THE GOLDEN TRESS:

Auckland Star, Volume XVII, Issue 98, 24 April 1886, Page 3

THE GOLDEN TRESS:

A TALE OF LOVE ASTD CRIME.

MY FORTUNE DU BOISGOBEY, Author of " Old Age ot Monsieur Lecoq," "The

Severed Hand," "The Crime ot the Opera House," &c.

CHAPTER XV. (Continued.)

Thkue is no fatigue so great as advancing with excessive precaution, and, ut tbe end of a quarter of an hour of this military march, Sartilly felt quite warn out, for it seemed to him it would never end, and he thought it probable that this subterranean passage might go through tho whole length of the island. But, after going on some hundred stops more through the gallery, it widened visibly, and, thinking they were approaching the end of it, the littlo army redoubled their precautions ;' although tho Captain bogan to suspect that there was no one in it, and, as it was not in hie nature to projong voluntarily any uncertainty whatever, ho quickened his steps, and soon reached the extremity of the qaye.

It was a room, or rather a circular retreat, a real box of granite, out in the rock in ancient times to eeoure the treasures of the abbey.

Tho officer raised his lamp, looking all around him, but ths lamp only lighted walls without egress, and Sartilly could not restrain a cry of despair, for the cave was empty. "A thousand thunders!" exclaimed the Captain; "we have come too late; the birds have flown I"

" But where have they flown to?" murmured tho officer; "they could not have passed through the walla,)' " Ah, thoy went out tbe same way they came in, and are hid on the island; and while we have been marching in this hole like national guards on patrol, theso fellows have escaped." "It is still possible that they aro on the shore, and we moy yet overtnke them," said tj;e off^cor. Sartilly suffered such anguish that he was not able to speak, but he pressed the Captain's arm, showing him at the bottom of the woll two bronze books in the rock, to which were still fastoned the iron-work of a chest that had been recently torn away. It was impossible to hope longer, as no illusion could resist this evident testimony, and the dearest hopes of Sartilly crumbled away under this fearful blow.

At the sight of his friend's poignant grief Chateaubrun did not speak, but gradually drew him away from tho fatal cavo that had contained Roger's fortune ; and ho lot himself ho led mechanically. Tho porsove: ring oijstom house officer hod net, howevor, lost all hope of overtaking the Jersey smugglers ; bis first thought, on coming out of tiie oave, was to olimb up the highest point of tho island to tiy and discover the fugitives ; Sartilly and the Captain following him, without knowing exactly what thoy were going after, and, above all, without having tho loast faith in tho success of this last search.

The scene had changed again—a thick fog, enveloping Mont Saint Michel from the baso to tho summit, seemed to be advancing slowly toward Tombelaine, the woafheY; still being clear in tho offing, wne f 'e t'bo bajxrue could be distinctly Booh Ijj tho same place, The sea had begun to riso ; already tho uncovered strand had sensibly diminished, and the fjehormen wore all directing their steps to the shore, as tho seagulls come back to the coast when the tempest approaches. " It is time to leave, gentlemen," said the soldier ; " tht tide is rising, tho fog descending ; it will not bo pleasant hero two hours from this;" and, whilo fastening bis trap on his gun, tho honest soldier cast a look at the shore.

Suddenly, Sartilly, who was observing him, put his band quickly above his eyes, as if to sbado thorn, and almost as soon showing ovideat signs of astonishment—at length crying out while extending his arm toward tho sea -. " I see them !" " Whero are they ?" asked Sartilly and the Captain at the same timo. "Thore, beforo üb, about five hundred paces from here, directly across the channel.' And, indeed, two men could be seen very distinctly on tho sandy beach, walking toward the sea. "Bah! they are fishermen," said Chateaubrun. "Fishermen ! You would not find one of them who would risk his life this side of Tombelaine when the tide is beginning to rise. No, no ! they are our smugglers, and aro going directly to the barque waiting for • them. Look I" And, indeed, the mysterious barque, manoeuvring to approach, had raised her anchor, and, pushed, along gently, by the first im: pulse of tb<B tide', was visibly advancing. < Ah, they bave boen mere cunning thttn we," said tho officer i " hiding behind tiie rocks, when they saw us coming on tlie island; they have been making their way while we have been amusing ourselves in the cave, und now we must have wings like sea-gulls to overtake them." While tbe soldier was speaking, Chateau* brun had taken his eye-glass and was looking attentively at tbe runaways. " Oh, I can recognise them without a glass," said the officer. "There is a tall ono with a stick in his hand, and tho little ono is carrying something on his back." "The casket!" cried the Captain, in a voice of thunder. "I recognise them also, and want to catch them, and Bend them to the galleys ;" and, at the risk of breaking his neck, he ran down the steep declivity to the beach. "But it is a folly !" repeated the officer, tumbling down after them. "We cannot overtake them, and the sea will gain upon us." The Parisians did not turn their heads, but bpgan running along the sand as swiftly as they could, and the soldier, who knew the danger they were exposing themselves to, raised his arms to heaven, exhausting himself in despairing appeals. " Thoy do not hear ; it is vain to ory out, as tho wind comes from the other side. I can't stop," he said, in a low voice. The fog was advancing slowly over the beach, and at the horiaon the grey lines of the sea and sky were blended together. "Abg well,"said the honest fellow, "no one shall say I deserted them. So muoh the worse, if we all three die together," and he began running in his turn, soon overtaking tbe imprudent travellers, less accustomed than he to pass over the wet sand; and when he reached them, the Captain was beginning to swear at the soft mud, in which his feet sank at every step he took. "This way, this way,' cried the officer ; " pass over the places where the sand is in lines, and avoid hollows." " It is a good thing to know," said Chateaubrun, who |had kept his presence of mind, and who followed immediotely tho instructions of the soldier. Sartilly was walking ahead, concerning himself very littlo as to the choice of his path, until at length his •friend had to seize him by tho collar to remind him that prudence was necessary. The mad race that the friends ran had not been altogether useless, having diminished tho distance botween them and the fugitives, as they now could distinguish very plainly the forms of two men running, their desire being no doubt to reach the boat; and they were ontfie point of succeeding, beingacareely fifty paces from it, only having to go in the water as high as the waißt to reaoh it. They must have known they were pursued, as they turned round frequently; and the elder one seemed to be exciting bis companion to greater efforts, both by voice and gesture ; the latter, who seemed weighed I down by a rather large box; walking much slower, the elder often stopping to wait for him.

"Ah! wretches," cried the Captain. "I am going to pay you up at one blow for all you have made us suffer this month past." Sartilly, seizing the officer's gun, took aim at the fugitives, in spite of all the efforts of the soldier, who considered it a rather violent proceeding, even against smugglers. Chateaubrun, on the contrary, entirely approved of this way of settling the affair.

" Aim at De Noreff," he cried, in a loud voice. "I promise you to lay my hand upon your groom and the casket."

At the moment that the Viscount was going to touch the trigger, a fearful cry of distress was heard from the beach, while the officer se'zed the Viscount's arm, saying in an agitated voice : "It is useless ; he must die!"

At scarcely twenty paces from them, the tailor of the two who were escaping stopped suddenly as if nailed to tbe place by an invisible force. They saw him moving, extondiug his arms as if trying to support himself with his stick, but he did not go forward, and his tall form seemed to be diminishing gradually. Stupefied at this singular phenomenon, the two friends looked at the soldier, who murmured these sinister words: " A quicksaud !He is lost !'

" Toby ! Come to me 1 Help me I" cried the unfortunate man, whom the abyss was drawing down by degress. No one answered this agonising cry. The groom, having by two or three rapid leaps got away from the quicksand whe.'e his master was dying, was running with all his speed to the boat. Do Noreff was going down slowly, as if an enormous weight was drawing him into the unknown depths of the wet sands ; the mud imprisoning his legs was already as high as his knees. By an immense effort he succeedod in disengaging one of his feet; but the other sank still farther in ; and then he raised him?olf and stood erect, thinking doubtless, by re-m-iining motionless, ho could sustuin himself better. But death, hideous death, continued to mount, inch by inch, line by line, —tho mud soon reaching his waist. Then the poor, miserablo man thought for the first timo, perhaps, but there is a God who chastises, and dared to ask pardon of those he had pursued with his vengeance ! " Pardon !" he cried, clasping his hands ; "do not let me die in this way I —it is you I ontreat, M. de Sartilly ! -in the name of your betrothed !—her fortune is there I —in a casket ! -take it ! —take a\] I possess, but save me,—save me from this horrible death I"

The appeals were mora than the Viscount could withstand, and he made a movement to rim to'tjhe' unfoitypiate "flmn's aid—tho Captain, who was deathly pale, not trying to hold him back ; but the officer, throwing himself before him, put his arms around him, saying ; " You can't save him, and will perish with him !" The sand was doing ita cold and silent work, the mud having already reached his Bhoulders and neck, and now only tho head could be seen, the features being so contracted by terror as no longer to have a human appearance, while the mouth, still open, shrieked forth a last prayer. " Have pity on me !' yelled the unfortunate man, "and I will tell you the secret 1 —will toll you where Roger is ! I will save Joanne !—her life I I ask ray life in rpturn fer saving hers ; if you let me die, sho will die'!—they are going to kill her I -it is—" De Noreff oould say no more; tbe mud stopped his suppliant voice, extinguished his haggard eyes, covered his bristling hair; tho murderous sand resuming again its treacherous level, a few air-bubbles mounting to the surface, and that was all ! " God is just," said Sartilly. ft'Vcs, Qoi is just," cried the Captain, "and will not permit that rascal, Toby, to get away with the casket. Let us run ;we have just time." "To the right, gentlemen," cried the soldier ; " follow the embankment to the right," and the chase began again with ardour.

During the terrible scene of the quicksand, Toby had reached the shore, having already gone into the sea, while tbe man in the barque rowed vigorously toward him. "Thunder!" said Chateauhruri ; '.' look at h>m swimming, and ho has lot go the casket; j see it floating.1'

'i Save Joannes fortune !" cried Sartilly going forward, and, soon reaching the first waves of .the rising tide, he was walking resolutely against the flood, when the cus-tom-house officer called out in a thundering voice those words : "Come back, gentlemen, come back, or we are all dead men I" Sartilly and tbe Captain turned round to look behind them, and saw a dense fog advancing in a half circle, already hiding completely both Tombelaine and Mont Saint Michel, and it seemed as if an immense funeral pal} «nveloped tit <;he same time tho sarjdy beach and the sea. In a few soconds all had disappeared from view —the precious casket, the traitor Toby, the mysterious barque va»iEhed away like fantastic apparitions, and the flood was tho only thing to bo seen advancing slowly over tho sand. "It is tho equinoctial fog," said the soldier, "and if wo vaiue our lives, we have not a moment to lose." "What aro we to do?" asked the Captain. "Walk toward Tombelaine slowly, of course, and we will be fortunate if we reach there." "Bah I It is only ton minutes' walk from hove, and we cannot fail reaching it." " May tho good God hoar you !" said the soldier, shaking his head. " lint we may perhaps have time to save the casket," interrupted Sartilly ; "it contains afortuno." "I do not know any fortune largo enough to sacrifice my lifo for," answered tho soldier, roughly, " and I am going to start." "We'll follow you," said the Captain, struck by the authoritative tone employed by the officer for the first time. Tho little group kept together while hastening their steps, walking at first very rapidly, hoping epon to touch the solid ground, aB they no longer saw nor heard the sen. The sand was dry and firm; on tho shore there was neither hill nor undulations of any kind ; only the fog became rr,ore and more dense, and the travellers wore obliged to hold each other's hands that they might not: be separated. Once the Captain, lagging behind a few steps, was obliged to call out to find hie comrades again, and the cry of alarm that he uttered was not repeated. No one spoke, nor exchanged complaints or encouragements; advancing without stopping or turning; and in these gloomy solitudes this mute flight was mournful. They ran along for more than half an hour, at least double the time it required to reach Tombelaine, but the island did not appear. "Why, this rock must havo really been swallowed by a quicksand," said Chateaubrun suddenly, "Five minutes ago, I still hoped," said the soldier, shaking his head sadly ; " now I am sure we have passed Tombelaine." "Then we must retrace our steps, searching right and left." "Indeed the sea will not give us time to do so." " Ah ! do you think I want to be drowned! like a dog in this bay of misfortune ? You have promised to guide us ; do so. If we have pasßed the island, the shore must be bef pre us; and we can do nothing more than walk forward !" " Listen, sir. I have a wife and children that I want to see qgaiu as much as you and your friend want to return to Paris, but, upon the faith of an old soldier, I do not know where we are, md it is only a chance that can save us." " Well, wo must help our chances, and 1 am determined not to wait here for death to come." " You see very well, Bir, that I think as you do, as I have not stopped." " But where are we going to?" " To the shore, if we have good luck !" " Well, we are certain to be in the right way, if we do not meet the ■ sea ; and if it comes on us without expecting it, we have only to turn our back to it," Tho officer could not restrain an exclamation that sounded like a groan. "Then it will be too late," he said; " the equinootial tide runs along the sand as quickly as a galloping horse." " Bah ! But a moment ago the water was so calm."

" Listen," cried Sartilly stopping suddenly, and the distant but distinct sound of a bell jstruck the ears of the little group. " 'Tis the bell of Mont Saint Michel; we are saved !" "I am glad of it," cried the Uaptam ; '•' they ring to point out the way, as'they do at the Monastery of Saint Bernard. We will walk towards the bell, aa if we were walking in time of war to tho cannon a mouth." „' , " No, for we will not reach the Mont; the sea will be there hefore us, if it ib not there already; but now that I know where the shore is, we have only to go forward and turn a little to the right." " Ah, I knew we would get out of thia difficulty." " I hope bo : but do not let us lose- any time." They started with a quicker step, each one having a lighter weight of anxiety .to

bear, and Sartilly, thinking of Jeanne, I forgot almost the loss of her fortune. As \ for the Captain, his conversation, full of jokes and gayoty, never flagged ; but the soldier walking along with rapid strides, silent and attentive, did not seem entirely reassured. It seemed as if his eyes were trying to pierce the fog, while his ears were listening to the sounds behind him, nnd more than once he had made a halt of a few seconds, standing with his neck extended, his hand raised to his bead, in the attitude of a man trying to account for a noise not yet well defined ; but there came a moment when he stopped entirely—mute, motionless, and pale. From the foggy depths of the sandy beach arose a strange murmur, a rolling sound resembling the distant roar of a cataract, that continued to approach rapidly,—the wost wind bringing with it damp gusts, and large sea-birds Hying with all possible swiftness, as if pushed by an invisible blast.

" ft is the sea !" cried the custom-bouse officer ; " nothing but our legs can save us now," and he rushed along the beach followed by the two friends.

It was time, as already a large but not deep sheet of water that precedes the tide was flowing behind them ; and this waveless water unrolled itself on the level sand like an immense carpet.

At first the fugitives gained ground. The fog having cleared away a littlo, the uncertain form of a line of low ground spread itself out before them, showing vaguely through the mist. The Captain uttered an exclamation of triumph.

" There's the erobarkment, and we shall sco Tortoni again!"

" We have not touched terra fir ma yet,'said tho officer.

The sandy beach was visibly becoming higher, and it was evident they were on a place above the tide, which they heard distinctly roaring a hundred paces behind them. Suddenly the soldier stopped as if struck by a cannon-ball 1

"Go on ! go on I" cried Chateaubrun, exciting him by gestures. " Look !" the offioer merely said. Before them was whirling'an arm of the sea, Sartilly threw himself to the right, the Captain to the left, but both to the right and left was the grey water, calm, and, deep ; for they had fallen into one of those snares of this treacherous beach, as, the earth being rough, the sea fills the hollows of the shore in such a manner, that the higher land emerges a few minutes before being covered by. the tide. Their evil star had led them on one of yhese narrow necks of sand, that would disappear quickly under the floodtide, that was rolling toward them with the impetuosity of an avalanche, " We are hemmed in," said the soldier, " and can do nothing more than die."

" Die [""repeated the Captain ; "can oue die this way, who has served in the 7th Hussars ? I can't swim quite as well as a seal, but I can sustain myself on the water, and my friend is a very skilful swimmer; but as to you, my brave—"

"Gentlemen," interrupted the officer, "we have but one ohance, and that is, to let ourselves be carried away by the tide ; if it should throw us upon the shore, perhaps we may be able to catch hold of . something, if we are ust drowned before arriving there,"- ---'• Sounds I that's a good idea ; what do you say to It, Sartilly ?" The Viscount pressed Chateaubrun's hand, murmuring, "If I die, and you survive me, you will watch over Jeanne?" " You can trust her to me, my dear friend; but you will not die ; it is enough that De Noreff is dead," The Captain, was still speaking, when the sea fell upon them like a mountain of water, taking them off their feet, and carrying them along in a whirl of foam. What passed after this, neither Chateaubrun nor Sartilly ever knew very well, for, stunned by the shock, they lost breath and feeling, but a violent concussion bringing back to them tho instinct of preservation, impelled them to catch hold of the first object thoir hands came in conta,cv with. The Captain had seized hold oi the root of a tamariek-^ree, while Sartilly had bia arms around a large rock, and, on opening their eyes, they saw they had touched the shore.

•Hold on! we are saved!" said the officer, who was standing alongside of them. " A thousand thunders 1 what is that? A beam has fallen on my head," said tho stifled voico of the Captain, who had just then been struck violently by a large object. " Ah, sir, it is the casket I" said the soldier ; " here it is ! I have it!" It was ti ue ; the casket, abandoned by Toby, had been seized by the flood, and cast against the shore I Qod doeth all things well.

The saud had swallowed up Jeanne's implacable enemy! and tho equinootial tide had jrought back the Be Mensignac fortune.

{To be Continued.)