MAUBIKECK, THE LION-TAMER.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVI, Issue 288, 4 December 1895, Page 6

MAUBIKECK, THE LION-TAMER.

BY SEWARD W. ROPKINS.

Author of 'Jack Bobbins of America,' 'In the China Sea,' * Two Gentlemen of Hawaii,' ' On a False Charge,' Etc., Etc. CHAPTER XXIII. This chapter ia of the nature of an interjection. It contains, without any reference to the chain of events in which I was an actor, the story of HWy Thorlane. This I gleaned from him in bits during the few day immediately following the death of Malieni, the prefetto, and the Couub di Pgrdino. But these daya were such excitad ones, and there were so many things to be done and so many steps to ba taken, most of which have little or no bearing on the story of the lives of Thorlane or Nita Barlotbi, but in which we were compelled, by virtue of our presence and the parts we had taken in the dramatic occurrences that had passed, to interest ourselveß, that I haye resolved to separate the story of Thorlana trpm aU the rest and give it by itself in a condensed bufi comprehensive form, so that the reader may not become weary with a superfluity of details in which he has no interest. The sfeory of Thorlane which Mufcfcerelh bad told me concerning the arrest and imprisonment of the innocent man for conspiracy and the confiscation of bis estate, was true. He had been incarcerated in the monastery of the Saints. The truth was this : Thorlane, during his days of liberty, bad, as Mutterelli had informed me, been an open enemy of tbe monks of The Saints. Bub his enmity was nob directed toward th<? entire body, nor against the superior of the monastery, but against those monks whose practices he believed to be corrupt, and who, he believed, were in league with the prefetto and the Count di Pordino in their extortion and brigandage. In thia he had found a secret friend in no le»a a personage than the superior of the monastery himself, who, though a good man, was weak and unable to successfully cope with the combination for evil which he knew existed.

He did, however, develop enough backbone to help his friend Thorlane, and soon after the imprisonment of bhe Englishman, the superior succeeded in some way in making the prefetto believe that the prisoner would be more secure in solitary confinement in the monastery. The prefetto readily assented, and Thorlane was removed from the Torre dell Elefante to the monastery. He was placed in at underground cell, and only the superior and one trusted monk were ever to be allowed to see him until the long term of hia puninhmenfc and penance was ended, by which time the prefebto and the count) hoped he would be dead.

From the monastery he was assisted to escape by the superior, who continually reported to the prefetto the security and safety of his prisoner. Thorlane lived for a time in the marble grotto, and one day he meb, while hunting moullon, disguised beyond recognition, hio old comrade and university companion, Mutterelli, to whom be made himself known. Mutterelli helped him to escapo from Sardinia, with the four mountain lions who had been bis companions in the grotto, and with these he resolved to seek his fortune in America, until he had amassed enough money to enable him to legally and successfully combab the charges against him and regain his confiscated estates.

He reached America successfully and exhibited bis lions in a small way, adopting the name Maubikeck as being one not likely to lead to identification.

Then Pacho Maligni, the brother of the man againßb whose lifo he was accused of conspiring, begun operations collecting the materials for his circus. Pacho Maligni, although he may have known of the change of ownership of tho Villa di Thorlano, keeping abreast of ths affairi in Sardinia, did not know Maubikeck, and the liontamer resolved to link hia fortunes to those of tho Sardinian, with the hope thab in some way the connection might lead to Bomediscoveries thab wouldbeadvanbageous to himself.

Ab the rehearsals he met and loved Nita Barlotti, and she returned his love. To her be told all the story of his misfortunes, and found in bhe beautiful trapeze girl a ready sympathiser. What occurred in New York to stir and start afresh the adventures of my remarkable (riend has already been eeb forth in these pages.

When Thorlane, or as I knew him, Maubikeck, was left behind on the sinking Queen, he did nob go tamely to a heroic daath, as I supposed, bub resolutely set to work to save his heroic life. He managed, by the aid of two others, to geb a raft together before the ahip wenb down. This was furnished with a sail and supplied with food. Upon it they launched themselves upon the waves, and sailed wherever the wind drove them, clinging desperately to the slippery rafb, which was often completely submerged by the waves.

They were fortunately driven to the Azores, where, after a stay of a week or so, they were taken on board a Bailing vessel which was bound for Lisbon, and which had stopped at the Azores for water. From Lisbon he came to Italy, and ab Genoa sought his old friend Mutterelli, whom he felt he could truss implicitly. Being informed that Mutterelli was in Cagliari with Signor Wilberton of New York, Thorlane made all preparation bo enter the country where his life and liberty were nob safe, and the day he saw me wounded by the waydide waa his first day in Cagliari. He had found Mutterelli, and these two ab once entered into a secret compact, the results of which we have seen.

Mutfcerelli was a member of a secret order in Italy and Sardinia, into which he initiated 'Brother Michael,' and ib was the authority thia membership gave him thab enabled the putative monk to compel the band of Counb di Pordino to withdraw just when they hold victory in their grasp. Thorlane, as Brother Michael, became the guest of the superior of the monastery, and from that vantage ground proceeded to pub into operation all the wires and machinery of bis secret skill to bring to a successful termination bis dangerous mission. The tremendous nerve and dariag of the man can be understood when we bear in mind that his energies were directed toward the rescue of Nita Barlotti from the prefetto and the Counb di Pordino, the solution of the my3tery of the murder of Pacho Maligni, the removal of all charges against myself, the vengeance he had been waiting for against the prefebto and the count, and the recovery of hia valuable estate, together with his own freedom from the law and the malicious charges which had been made Against him.

And now that we have seen how well he carried out bis purposes, how steadfasb he was in his love and in his friendship, and bow skilfully he did the work he had on hand, I leave it to the reader to justify the love and admiration that Nita Barlotti and I felt toward this man, whose nobility of soul and sterling worth are worthy of a more fitting tribute ihan can be conveyed in my feeble and inadequate language. chaptefTxxiv. As I said in the foregoing.chapter, the days immediately following the death of the prefobto and the Count di Pordino were exciting onea.

A new prefetto was appointed by the king, and he proved to be a generous and intellectual man, at whose hands we received the kindest treatment. He made a most rigid and careful investigation, delving deep into the methods of his predecessor ; and having become convinced that the only good things that Maligni had ever dona aa prefetto were done on his death bed, ho fully confirmed the provisions of the papers that had been drawn up by Thorlane, and proceeded to destroy and reconstruct the work of all the preceding days of Maligni'e evil administration. The villa of Maligni remained in hi 3 family, and the new prefotto resided at the prefettura in the old castle in Cagliari, with his wife, a charming woman, and his daughters, accomplished young ladies about the age of Nita. Here Nita remained as his guest during the remainder of our stay in Sardinia, while Mutter6lli and I took up our abode ab the splendid but neglected Villa di Tborlano, as the guest of Thorlane. We spent many a pleasant day roaming over the Sardinian mountains hunting the fleecy mouflon, while Thorlane was busy with the profetto in straightening out affairs in which we could be of no assistance.

Under the new prefebto all my belongings were restored to me, and I was once more in possession of the letter of Antonio Sigmotta, and fehe locket and pin that had belonged to the infant Alice Graviscourb. The importance of these was groafely augmented by another docuinenb which contained the statement of Dumbo, duly attested by the new prefetto, and the import of which will be duly disclosed. I made Nit* Barlotti fuHy acquainted with the significance ot these things ; and our impatience to be off to America to finish our work was generously mot by the new prefetto, who aided ub in every way, and tinally saw us depart from Cagliari with many expressions of regret. Thorlane wished to have the marriage of Nita to himself solemnised before leaving, but sha archly bade him ba patient, for there was plenty of time; and she preferred to know the truth concerning herself before she became his wife. I added my own voico to here, and told him that he should be happy and satisfied now and willing to wait for the final consummation of hia bliss and not delay our departure, for I was as impatient to see my own love as he could be, and the fulfilment of my happiness depended upon the successful denouement of the affuirs of Alice Graviscourt, before the despoiler of her fortune could have time to compel Edith Broughton to become his bride. To our united voices, Thorlane laughingly yielded, and placing his ostate in competent hands, to be cared for until his return for final adjustment, ho announced himself as ready to start. So we took steamer to Genoa, where I made good my promises to the faithful Mutterelli, and placed to his account fifty thousaud lire, equal to aboub ten thousand dollars.

We hurried on to Havre, Nita, Thorlane and I, and toon: passage on La Touraine for New York. At) my suggestion, Nita had engaged a maid, and as she was an elderly, sourvisaged female, she served every purpose of chaparon aa well as of preserving appearances. Once in New York I sought tho major. I found him ats the club, and he nearly fell io a heap on the floor when he behold me. ' Be gad !' ha exclaimed, rushing to me, wringing my hands, tears streaming down his face and hia whole frame trembling. • Dick! WHberton, old fellow, how did you do ib ? We heard you were dead, you know.' 'Heard I was dead, oh? Well, Im a lively dead man, major. I've gob what I went after, and more, too. Had all sorts of adventures oud narrow escapoß. Brought back Maubikeck, whose name is Honry Thorlane, and Nita Barlotti, whose name is Alice Graviscourk' •No I Gad 1 Is it so ? Have you got the proofs V •Proof enough. We mußt see Charles Sigmotta ab once. I need another bit of testimony from him, and then we'll tackle Graviscourb and knock him out.'

The major was more excited over my aafe return than I had ever seen him before. When our first greetings were over he rang for refreshments, and we sat down in our favourite corner, where I had to relate the story of my adventures and tell again and again the heroism of Henry Thorlane. I showed him the locket and pin and read to him the statements of Antonio Siginetta and Dambo. ' You returned jusb in time,' said the major, grimly. 'The wedding is now surely on the way. I hare learned since you left the true inwardness of Broughton's preference for Graviscourt. It seems that Broughton'B means are much more limited than we hare supposed, and he has from time to time borrowed money from Graviscourt, giving him a mortgage on his house as security. He has gone to the wall financially, and Graviscourt pushes his claim to Edith, promising Broughton to cancel all debts the day she becomes his bride. She held out firmly until the news came tbub you died in Sardinia of some fever, and- then the poor girl gave up the fighb and consented to be a sacrifice to save her father. But you are in time, boy—you are in time. Edith loves you, and you only. Do up Giaviscourt, aDd the field ia yours.' . • VVhab about Nita?' I asked. 4 She is now at the same hotel as Thorlano and I but it doesn'b look jusb—'

• Nob ot all, boy ; nob ab all. My sister, Mrs Dabner, is just the one. She will be glad to receive her as a guest), and, of course, her wedding must be in my sister's house. I will see Nellie ab once.'

True bo his promise, the major saw bis sister, and he readily assented to his plan. Thab evening Nita was escorted to Mrs Dabner'a house, where she remained until she became Mrs Henry Thorlane.

' When I left my club, I was hurrying through the street, when lo ! I saw Edith Broughton coming toward mo, with a couple of small packages in her arms. And she waa alone. My death had freed her from all danger in Broughton'a eyes, and she was now allowed to go shopping alone. I looked aboub me hurriedly, and saw a doorway that was somowhaO dark and secluded. I waited near ib, and whon Edith came up I seized her, whisked hor into that doorway, and proceeded to hug and kiss her in a fashion that partially recompensed me for the long period of waibing I had undergone. At first she was frightened nearly oub of her wits, bub when sho realiiied who ib was thab held her t'asb, the darling pub her arms around my neck and mob me fairly half way, dropping her bundles in her excitement. I Dick! Darling Dick !' she cried, • They told me you were dead.' Kisses. I 1 don't look very dead, do I, darling V Ivlore kisees. " I have come back to take you away from that fellow, Graviscourt, and no nonsense aboub ib now, either. I've learned enough since I left New York, and you will be my wife now if I have to kill Graviscourb and your respected parents to get you !' • Oh, Dick, darling, what an escape I've had I If you'd been a little later I'd have married him to save papa. Oh, think of ib, Dick.'

• Don'b do ib. Think of me. You are sure you love me?' • Oh, Dick !' reproachfully. I kissed her again. Her lace was suffused with blushes. Her hafc was awry. She was half laughing and half crying in her happiness.

1 Some one will see us, Dick,' she said, finally. •Do call a carriage and bake me home.'

So I called a carriage, and putting my future wife into it, I clambered in after her and seb hor down ab her own door. Then I lighted a cigar and, ordering the driver to

take me to the hotel, I lay back on the cushions, the moab exquisitely happy, contented and egotistically satisfied individual in the universe.

(To ba Continued.)