MR, PERKINS Of New Jersey, OR, THE STOLEN BONDS.

Auckland Star, Volume XIX, Issue 161, 9 July 1888, Page 6

MR, PERKINS Of New Jersey, OR, THE STOLEN BONDS.

CHAPTER XXX,

(Continued).

•Xow, Appier, let us hasten to Alburn. I wish yop. to come with me. I'm so upset 1 can't think,' said Marlow.

They took the next train for Alburn, and reached there after sunset, bub too late to do anything. 'To-morrow,' said Appier, 'we'll settle up this business, and I'll search that asylum from top to bottom.' ' Appier ! Wake ! Wake !' cried Marlow, springing up and throwing on his clothes, ho dashed out on the streeD and joined the harrying crowd. "The asylum on. fire!' The-asylum on five !' cried" the crowd, as huge columns cf smoke arose in the distance.

Outstripping many, Marlow rushed to the head of the hurrying column, ■ Oh I Mother ! Mother ! Mother !' he groaned, as he iled along. In the asylum all was wild commotion as the nurses unlocked the doora and bade the more sane patients come out: and out they poured, undressed, some wild with terror and s- .nuking; some weak from fright and tottering and falling, but for.the nu°369 ; some frantic and wild and refusing1 to go, save as the nurse 9 dragged or drove them with blows.

btouaed by the alarm bell, Polly had leaped np, and railing on Ethel to follow her had rushed out into the stiiiing, blinding smoke. ' Get out your patients,' shouted a nurse who passed her. ' Get out your patients ! The staircase is on fire. No time to waste.'

Away went Polly with Ethel at her heels. ' Keep close to me,' she ordered. She collected| her charges, and haukd and pulled and drove them before her tv the stairs. Ethel had hold of an old lady whose aged legs could hardly support her as she tottered on.

1 How about the off wing V cried Polly, referring to the bedlamites. 'They's kept for the last: couldn't do anything with them in this crowd.' * Now,' cried Dr. Parker, emerging from the staircase, gasping and panting, ' are nil of the upper-floor here: ' Coming down now, sir.' ' Where's Mrs Rollins ?' ' Mrs Rollins !' cried her nurse, who was dragging a biting, kicking lunatic, frantic ■with fright, ' I clean forgot her !' ' One of you go back,' said the elector. ' Hurry now, while I superintend the bedlamites. ' ■ ' I can't,' said the nurse. 'Nor 1 neither,' said Polly, grabbing a fleeing patient. ' Gome back here.' 'Polly, I'll go. Give me the key,'said Ethel. 1 Hake haste, deary, and join us afore the bedlamites come,' said Polly, as the nurse gave her the key. ' Remember it's right over your room.' Away darted Ethel up the stairs through the blinding smoke, toward the corner room ; the key turned the lock, and she dashed in. ' Mrs Marlow ! Mrs Marlow !' she gasped. ' Come, Como ■' But Mrs Marlow was frantic with fright. She turned round and round like a crazy creature. 'Come! Come!' the girl repeated, 'before the staircase catches, or the bedlamites come down. They are turning them loose now.' ' Great God '.' cried Mrs Marlow, wildly. 41 can't face them ! Oh ! what shall Ido ? Oh ! what shall I do ?' ' Come ! Come ! It will bo too late !' • It is too late !' cried a mocking voice, and the key turned. Queen Victoria was hurrying by, and the fiend of murder seized her. Ethel flew to the door. 'Oh! my God !' she moaned. ' We are locked in ! We are lost.' ■

She went to the window and tried to force it open. The blinds parted; below was a vase sea of heads, lit up by the fierce glare of the flames.

' Help ! Help !' she cried, half throwing herself from the window.

Polly, now carrying out her charge, spied her. 'Oh 1 my deary ! nay deary !' ene screamed.

Jeffreys, who was standing in the crowd, pale and breathless, saw her ; he ran toward the nurse. 'MywifoJ My wife!' he yelled, half frantic. But Mrs Marlow seized Ethel and jerked her back, and thrust herself out.

' Help ! Help !' she screamed. ' Look ! Look !' yelled the crowd, pointing to where the pale woman stood. Marlow, who stood panting in the crowd, looked up and rocognis'ed — his mother! Tho nexttoornent he rushed into the house where'the firemen stood flghtitfgf Che tire, striving to keep it in check, till the bedlamites could be 'dragged out. Above the hoarse roar of the crowd, above the Crackling oi' the fire and the hiss of the water as it fell, above all these noises rose the awful yells and whoops of. the demoniacs as thoirkeepers jerked open their coll doors and turned them loose.

They now* came down the cross hall on which their cells stood, into the upper hall and down the winding staircase; their fierce cries rent the air. For pure joy of being free, they would have case themselves into the flames, had not their keepers driven them forward with blows and, curses. Down the fitaircase they trooped, a wild, unkempt set, half naked, looking more like furies and fiends than human beings. At sight of the firemen with hose in their hands, the head of the column fell on them with exultant yells, their hats were knocked from their heads, the hose jerked from their hands. To the righthand, to the'left. they were knocked and slapped, the fierce bedlamites hitting, biting,/ scratching. At this onslaught the firemen, who constantly faced death and danger, fled in terror, many of them leaving their hats in the hands of the maniacs. Blinded by the smoke, scorched and blistered by the beat, the keepers drove the demented rioters before them ; forward and out into the night they went, screaming, screeching, bowling, the ci pwd receding before them with an instinctive horror. • ' ! Through thia living lane the demented ran, followed by their keepers, till safe ou£ in the park, they leaped. and howled and wallowed on the grass. As the demented went forth, the firemen seized their hose and played again upon the fire, which bow threatened to get the better, of them and leave nothing but the bare walls.

Marlow now rushed in and ran toward the stairway. 'Stop!' roared a man. 'Itit as much as your life is worfch.' r j 1 My mother is up there,' cried Marlow, • and 1 mngb rescue her or—1 • 'Play qn the. staircase,' shouted the chief. «If he will go give him a chance.' 'It's on the fourth flcTor, corner room,' shouted a keeper, as Marlow rushed. fay, his clothes web, his hat pulled well down over his eyes.' The water played about him as he dashed up, and upi arid up the winding steps through" scorching beat and blinding smoke. The pen threw the water high, trying to follow him, and keep the fire, under that he had to rush through; up, and up, aiid tip. he went); Toe vtfhra. on the outside became frantic as the liidy 'neid'hor hands out) and begged fpr heip—for life*'; .'Jlefa Cppiing■■}/;.' JJe'e, Icomjng J' they yelled. ■■. ~-.-,'; i .^itftisnrfi—^)ksnttunZ '..*..!

But how was he to get down, for from the walls below the me leaped in long tongues licking out as if in search of food. Within, Marlow, blinded by the smoke, staggered to and fro like a drunken man. On reaching the fourth iloor he started down the corridor, trying every door till ha reached the corner one that was locked and the key gone. Putting his shoulder to it, he forced it open, and through the thick smoke saw two white figures. ' Mother !' he called hoarsely, 'Mother !' Mrs Marlow turned from the window, and the crowd, thinking he had reached her, set up a wild cheer. But while she turned, a slight figure in white recognised the visitor for whom she had been longing, and threw her arms about him. ' Alex !' she cried. ' Alex ! have you come V ' Echel !Is this really you ?' He held her fast; he s-trained her close for one instant; the next his mother reached him, ' Who is it ?: ' Mother ! Don't you know me V 'My son '. My dear son !' Her arms were about him. : Xow !' cried Marlow. Come !we have !no time to lose. The staircase is already in . flames,' He hurried them to the corridor as he spoke. The next instant, with a mighty eras'l, the staircase fell in on the first door, while tiic tiames came travelling up to the second storey A cry rose up from the surging crowd. 1 Cut off! Cut off! The staircase has fallen !'

CHAPTER XXXI. jMaklow groaned, and his mother uttered a. piercing scream. He rushed back into the room and thrust his head out of the window, ' A ladder ! A ladder !' he shouted. Hundreds of voices replied in one confused shout, pointing all the time to the window. Looking down hq saw that the flames were pouring out. of the second storey, durting upwards like a thousand writhing c pen is, so that no ladder couid rest upon the rTO.II.

Then a man sprang out of the ciowd, and making a trumpet of his hand, shouted, •Go up the attic stairs! Get f,hrou»h the skylight on to the roof !' Marlow hurried back to the corridor; the smoke was pouring into it, thick and dense and suffocating. Seizin;; a chair he smashed the window sash in the hall to allow the Ssm6!ie to pass out. As it escaped, a flood of light pa*33d in, and by its aid he found his way back to the stair?. ' Come this way,' he said, and hurried Ills companions up to the attic. The, tire-escape was at the head of the stairway else he would never have found it. Pushing it up, he lifted Ethel up so that she could climb through. The girl was light and active, and in a second stood erect upon the roof, and at the sight the mighty crowd below shouted aloud.

' Now, Ethel,' called the matter-of-fact lover, 'give mother a helping hand.' He lifted her up, and by dint of pulling and , pushing Mrs Marlow got on the roof. i Then clambered out, and as he 3tood erect with an arm about each, such a shout went up as made the welkin ring. ' My deary ! My deary !' screamed Polly. • It is she ! It is she !' • The brave fellow !' ' That's his mother that he risked his life for!' ' One of the poor lunatics left behind !' ' See how tenderly he holds her l' ' And the other?' Oniy three in the crowd recognised her : Polly, weeping for joy ; Jeffreys, his terror turned to rage at sight of her with Marlow ; and Mr Vincent, who, enraged that hi 3 scheme should fail, began to plot how he could remedy it. With his arm about his mother, and Ethel's hands locked fast in his, Marlow looked about him. x\s far as eye could see, nothing but a sea of heads—of upturned faces. The roof was almost flat and the slates were not yet heated. Guiding his companions he walked slowly toward the edge nearest the' convalescent building and waited.

How helpless he felt with nothing to do but wait!

His two companions clung to him trembling, his'mothtr weeping. 'And have you found me but to die?' she sobbed—'and such a death?'

'If die we must, wo die together, 1 he answered, gently. But though he spoke to his mother, his eyes rested on Ethel, and he drew the trembling girl closer to him.. 'My darling!' he whispered. 'This thought robs death of his terrors, its ' The mighty roar below broke again into a shout, and Marlow, looking up from Ethel's pale, quivering face, saw that tho firemen were hauling their ladders up to the roof of the convalescent building. ' Courage !' he said, ' they are fixing to help us.' 'Thank God !'cried Mrs Marlow,

Regarding the wing as hopeless, the firemen were bending every energy to save the convalescent building, and their engines played on it without ceasing. But at the same time they were bending every nerve to secure the three prisoners on the doomed building. And now, after hauling their ladders up to the roof of the convalescent hall, they proceeded to Jash them together to try and bridge the chasm between the two buildings. It was a difficult job. Marlow watched them as, after making their bridge, they slowly pushed it along. The frailness oft the ladders and the greatness of the distance caused the flimsy structure to bend clear down to the third storey. . ' . ' Pull it back and tie a rope to it,' ordered the chief, and the men obeyed.

The crowd began to nuifcter at tho delay. The fire burned ho.tter and hotter, higher and higher, The smoke .burst from the windows on the top floor and swept like a : black banner over the heads of the devoted three—the, doomed three !

The crowd began to threaten,

' By this time a small rope qv cord was tied to. the. end of the ladder and tho rest rolled up, in a compact ball. ' Now, then !' shouted a fireman to Marlow, showing the ball,' catch this!'

Marlow instantly loosened his companions'grasp of him, and stood ready as thiei other- threw the.ba.ll> which ho caught and began to pull and guide the ladder as the firemen pushed it. At last it; reached the roof of the burning building and was seized and safely pulled upon ifc. 'Now, then!' roared the chief through hi 3 trumpet, ■ can you walk jb t ' Walk that flimsy, swaying thing !' Marlpw shook his head.: ""• It, ;s your only chance for life !' ' The young man tried the ladilcr with his foot, Yes; ie seemed firm. 3Je then threw off his coat and vest) and removed his shoes.

As he did so an awful struggle raged within him. Only one could he take with him I: '.i :i ■', Which one ?' , If, he lived to come back would she be there? For the roof was heating and crackling and soon would crash in. There was no time for parleying. What should he do? He rose ; and though he stood in a burning beat, a cold sweat broke over him. fI can take but one'—he began; he looked first at one and then the other, and his eye 3 then rested on Ethel. She grew deadly pale, but; sho forced herself to speak. 1 Take your mothers—and como back for me!1 : •I will, if only to die,' he muttered hoarsely. ' '■-•'-■ Ho stooped end lifted his mother in his

arm?. She was shaking like an aspen. ' Put your arms around my neck. Rest your head on my shoulder so! clo?e your eyes, mother. Now stay perfectly still. Remember, if you jerk or move, you lose us both.'

She meekly obeyed. 'My son ! my dear son !' she murmured, as ?he felt his strong arms about her. ' My mother !my dear mother !' He straightened himself under bis, burden and with head erect, strode out upon the flimsy bridge that trembled under their weight. Round after round he slowly stepped. The crowd below watched in painful silence. Every step he took seemed to beat upon their heads—their brains. One misstep and they would both be hurled below, a crushed and mangled mass. An awful breathless silence feli on all.

Step after step, slowly, mechanically.the man on the ladder went bearing his motionless burden. The crowd below drew their breath in quivering sobs. Could he hold out? could he hold out? they wondered as the ladder swayed beneath him.

Like one walking in a dream Marlow went on. He could nob see the rounds and it was well that he could not, else his head might turn, perched thus in mid air. lie had gauged at tirab the distance, and he now mechanically stepped it off. Well did the atbleto'a training serve him now in the ease with .which he bore hia burden, his well-strung nerves, his coolness, Irisdeterrnination, that nothing should upsec him. Slowly, carefully he s( ■o to on. The crowd below watch d with their nerves on. the stretch.

Oh, would he never get over ? Must this^ strain on them last for over ? They moaned and sobbed in their agony. Onward, onward, onward strode the man upon the swaying ladder. Onward, onward, onward. At last he nears the end ! He has reached it ! Thank God ! Thank God ! -Thank God !

The crowd drew a long shivering sob of relief and many wept. Then, as" the young man set his burden down, a mighty shout went up, a shout to which all others had been as nothing. A shout that rose and sank againn. A mighty wave of sound from that tumultuous human sea.

Indifferent to the tumult—indeed, he hardly heard it.—Marlow laid his half-con scious burden in the arms of a fireman, and retraced his steps. But safe from danger, Mrs Marlow rallied. She struggled to free herself from the grasp of a man who held her, and shrieked after her son : ' Com3 back, Alex ! Come back ! Why risk your precious life for a stranger ? —for your enemys daughter! Let a fireman do it. Come back ! Come back !'

1 (To be Continued.)