PAOLINA OR THE MILLIONAIRE'S PLOT.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10189, 15 March 1911, Page 2

PAOLINA OR THE MILLIONAIRE'S PLOT.

OUR SERIAL.

By MARIPOSA WEIR. Author of "Evndyne's Temptation," "A Chase Round the World," etc

CHAPTER XLIX. —Continued. ; Ho had just started, when a scream was hoard from the rooms overhead. Grandin and Huntingdon looked at each other in silence and listened. The cry was not repeated. '"This is sickening," said Huntingdon at -length. ; He aroso and looked into the liall. Tho Frenchwoman and Dr. Guberlet vroro descending from the storey just above. .. "What .was the meaning of. tho scream?" asked Huntingdon,; addressing himself to Madam Campari. "You did not uso violence with her?" .."She was rebellious," answered the iWKwoiMi). "It "was necessary to constrain her. But now she is quiet. Sho sleeps." ****** It was half-past six o'ciock, and dark as Erebus, when Hector North, j accompanied by Zip and Se-tii fla burn, arrived at the piaee of rendezvous. Dade and his men »v.»ro already on the grou ad. "Arewe all ready?" asked Hector, approaching the desperado. "Yes, so far as my folks are concerned," answered the latter. "Shall we mount?" ' Hector replied in' the affirmative. Dade tossed his pipe into the shaft. "What was that? Did you hear nothing?" he asked, aproaching and looking down the excavation. "I certainly thought that I heard a groan, that seemed to.como up out of the shaft," replied Hector. "There's someone down there," said Hade/* "Hunt, did you bring a : lantern, as I. told you ? " •The man whom .he addressed produced a small tin'lantern of the old fashiontsd patern, .containing a hit. of' a candle, in a socket. Dade lighted it,'fastened it to .the end of a lariat, and lowered it until it was near the bottonj. "There's a, man there —I think two," ho said, peering down into the shaft. He drew up the lantern and fastened the lariat under his arms. "Here, a couple of you fellows, take hold of this, and pay it out as I go down. I'm not a heaVy-weight." Several of the men seized the lariat, and Dado took tho lantern in his hand and comenced descending. There was a considerable pause after he had reached the bottom. Then he Called out: "Haul up—not too fast. There's mo? f> heft onto it than when I came, dow.i." :;\V --i-.' 1 ~..■■*■•■ It required the united efforts of four men to raise the heavy burden—the bod > r of. a man of considerable' size. At kiigth it was lifted from the shaft and laid upon the grass. Life had evidently been extinct for some time. Tho skull was crushed like a broken egg shell.

wont away with a good chunk of money. They must have followed him." "Here's about tho spot, according to Lucas' story," said Dade, "where Punderson was yanked out of the buggy. Perhaps one followed him, and the other was waiting for him, and they all got together in a blind sort of fight. But how the three of 'em come at the bottom of the shaft beats rae, We'd bettor search 'em and see which has got the money. You're his relation, Hagburn, and you had better take care of it until it's all settled ship-shape by law." "Not I," said Seth. ."I'll uev.or touch a dollar of his money, under an£ circumstance,' 5

"Probably" hot,' 5 said Dade, after examining th© bodies of the three men, "for there isn't a dollar to bo found on any of them. But it's time, we were moving. Let's cover them with brush for the present, and attend to the job in hand."

In a few minutes the men collected from a neighbouring patch of chapparal sufficient material to form a thick heap over the bodies. Hector then gave the word, and the whole troop mounted and rode straight for the Grandin Ranch.

CHAPTER L

A SUDDEN DEATH

As soon as the troop reached the trail conducting from tho main road to tho Grandin mansion Hector, whoso frequent nocturnal excursions to the place had made him familiar with the whole locality, took the. lead. - Whon they wore within two hundred yards of the gate, he gave the order to dismount. The horses having been secured in the chapparal the party proceeded on foot to tho groat gate.

Here Dado and Hector held a brief consultation. Some instructions were then given to the men, in a low tone, and they scaled the fence, Hector being tho first to spring down within the in closure.

The fierce barking of a dog now gave tho alarm, and some persons came out on the front porch as if to ascertain the cause of the disturbance.

The men having posted themselves in accordance with their instructions so as to guard the entrances to the house, North, accompanied by Hagburn, Dade and Zip, approached the froht entrance.

Two men stood on the porch, The light that streamed from the open door revealed their features. Hector recognised one of them as Sidney Hun-

tingdon ; the other was a stranger to| him. * .

■ "That's Doctor Osborne," whispered Dade, "what's the fellow doing hero I wonder.?"

"There's another," said the voice of Bade. "Send the lariat down again." This, like the first, was the body of a man ivho must have been dead many hours.

"There's yet another," cried the voice from below; and the lariat was dropped into the shaft for the third time.

It was too dark to make ; oiit ■ the features of either of the men; hut as the last was drawn out; and laid by the side of the other two, those who handled the body perceived that it was still warm.

Next," Daide f was drawn up with the lantern.

"There's two of 'em," he said, throwing the light upon the faces, "that pretty much all of us Know. Bob Bulger this is—it's easy enough to tell 'him though his head is all knocked to pieces; and this is Mark Punderson, who feels as if there might be . a spark of life left in him yet. It must have been him that groaned. But who is this foreign lookin' one with the gash in his breast? Seems to me J ? v<> seen him somewhere."

"Who/are you', and what- is the meaning of this intrusion upon, iny grounds?" demanded Huntingdon, as ho cast his eye o\ r er the party as Hector stopped upon the porch. "I think you will remember .me,'[ returned Hector. "My name is Nortli —you remember we had some conversation a short time ago, when you a|sj sured me that Miss Cfanch was rij>i in this house. I know that she is here; now/ and it is my .purpose to see her and to ascertain AVhetlier she is deV tained here against her will. If sfto declares that she is here by her own choice, I shall immediately relieve you of -my presence. Otherwise I shall conduct her, under safe escort, to San Francisco, and restore her to her a,dopted mother. This time I have come fully prepared for all emergencies, and yoU will find resistance useless."

Hector fancied that Osborne eyed him with a strange expression while he was speaking thus. t As he concluded, the doctor advanced from him to Huntingdon with an expectant look. The manner of the . latter suddenly changed, and his tone became slowly impressive as he replied. Theire was even a touch of pity in it :

"He belongs to San, Francisco," said Zip, examining the features. 'Tfe camo up to Stocliton on the same boat as us. Counselor Tripp knows all about him."

"Young man," he said, "you say you are determined to see my niece. You shall have your -wish but you come too late to rescue her."

* Seth Hagburn had -knelt down beside Punderson, and was feeling his pulse, but it seemed to have stopped. "I. guess he's done for," said Dade. "He must have got some internal hurt; for I see no wound but a few bruises. He had enough breath a minute or two ago to give a moan or two, but it's all gone now." "I seen Bob and the other one awatching him at the 'Tigerie' last niglit," said one of Dade's men. He

There was something in the words of the speaker and the expression of Osborne's countenance, • that fillecl Hector's mind with a vague terror. "What do you mean? Speak more plainly," he said, in a. low, stern voice, seizing Hagburn's arm, as if he felt the need of some support.

''Though your visit is as ill-timed as it is. unwelcome," returned Huntingdon, "you say truly that resistance! is useless. Neither is there any longer a_ motive for resistance. At another time I might feel inclined to defeiid my house against your lawless intrusion. regai-dless of the odds. But this sudden affliction removes all such' thoughts. Heaven forbid that I turn the house, of mourning into a scene of bloodshed!" * (To Be Continued.)