"The Chains of Bondage."

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10072, 20 August 1910, Page 2

"The Chains of Bondage."

V BY EMILY B. HETHEBINGTQN- 4 ? . I h Autlior o£—" ffis Coiltg. Chu-V " Worthington a b * Pledge," " A Rej;en*Knt Foe, etc. »

CHAPTER XXVII

'TWIX CAPTURE AND ESCAPE

A volley of imprecations from the asthmatical man had punctuated Judith's rapid words. His face had suddenly assumed an unhealthy pallor like coarse gray paper. "It all comes of Flash Harry employing some one who's new to the game!" he cried, savagely. Thats the way he inuiesils the lot of. us! Judith forced: herself to smile. Only the supreme necessity of letting the scoundrel have no hint that she was not one of his gang enabled h-r to continue playing her part The knocking on the door seemed to knock against her heart. "That talk only wastes time—and minutes arc precious no?,-. You can ( ref mo out; there's a way at the back, Flash Harry told me," she went on recklessly. "And don't forget, my safety is the safety of all of us." It was a shot at a venture; but Judith realised that these men en"gaged in the crooked profession of this sort, would not leave themselves without a way of escape in the event of a sudden emergency. "Oh, so. Harry told you that, did he?" And the fat man wasted two seconds by a further outburst of horrible language, which Seemed to relieve his feelings. Then, suddenly, "Come, follow me—quick! You,re a cool one, but you'll want all your nerve fpr our 'back way'!" He turned on the threshold to say warningly to the old man in the chair:

"Don't open the door yet to 'em. Say you were asleep, or drunk—say any mortal thing! Only don't open the door until I have got her off the premises!" And Judith her"d the words'with a rush of relief. "For if she's nabbed here with the flimsies on her " He gave an expressive shrug of his shoulders to finish the sentence. With an agility and lightness of tread remarkable in a man of his bulk, he darted quickly up the stairs. Judith followed. It was _ a big old-fashioned house, falling into decay ; the stairs were dark, except for. occasional gleams of broken moonlight filtering in through dirty panes of staircase windows. Why were they going upstairs for a way out of the house? Puzzled as she was, Judith foreboro to question. The man was in a state of terror on his own account; and, believing that on her safety his own depended, he would do his best for her. All the way upstairs between the pantings of breath he poured out a flood of imprecations on her, on Flash Harry, on the police, whose knockings threatened to knock thw door down, interspersed with meanings of self-pity. If the police made a search of the house, and nosed out certain secrets, he was ruined. And all the time they were hurrying up flight after flight, with the echons of the knocking Mowing them. Once at a staircase window overlooking the street the fa* man paused for dreath. He looked down, shivering like a huge jellyfish, and ducked his head back sharply horn the window at the sight of Lli'3 ciowd as if he feared a blow. On the landing of the third flight he paused outside a door. "You'll want your nerve, I tes you, my girl," he said maliciously, as he flung open the door of a large bare room at the back, overlooking a tall warehouse that stood scarcely six feet away from the window. He crossed over quickly to the windew, through which the moonlight fell into the room, and flung it open wide.

"Look, my girl—that's our back d»or?" lie cried. "Can yeu manage tib cross it?". Judith looked, and drew back suddenly from the window with a white face. Outside the window was a broaa stone ledge—so broad that it suggested having been at one time a balcony, though the Bailings were gone. At one side its end resting in an iron socket damped to the wall, a plank spaned the intervening gap to the roof of the lower building opposite, where a similar socket, just below the low parapet of the almost flat roof, supported the other end. The plank merely fitting into the sockets, was easily removed in case of necessity. It was an ingenious back door to a house that on certain occasions was a meeting-place of a gang of criminals who might at any unexpected moment need an outlet unknown to the police, but it certainly neednd a nerve of iron to contemplate crossing this aerial bridge, leading to an unoccupied warehouse opening upon another street. Judith glanced at it in the moonlight with a shudder. She found herself wondering if this fat jellyfish of a man would, however great the need, ever dare to cross it—if she herself dared cross it? "Do you mean that I must cross that?" she cried. "Yes. And there's not a minute to lose.' Exasperated as the man was, feeling a sence of personal in-ju-ry against both Flash Harry and this woman whom he believed to be Flash Harry's messenger, lie was scarcely less eager that Judith her-

self for her escape. If she were caught those "flimsies" on her | would give the game- away, and the woman was sure to blah if she was arrested, and the fat man knew only too well what discovery meant for him. "Quick, my girl! I thought you had nerve for anything. Once yon"ve crossed you'll find a skylight in the warehouse roof, and the rest's easy." Meanwhile, downstairs the doddering old man had at last deemed it no longer prudent to keep the police waiting further. He opened the door. "I was asleep; and lan a bit deaf. You'll have to speak up if you want me to hear," he said. And certainly the tones of the police were loud enough as they upbraided and threatened, and finally demanded knowledge about the woman who had entered the house. "I never seed no woman; I was' asleep," the old man retorted. "Well, she's here, and we're go- J ing to find her!" shouted the foremost officer. "She's a woman wanted for murder. Judith Hardress, wanted for the murder of her husband last June." In the uper room the fat asthmatical man,as he heard the tramp and voices of the police below, had stolen out on the landing listening. The loudly spoken words came up the well of the staircase quite audibly. "Judith Hardress! It's a case of murder, not forged notes, then, fiat's brought 'em! Judith Hardress! By Heaven, I see it all now!" the man muttered savagely, darting back into the room to where fihe woman stood by the open window hesitating, her figure outlined against the moonlight.

Passion gleamed in his face. He realised how he had been tricked. "By heaven, I see now what a.fool you have, made of me!" he cried furiously. You're not frot" Flash Harry. You're Judith Ha-rdress.!" *he confronted him defiantly. 'Well, and if I admit it? Wouldn't you have done the same? And I'm grateful that you have shown me the way of escape." "But you sha'n't take it!,, the Humming Bird snarled viciously. He believed now that he had nothing to fear, and he would pay this woman out for the shock she hed given him, and at the same time would put the police under an obligation to him. He would drag this woman out on the landing, and give her up. He was savage at being tricked ; no doubt she had heard of Harry from her husband, the man rhe had murdered, and had been able to bluff. Well, let her try to blu€ the police when they came. And he shouted down the well of the staircase to the two officers below: "Come up! I've got the woman up here safe!" CHAPTER XXVIII. THE DIZZY ROAD TO FREEDOM. As lie shouted out to the police below the asthmatical man, wonderfully quick considering his bulk, made a dash forward to seize Judith, as, taking her courage in her hands, she was climbing out on the broad ledge, having nerved herself to take the dizzy pathway that was the one alternative to arrest.

She evaded his clutch ; but the man stood in front of the open window, with a malicious grin, blocking the one way of escape. Judith was desperate. To be stopped on the very threshold of escape. She could hear the heavy footsteps below. Unless she sould cross the plank before the police reached the room she would bbe tricked. A sudden, tigress-like gleam carae into her face. She was dangerous—in amood when, had there been a weapon in her hand, even this man's life would not have stood between her and her escape. Every nearing, ascending steps on the stairs seemed to bring the shadow of the rope closer! She rushed to the door, and locked it and pocketed the key. The fat man made a swift movement toward her, but Judith was swifter still She lsnatched up the heavy poker that her eyes saw lying on the hearth, and standing at bay, she swung it round, and, with a shrill cry of fear', the man suddenly backed. The footsteps were very near now, coming up the last flight of stairs. "Break the door open!" yelled the fat man!. "I've got her in here." (To be Continued).