The Swoop of the Vulture.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10712, 18 September 1912, Page 2

The Swoop of the Vulture.

OUR SERIAL.)

BY OWEN MASTERS.

' Author of "His Heart's Desir o," "One Impassioned Hour," "Captain Emlyn's Bride," "The Devereil Heritage," "The Ironmaster's Daughter," etc.

CHAPTER XIII. (Continued.) Tho governor unlocked the door, and wont out with the chaplain, leaving Halkine sitting by his little shelf, and laughing softly. The two letters were written forthwith, and Mr Cartwright, who was a man of highly nervous temperament, and uiueli mm o sensitive than tho governor, brought then back to the* call at supper time in their stamped, <liroctctl envelopes. They were botn very strange communications, but the one to' Doctor Lcah-Ramal, although more than twice the length of the other, was, to tho oidinary eye, totally unintelligible. The chaplain had written it mechanically,, just as ho had learned it from Halkine's eyes. If he col. i. have read it with his .faculties.under his own control, he would have seen that it was quite the most amazing letter that a prison chaplain,, could possibly have written. "The master prisoner approved them both, and the chaplain took them to the nearest post office.

"It's amazing, and if w© didn't know that such things are possible, it would be absolutely incredible. Of course, it's perfectly easy now to see what the judge was really thinking about when he told the jury the En-glish-law took no account of this occult or superhuman power, or whatever it is; 'lf it had done so this fellow would have ;been hanged long ago, as I think he ought to have been, under any circumstances. .Now, you see, wc have two living proofs that Halkine "really does possess this power, just as Charcot, and Rilwt and a dozen others in France and Germany have it. The 'only'difference'is that they use it for good, while this fellow uses it for evil." ""

' "That?s all very well, doctor','* said the governor, wlio had -asked aim-and the chaplain to smoke a pipe after slipper, and talk over the strange, doings of; the day.; "but granted everything that you «iy, there remains the fact that I have written and mailed a perfeely ridiculous letter to the governor of Nethermoor—a letter which I can't contradict now without giving everything away; and, what is infinitely norse than that, Mr Caiiwright has, under this infernal influence, committed such a grievous breach of the regulations that nothing could save him or myself from instant dismissal, and possibly imprisonment. '"Good heavens!" lie continued, rising from the chair Avith a jerk, "just imagine what would have happened if wo had had one of the directors, or the visiting magistrates, in the prison this afternoon. ',A daren't even think of iti" " "Nor I," said the chaplain.

The doctoi- took two or three pulls at his pipe. He watched the blue wreaths curling up toward the ceiling, and melting away in the smoke-laden. | haze of tiie room, theji he took his j pipe from his 'mouth, and said;. j ! "As regards what we may call the breaches' of discipline, the harm is i done, and therefore the less said about the matter the better. Personally I .think thijt this part of a scheme oS re 7 avenge that Halkine lias been hatching for weeks, possibly for months past, and if it all came out there wouldn't be a more pleased prisoner than he. As regards his next move, my leave- will be coming on just tiien, and I should like you to give me permission to accompany-the jailers to.Nether--1 moor. 1 could explain'it very much '-better to Saunderson than I could by writing. And meanwhile," he went on, putting his hand into the breast pocket of h;s coat, and taking ou.t u mask and ;» 'pair of dark goggles such as motor drivers wear, "1 think it be'.as well, in case other accidents might happen, if our friend of the wonderful eyes were put in blink-

ers." .' H'm ! —very good idea, indeed, doctor," said the governor. "But I'm afraid the regulations won't allow us to force him to wear them." "Oh, hang the regulations! "You'll have to take the law into your own hands this time; and if the man objects, let him complain to the directors, arid then let them .come and interview him. I shouldn't wonder if we found them sweeping out- Halkino's cell five minutes afterward."

"Very well, doctor," said the governor. .''Ttn agreeable to that. If there's any trouble about it. you and J will share it, and Mr Cart Wright will help us out." The eliapbin nodded and smiled. And so it came about tliat Jemier Halkine, in spite of many protests, made the journey from London to Nethermoor, masked and goggled like the

driver of a racing motor car. CHAPTER XV. ■ . AX AUDACIOUS TRICK. * "Well, my dear Arnold, I must confess that tiiis is the most extraordinary case that J have ever come across," said Docor Saunderson, when his colleague from London had given him'a detailed history of the st.angc; case-of Jenner Halkine. '"Iho mask and goggles were a good idea, but I'm thinking that we'll have trouble with them, for all that. You see, we've no vigh, under the regulations, to compel a prisoner to look at the world through coloured glases for tnc resfc.of bis days, and -a iiignly educated man like this would bo the very one to put a complaint nicely before the directors or the visiting magistrates. Then .here's the difficulty about this story of yours. I needn' tell you that I believe evenword of it, though I think the governor wants.a little more convincing; but how are you going to get a yarn liko that through the skulls of country magistrates?" "I'm afraid you're right there. There would be no end of a row'* if it ever got Ix'fore the commissioners. I'm afraid, now that you have got him here, you will just have to treat him as an ordinary prisoner until he works another of his miracles on someone, and then the governor can report the matter regularly, and get permission for the goggles.' Meanwhile, we'll try them, at any rate, until our friend makes a formal complaint."

Considerably to Doctor Saunderson's surprise, Halkine made no. objection to wearing the unsightly mask' and spectacles. Ho 3iad learned the lesions of his probation well, and his conduct was practically perfect. The other prisoners and the warders were allowed to believe that he was .suffering from a disease of the eyes, and "'he did'not undeceive tJieiiK He kept absolutely to himself, and in a very few weeks ho had won .recognition as quite the model prisoner of the establishment.

His custodian's would, -however, h-ave been greatly surprised to learn that, although he was not yet entitled to receive or write letters, ho was neverthe less, in constant communication with the outside world.

One of his principal occupations was J gardening and light farm work, for . which his intimate knowledge of bot r any and the science of agriculture made him. exceedingly useful, and his eyes, in spite of the goggles, detected certain marks on trees, little arrangements'of pontiles ./and broken twigs, ana .strange characters drawn on-hat stones and cakes oi clay, that nobody else saw. It never struck any one, either, to connect tne visit of a mildnatured Hindu law'ycr, who was studying tne prison system of" England, with prisoner No. Ill; yet .somehow he became possesed of a tiny ball of white paper which ho unrolled in his cell into the form of half a dozen cigarette papers covered with Persian characters. He read them carefully as opportunity offered, and when he had quite mastered their contents he s.vallowed chow oiu- by one. Thus the autumn grew into the winter of the second year of his imprisonment, and the time approached lor tile execution of a scheme- Mich as, had never before been eo-K-oivcd by a dweller within prison walls. N0.777's behaviour had been so uniformly perfect that the governor, who had always looked with a certain amount of skepticism on the extraordinary story that Doctor Arnold had-brought with him, cam©-to tho conclusion that there was a good deal of unconscious self-decep-tion mixed up with the matter. (To be Continued.)