A STRANGE QUEST.

Auckland Star, Volume XXI, Issue 25, 31 January 1890, Page 6

A STRANGE QUEST.

Br MANSFIELb Tract Walworth, Author of " Warwick," " Hotspur," " Beverly," "Lulu," etc., etc.

CHAPTER XVII.

THE DETECTIVE'S WORK,

Surely some one musb awake under the terror and bhe earnesbness of bhat solitary man's cry. But no; the sleepers were as if dead. Wealth was aboub to bake to itself wings and fly away. Some one was on the verge of financial ruin. Again the man gave the warning cry ab bhe bop of his lungs, and as he did so a huge puff of smoke ascended from bebween the decks and rolled away inland over the prostrate form of Pryor. The detective, weary and buried in profound slumber, noted it not. Again the smoke came up from the interior of the vessel and scabbered over bhe entire surface of the upper deck in the sudden breeze which blew from the east. The sleeper turned uneasily on his hard bed as if something had disturbed his dreams. Presently the smoke came up in huge volumes and sweeping away over the deck envelope, him in a cloud which nearly suffocated him. He awoke, started up in surprise, and heard the cry from the shore repeated, ' Fire 1 fire !' He scrambled to his feet and ran to the forecastle of the ship and aroused the watch. The unibed voices of the men then rang bhrough the vessel, summoning those bebween decks to hurry up for their lives. While all was confusion, and the smoke blinded all eyes, the wind freshened. The crew came scrambling up from the forward part of the ship, and saw thab bheir companions in the centre of the vessel had no chance of escape. They must already have suffocated in the smoke which issued densely from the only avsnues of exit from between decks. Then the survivors leaped upon bhe wharf and scabtered in .every direction, shouting, «Fire ! fire!' Up from the funeral pile of their shipmates the flames now darted, like tongues amid the smoke. The blaze caught the tarred ropes of the rigging, and climbed rapidly. up among the spars and furled sails. Then came bhe booming of bhe ciby alarm-bell. Bub ib was too late. The fire had gained rapid headway in a cargo of inflammabl. materials, and the whole fabric of the upper spars and cordage was in flames, superbly beautiful, superbly terrible. Upon all bhe adjacenb . shipping wa3 a, brillianb light, and cries of alarm mingled with the hoarse utterances of command. Other ships, Were in imminent peril, for the wind was now blowing a gale. There were desperate efforts made by skilful officers to withdraw their vessels from the wharf to the opposite shore. Some were successful, others unsuccessful. A ship and a brig which had dropped sorire of their sails were caught by the gale and swept directly upon the burning vessel. Instantly they were in fla-hes aloft. The sailors took to the small boats and pulled out into the stream. The abandoned vessels were at this juncture played vpon by two heavy streams of water from the steam tire-engines which had arrived upOri the shore. TheVesba, which was lashed to the ship where Pryor had been sleeping, was only in flames aloft, andstrenuousefforts were being made by her crew to cut her loose. In this task they were aided by two men who had mounted her decks and given the sleeping Sailors the alarm. One of the men who was Working heroically to succour them was Pryor. The other was a huge man who had first cried fire from the shore. Though a person of bulky proportions, he was powerful in limb and prompb and efficienb as a thoroughbred sailor. He saw that the danger wa3 principally from above, and suggested to the captain, whom he well knew, the propriety of cutting away instantly the mizzen mast, which was the only one yet on fire. The captain acquiesced, and the bulky man swunganaxe at this task like a veteran wood-chopper of the forest. Presently bhe mast tottered and fell into the river, the sailors, with knife and axe having severed all connecting ropes above. It was cleverly done, and there was no more fire on the Vesta. Still sho could not swing clear ot the burning ship for the reason that the -moke was so dense between the two vessels thab the sailors could nob geb ab the iron cables which bound the two together low down on the hulls. Every effort they made in this regard was thwarted by the smoke which drove them back. There was some unaccountable enbanglemenb of chains bebween the hulls which could nob be reached. Pryor, mbro fearless than any of the crew, caused himself to be let down through tho smoke by a rope about his waist. According to his calculation he found a pOiht near the water where bhe air was clear of smoke, and wibh his axe severed a rope, which was the real secret, and insbanbly bhe Vesta parted from the burning ship and swung out into the stream, saved. The crew cheered and hauled the detective up to the deck. At this instanb a sail in flames was torn from the top of another ship and carried by the wind directly upon tho deck of the Vesta, where Pryor and the fat man were standing together and congratulating the captain upon their escape. The two heroic strangers on the ship were covered by bhe sail and bheir clothing took fire. Before they could be rescued from tho folds of the burning sail they were both fearfully burned about the neck and shoulders. Some of the crew poured over them buckets of water, drenching them to the skin, and thus burned and soaked they were carried to beds between decks. The captain of the Vesta, having brought his ship to the opposite shore, and secured her, hastened below to look after the two men who had worked so faithfully for the vessel in her hour of peril. He found them Btrebched upon beds on bhe cabin floor and bandaged with oil and cotton. Addressing the man of ponderous proportion., he said : ' Yon have saved a quarter of a million of dollars, Timothy Robust, by giving us timely warning of our danger and then working so hard to save us. I shall hasten to notify the owner of your instrumentality in rescuing this property and bhe vessel. Nor'shall I forget this brave sailor who is stretched beside you.' • And who is the owner ?' asked the sufferingTimobliyfainbly,forhe wasbadly burned. •Miss Angelina Lofty,' was the response. * She owns both ship and cargo.' Timothy half started up at this announcement, and then, falling upon his pillow, • Thank Heaven for thab! Perhaps she will now dedncb a few inches and come to _*-.Triii * 4Ah !' said the captain. ' So > she has a city lot adjoining yours, has she ?' ' No,' replied the corpulent man, unable to restrain the latent fun in him even on his bed of suffering; 'her lob has not been cast with mine yet.' Then, realising that he was compromising his secret by the remark about the inches, he said: ' I think lam raving. lam in such pain that you must not heed what I say. But one thing you must do for me*. Captain Rogers.' • Command me, sir, for any service,' was the generous and prompt response. •You must land me, and then get a, carriage to carry me home. I insist on this gallant sailor accompanying me. I shall see that my sister nurses him until he is well.'

'Thank you, Mr Robust,' said the disguised detective beside him. *l hope I

won't be a burden On youi* hands long.' ' Yonr wishes shall be atteiided to in the morning,' said the oaptain. I will send you both across in a boab ab break of day. In the meantime try to sleep.' With similar. words of kindness' he left bhem in charge of two sailors and went again on deck.

An entire year had passed since the rescue of the Vesta, and Pryor was still an inmate of the hou_e of Timothy Robust. The lumber merchant had recovered from the effects of his injuries in a few weeks; bub bbc poor detective, who lay in the adjoining chamber, was stricken with a long and distressing fever, induced by the .xposnres to which he had been subjected. When the fever ab lasb was broken by bhe skilful treatment of bhe family physician, ib was found that Prydr's system was completely broken down. He could nob walk, and was forbidden by his host to make any attempt to escape from bhe house until bime had resbored him entirely bo health. The weary months dragged on aiid found the sister and brother ever ab the side of his bed and easy-chair, to administer comforts or speak of hope. Timothy formed an ardent attachment to the man who had shared the dangers and the credit of bhe rescue of the Vesta, Gradually in their intercourse it leaked out that Pryor was no sailor, but the famous private detective, whose exploits had reached the lumber dealer's ears. Step by step respect and confidence mounted into friendship, and at the end of a year Timothy Robhsb found himself on many an evening, after business hours, sitting beside the debecbive, and lisbening bo the narrative of crimes and their successful pursuit and exposure. The subjecb has a fearful and yet intense interest. Ib is the battle of wit against wit, craft against crafb, intellect against intellect. The detective becomes conversant with the motives which influence the high and the low, the educated and the ignorant. His vocation brings him in contact with bite merchanb prince, bhe banker's clerk, the refined woman, the prostitute, and the man who murders with a club. He pursues one course to entrap educated villainy, and another to detect the crimes of the low- ; cunning. From the very nature of his profession he is obliged to be an actor, to assume every form of disguise in dress or speech, and bo impersonate every character. He must be a fearless n_an, for he deals with desperadoes, and must frequent their dens and liquor shops where they gain the inspiration for their desperate deeds. He must assume also the manners of the polished gentleman, and bhe suaviby and ease of manner of the gamblers who atcract bankers' and merchants' clerks to their elegant dens. If he is really great in his profession (and some detectives are great) he is a real blessing to the community. Of course his profession may be prostituted to evil purposes like all professions. But he can be crafty as Satan and fully as indefatigable, and yet preserve an upright heart and an honourable citizenship. Such an agent of justice was Pryor, the emaciated invalid, who sat beside Timothy Robust in his library and revealed, after a year of suffering and silence, the object for which he had assumed the sailor's garb on the nighb the Vesta was saved. When, however, in the course of his revelations he disclosed to his friend the tact that he was following the boy, Sam, to convict him of murdering Red-Eyed Mag in the shanty, the listener felt his interest deepening. He knew something of that mysterious affair himself, bub he held his peace until Pryor had concluded. Then he said : ' The boy, Sam, never murdered that Woman.' 1 Why do you say that ?' inquired the invalid. 'For this reason,' said Timothy. 'On the very night and at the very time you assume that the woman was killed by some slender, sharp-pointed weapon, I passed that shanty in the rain and darkness. I saw a man with a lantern issue from that house with blood upon his garments, and with a bloody fork in his hand. His face was the face of a desperado and a devil, and his fork would make just such a wound as you have described.' * Can you idenbify that man's face ?' inquired the amazed detective. ' Would you know him again if you happened to meet him?'

' Would I know Satan himself, if I encountered his majesty a second time V ' I think you would,' said Pryor with a laugh. • Then, Mr Detective, so certainly would I know the fork-bearer if I saw bis face once more. The crimes of his life had marked themselves upon his features or he was a born devil. I'd know him. Trust me.'

•Let me sketch you a portrait,' said Pryor, • and see if you can detect any resemblance in the picture to the man whom you saw thab night with bhe lantern aud fork.'

'Very good,' said Timothy, now thoroughly excited, and drawing his chair closer to the invalid.

The detective thus encouraged described a man well-known to the police, and believed to have been connected with several murders and swindling operations; but never yet convicted of any offence. His cunning had been his shield always. They never could fix any crime upon him with certainty. 'There is a man, an American, a,bout sixty years of age, and five feet nine inches high. His frame is solid, bub Would not attract attention from any particular corpulency or manifestation of muscular power. His figure, face and hands would indicate a mercantile pursuit, a firmlybuilt gentleman who spent his days in a counting-room, and used his hands only in work which required a pen. His face is not bronzed by exposure. He is bald on the top of his head, but on each side of the baldness is a gOod sweep of mixed black and grey hair brushed flab toward the front. His forehead is open, high and broad, indicating .large powers. His eyes are a green, penetrating grey, deep set under bushy eyebrows. His nose is a Roman nose, large and thin. His cheeks are sunken and pale. His mouth suggests at; once the beak of a bird, the upper lip, slightly projecting beyond the lower. The idea one has upon seeing him is this : that man can talk religion to you by tho hour, while he is planning how to rob you. His gait is quick and nervous. He "wears no beard upon his face of any kind. But his eye is wicked,and attracts attention at' once from the absence of all warmth or sympathy in it. The eyes and the bird-mouth convict him on Sight. I will pause herewith my portrait. Whab do you think of it ? Did yOu ever see anything like it ?'

Timothy Robust,who had looked often in the detective's eyes while be was speaking, exclaimed:

' That is the man who came up from the chanty with the* lantern, the bloody garments and the fork. You know him then ?'

• I kno^v him well,' said Pryor, ' and have talked with him when he had no idea who I was. That very man has tried bo my face to throw suspicion on the boy, Sam.'

•Then your strange meeting with Timothy Robust has been of service to you, has it ?'

«It has indeed,' said Pryor, I think now that Sam may prove to be a witness. I must track tbe boy now at all hazards. That is if I ever get my strength again.' 'Oh, toy dear fellow,' said Timothy, * never fear that you will not be all right soon. You are much stronger than you were lasb week. But tell me, did this man belong tothe gang of thieves who frequented that shanty ?' «He muttb have been conversant with their doings, for he was often at Red-Eyed Mag's." They were all on friendly terms; with him, for I "saw thab myself. Bub I tell you ho never could be convicted of any. crime. His associates have been senb to

the State prison. He always escapes after a brief imprisonment on suspicion. I have fancied sometimes that he had some secret influence over the district attorney. You know there is* a great deal of corruption and bribery in the courts of bhis city. This man always seems to have more money ab command than any of the rest. Ho eats at first-class restaurants alone by himself, and spends money freely in bar-rooms. But he is superior intellectually bo any member of the gang, and is capable of doing nicer work in the swindling line, I have thoughb sometimes bhab he simply hires bhem bo do ugly work for him, and does not share the plunder of their burglaries. Bub now 1 musb bake the clue from you, and watch his conduct and his haunts closely. Do you bhink I could walk across bhe room now? Suppose I make bhe experimenb?' The proposition was acquiesced in and Timothy supported the invalid as he arose to his feet and made the abtempb. It proved to be successful. Pryor could walk at last. From this hour hope grew bright within him. With care and daily exercise in the comfortable apartments of Timothy Robust, the debecbive saw bhab he might in a few weeks resume his way in the busy marts of men and take up the threads of his triple search ab bhe poinb fate had torn them from his hand on board the Vesta.

(To be Continued.)