The evening world. Newspaper, February 26, 1915, Page 19

tT 0 RS AARNE RRC a Sea <b dl Cs et ARI Pil The Evening World Daily Magazine, Prida ~eefjumping Through! Pees, RED REEF York Bs One of the Strangest Treasure Ieland Romances Ever Written (BY HOWARD FITZALAN| w (The aR Ee i A iow they could) get into the dory which was floating at the stem of the schooner and come | ashore. Evveling, Warsawaki and Paks accepted the invitation, and| when they had beached the dory I) ve them the information that! inguehaye “had it in” for them for keeping no watch and permitting peo- ple to land on the island. Briefly I told them of the occurrence, then ex- amined the sailboat. It was the usual email craft of that partioular district, the sort that even the poorest might own. It was flimsy and flat-bottomed, the sort of craft that takes the wind readily enough, but in which one must be careful never to move after once her eails are filled. She was six or en feet long and had two sails. For game reason that I speak of the boat, it is necessary to of the ‘Ole at Caloutter? ‘Eave + tlm @ dit, boya B'y, this is like ‘The of the Opium Fiends,’ thie is; that, don’t yer?—that Wee at the mention of reptiles the eguntryman let out a acream that ‘would have done credit to the leading | tragic actress of the age; but the men holding him, wearied by now of e@truggles, pushed him forward and threw him brutally efter hie compan- The lighthouse, did not know it at the time, was one of the prime factors in Lougiehaye proposed, after T had tard ye told Dim of the sailing craft, that we take our way over there and pay the keep- er a visit, I was surprised that he was so willing to give this man knowledge of our presence on the island, when he had #0 ruthlessly condemned to a “Lenguebaye slammed down the tron door and secured the custy bolt by the basp. “Not nice,” he eald, “but bad "14 weome pretty rotten”—— I be- beat ‘Yes, You're right,” agreed haye. “But what am I to do—eh? rT J—er—have them put out of the id “Get up the » Longuebaye,” fellow of middie age, with a tanned, tleman ain't took bed,” he added, his Kare Was no need to argue the Cp teh he ror innocent coun- 1 said; “and Ti attend to the fere- wearhercbeaten tetera dull exlike ene. hoseet Yoine Celehted with concern, quer on—it had been settied in secret by accident. ‘pon OUF gai and a service cap on his head. He in- ery bad,” replied Longuehaye. Lon, shaye’s decisive manner. I “Allow me to be the judge, Cousi ‘We had shipped the life juced himself as Peddi- “He may not live. I can't tel, I can ed. up the cellar stepa and went Bobby,” he yearned: ‘when I er] by now and I unfastened the inter Ughthouse keeper, and do nothing for him. He must be put to Sut {ato the open, Fvom under the voces’ these sentiments ternice, “iu from the Kiger aes Ry ry pleased when he found bed and kept there, The negro will cedara 10 does not follow that because T visit cated gently off. I unéuried the fore- that the last of the Longuehayes had stay and attend him. the lighthouse that the kespes is'as Sul and adjusted the sprit, then He covered his face with his hands. coreet the tiller and righted her. wind was in our favor, and when we rounded the point of the cove I ‘was able to make due southeast wi ne opposition. The Red Reef Lighthouse lay some of ‘Bree or four miles in the direction I “I cannot stay and see him added, his voice broken. “'! more to me than @ patient—he is"—— His voice broke down. Now, of course, I knew all this was sais g Longuehaye the coldblooded would not have been so moved by the have any idea of the presence of a fe tore band of men here. It means only that Charles L. Gibbons, owner of the ial. and, has a clally as t! @ reg’lar Sunday-echooler; don't sen t& no vartue in Jamaica rum, and aye it's a sin to shuffle a gards, Trying to save my eoul now, he 1s,” he added, casting a sour glance it house wi! was taking; although, with the clear- upward at the iron balcony that sur- death of his own wife But Creechurch Dapalysed Ia both Ieee Teast eine, DRAIy#e4 Rega of the morning oun on the water, rounded the light tower, and which he Was evidently in a bad way. Ils eyos 5 my eeen him—eh?”’ ie i“ penser. We were fortunate informed us was the trimming stage. se erey 806 | yy tongue hung eebeoner I replied that Jonas had spoken Tequired “I didn’t know they had two keep- ng if 80, ‘cove; bim—knowing that Longuebaye ay little pg, and the bateau, though’ ers here,’ aaid Longuehaye; and ex. What was fact. overloaded, sped along lightly and without apparently feeligg the load she was carrying. You must under- stand at this juncture something of the Nghthouge, the bell buoy and the a aware of this f1 He took me into one of the amaller rooms, where one of the black serv- ants was dressing the man we bad spoken of as “Calamity Creech a that laren ygony Geren! who atole cargoes and put up clocks to remind him bts wite, fe ie ‘@ and the black carried the paralytic upstaii P pty here ra and laid him changed @ peculiar glance with Cree- eburch. “Oh, eure,” was the surprised affir- mative of Peddicord. “Suppose a fox comes up during the day while I'm sleeping, and I ain't there to light the iamp—nice for shipping, ain't it? But you people come right in and set down. ‘e'll help the lame gentleman up the ladder.” Tongues aye. explained to him that he brought the paralysed gentle- man to the island in the hi sea breeses would benefit him; then, to my intense amazement, referred to himself as a doctor and said hi of Creechurch recover: limbs. Peddicord was sympathetic. We oll up the ladder to the first floor, which was a storeroom an‘ contained oll tanke; and here Peddi- in the line of all vessels co! from cord explained the machinery for forc- Southern waters to Philadelphia, and ing the oil up into the light-tower. returning. So much for the . The second landing held a workshop, Shark Rock was smaller but per- where defective bits of the apparatus haps more deadly, for it gave no in- were attended to. Here Creechurch timation of its presence. This was decided to rest with the negro; and situated some half-mile from the light Peddicord took us up the winding iron house and was insignificant in size; stairs, showing us another storeroom, perhaps not ten yards in length and two bedrooms, a room set aside for all beneath water. Here swung the the use of visiting inspectors, and bell buoy, clanging ite warning to finally brought us to the trimming amall craft. I may say that Shark page=-ané to the lamp. Here our Rock was some seven and a half miles were mazed with his talk of from the Maryland shore, while the di lens, occulting machinery, su- ity of oll as @ light over elec- thouse itself hed a remoteness y : tricity and other et ceteras gonnesied with the wor! ofa tbo! Most fmportant of , be showed us the key which eent the electric spark to the oll-soaked wicks, cight in number, and the key which set in motion the oocculting hood. It seemed odd to me Looking from the island, the pillar was something between three and four miles to the southeast, and was built on @ clustered pile of rocks that rose four or five feet above the water. The Red Reef itself stretched almo in @ circle about the light, with raw black sawtoothed ridges rising occa- packing case that seemed sionally out of water, for all the world that it contained more of them. The like barking seals with their noses thing was plainly ebeurd—the notion upward. But the reef itself, while of @ monomaniac—and should have it did not extend its whole length pad proper, goorn from me. Instead T felt myself feeling sorry for the man, He was cautiously nose, mouth and ¢: He advanced to the edge o: and took the thin band of the pare -ytle. Peddicord went softly outside. ‘My poor old friend,” said Lougue. Le fg with @ trace of tears in bi For the moment I was deceived, imagining I had wronged this man who claimed relationship with me; and that he was attached to the old wrecker by one of those queer ties one often finds among scoundrels. I fol- I found him unpleas- all the more so because, ve ag I might, I could not get fates of hero pathetic Ly eg control continually go! man, for set around the room were @ num: that the t about the lighthouse. Somehow the above the water, was for all of that a continuous wall of rock running the length of # quarter-mile; and directly moved by some sudden impulse I stood to one side of the threshold out of their sight and looked back. The paralytic still lay motionless, but one of his mean little eyes opened and closed in what could be nothing more than a wink—then his thin-li mouth curved into a cynical smile. Longuehay rose and came out with bowed head, leaving the bi. behind. I felt a sudden sickening at the thought of the man’s duplicity. No man in the pain Creechurch was supposed to be could possibly find cause for amusement and winking in it, The thing was clearly a blind for the lighthouse keeper, who was now trying to console what appeared to be the dejected jehaye. Quite abruptly came an illumining flash to me: ey mean to tamper with the ‘ghtl" that electricity should be hadn' means to light an oll lamp; but Ped- ae atte this po SR | before. dicord affirmed that the oil lights pen- a etrated a fog where the electric lights wiih. Bitasenet er Gaver” fo often failed to carry. He handled “43,th® DIAC [Re tne. tio and an e great light with the loving care of father, showing us the uses of the /€norant bisck compass against two at little brase screws to raise or lower “mere it was. every turn I was the wicks, until I was moved to try confronted with something that made the scalp pinker by reflection. epoke in a whis! with the enunciat le little voice and of & pealm used as & and Philadelphia “s the to Th steamers bound for New York and ——— CHAPTER VIII. ent of lighting and setting Boston took a different route; but all The Red Reef Lighthouse. those with Philadelphia as their ob- in motion the great burner. To my nay tearin a teanne eas te A OF 1 Degin to have eusptotons of fost iecdve por seme Our War. Ane ee ae, uceeaeee watch the lighthouse situation care- Was not until the: Red Reef light that they changed thelr course to pase on the far side of her, coming back to the coast again to pass within a biscuit-tossing distance of Cape Henlopen. On nearing the lighthouse I tacked 4 trifle to the east and ran the bateau fully. [If that light were not lit it might mean the loss of a balf-dosen ships and--maybe thousands! Worth- The assistant lightkeeper who had been introduced quoted us texts from the Bible to show that lighthouses had been in existence in the time of the ancient Phoenicians. He was an im- rfectly educated young man, with la information stoking out in bumps rather than assimila! HEN I returned to the house I found that Chitty and Jones had built a fire of pine logs in the fireplace in the attic, and were sleeping ‘soundly before it, rolled up im their had successfully placed the old man on @ cushion in the prop- looked ai mine, should be used against any such trick ae that! A I may “Well,” said Longuelaye, finally, CHAPTER IX. blankets; while Koonts, @ man “it’s time to join the old man, I dare have mentioned hetero sae ® sesso 7 and take it Wit a maa The Rosamund. mopplace ruffian—sat on ag le looked at his wat . We pick up the mysterious ship gtool before the outfit, watching it Gon't Water, Inside the reef it was easy Gicord still talked on the eubject Of wy wireless” and Longuehaye with the fascinated stare of the ig- Spouse to run alongside the landing fhe leek Ob ory? a tees ark matters queer directions tot worant. I brought my blankets up, stage, broadside against the steps With his eye on the stairway, at which ND to & eatin 4hat ; before and turned tn beside them; but 10 o'clock next morning I was awak- ‘ened by Jones falling over me in his resently appeared the head of tho Black, Borers, Wa0 jabbered out a flood of Span to Longuchaye. | gathered from his speech that Cree- church had been taken with a para- momentous 20th of Decem- ber when came the end of all thie mystery. A painter fast to the iron ring in the 3 and the negro went after him. Burry to get to the outfit, the res- the wind lifted the latter's jacket fo. Creec! onator of which was giving off little stared at him, I caught « siimpse of steel abgut his ieee pred Hy . ologised remained at eave bee oe ae It proved to be noth- waist and eaw that the leather t explosive taps. It p h ‘imnite at nis had ‘0 Peddicord and rushed down tho next four days, or was it five? ing more than the training of » new Of & waste strepeed Ae ced’ stairway, and when we followed him tor aboard United Btates owes fines ous tee oes at @ more leisurely pace and found I have forgotten, and Longuehaye jomew ne: is jo Ba open, thing prompted me to ae in Dim {a ee woreanon, Rossing ae the made trips to and from the reef, car- Rowever, and Jones, In deep disgust, euch a way as to feel his hip pocket, Read of Creechur eer ® rying over his shoulder @ black case, fora them to let him alone— ‘There was something hard there— {/et time since t paw, an wt, which was supposed to contain Ms whlch, he added, they used the nary th and T surmised « revolver preach and CE Te es it Laas Win uo taee bard for m= ig ve, ” Rae ane T erase” unter ne tndaer THe Paddcard besa seams ink X61 aot bale in the prostre- ed, 2 me we fore: ut you But once awakened, T got wp cn jouse, and @ man in rough tweeds to. great inconvenience” Hon, ef Crescherch, remrving my hat there was 1 down to greet us. He | “Don't mention it, air.” replied Ped- confidence for Pembroke Jones, with from the well enough leoking @ieeré heartilz. “1 hope the poor gen- whom |] talked over the matter seri- ' eT a re ee By Robert Minor lowed Peddicord out of the door, then P! gees an i y. Feb ruar ously, Jones was haggard and sleepy: eyed from continual breaks in reat to answer fool questions from paseli ahips; and as yet had not Ca Fok, BB the Rosam' ‘ whicl mecehers talked ently, di ing him to hail her with the password, “Rothrock,” and to in- atantly notify him, Longuehaye, when communication was established. Jones and I did net pretend to und the situation, but we were that any plan which the wate of the Red Reef light ald hi our most determined oppost- ton, The men behaved well enough, copt for a few drunken for the lady, I caught only occasional of her ons in and out of itary strolle about taland, I did not attempt the not again her eyes, well, not decent enough, and that in spite of my euspicions concerning the villainous plot which she was en- waged. On the morning of the 20th of De- cember I had just come up from the two poor devils down in the cellar when not that enow spirals were whirling sround the ey, house, and sifting in through the joorless apace. 1 went upel carry this news to Jones, when | ran into Lo we entered together. ban wy held @ chart in his band, and thie he inned down to @ rough table of wood in the attic. I glanced at it and waw it to be a United States hydro- graphic chart of the Atlantic scrawled over with figures and lines, but having a runing from the Phi.adelphia, “Jones,” he sald, “you should pick up the Rosamund to-day. She should be some hundred miles from re by now—maybe more, but I don’t think so. She's a alow old tub—only nine kknote—or it wouldn't have taken her #0 much time already.” “It depends on how long her wires are as to whether we can her witht. s hundred miles,” replied Jones. “This outfit has the limit crowded on, and that makes only @ hundred and ten miles of communication”—— “The Rosamund has exactly the ame outfit,” replied Longuehaye. “And I've calculated her course out to the finest point—she can’t be more than a hundred miles from here at by to get her.” Jones snapped down hi for Rosamund and repeating the pass- word, “Rothroch;" but the resonator remained obdurately silent. He told Longuehaye of his failure, “It's a damn funny thing,” Longue! this moment. ha} perfectly correct; and unless some- thing had happened to the Rosamund she should be within our range. “I can only try, sir,” replied Jonee patiently; and again sent the blue spark across the gap. But with no Kowal 0 far as an angwer was con- corn “Are you sure something hasn't eee wrong with the outfit? asked Longuehaye “Better have Chitty up and see,” replied Jones, “It seems all right to me.” @. Chitty came and gave the attention 0 the matter, by right ae a trivet,” he eald, a short while after. “Right as right! Rather.” “Him,” said Longuehaye, and did some more calculating. It would have required much per- suasion to get me out of the room at that moment; for finally we to have some light cast upon this mys- tery which had shrouded us for the past two weeks. I think Jones and Chitty felt much the same way id though an hour wore itself out we mantfested no signe of impatience, I had jenished the fire several times and rolled and half a dozen cigarettes, etart: out of the dia- mond-paned wii meanwhile at the sifting snow which was blowing ia aud out of the pines, ox- brawis, and as “, to my shoe to light the cigarette that @ on the Janding, and ha: t red splot ‘est Indies to 5) ie key, calling to 26, 1915 : * zi : apleased him. Jones smiled in bis slow English fashion and shaped the cigarette. ey im hand abruptly der, knocking the And there eure enough was a slight tapping. Jones gave bo oon be yey Pd a roachful look; and Uo saad ae light from &@ match that I sti “Really, jaye"—— he pro- tested. “Get to business,” directed Longue- haye, in hia most matter of fact tones. Jones raised his eyes and clamped on his receivers. I could see, however, that this elaborate carelessness of hia ‘was & mere assumption for the pur- of deceiving Longuehaye Into the lef that he, Jones, did take the matter of the Rosamund’ ection with particular seriousness. With the receiver on, he puffed his cigarette need for and seemed quite at ease. “Well?” demanded Longuebaye. me boat,” returned Jones. “Wants to know who we are. Shall 1 say ‘Rothrock’? “Find out who she is} Ask her.” You must imagine between Longue. haye's instructions and the tapping of Jones's key only the blue spark of transmission, the crackling of the pine fire on the hearth, and the oc- casional gusts of snow driven inst the di \~-paned window. itty and I were rigid with excite. ment, hardly daring to change our positions or shuffle our feet across the Bete. the gaia Jones, “airs. with an alr of ectabighing commun mat he name ti oan give no better written tation than this to indicate key and spark. And then one heard bussing of the wires. ' Jeniter.” Pi Shim for the password,” directed “He aye it te-tor (yea to Give him word.’ what kind of @ rock en a No the password.” left oi Reade from both out ¥ certain ai our tones. — being a deal, for # fit when one sketches out futurities too certain a hand, fate takes a to show him that she ts no = : i i #t Ht Hi | i ists i i stands from here. ‘There was @ long silence from the resonator; then the tapping took up its course again. Jones wrote hurried- ly, once or twice apparently asking for a ition, it ta,” he said, shoving the twisted tape out of his way. “I asked him to re) twice,’ studied the and fell to calculating. “Teil him to hold communication.” Only the fire-crackle now and the scratching of a match on toPipaine regular,” eubmnitted Peddi- And he seemed to have some about his assistant jou with favor. a with him and Ey ey reason “You promise I'll be dark?” he asked earnestly, “TU swear if you oaid cook: ‘5 had gone out. “Now,” said some few minutes’ acrib- make the Rosamund “Fine” eI esnaols- 1s aa woneerta, one oan with gur little stint of foe. id enough money I'd hire Rim to stay be 4 to bug the (r] long-drawn hies of the key » says ‘re two miles of in La rut ions. Ghe ws ninety-nine lam) the opera: name, waa quite correct. He repeated ‘bis question about the Rosamund's course. Jones transmitted it. “#he's beaded north by northeast now,” translated Jones. “And steadily roaching the coast all the while.” bs it ki op hat I ng peoted,” was Longuehaye’s comment “Now ask bim what speed she’s mak- ing” jones the answer as between ons ete SNS Se eT Sede “Tell Sag he get the average wvsed for tne past twenty-four hours.” St Creech “He says that will necessitate a trip the chartroom.” “We'll wait.” After # long aflence the answer came eata % an evidently satisfied. He sat down again at his figures and eat and ‘made some more caicula- she won't—er-—pass us unt!l— him for xact time by the ship's chronometer. The information was to the effect ved it now lacked twenty minutes of eleven, “That has to be corrected for this oat “murmured Longuehaye and acrawl more rea, “Now, tell him,” he sald, “that the Rosamund will in all Nkelihood—er—pass us at about & Quarter past nine, and dark falls here at six o'clock.” Jones bent over his key again. ‘Longuehaye turned to me. “I'm going over to the lighthouse to see poor Creechurch,” he said. "Step down to the beach and get the hateau ready, if you will be #o kind. 1 don't care about managing her alone in this wind. “He gays”—— paused. Longuehay am really in som 1 went out. m my way to the beach I felt nev eral times that it would give tense pleasure to Longuehaye Gibbons intend to say to the operator of t mystertoug Rosamund? Was thei after all, anything so very crooked in the arrangements that the operator on board the ship should be in close com- munication with Longuehaye? Was ing whisper from within: . and leave me to mine? Axain came the suspicion t! theor! id 2 ry penaiog them hough I saw their pi rt pened, and cast off the painter, thero was & small dingey, “He understands Ce ig And what he doesn't oe aS ir Creechurch spoke in church was not and had not failing to mal enough Iaterd went on down Longuehaye joined me later, and attention wag then called to a e a eee little to 1 ‘meme ‘And then I heard Creechureh’s rasp- Can't you do your part of the were his tones those of » sick maa, but tired of ever forming ” nse out of Lo: stairs as though nothing bad bay- with Peddicond we entered the commonplace fact for the Grst time-- | ment jisignia, moored a tage. “ But what did t ) with the case? He had pry A -