upper deck in company with the first mate. They formed a little knot outside rhe deckhouse window. He watched tnem like a tiger watches liis prey, with a gratified hatred in his heart, for one of the men was Peter Tidey, the Patriarch, Moses, the keeper of flying scroll, the other was his right-hand man. Ricar<lo Conrad.

The mate, who had received his instructions from the captain, was listening to what they were saying with an air of wlel acted credibility. "We have been rescued by a miracle," said the deep voice of Peter Tidey. "the Lord be praised. For three days ani_ three nights we have been in that boat without anything to eat; but we had water, Heoven be praised for that, hadn't we brother," he added in an unctuous tone, turning to Conrad for confirmation. "Yes, indeed," retorted his companion, in his slow, drawling voice. "We have to be thankful for that and much more. We have to be thankful we were chosen out of all those on board the Alcadt to live." A grim smile came over Strangways' face as he heard these words, for he knew that the Alcade was reported to have sunk in mid-Atlantic the day before the White Rose left England. The Patriarch was nothing if not circumstantial. Only mental aberrati.cn could account for the fact that he had forgotten to paint out the name of Alice from the boat in which he had escaped. "Where was the Alcade from?" said the mate with a bright assumption of interest. "From Buenos Ayres. We were three weeks out. The low pressure cylinder exploded, so badly damaging the hull that she began to settle down almost immediately. Uh, it was terrible, terrible. I shall forget those white faces on board, the rush for the boats, the sickening sound as the sea sucked the Alcadp under; the shrieks, the groans, and then the awful silence." The Patriarch worked himself up into a fine imaginary frenzy of horror. Even the first mate was impressed, having a private taste in melodrama, and a never-to-be gratified ambition ito play the villain in one of the old Adelphi five-act thrills. "Oh, it ■was terrible, terrible," continued the Ptriarch. "I shall always be haunted with the horror of it," and he staggered, as if in the anguish of his feelings, towards the rail. As he did so he came face to face with John Strangways who had come out of the deckhouse. The air of false tragedy left his face suddeply. He gazed at Strangways like a man who sees a ghost, something unreal and intangible. He gasped chokingly, a deep purple flush infused his face, bringing into Horrible, prominence the scar on his forehead. Then, as quickly, the blood left his cheeks. Pallid and grey with the horror of a trapped animal in his eyes, he stared at Strangways. His lips moved to speak, but all that escaped them was a gasp. Conrad turned at the sound, gazed thunderstruck at Strangways, and then, without, a word, made a spring to the ship's side. But the mate was on the look out. He caught him and flung him back like a kindls of straw on to the deck.

Aa yet noboJv had uttered a word. At last Strangways broke the silence. "This is the first time, Mr Ticley, I have had the pleasure of speaking to you face to fare. But I believe you have been good enough to take a very considerable interest in my doings during the laat few months. For what reason and with what object I cannot say, though I might hazard a But for the moment my own personal affairs do not matter. '' He paused, and still the man looked at him, grey with fear. "I listened to your histrionic account of the sinking of the Alcade. Had I not had the pleasure of gauging your dramatic abilities in the role •of the prophet, 1 should have been amazed at your genius. As it is, I

PAUL UEQUHAXT.

[Publishedqßys Special [All Rig-iits'2Eeseryed.]

must congratulate you on the wonderfully circumstantial way in which you construct your falsehoods. lam j afraid, however, the worries of the past few weeks have r your I caution though they may not have affected your wits. lr. composing your tragedy for recital you forgot two little items which seriously affected the veracity of your narration. Yuu forgot, fur example, to remove the name from the boat on which you escaped. You would yourself, I imagine, consider it a curious coincidence that the boat belonging to the Alcade should bear the name of Alice." A tremor seized the man who was hanging on to the deck rail. "You forgot also," continued Strangways ruthlessly, "that the Alice carried a wireless telegraphy installation, in consequence of which we have been looking out for you for sometime." He suddenly dropped his half jocose tone and spoke sternly. "We hope to save the intended victims of your murderous plot. What possible object you could have in committing such a foul deed you may know. But I am sure of this whether we are in time to rescue those on board the Alice or not the law shall deal with you when we get to England." He turned to the mate — "Lock these men up in the smokeroom."

The mate blew a whistle, and four of the crew appeared. Unresistingly Tidey tottered forward in the grasp of two of the men. Ricardo Conrad, overcome with fear, had to be carried. Having seen that his prisoners were safely under lock and key, Strangways descended to the lowe*saloon where Alice was sitting, her pale face between her hands. She did no!: hear him approach, and when he touched her arm she looked up startled. "Is it—is it all over?" she faltered. He bent down and gave her his first brotherly kiss. "Yes, dear, it is all over. You may come on deck again." They asqended once more to the bridge, and at a look from Strangways, the captain refrained from all comment on the incidents that had just taken place. The White Rose was still keeping up her sixteen knots, and they knew that in a short while now the success or failure of their at'empt would be proved beyond doubt. Another hour slipped by. It was almost one o'clock. The excitement began to tell on everybody, even the Captain. Within sixty minutes the fate of the Alice must be decided. With Strangways' glasses to her eyes, Alice swept the horizon. Then, with a sort [of hopeless gesture she put them down and stood leaning against the railings. Strangways dare not look at her. As the minute? passed so the little hope that was left seemed to vanish. He tried not to think of it. He tried to force himself to believe that the ship was still safe, and that Violet would soon be standing by his side. But liis power of self conviction weakened perceptibly. He told himself that it was all of no use, this hoping. They might just as well put about and steam back to England. The Alice had gone down, and the sea had swallowed up all that he held most i dear. He nerved himself to look at his sister. He could see her lip-j ' moving as if in prayer. The captain j fidgetted uneasily at *the other end of I the bridge. - I "Ship on the port bow." |

The harsh, deep voice of the sailor broke the tense silence. Never had a sound more sweet struck Strangways' ear. It seemed to galvanize the whole ship to life again, breaking the terrible strain of the last half hour.

"It's she, right enough," said the captain, putting down his glasses, and the man at the wheel swung the head of the ship in the direction of | the Alice. Lying low in the water, at that distance almost seeming as if her masts alone were raised above the level of the ocean some fifteen miles away, lay Beeton's yacht. She was surrounded by a haze which accounted j for the fact that she had not been i observed before. i

But would they be in time, after all? "Please God we shall do it," Strangways murmured to himself. The girl at his side did not move. She seemiid frightened of even looking at the ship now they had come within sight of her. "Shall we do it, d 6 you think?" Strangways murmured to the captain. "I can't say, sir, I can't say," he said. "Please God we shall. But she's settling fast." Nearer and nearer they'*drew towards the ship. Half an hour went by, and she was still some seven miles off. Five minutes—ten minutes- fifteen minutes. And now they could sec her quite clearly, even distinguish a group of people on the deck. But that she was sinking rapidly was beyond a doubt. The strain was unbearable. Strangways realized that even now in the sight of the girl he loved he might lose all. The sVhite Rose was doing her utmost. Not an ounce more power could be got out of her engines. (To be Continued).