The evening world. Newspaper, April 1, 1916, Page 11

“ae over. SYNOPSIS OF PRECEDING CHAPTERS, Trepoweth haa secured and hidden away Ruby of Ceylon, 1 " el directions: missing, sand { avenge, his fathe ile living in London with i meets and falls in} e asper jos girl Who calle it Claire ~ Datowe he meets ¢ ‘a tremendous ra ‘of money in a Longe, Later, he that Cinire is tle daughter of Ratitou, ‘who Murdered Jasyers CHAPTER XIV. How the Curtain Fell. Roa nioment L. staggered back as though buffeted in the face, then, as our eyes met and read in each other the desperate truth, I sprang forward Just in time to catch her as she fell, Preséntly she recovered and without @ word started from the graveyard. Nor would she let me follow. As I {ried to do so she halted me, »"No, no,” she said hastily, “leave _me to myself—1 will write to-mor- row and perhaps see you; but, oh, Dray, not to-day!” “Love is strong as death!” I pro- ‘tested, “No, Jasper; it can never be—never, Do you think I am not suffering—that it 19 nothing to me to lowe you? ‘Try to think better of me. Oh, Jasper, it fs ard indeed for me, and—I love you 80.” “Claire, I will not give you up; not though you went on your knees and implored It. us now; and even death will never kill my love.” “Death!” she answered. “Taink, theny that I am dead. Ah, hearts do not break so easily. You would grieve at first, but in @ little while I should be forgotten. Little by little my hope was slip- ping from me; but still | strove with her as @ man battles for his life. 1 Yaved, protested, called earth and heaven to witness her cruelty; but all in vain, “It would be a sin—a horrible sin!” she kept saying. “God would never forgive it. No, no; do not try to per- suade me—it is horrible! and she red. _ Utterly beaten at last by her ob- stinacy, T said: ‘ “I will leave you now to think it Lot me come to see you to- morrow and hear that you repent.” “No, love; we must never meet again, This must be our last good- , Stay!” and sho smiled for the tims. “Come to ‘Francesca,’ to- * night; I am going to act.” ren t! to-night?” « \ “Yes, One must live, you sea, even though one muffers. You will come. Promise me. Do me this last favor, I sball never ask another.” .I bowed my head in silence. * *+ana now,” she said, “you may kiss Kiss me on the lips for the last oy A Romance of Buried Treasure and of a Strange Quest. Death alone can divide § love, s The Evening World Da me aii nablinaichlanrndbe I tin box containing my father’s jour- nal, and then make for the river, That would be an easy death, and I could sink forever, before | perished, ail) trace of the black secret which haa) pursued my life, I and the mystery would end together—so best, | L reached my lodgings, ran upstairs, took out the key and the tin box, and descended again into the hall and out into the stree Still in my dull stupor I found my- self nearing the river. During the summer I had purchased a boat, in which my Claire and 1 were used to row idly whithersoever love guided our oars, This boat, with the ap- proach of winter, I had caused to be brought down the river and had housed in a waterman's shed just above Westminster until the return of spring should bring back once more the happy days of its employment. in my heart I blessed the chance that bad stored tt ready to my 1 found the boat, gave the caret a goodly fee to help me launch it; and set forth aimlessly upon the river, How long I rowed I do not know. I found myself at length under the shadow of @ black three-maated schooner that lay close under shore, tilted over on her port side in ¢ low water. I looked up and saw the words, Water-Witch, painted in white upon her pitch-dark bows, My first impulse was to get away with all speed, and 1 had already taken half a stroke when something used my hands to drop and my art to give one wild leap, Two ple were talking aboard the schooner. In those two voices I recognized Mrs, Luttrell and Simon Colliver! “Have you not done enough?” the woman's voice was saying. “Has your cruelty no end that you must pursue me 80? Take this money and Jet me 0. “[ must have more,” was the an- ewer. “Indeed, I have no more just now. . only go, and I will send you me, I swear it.” unnot gO," “Why? ever mind, Iam wetched.” Quite softly my boat had° drifted onée more across the schooner’s bows. 1 pulled it round until its nose touched the anchor chain, and made the paint- er fast. Then slipping my hand up the chain 1 stood with my gshoeless feet upon the gunwale by the bows. Stil grasping the chain, I sprang and swung myself out to the jibboom that, with the cant of the veasel, was not fur above the water; then pressed my left foot in between the stay and the brace, while I hung for a moment to | listen. After which 1 dropped nolse- | lessly to the deck. | ‘They were standing together by the mizzen-mast, he with his back turned full toward me, she less entirely averted, so that I could see a part) of her gray hair. Yes, It was they, surely enough; and they had not seen me. My revenge, long waited for, was in my grasp at last. ‘Then Mrs, Luttrell turned for an instant and saw me. As I stood there, barehead, with the moonlight shining full upon my white shirt sleeves, J must have seemed a very ghost; said the man, for a look of 1 ‘Mime, and may God biess you, my abject terror swept across her face; Jove.” av her volea broke off and both her Quite calmly and gently sho lifted hands were flung up for mercy: . her lips to mine, and on her f. was “Oh, God! Look! Look!" the glory of unutterable tenderness, As | rushed forward he turned, and “Claire! My love, my love!" | My then with the spring of a wildcat arma were round ber, her whole form was upon me. Even as he leaped Yielded ‘helplessiy to mine, and as my foot slipped upon the greasy bur lips met in that one passionate, deck; I ataggered backward one > shuddering caress, sunk on my breast. step—two steps—and then fell with a “You will not leave me?” 1 erie And through her sobs came the an- awer: Fy Yes, yes; It must be, it must be Then drawing herself up, sbe held out her hand and said: “To-night, remember, and so—-fare- well Staa and distraught with the pas- * elon of that parting, i sat that even- fag in the shadow of a box and waited for the curtain to rise upon “Francesca.” At last Clat same on the stage; and the thronged house rose eet her. She did not once glance in the dl- rection of my box, bur kopt her eye steadily averted. = And it then sud- es dawned upon me fiat she must be ing with a purpose; but what that purpose was I could not guess. Whatever It was, she was acting magnificently and had for the pres- ‘ent completely surrondered herself to her art. And so the evening wore ayphe tr gedy was nearly over Yran- casca had dismissed her old lover and pis. new bride from thelr maptivily pnd was now left alone upon stage. The last expectant huslt 1 fallen upon tho house. | Tien step: lowly forwar« c oe and as she spoke the opening lines, for the first timo our eyes met: 2, a}l hate, all vows, ‘Hare then Br ee a isa had chained | 2 ela had Rout fe remal ter to release. hh en itn 101 Werby enjoyment wreck bis Spy, his life for whom alone 1 lived, “Dear tore, it ts nat hart | once the path is plain Ney fone, lly 0 mm bier “pon tiny, tol ‘i ‘Wert thou her Thee weed, Int 100% sk f. What was that at sinh ich the audience rose white an Senet from their seats” What was | fhat made Sebastian as he entered rush » guddenly forward and fail with aw ful ery before Francesea’s body? What iwas that trickling down the folds of a dress? Blood? . we ot Wood! Tn an instant T put my and upon the cushion of the box, vaulted down to the stage and was kneeling beside my dying love, gut ‘as the clamorous bell rang down tho * eurtain, I heard above Its nolse a light and silvery laugh, and looking up ‘@aw in the box next to mine the coal * black devilish eyes of the yellow woman, Then the curtain fell CHAPTER X Two Voices Lead Me. ¥ degrees as I walked, ho ever—houra inter a plan nhaped itself before me, I would go home, get my grandfather's key, together with the What was ¢) tn the house? ssh down the unguarded forecastie ladder CHAPTER XVI. The Secret of the Great Key. Ss my senses came gradually back I could distinguish a narrow, dingy cabin, dimly lit by one flickering oil lamp which swung from a rafter above. Its faint ray just revealed the furniture of the room, which con- sisted of a seaman's chest standing in the middle and two gaunt stools. On one of these Twas seated, propped against the cabin wall, or rather partition, and as I attempted to move I learned that I was bound hand and toot. On the other stool opposite me and beside the chest sat Simon Colliver, silently eying me. The lamplight as st flared and wavered cast grotesque and dancing shadows of the man upon the wall behind, made of his matted hair, black eaves under which his eyes gleamed red as fire and glinted lastly upon something bright lying on the chest before him, ra minute or so after my eyes first opened no word was sald, Still dizzy with my fall, I stared for a mo- ment at the man, then at the chest, and saw that the bright objects er's key and my wateh chain, at the end of which hung the Golden Clasp, But now the clasp was fitted to its fellow and the whole buckle lay unt- ted upon the board He held the buckle down upon the table and read out the inscription as follows Start Pal Mop, Point Beat NNW. Ww Ring | Now 8 | Tuches | Dow Meeting | Low | Water Ho read it through twice very slow- ly and each time as he ceased jooked up to seo how I took it “It does not seem to make much sense, does It?" he asked. “But watt @ moment and let mo parcel it out into sentences, 1 should not Ike you to miss any of it’ meaning. Listen again.” Ho divided tho writing up thus “Start at full moon. End south point 27 feet NNW 22 feet W, of ring, Nolth side + feet @ inches deep at point of meeting, yi Low water 1% hou." “You still seem puzzled, Mr. ‘Tren oweth, Very well, [ will even go on to explain further, The person who engraved this clasp meant to tell us that something--let us eay treasure, hor sake of argument—ocould be found th tersec derous, Jain trusted scendants, “You wonder, perhaps, why T call It is because you have years with your hand upon riches that would make a. king jealous, and have never had the sense to grasp them; gleaming there were my grandfath- y lived riage. ‘Trenoweth, folly J have half a mind to be dog ck with you myself, upon this not only that, bu excuse, now? will BCs same place. my meaning clear. have agreed to call the treasure lies burled at depth of 4 feet 6 inches on the spot where these two lines in- But the person (you or I, for the sake of argument) who seeks soul, this treasure must start at full moon. Why? Obviously because the spring to triumph thus over you and your Udes occur with a full sequently the low ebb. We must ex- pect then to find our treasure buried in a spot which at dead low water; and to this co clusion T am algo helped by the | which says, one and ‘one-half hours. I submit, such pla sentence, you a fool. for fourteen Upon ‘Trenoweth, that we must look for the our treasure, the only question being, ‘Where is that plac I was waiting for this, and a great tide of joy swept over me as I re- flected that after all solved the mystery. jothing, the ke; ret was safe He must have read my thoughts, for he looked steadily at me out of ™, those dark eyes of his, and then said very slowly and deliberately: “Mr, Trenoweth, it grieves me to taunt your miserable case, but do you mind my saying that you are a fool?” I simply stared in answer. ‘Your father was « fool; and you are a fool, Which would lead me, did I not know better, to be- Hleve that your grandfather, Trenoweth, was « fool also. wrong him if I called him that. was a villain, a black hearted, mur- cold blooded, damnable vil- but he was only a fool for once in his fe, and that was when he the sense of his de- my when of is only un word, And all the time “What key he Amos repeat your memory ‘THY HOUSE IS SET UPON TH them feet . from place, it swept me off my feet for a moment moon, con- vered ‘Low water It is, then, in some we he had not D told told nothing, ‘The s yet, a@ pitiful Amos I should He tion at my is because u have shut your eyes when might have seen, have been a beggar when you might have ridden in a car- Mr, Jasper of your you was written as large as life; + to leave you no ‘Trenoweth told you that it was written here.” do you mean?” stammered . forced into speech at laat “Ah, #0 You have found your voice, Trenoweths have you? What do £ mean? Do you mean to say you do not guess even Upon my word, I am loath to and stained with dead men’s blood— kill so fair a fool.’ actually by any one who drew two lines from as with the whirl and roar of many some place unknown; in length in direction N.N. south point the other 22 feet due west of a cer- tain ring on the north side of that battle in the gulf of bottomless doe- So tar I trust I make spair, ‘That which we waters, “Dead Man's Rock!" “Dead Man's Rock!" it sang in my ears as and passed, leaving me to sink and T looked up. Colliver was laughing, and his face was that of an arch devil, “It does me good to see you,” he explained; “ob, yes, {t is honey to my Fool! and a thousand times fool! that ever I should have lived accursed house!” Once more his voice grew shrill and his eyes flashed; once more he col- d himself, ou shall hear it out,” he said. “Look here!" and he pulled a greasy book from his pocket. “Here is a nautical almanac. What day is {t? December 23d, or rather some time in morning of December 24th, Christmas Eve, On the evening of December 24th, it is full moon, and dead low water in Falmouth about 11.30 P, M. Fate (do you believe in fate, Mr, Trenoweth?) could not have chosen the time better, In sonata under twenty hours one of us will have his hands upon the treasure, Which will it be, eh?) Which will tt Niend!"" 1 yelled, “you can kill me it you like, but T will count your crimes with my last breath, ‘Take my life as you took my friend ‘Tom Loveday's life—Tomn, whom you knifed ‘in the dark, mistaking him for me. Take it as you took Claire's, if ever man"—— “Claire—Claire dead!" THe stag- gered back # step, and almost at the same moment [ thought I caught a gound on the other side of the partl- back. I lutened for @ momen!, then concluding that my ears had played me some trick went on again: “Yes, dead~she Killed herself to- night at the theatre—stabbed hersé Do you think | care for your knife now? Why, | waa going to kill my welt, to drown myself, at the very moment Wien L heard your voice aud came on board. 1 came to kill you. Make the most of It—show me no mercy, for a8 there is a4 God in heay- en I Would have shown you none! What was that sound again on the other side of the partition? Whatever it was Colliver had not heard, for he was musing darkly and looking fixed- ly at me. No, | will show you no mer he answered quietly, “for 1 have sworn to BOW NO Mercy to vour race, and you are the last of it. But listen, that for a few moments before you die you may shake off your smug complacency and learn what this wealth is and what kind of brood you ¢ Dog! ‘The treasure that lies by Dead Man's tock is treaa- ure weighted with dead men’s eurs He regarded me Wealth won by black piracy upon the for © moment with pitying contempt, then stretched out his hand and took up my grandfather's ke “Tvead here,” he sald, clearly and distinctly, certain words. You must know those words; but I you to refresh to ‘written very high seas—gold for which many a poor soul walked the plank and found his end in tho deep waters, It is treasure sacked from many a gal- lant ship, stripped from many a rot- ting corpse by that black hound, your grandfather, Amos ‘Trenoweth. You guessed that? Let me tell you more, SANDS AND ‘THY HOP many a aou) crying in DEAD MAN, hell’ for vengeance on Well for ! but your death to-night, was-even ,e: 1 did not understand, Jasper th, shall be the peen “Mr, Jasper Trenoweth you joy of o You guessed that ever hear tell of such a place as Dead had Crones upon M's Kock soul; but you did not guess the Pos truth, the whole horr ackest crime on his account=the tainty of it ck me as great murder of his dearest friend. Listen wave, and ruabed over my bent head 1 will be ewief with you, but 1 can- SSL LNT TOP cement Can You Beat It? xrays, By Maurice Ketten not spare myself the joy of letting you know this much before you dic, Know then that when your grand- father was a rich man by his friend's aid—after, with this friend's help he had laid hande on the secret of the Great Ruby for which for many a year he had thirsted, in the moment of his triumph he turned and slew that friend in order to keep the Ruby to himwelf, “That fool, your father, kept a jour- nal—which no doubt you have read over and over again, Did he tell you you how I caught him upon Adam's Peak sitting with this clasp in his hands before a hideous graven stone? ‘That stone was cut in ghastly mock ery of that friend’s fa the bones that lay bencath it were the bones of that friend. There, on that very spot where | met your father face to face, did his father, Amos ‘Trenoweth, strike down my father, Kalph Colliver. “Ah, light Is beginning to Jawn on your silly brain at last! Yes, pro- tending to protect the old priest who had the Ruby, he stabbed my father with the very knife found in your father’s heart; stabbed him before his wife's eyes on that little lawn upon the mountain side; and, wien my helpless mother called vengeance upon him, handed the still reeking knife to her and bade her do her worst, Ab, but she kept that knife, Did you mark what war engraved upon the blade? That knife had a good mem- ory, Mr. Jasper ‘lrenoweth, “Let me go on, As if that deed Were not foul enough, he caused the old priest to car Ms skillful with the chisei—that vile distortion of his dead friend's face out of a huge boulder lying by, and then murdered lim too for the Ruby's sake, and tumbled their bodies into the trough together, Such was Amos Trenoweth, Are you proud of your descent? “I never saw my father, [ was not born until three months after this, and not until [ was ten years old did f. my mother tell me of his fate, “Your granifather was » fool, Jasper Trenoweth, to despise her, for she was young then and she could wait, She was beautiful then, and Amos Trenoweth himself lad loved her, What is she now? Speak, for you have seen her,” As he spoke I seemed to see again that yellow face, those awful, soulless eyes, and hear her laugh as she gazed down from the box upon my dying love. ely, he went on to tell me of forcing Railton to kill my father; of finding on the cabin floor one-half of the gold clasp; of his later return to Plymouth and his success in inducing the widow of Raliton to marry him of his attempt to stab me an T left the gambling house What was that rusting sound be- hind the partition? Collt r did not hear {t, at any rate, but went on with bis tale, and thoug his eves were dancing flames of Late his voive was calm now as ever, When at last he spoke of Claire I broke ins “Dog, this 1s enough! 1 have Ne- tened to your tale, Kut talk of Clatre--Clatre, v killed night—then, do when you hom you , Tepit upon you; kill me, and I hope the treasure may curse you as it has curse Kill me; use your knife, for fF will shout for help!” With a dreadful snarl he wae me and smote me across the face. Then as | continued to call and shout he struck me on rful blow beh ithe ear T remeimbe that the d shot out 4 streak of blood-red e cabin was lit for one bi ’ with & Mash of fre, a th and f farted ou nd Li ty Came Ulter biacknese—a Vague seL- PEL LS BLE IPN Taye re oe oe ily Magazine, Saturday, April 1, 1916 sation of bing caught up and car- ried, of plunging down—down— CHAPTER XVII. Revenge and the Great Ruby. PEAK—-speak to me! Oh, look up and tell me you are not dead!" Mrs, Luttrell was there, my hands. She went on: “Oh, listen! He has gone—gone to catch the first train for Cornwall, and will be at Dead Man's Rock to-night, Quick! see if you cannot ris I sat up and f found [ was lying in my own boat, In it sho was kneeling, and beside her lay @ heavy knife and the cords with which Simon Colliver bad bound me. How did manage to get me into this boat?” I asked, “Tt hea the splash and T rowed ull 1 found you, I lifted you in, some- how, “As Heaven is my witness,” I sald, “it shall be his life or mine, The of one of us shall never see to-mor- roy Her hand was as cold as ice, and her pale face never changed. “Kill himt” she said simply, 1 burried to Paddington railway station. Ahead of me in the crowd there 1 spied Simon Colliver moving like an evil spirit, I heard him demand a ticket for Penryn, and, after waiting until be had lett the booking office, took one ’ y the same station, ned Plymouth shortly after train being late—and here the carriages grew Snow had fall but the moon was not yet up—the full moon by which the treasure was to be sought, How slowly the train dragged through Cornwall, It would be 8 before we reached Penryn, and low water was at 11.80, We reached Pen-~ ryn at 9.80, Thence, by stage, I still dogged my Man unseen, and at last T stood on the sands beneath Dead Man's Rock, I had outstripped Col- liver on the last mile of the Journey, 1 pulled out my watch, Close on 11.30, the hour of dead low tide. And I saw Colliver walking toward m I opened the tin box and took out knife, I had caused the thin, sharp blade, found*in my dead father's heart, to be fitted to a horn handle tnto which it ahut with an ordinary spring clasp, As TL opened it the moonlight glittered down t steel and lit up the letters “Ricor- dati.—""Remember Still in the shadow, he crept down by the rock, and once more looked about him No single soul was abroad at that hour to see; none Dut the witness crouching there I gripped the knife tighter aa he disappeared beneath the ledge on which T bung A low curse or two, and then si- lence, T held my breath and waited, Presently he reappeared, with com- pass in one hand and’ measuring- tape in the other, and stood there for moment looking about him, Still I waited About forty feet from the breakers ab now ply splashing on the sand, Dead Man's Rock suddenly ended on the southern side ina thin black ridge tha: broke off with a drop of some t: f This ridge Was, of course, cov ered at high water, and upon it the Helle Portuy d' doubtless struck hefore she reeled back and settied in deep wat This was the “south noise fully, he drew out t nd slowly’ began to 1 remembered |imbedded in I THE Don’t forget to read it. great serial. asp sald, He measured tt out to the end, and then, digging with his heel @ small hole in the sand, be- gan to walk back toward the rock, this time to the north side, And still I waited, Apparently bis m successful, for the tap more to the hole he marked in the sand, He paused for a moment or two, drew out the clasp, which shot out a sudden gleam as he turned it in his hand, and consulted tt carefully, Presumably satisfied, he walked back to the rock to fetch some tools. And still T crouched, waiting, with knife in hand. Arrived once more at the point wiere, the two lines met, he threw @ hasty glance around and began to dig rapidly. ¥ Presently [ heard his spade strike against something hard. Surely ho had not yet dug deeply enough. The clasp had said “four feet six inches,” and the pit could not yet be more than three feet in depth. Colliver bent down and drew something out, then examined it intently, As I strained forward to look he half turned and | saw between his hands~ a human skull, Instantly he fell to digging anew and 1 to watching. For a full twenty minutes he labored, flinging out the sand to right and left and every now and then stopping for a moment to measure his progress. He was just resuming, after one of these rests, when bis spade grated against something. He bent low to examine it and then negan to shovel out the sand with inconceivable rap- idity. ‘The treasure was found! Like a madman he work even from where I stood I could hear his breath coming hard and fast. At length, with one last glance around, he knelt down and disappeared frou my view. My time was come. Knife in hand, | softly clambered down the south side of the rock, and dropped upon the sand. There, below me, within grasp, he sat, his back still turned toward me, ‘The moon was full tn front, so that it cast no shadow of me across him, ‘There he sat, and in front of him lay, the sand, a huge tron chest, bound round with a broad band of iron an@ secured with an enormous padlock, On the rusty top 1 could even, trace the rudely, cut initials A, T. I held my breath as he drew from rements were led hi once his pocket my grandfather's key and inserted It in the lock. Then, with a long, shuddering sigh, he lifted and threw back the groaning lid. We both gazed, and as we gazed were well-nigh blinded. For this is what we saw: At first only a blaze of darting rays that beneath the moon gleamed, sparkled and shot out a myriad scin- tillations of color—red, violet, orange, green and deepest crimson, Then by degrees I saw that all these flashing kneoling beside me, chafing ¥es came from one jumbled heap of gems—some large, some small, but together in value beyond a king's ransom, I caught my breath and looked again, Diamonds, rubies, sapphires, amethyst, opaly, emeralds, tur quoises and innumerable other stones lay thus roughly heaped together and glittering as though for Joy to see the light of heaven once more. Some pol- ished, some tincut, some strung on necklaces and chains, others gleam- {ng in rings and bracelets and bar- baric ornaments; there they lay— wealth beyond the hope of man, the dream of princes. Tho chest measured some five feet by three and the jewels evidently lay in a kind of sunken drawer, or tra of tron. In the corner of this was a@ emall space of about four inche: square, covered with an iron lid. As we gazed with straining eyes, Col- liver drew one more long sigh of satisfied avarice, and lifted this smaller lid, Instantly a full rich flood of crim- non light welled up, serene and glo-~ rious, with lumingus shafts of splen- dor that, as we looked, met and con- centrated in one glowing heart of flame—met in one translucent, inef- fable depth of purple red, Calm and radiant It lay there, as though no curse lay in tts deep hollows, no pas- sion had ever fed its flames with blood; stronger than the centuries, impertshably and triumphantly cruel ~the Great Ruby of Ceylon, With a short gasp of delight, Col- iver retehing out his hand to- ward !t, when T laid mine heavily on his shoulder, then sprang to my feet My wafting was over. He gave one start of uttermost ter- ror, leaped to his feet, and in an In- stant was facing me. Already his knife was half out of his walstband; already he had taken halt a leap for- ward, when he saw me standing there above him Bareheaded I stood in the moon- Nght, the white ray glittering up my knife and lighting up my bared chest and set, stern face. Bareheaded, with tho light breeze fanning my curls, 1 stood there and waited for Mis leap. But that leap never came. One step forward he took and then looked, and looking, staggered back with hands thrown up before his face. Slowly, as he cowered back with hands upraised and straining eyo- balls, I saw those eyeballs grow rigid, freeze and turn to stone, while through his gaping, bloodless lips came a hoarse and gasping sound had neither words nor meaning, Then an I atfll watched, with mur derous purpose on my face, there came one awful cry, ® scream that tled the gulls from slumber and awoke echo after echo along the shore 4 seream like no sound in earth or heaven—a scream inhuman’ and ap. palling. on followed silence, and fas the last 0 died away, he fell As ho collapred pit, © made a ste orw rink and ooked, Hi now upon his hands and knee fore the chest, bathing ils ds in the e ng heap of tehing them up in handfuls, is they ran like aparkling rain through has fingers, muttering 1 F you should receive a mysterious sealed box, with solemn orders not to open it until a certain date— Would you obey those orders? || would follow the example of the hero of By W. B. M. Ferguson Next Week's Complete Novel in The Evening World. Here is a story—by the author of “Garrison’s Finish” ~—that is not only alive with mystery and suspense, but which is altogether “different.” You can’t afford to miss this Perhaps you SON coherently to himself and humming wild snatches of song. I leaped down into the pit beside him, and laid my hand upon his shoulder, He paused for a moment, and looked up with a vacant gleam in deep eyes. “Colliver, I have to speak a word with you.” “Oh, yes, ‘Trenoweth, of course; Ezekiel Trenoweth com back again after the treasure. But you are too la too late, too late, You are dead now--ha! ha! dead and rotting. + For bla glittering eyes are the salt prise, amt his fingers cits th’ sand, my Ted.” “Sha! his fingers clutch the sand, Here's pretty sand for you! sand of all colors; look, look, there’s a bra sparkle!” And again he ran the priceless shower through his fingers. “Oh, vox,” he continued after @ mo- ment, jooking up; “oh, yes, I know you—Ezekiel Trenoweth, of course; or is It Amos or Jasper? No matter, you are all dead, I Killed the last of ta last year--no, last night—all dead: "And the devil bas got his doe, my leds “His due, his due! Look at it! look again! I had a skull just now, John Ruilton’s skull; no eyes in it though, © "For bis glittering eyes are the salt sea's'— “Where is the skull? Let me fit it with a bonny pair of eyes here—here they are; or here, look, here's a pair that change color when they move. Where is the skull? Give it me. Oh, I forgot, I lost it. Never mind; find it, find tt, Here's plenty of eyes when you find it. Or give it this big, red one. Here's a flaming, fiery eye! As he stretched out his hand over the Great Ruby I caught him by tl wrist, But he was too quick for and with a sharp snarl and click o! his teeth had whipped his hand round to his back. Then in a flash, as | grappled with him, he thrust me back with his lett palin, and, with a sweep of his right, hurled the great jewel far out into the sea, I saw it rise and curve in one long, sparkling arch of flame, then fall with a dropping Ine of fire down into the billows, A splash—a jet of, light, and it was gone; gone perhaps to hide amid the rotting timbers of what was once the Belle Fortune, or among the bones of her drowned ere to watch with its blood-red tireli eye the extremity of its handiwork. There, for aught I know, it lies to- ay, and there for aught I care be- neath the waters it shall treasure Its infernal loveliness forever. 1 turned to look at Colliver. He was huddled against the pit’s side with his dark eyes gazing wistfully up at me, in thelr shining depths there lurked no more sanity than in the heart of the Great Ruby. As T looked, | knew him to be a hopeless madman, and knew also that my revenge had slipped from me forever. We were still standing so when a soft wave came stealing up the beach and flung the lip of its foam over the pit's ed. into the chest. I turned round, Thi tide was rising fast, and in a minute or so would be upon us, Catohing Colliver by the shoulder, T pointed and tried to make him understand; put the maniac had again fallen te playing with the jewels, I shook him; he did not sttr, only sat there Jabber- ing and singing. And now wave after wave came splashing over us, soak- ing us through, and hissing in phos phorescent pools among the gems. There was no time to be lost, tore the madman back, stamped down the lid, locked it, and took out thi key; then caught Colliver in my arms and heaved him bodily out of the trench, Jumping out beside him, I caught up the spade—and shovelled ‘ack the wet sand as fast as I coulé until the tide drove us back. Colliver stood quite tamely beside me all this while and watched the treasure dis- appearing from his view; only every now and then he would chatter a few wild words, and with that break off again in vacant wonder at my work, When all was done that could be, I took my companion’s hand, led him up the sands beyond highwater mark, and then sat down beside him waiting for the dawn, And there, next morning, by Dead Man's Rock, they found us, while across the beach came the faint mu- sic of Polkimbra bells as they ra: their Christmas peal, “Peace on eart and good will toward men.” a 6 8 8 ek ee ‘There is Uttle more to tell. Next day, at low ebb, with the ald of Jos Roscorla (still hale and hearty) and a few Polkiinbra fishermen whom [ knew, the rest of my grandfather's treasure was secured and carried up from the «i In the Iron chest, be- sides the gems already spoken of, and beneath the fron tray containing them, was @ prodigious quantity of gold and silver, partly in ingots, paruly in coinage, This last was of all nationalities: moidores, dollars, rupees, doubloons, guineas, crown pleces, lou\s, besides an amount of coins which I could not trace, the whole proving a most catholic taste in buccaneering. So much did it all that we found it impossibig the chest as it stood, and therefore secured the prize piecemeal, Strangest of all, however, was a fold. ed parchment which we discovered beneath the tray of gema and above the coins, It contained but few words, which ran as follows: “PALR FORTUNE WRECKED, FAIR PORTUNE FOUND, AND ALL BUY THE FINDER UNDER GROUN! T." Failing to find her mother, I had Claire's body conveyed to Polkimbra, She lies buried beside my father and mother in the little churchyard there, Above her head stands a white stone, with the simple words, “In memory of CU. Is, died Dec, 23d, 196% ‘Love 4 strong as death, The folk at Polkimbra have many a fable about thie grave, but It presved will shake their heads sagely and refer you to “Master Trenoweth, ip yonder at Lantrig. Folks say shi w @ play-actor and he loved he way you may see him up in the hurehyard most days, but don't'’ee go nigh him then, unless you bain't afoard of th’ evil eye." THE END, ‘ A