A SECRET FOE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10150, 21 November 1910, Page 2

A SECRET FOE.

(OUR SERIAL,*

ry GERTRUDE WARDEN. Author of "Scoundrel or Saint?" "The Secret of a Letter," "A Bold Deception," "The Wooing of a Fairy," "The Crime Oi Monte Carlo," etc.

CHAPiER i'V.—Continued

Should that be gone also, she would be absolutely penniless. She tried to tell herself that it was impossible, that two thousand pounds of English money could not have been swallowed up by the sea, as though oblivious of the many vast fortunes buried beneath the waves. Her brain ached with tiie effort to remember ail the details of what had happened on that night. Drogo Gordon! no would know, for it was he who had awakened her, and in whose care she had remained before making that disastrous descent by the ship's ladder. She must ■ask to see him, and learn all the truth from him; and chiefly how it was that, having tasted death and its strange, terrible reminiscent rush of bygone sensations and experiences, she was yet alive. As she meditated thus, a stout, fair, motherly-looking woman, in a stuff dress" and white apron, put her head into the cabin, and uttered an exclamation of pleasure as she found Iris sitting up. "Ach! That is good. A gentleman has asked to see you more than once. But you are white, poor child. You must have a glass of wine." And the stewardess bustled out, returning presently with a glass of port and sonic soup, which she insisted that Iris should swallow before she asked any questions. "I have told the gentleman that you are conscious and will soon be well," she exclaimed. "Prehaps he is your father, a so handsome, noblelooking, much to be respected gentleman he is.' ' Iris was disappointed. She had hoped that Drogo Gordon had made the inquiries, but she guessed by the woman's description that it was Lord Mallyon. After asking anxiously whether any lives had been losti and learning that only a few slight casualties had occurred, she. insisted upon getting up, and, .sifter borrowing a few nondescript garments from'the stewardess, and supplementing and concealing them with an all-developing white woollen shawl she presently made her way on deck with the woman's assistance.

if I were saved they had to be saved also. My cabin door opens inwardly, and was fastened back. A few passengers were still left below ransacking their staterooms for such articles of value as they could take away, but the majority had sought the deck. Time was pressing, for I could feel by the ship's rolling motion that she would sjjeedily be submerged ; but at the very moment ■when, having collected my papers I turned to rush from the cabin, a man burst into the room. in the semidarkness I could not see his face, nor had I, indeed, time to do so . In an instant he had unfastened the catch which kept my door open, drawn it sharply to behind him, fitted a key in the lock, turned it, and withdrawn the key. His motions were so rapid and so entirely unexpected that it was only as I heard his footsteps retreating that I realized that I had been deliberately locked in a sinking ship, and was to be left to die like a dog in a trap." Iris' large blue eyes were fixed upon him in fascinated horror.

"Are you reaijy certain that you saw a man enter and do this thing?" she asked.

I "My clear Miss Travers, my stateroom was not large, and I was within a few feet of him. lam not boastrig when I say th.it my mind was almost as calm* as it is now. I am, truth to tell, something of a fatalist. The mental attitude into which I always fall in moments of danger is: 'if lam fated to die thus, no power oil earth can save me; but if this is not the appointed time, the worst of accidents won't kill me.' Consequently no delusion of the .senses is possible Avith me. Besides, there is the tangible proof of the door locked on the outside and the missing key; and I have yet another nroof."

"It is very extraordinary. But how were you"saved?"

Her head ached terribly, and her limbs almost refused to carry her; bnt she was deeply anxious to thank and also to question Drogo Gordon, and she looked out eagerly for him among the passengers, who by twos and three were coming up from the dini ne-room. Most of the ladies from the Atlantis remained below. The shock of last night ,and the unbecoming and makeshift state of their borrowed toilets, made them prefer to sit together in the saloon, each one recounting by turn, over and over again her individual experiences. Several of the original lady passengers on the German vessel collected around Iris and proceeded to make much of her, congratulating her on her miraculous escaoc.

"For you are the young lady, so the sailors say, who fell from the ladder into the sea."

"And in all tho fog so brave a young mun jump into the sea and saved von. A eh! it was wundershon! And is it true that he is your brother ?'' "I thought I was drowned. T don't know anything about it," Iris stammered. • To her great relief she perceived at this moment Lord Mallyon advancing towards her to rescue her from her sympathetic but inquisitive cateclikers. Lord Mallyon this afternoon looked as calm, well-dressed, and as selfpossessed as ever, yet as he shook Iris warmly by both hands, congratulating her of her escape from death in so genuine and kind a fashion as to bring tears to the young girl's eyes, his first words also showed that he had been in peril of his life.

"As soon as I realized that I was trapped, I strove by kicking and hammering against the door to attract attention, for my fatalism does not prevent me from going far enough to prevent me from trying for life. One or twice I felt the handle of my cabin door quickly turned by passing-by passengers naturally bent on saving themselves; but when they found that it was fastened, and heard me cry out, that I was locked in, they left me to toy fate." "Most providentially for me, that noble young mail to whom you also owe your life was informed of my imprisonment by a passenger who had tried the door of my cabin, and who afterwards had heard him inquiring for me. Without a moment's hesitation, he sought the captain, and though every other soul from the Atlantis was safe, and the boats had ceased to ply, he succeeded in inducing two sailors to row back to the sinking ship, which by this time was almost submerged. Having armed himself with a hatchet, ho sprang on board, although the water was already rushing over the decks. I had given up all hope by the time I heard first his footsteps, then my name called loudly; to which I answered, and, finally a few vigorous blows by which he hammered down the door.

"Fate seems to have singled out you and me for vengeance last night, Miss Travers," lie said, as ho took a scat beside her. "It was a thousand to one that a man jumping into the sea in that fog, and all the, confusion and turmoil of the shipwreck, would not only fail to reach you but would himself inevitably be drowned, particularly when the suction of the water round the sinking ship is considered. The whole thing, I am told, only occupied a few seconds; but it was a gallant deed, and deserved the success it won. In my case, however, a rescue seemed worn miraculous. So long as I live I shall not be able to understand why it was I was locked inside Hiv cabin."

'Locked insider" she repeated in astonishment. "Why, who could possibly have done such a thing? None but a madman !"

"Ho was in his shirt-sleeves, .drenched to the skin after his plunge into the sea. to rescue you, and -wounded with ii great gash across the forehead, the blood from which was trickling down his neck. " 'ThanktHeaven !' lie cried at the sight of me, and without more ado dragged me after him on deck. The water was up to our knees, the fogin our faces. He called for the boat, hut the sailors' shout sounded a long way off. •" 'The cowards have left he!' he muttered, and a.sked anxiously whether I could swim. I told him I knew the motions, hut lettlo more. He told me to lay my hands on his shoulders, and make the swimming movements with my feet, and then he sprang with me into the sea. "Had we not both kept our heads, even then, our case wbuld have been hopeless, for it seemed a long, long time before we came up with the boat, the sailors having rowed away from the fast sinking vessel lest they should ■ have been involved in its destruction. At last a series of shouts and the flourish of a match led us to the right spot, only just in time, as I verily believe, for although my young hero is a practiced athlete and of splendid muscular frame, loss of blood had made his exertions tell on him. At the moment when we were hauled in to be rowed to the Kaiser AYilhelm, a loud gurgling sound, followed by a reverberating report and a sudden agitation of the water around us, apprised us of the. final sinking of the Atlantis, for the fog was far too thick for us to see what occurred. A few minutes later wo were taken on hoard this vessel, and the night's horrors were over."

"You might well suggest that in the excitement of the situation no one was accountable for his actions. But listen ! I was on deck at the time of the collision. As soon as T realized its serious nature, I went below, having left in my cabin certain papers of such importance that

(To be. Continued.)