Bemidji Daily Pioneer Newspaper, January 15, 1916, Page 3

b .. 1 | i it — SATURDAY, ‘JANUARY 18, -1916. TR KA KK K ABOUT THE CITY v e Vaudeville “does. its bit” at the Grand theater; above standard usually seen in Bemidji; part of Sullivan- Considine cireuit. * ok Kk ok ok k Kk ok Kk * ok ok k ok ok Kk ok ok REKKKKK KKK KKK KK Hippodrome vaudeville, a branch of Sullivan-Considine vaudeville, op- ened yesterday at the Grand theater for a two-day engagement and is really ‘“‘doing its bit.” The four acts are above the av- erage seen in this city and were greeted with much favor by play- goers last evening. The acts included Betty Barrows and company, (a man and stuffed cat) in a lively comedy sketch, Dancing Wagner, the boy who really. can dance (but can’t joke), the Al-|| bion Duo in grand opera, the Night- ingale Trio (three young ladies) in popular songs. The vaudeville is well worth at- tending. Rev. J. Morestadt of Nymore left this morning for Walker where he will hold services tomorrow. Herman Soland was a between train visitor in Bemidji Friday en- route to his home at Liberty. Sagurd Esterby returned last eve- ning to Pinewood having spent Fri- day here transacting business. Mina A. Myers—Hairdressing, etc. Switches made from combings, $1.50. Phone 186-W.—Adv. 124115 Miss Anna Erickson returned last night to Oklee after visiting in Be- midji Friday as the guest of friends. Curtiss Remfrey returned this morning from Kelliher where he has spent the past two weeks on busi- ness. Attorney J. L. Brown left this morning for Walker where he will spend today attending to legal busi- ness. One of these nice days you ought to go to Hakkerup’s and have your picture taken.—Adv. 14tf Miss Catherine Erickson of Clear- brook arrived in the city yesterday tor a visit with friends and relatives here. Mrs. C. M. Booth who has been serious ill at the St. Anthony’s hos- pital since Sunday is much improved today. Miss Hilma Erickson after spend- ing Friday here visiting with friends returned last evening to her home at Kelliher. Little Miss Margaret Fitzgerald was the hostess at a birthday party ternoon at her home on | g Don't forget the Masquerade given_! by the Bemidji band Friday, January 21—4 elegant prizes.—Adv. 24117 Conrad Drumness returned last night to Pinewood having spent the week here on a combined business and pleasure trip. Dr. J. Warninger of the partner- ship Drs. Warninger- & Hoey, went this morning to Cass Lake to attend to professional matters. J. H. Meyers was in the city last night on business enroute to Black- duck from Deerwood, Minn., where he is operating a restaurant. Robert Dahl and Fred Cutter re- turned this morning from Tenstrike where they attended the masquerade dance given there last night. W. B. Stewart county, superintend- ent of schols, returned yester- day from an inspection trip to dif- ferent points about the county. Olat Gelen who spent yesterday in Bemidji attending to matters of business returned on the afternoon train to his home at Pinewood. Miss Annie Nokkin who has vis- ited for the past two weeks at the Bacon and Fallon homes returned yesterday to her home in Fargo. Mrs. A. H. Stiner of Bass Lake, who acted as nurse at the E. M. Sathre home during their recent ill- ness, returned yesterday to her home. Fifteen couples of the Question club enjoyed a private dance given last night at the city hall. Music was furnished by the International Raggers. Sam Jamtvold who has been vis- Bad Cold Quickly Broken Up. Mrs. Martha Wilcox, Gowanda, N. Y. writes: “I first used Chamber- lain’s Cough Remedy about - eight years ago. At that time I had a hard cold and cough most of the time. It proved to be just what I needed. It broke up the cold in a few days, and the cough entirely disappeared. I have told many of my friends of the good I received through using this medicine, and all who have used it speak of it in the highest terms.” For sale by all dealers.—Adv. Twin City Stamp Stencil Co. rusberaMeatic 209 So.3rdSt. Minneapolisa oLamps Stencils 11 Seals 13 Checks 11 Brass Dies CHICHESTER S PILLS THE DIAMOND BRAND, Ladicst Ask yout Dru m for. Ohl-ehes-ter 8 Dlamo ills in Red lnfl Gold e iting with friends and relatives in Bemidji- for the past week returned yesterday afternoon to his home at Pinewood. The first of a series of semi-month- ly socials given by the congregation vine ayenue. J. A. Nichols of the’ Crookston Lumber company returned last' eve- ning to his home in Minneapolis of the Baptist church was held last night at-the N. J. Case residence, Ir- ness matters. Miss Jane Hayner returned this morning from Tenstrike where she went last evening to attend a mas- querade dance given last night in the town hall. Mrs. Henry. Stechman accompanied by her. daughter, Miss, Jeanette and sons John and Rupert went; last.eve- ning to Tenstrike where they will spend Sunday visiting. NEAL of the NAVY By WILLIAM HAMILTON OSBORNE Author of “Red Mouse, Fight,** **Catspaw, * **Running ““Blue Buckle, "* etc. Novelized from the Photo Play of the Same Name Produced by the Pathe Exchange, Inc. (Copyright, 181A by Willlam Hamllton Osborne) SYNOPSIS, On the day of the eruption of Mount Pelee Capt. John Hardin of the steamer Princess rescues flve-year-old _Annette Tiington from an_open boat, but 15 forced to leave behind her father and his com- panions. Ilington is assaulted by Her- nandez and Ponto in a vain attempt to get papers which Ilington has managed to send aboard the Princess with his daughter, papers proving his title to and telling the whereabouts of the lost island of Cinnabar. Ilington’s injury causes his mind to become a blank. Thirteen years elapse. Hernandez, now an opium smug- gler, with Ponto, Inez, a female accom- plice, and the mindless brute that once was Tlington, come to Seaport, where the widow of Captain Hardin fs 'living with her son Neal and Annette Ilington, and plot to steal the papers left to Annctte y her father. Neal tries for admission to the Naval academy, but through the treachery of Joey Welcher is defeated by Joey and disgraced. Neal enlists in the navy. Inez sets a trap for Joey and the consplrators get him in their power. He agrees to steal the papers for them but accidentally sets fire to the Hardin home and the brute-man rescues Annette with the papers from the flames. ~Annette dis- covers that heat applled to the map_ re- veals the location of the lost island. Sub- sequently in a struggle for its possession the map is torn in_three parts, Hernan- dez, Annette and Neal each securing a portion. ~Annette sails on the Coronado in search of her father. The crew, crazed by cocaine smuggled aboard by Hernan- dez, mutiny, and are overcome by a boarding party from U. S. Jackson, led by Neal SIXTH INSTALLMENT THE CAVERN OF DEATH CHAPTER XXV. A Secret Service Message. Neal turned to Annette. “Good,” he exclaimed, “you're safe at any rate. ‘Where is my mother—where are the rest?” “In the wireless room,” returned An- nette. She laughed a bit hysterically. “Even Joe Welcher is quite safe,” she said. Neal held her for & moment, shield- ing her body with his own. He looked lbuut him, ““This mutiny is over,” he said, ina tone of relief. ~He—~was—quite right. The mutiny was over, but with disastrous results. Neal’s commanding officer lay on the deck with a fractured skull. The cap- tain and the mate of the fruit steamer Coronado were &ead or nearly so, and the decks were strewn with disabled, bleeding mutineers. “Now come with me,” said Néal. He waved his hand and a small squad of his companions joined him. He sought and found his mother and her fright- ened - companions, Joe Welcher and the Castro girl—known to the rest as Irene Courtier. He led them aft and placed a guard over them. “Now,” he said warningly, “stay where you are, mother, and all the rest. You, too, Annette. I've got my work cut out for me for some hours.” Annette shook her head. “Not until I dress your arm,” she said. Neal nodded to one of his compan- Destroyer ions. “Mate,” he said, “shoot the first person who disobeys. I've got other fish to fry.” He went back to his work. He wig- wagged to the Jackson for his orders. ‘The orders were brief and to the point: “You take charge of the steamer, ‘We are sending help.” He took charge of the steamer, not only because he was ordered, but be- cause he had to. Inside of - half-an hour he had his own lieutenant’s wounds carefully and scientifically dressed—had all his own companions well attended to—in short, in a few hours he had righted the ship completely. He signaled for further orders, for the Coronado was now resting quietly at anchor, and he got his orders: “Put into the nearest port.” By midnight they had mgached the nearest port—had docked. By mid- night he had landed all his nassengers end had reported considerable prog- ress to his commander on the Jack- son. By midnight something .else happened—a secret servica message filtered through space and got the wireless operator on the destroyer. Reduced : from cipher, it read about like this: American citizen lald collecting arms and ammunition at Martinique or Porto Rico for Dolores insurrec- tion. Follow at once. investigate, ar rest, prevent. Report. Next morning this news had filtered into Neal. He took it to the homely little. hotel where Annette and his mother and their party had been har- bored for the night. He dropped into a chair. “Now,” he said, “I can talk and listen to some talk. Gee whiz, but I'm dog tired.” Annette pouted; then she smiled. “I love to talk,” she said. And then she added two significant words. “Scar- face.” Neal-leaped to his.feet. “Scar-face,” fhe cried. “Where? When? What?” “On_the Coronado,” said Annette. “I saw- him twice—Scar-face and his iwo companions, the big man and the other.” “Tell me-.everything,” said Neal. She told him. He waited impa- tiently until she had finished, then llm wn_upon the whart again. i the Coronado and gave or ders for a search. The search was made, but without avail, for at mid- night on the night before something else happened. Hernandez and his two companions, together with his cargo’ of cocaine amd heroin, had slipped quietly overboard into a bor- rowed rowboat and had disappeared. Neal, chagrined, went back to An- nette. “The bird has flown,” he said dis- gruntled. “Where do you go, Neal?” queried his mother. “It’s an open secret where we go,” said Neal, “but why we go nobody knows. We go first to Martinique—". Annette sprarg to her feet. “Mar- tinique,” she cried, “that is where my father came from—where you picked me up. I go there, too, Neal. It’s the beginning point. It is there I can flnd trace of my father.” Inez shrugged her shoulders. fate,” she said. “We will all go,” said Mrs. Hard!n._ “we will stick to Neal. But how?”" i “Search me,” said Neal, “but I can find that out—there must be some ves-l sel from this port for southern w&-‘ ters.” Inez rose and placed a hand on ‘Welcher’s shoulder. “Leave it to Joey, here and me,” she said. They scoured the town, but Inez Castro was looking for something; other than a boat for Martinique. Fi- nally she saw what she was looking' for—a grimy hand thrust from behind & window shade. Pausing before the door of a dis- reputable-looking habitation, she glanced up and down the street, then dragging Joe Welcher close behind| her she entered the low doorway and passed into the gloom beyond. A mo- ment later she faced Hernandez and his crew. “So,” she said airily, pushing Joe Welcher into a chair, friends, where do you think we go to now?” “Where?” demanded Hernandez. “To Martinique,” said Inez Castro. Hernandez smiled and slapped his thigh. cried, with a note of triumph in his voice. “How very fortunate. Martinique myself.” x x % % s s s The governor of Martinique glanced gravely at the pretty girl who faced him. He laid down the piece of tat- tered parchment that he had just in- spected and took up the locket that she placed before him. “I knew your father well fifteen or sixteen years ago—even before that. I remember him. This resembles him, this picture, it does indeed.” He smiled. “I remember something else. I remember also you.” “You remember me,” cried Annette. “You must have a wonderful memory, sir.” The governor held up his hgnds. “One remembers everything that hap- pened in a year like that,” he said, “a year that wiped out thousands upon thousands of our people.” iy “Is there any clue to my father?" queried Annette. “Little ome,” said the, .governor, “there was no clue to anything or any- body, or any place.” Annette rose. “There’s nothing else that you remember of my father?” she queried. “The governor searched his mem- ory. “Yes,” he said. “I think a mys- tery—there was a tang of adventure about him. He, too, was a rover— always restless—always on the move. But for his child one might have called him a soldier of fortune—honest, per- haps too honest, but fearless—" “And true,” said Annette. “Fearless and true,” repeated the governor nodding. “What is past is past,” he said. “Old Pelee is ashamed of himself. The Isle of Martinique. grows. green. We sing, we laugh, my people and myself. Even all this week we celebrate. You must join us.” He signed half a dozen cards of invitation and handed them to Joe Welcher, who sat quite as usual, sulking in the background. “The governor’s levee,” he went on airily, “and you are all invited.” “It ls CHAPTER XXVI. The Razor Back. Arornd the corner of the coast line on the Isle of Martinique—invisible both irom the bridge of the destroyer Jackson and from the grounds of the governor, there jutted out into the sea a cliff, stern and forbidding. As a matter of fact, it was not all rock, this cliff—a large part of its formation was of clay. Down the face of this cliff, its sharp edges rising now and | then into the air like peaks, there trailed a path, narrow and .perilous, from shore to cliff edge, known to cer- tain of the inhabitants of Martinique | as the Razor Back. Along this sharp, steep” edge. ran a rope, and climbing the Razor Back, clinging to this rope with a huge bur- den on his shoulders, upward crawled # man. Below him, thrusting its nose into the beach, was a disreputable- lookln‘bonhdmmm - vy woodew T after spending the day -here.on -busi- “so my - flash |* “So you go to Martinique,” he N Igoto] Theodore Thoraldson of the Fitger Brewing company ‘plant of Bemidji left last eveningifor Plummer where he will spend today attending to the affairs of the company. Miss. Medora Rice, & student in the Bemidji high school left last eve- ning for Tenstrike - where she will ivisit over Sunday with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. W; A. Rice. G. W. Cochran, logging contractor of this city, -left last night for Du- This Man, in reality a giant, looked ke a pygmy from below as he; crawled: hand:over hand tothe heights’ abpye, . At.the edge of the ‘eliff he was, asgisted. by two other men who dragged him on to terra firma and who relieved him of his burden. -This b\lmen they carried between them to a hut. Before doing 8¢ ‘they cut the big.man across;the shoulders with a Wwhip. llld, pointed to. the shore below. 'l;ho,,blg Jpan.nodded. He stood for ons moment on the edge of the cliff mx_ about him. 'He gauged the grade of. the wicked, sharp, big Razor Back, and nodded once again; then nimbly he leaped over the face of the clift, striking his heels into the edge of that perilous path some. thirty feet or more, below—and then in spite of his huge bulk ran like a deer down to the beach. The men above dropped their bur- den and watched him. “Ab,” said Hernandez to his com- rade Ponto, “the beast—he knows that Razor Back. He has not forgottén fif- teen years ago.” There was a touch upon Hernandez’ shoulder. Hernandez whirled as though at the fall of a trigger. A third man faced him, low-browed, cun- ning-eyed. Hernandez. breathed a sigh of relief. Half an hour later, with his final load strapped to his back, the brute climbed for the last time over the edge of the cliff, this time bearing his own burden to the hut. The three men already within the hut admitted him. There was no window to this hut, and the light within was dim. The room was bare. “Tidy little bunga- low, friend smuggler of Martinique,” he said. The other man smiled grimly in his turn. “Tidy is the word, soldier of Annette Conceals the Yellow Packet. fortune,” he returned. it’s safe. You think all the palace matches it. Come with me.” He strode to the corner of the hut and threw aside a matchbox. Leaning down he cleared away a number of short wormeaten boards, then he Iift- ed up a sheetiron door. With an ex- clamation of surprise Hernandez and his’ companions observed that there was a narrow passageway cut through the solid earth. One by one each man lowered himself into this passageway and followed his leader. From a perpendicular shaft the corri- dor shelled off into a passage almost horizontal and widened as it went. “This,” said the smuggler of Mar- tinique, “is the third story, as it were, Neat, not gaudy.” “Now for the bathroom, please.” This time they descended a wider set of stairs and stepped out upon a ledge that surrounded a deep and lim- pid pool of water. Hernandez regard- ed this pool attentively. “First it rises,” he exclaimed, “and then it falls.” “Ab,” said the man of Martinique, “we are at sea level. This is a cave and there is no outlet to it.” “Somewtere there is,” Hernandez. “Yes, In. the attic—the sky parlor,” said the other man. “Somewhere else,” “At any rate it you returned said ‘Hernandez | mother- and - Inez,-“look -who’s- here.” luth where he will spend a few days on 'business matters in connection with his logging operations. Mrs. P. C. Keaveny was in Be- midji yesterday visiting with friends enroute to Scribner ‘from Liberty where she has been.the guest of rela- tives for the past-two weeks. Judge H. A, Simons, United States court commissioner, returned this af- ternoon from Duluth where he at- tended the January term of Federal “Oh, well, if you will,” sald the smuggler, “but one must £wim under, water to find the other outlet.” He, folded his arms. “What do you think; of my palace now?”’ he said. He stooped and plucked at another iron ring in the floor. It disclosed a smaller hole—filled with contents of strange appearance. Hernandez seized the lantern. “What of this?” he said. “This com- modity I do not know.” “Careful,” exclaimed the other man. “If those ghouls, the authorities, ever have the temerity to.discover my cache, I shall not be here. I shall -be a mile away—a mile, not less; and from that safe point of vamtage I shall press a button and—pouf—none will ever live to tell the tale—none, save, myselt.” - Hernandez eyed the other man with, undisguised admiration. “How I should like to see it work,” he said. The other nodded. “Some day— who knows—you shall, for you are a man after my own heart, friend Her | {i nandez. Come, let us ascend to the skylight once again.” They did as they were bid and as- sisted the gentleman of Martinique to, lower his new stores to their resting. place below. Suddenly the man of! Martinique held up his hand. i “Wait,” he whispered, “someone comes.” : Their trained ears detected the sound of stealthy footsteps creeping around and around the hut. The foot- steps ceased and there was a knock upon the door. Outside there stood a man—a man who sprang back in alarm at the sight of the crafty countenance of this cun- ning-looking stranger. But Hernandez clicked his teeth. “It’s Joe Welcher,” said Hernandez. “Come in, Joey boy, you're welcome.” Welcher looked about him and then sidled to Hernandez. “A note from Inez,” he whispered to the latter, “about the governor’s le- CHAPTER XXVII. Decoy. Neal leaped out of one of the small boats of the destroyer Jackson and ran nimbly up the wharf. He had good reason to, for on the veranda of a hotel not a quarter of a mile away he saw a girl he knew. In record time he was by her side. “Look,” said Annette to Neal's “Always,” said Inez, “do I like a uni- form and,” she added coyly, with a leer toward-Neal;-“and-what comes in. them too.” “You got my note?” queried Annette. “I got it,” returned Neal, “but no g0 “What are you talking about?” said Annette. “We are specially invited by the governor Nmself.” “I'm out of it, I tell you,” repeated Neal. “But I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll come to the back gate of the gov- ernor’s garden and I'll flirt with you.” Many came and most were served that night. But among the first to come, though none were served, were four uninvitel guests. They were a strange quartet, these four, and they came to see rather than to be seen. Each one of these four men became e shadow in himself, watching, ever watching. Suddenly there was a light tread upon the graveled path. A jaunty figure swung into the moon- light and looked about him. Out of the hundred guests or so that clus- tered about the verandas of the dis- tant house Neal peered anxiously for Annette Ilington. He trilled a little whistle—his sig- nal and Annette’s—and as though that whistle were a signal for an onslaught, a huge shadow and another sprang across the intervening space and caught Neal from behind. A coat or cloak descended over his head with all the effectiveness of a strait-jacket. It was the governor himself who kept Annette within the range of ar- tificial light and from her appointment in the moonlight out beyond. ‘While she still talked to the gover- nor, an individual with cunning eyes and insinuating leer stepped up to the flunky at the main gate that led to the governor’s mansion and handed him a note. “For a guest—Miss Ilington,” he szid. “I am to wait for an answer.” The flunky nodded, summoned an- other flunky, and handed him the note. Khe flunky made an inquiry or two, court which convened last day. F. G. Halgren, of the Gamble-Rob- inson-Bemidji company returned to his home and business here Friday after spending the earlier part of the. week in Minneapolis on busi- ness. Peter Arnested of Nymore left this morning for Walker where he will spend Sunday as the guest of friends. From there he will leave for Minne- Tues- With a Mighty Roar then stepped directly to the governor. and handed him the note. “This is the young lady here, Fran- cols,” exclaimed the governor. Annette took the note to a window where there was somewhat better light, and opened it. It was written in a srawling, unaccustomed hand. This is what it said: Have seen scar face. Need you a moment for identification. We have run him down. Come with bearer of this note. Excuse scrawl—right hand N. G. Hastily, NEAL. P. S.—Don't drag mother into this. Come as you are. Annette beckoned tu the flunky. “Where,” she said, “is the bearer of this note?” The flunky bowed. said. At the gate there stood a man wait- ing hat in hand—a man with cunning eyes and insinuating smile. “Mr. Hardin sent you?” quired. The man bowed. selle,” he returned. “Where is he now"” she queried cautiously. ' “Where he said he would wait—by the postern garden gate,” returned the bearer. Disarmed, she foflowed this- man into the shadows. In another instant she had reached “Follow me,” he she in- “Oui, mademoi- & carriage-and.an instant later.some- thing descended over her head, smoth- ering her cries—something bound her arms to her side. But the smuggler had been right. Neal was there, bound and speechless—helpless on the bot- tom of the carviage. An instant later the vehicle rattled sharply off into the night. CHAPTER XXVIil. The Sponge Diver. Annette opened wide her eyes. She uttered an exclamation of delight as she saw Neal Hardin. “Well, we're here,” she said. “I should think we were,” said Neal. He looked about him. Annette was bound firmly to the only chair in the place and he was tied quite as firmly to a stanchion in another corner. The place was a rude hut. “I see,” said Neal, “that we’re not alone.” “Obviously not,” returned Annette. On the floor between them lay the brute resting but wide eyed with the lash of a whip lying across his shoul- ders. Ponto, the Mexican, watched red eyed and gloating. Something happened in a corner. A portion of the floor rose from the ground and two men struggled up from a passageway. One of them was Hernandez; the other was the smug- gler of Martinique. Hernandez nod- ded to Neal and to Annette. He took from his pocket a tattered parchment map which he had pasted well to- gether. “It is the map of the lost Isle of Cinnabar,” he said in suave accents, “and I have other evidence besides.” He glanced uncertainly toward the brute. “An identifying locket,” he went on, “and other things.” “What do you expect to do with them?” said Annette belligerently. “You are not Annette Ilington.” Hernandez smiled—smiled a bit too grimly. “Perhaps,” he said, “I can find some Annette Ilington who “will do my bidding. At any rate there will hereafter be no Annette Ilington who will try to thwart me.” Neal started. “What do you'mean?” he said. “I mean,” returned Hernandez, with a gesture toward the smuggler of Mar- tinique, “that in all parts of the world I am able to find people who do my bidding. This gentleman can do it well. I may as well tell you, children, that you have perhaps an hour to live, perhaps less.” The brute looked up, his eyes glassy, strange. He rubbed a red spot on his arm—the mark left by Hernan- ! dez’ hypodermic needle. “You are right, Ponto,” said Hernan- dez, “it was the only way to drug hiin. Lend me your whip.” He seized the whip and struck the ,brute heavily across the shoulders. ‘The prute sprang to his feet, growling “In k8 throat, but he fell back before { Hersandez. Ponto untied & single knot—the - knot that bound Neal to a- stanchion. Then at another word the brute seized Neal, struggling, in his arms, and with him ducandsd through the winter. : L. E. Falk, representative of the Bergstedt Brothers - Soda Fountain Supply Co., of Minneapolis who:has épent the past two days in ‘Bemidji on business left last evening = for Thief River Falls. Mr. and Mrs. J. D. Clemer who have spent the past two days in t_hl.a city visiting with friends and at- tending to week-end qhnpp;ns “re- Dropped Into the Sea. Annette viewed this proceeding, with alarm. She struggled flercely. | Five minutes later the brute re-, turned and once more under the sfi‘ | Ing lash of the whip seized Annette, and bore her below. Hernandez and; his two companions followed them down. “Ah,” said the smuggler to Neal and Annette, “this house has all appoint ments. This is the swimming' pool, my friends. You can swim here for one hour—or less. This is in truf a cavern of death. I hate to'do™ft. he added just before he disappeared, “but needs must when the devil drives.” There was a click as the stone trap dropped into place. “This is a pretty pickle,” exclllmed Neal to Annette. They were lying on opposite sides of that black pool. “If you can crawl,” said Neal, “mwl for your life.” Annette understood. Little by little Neal worked himself along his side of the ledge and Annette along hers, each gradually approaching the other around the circle. Finally their heads touched. “Careful,” said Neal; “close to the wall. Now let me have your handl. Let me unbind you first.” On-the surface of-the earth-above Hernandez and his companions loaded their cases into a cart and droveé far across the wilderness into a ravine. “Here,” said the man of Martinique, lifting up the cover of a metal box set in the rock, “here i8 the switch of which I spoke. One turn of the wrist— pouf—then oblivion.” “I gave them an hour,” said Hernan-, dez grimly, “and I keep my word. Lel us drink.” On the shore below the clift at the foot of the forbidding Razor Back & sponge diver disported himself in th water beside his boat, cutting uul tearing sponges from their mun home of rock and coral for a livinl, Then suddenly he forgot the huslnell of collecting sponges. He rose again, empty handed mq time, and dived again, peering at'somi thing strange and new. Then wi downward-slanting strokes he su denly disappeared. He came up III an instant in almost total darkn thaq bobbing on the surface he’rubbed his eyes, jabbering excitedly. ' Y “Hey there,” cried a voice, “and who are you?” The sponge diver jabbered some more. Well might he jabber. R‘m a strange sight that confronted™ hiim. Two young people were seated in darkness on the edge of a bl pool. “How did you get here?” queried Neal. * The man for all his jabbering polyglot. He knew pidgin English an Neal knew how to talk it, so they goy along admirably together. Neal told him his story. The man cllmbed up upon the ledge and listemed oagorly. Suddenly he grew excitéd: It Was'evie dent that he knew the reputation of this place. “You come with me—come right away,” he said. Neal set the fast-waning lantern by Annette's side. “One moment, déar, he said to Annette, “and I will be bul’, It what he says is true—" '’ In another instant with his hfllll on the shoulder of the sponge diver, Neal was swimming down, do toward the outer opening. As he uq the light filtering in from' underneath he gave a gasp that almost choked him. In another instant he had ret for Annette, and with her at” hlm the two swam in the direction that the diver had taken. The sponge diver, still gesti excitedly, hauled them rapidly into his small boat. “Me row, you row—like the d"ll. he cxclaimed. Neal rowed like the devil, apd tlu flat-bottomed boat skimmed over the water lfice mad. Suddenly Annette in the bow extended her right arm. “Look, look, Neal,” she Dlpwfi. “for God’s sake, look.” ey Neal heard first, then he looked, and a8 he looked the whole. face of that huge cliff behind ‘them’ ‘thrust itself into the air and with a mighty NII dropped into the sea. “It's Mount Pelee,” cried Annette, covering her face with her hands. Neal shook his head.- “That isn't Pelee,” he roturned grimly, it's dyna- mite—if I know snything of’ dyne- apolis to spend the halance .of. the i il 1 N