The Mystery of the Forbidden City; OR, DR. JACK'S WIDOW.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXII, Issue 127, 30 May 1901, Page 6

The Mystery of the Forbidden City; OR, DR. JACK'S WIDOW.

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CHAPTER XXXVI. KAI WANG'S TRUST IS BETRAYED. For a brief interval there was a dead sil&nce in that weird place. Lord Eackett still gripped the ancient lantern; and he raised it. so that the light would fall fully upon the , party before them. Eye looked into eye. aud the eagerness manifested was but an index 10 ; the soul. No one seemed to breathe; Avis was like a figure turned into stone. The inmate of 4.he dungeon was rag- j ged and unkempi; his beard had not been trimmed or combed these many weeks, and the absence of light and nourishing food liad given him a gaunt, haggard look, decidedly at vari- j ajice with the natty attire and well- j groomed appearance" of a gentleman i like Dr. Evans. i Larry was lost in doiibt and feai — | Larry who had believed it would never be possible to deceive him with ' regard to this comrade in whose gen- j ial company he had spent so many years of. his eventful life, and who was dearer to him than a brother. Not so the wife. Trust eyes of love to see thro ugh ! the disguise of prison life and neglect, j JN'o sooner had she beheld the gaunt , figure than she knew him, and that she failed io immediately cry out was due more to her emotion than any lingering doubt. All these dreadful weeks she had believed herself bereft of this kind and j valiant husband, and had almost , learned to consider herself what she j seemed—Dr. Jack's widow. And now, j to suddenly see him in the flesh, this i man, who was her king, her lover, her | all in all, whose equal, in her mind, at least, the world had never known— to meet him thus with hardly a word of warning caused a fearful shock. Dr. Jack was staring at them in deepest perplexity. So well had Kai Waug managed their disguise that at was impossible for him to discover their identity. Had he once turned his attention toward that worthy, he might have j known him, but something about the i smallest figure had caught his attention, and he stood as though riveted to the spot, watching the brightest eyes, watching a pair of almost nerve- j less arms reaching iip toward him, v/hile lips parted, and from between them came a, cry, almost a sob of joy: "Jack! Oh, my husband!" Then it was that a great light flashed over "his soul. There was an awakening that electrified him, body and miiid. Heart spoke.to.heart, amid the glad paeon of rejoicing over the lost that was found. "Avis! riy darling girl! Avis here to rescue her poor Jack!" lie exclaimed. It was ah affecting- scene when she ,ilew to him and wrapped her loving arms around his' neck, while he pressed her to his heart. Even Lord Raekett had to wink violently to disperse the briny tears that i began to gather. Jack was but a shadow of his former stalwart self. Weeks of rigid prison fare had robbed him of flesh and strength, but the old determination and courage glowed in his eyes, and was expressed in his every stroke looking toward escape. They could not have crushed that in a score of years. When it left him, life would go also. How tenderly she passed her hand over his sunken and bearded cheeks, littering little cries of dismay because he was so thin and showed such marks of acnte physical suffering. But his laugh was almost as hearty as of yore. "A mere trifle, dearest, and which gives me no concern whatever. Once out of here, I'll soon recuperate. But ■who are these friends? Surely I should know that figure, despite the dress. It can be no other than Larry, faithful old Larry, God bless him! Give me your hand, my dear boy. How glad I am to see you in the flesh, Heaven only knows. Many times I have feared that you had perished on that fearful night; and I cursed myself for having led you into such a trap." By this time Larry had found his voice. He was dancing about the other as though too full of electricity to remain still, clutching Jack's hand in both of his—Avis held the other—and shaking it repeatedly in a manner that came from his heart. "They couldn't do it, Jack, dear boy. Takes more than a mob of Black Flags ■to down me, d'ye know. Yes, we got away "with our lives, although, by Jove, I've been laid on the shelf for •wepairs ever since. And the papers went with us, by Jove. They're safe in the hands of the British Consul at Canton, safe from Petoskey and his crowd. Avis took them there her? self." "And I had the personal pleasure of locking them up," said Plympton, pushing forward. Dr. Jack stared at him and shook his head. "I've heard that voice before, but in such toggery I wouldn't know my brother, if I had one." "And you have no reason to remember that voice with anything but scorn and hatred; but that was all in the past, Evans. I have been trying to ■wipe out the miserable recollection to the best of my poor ability. Your wife

has forgiven me and placed her confidence iiMiie, and I hope to receive your hand also." Then .lack knew. The past unrolled like a scroll. < He remembered how. urged on by a mad passion, this man had endeavoured to balk his big game, and even steal his wife, away off to the other side of the world, in Chile. Still, hitler UK were (he thoughts 11ms stirred, he realised that Lord iluckett's repentance must be most sincere, else he would never have risked ins life in the effort to save his old-time rival. i'.esides, there was a bluff heartiness in his speech and manner that went far toward winning the doctor's heart. "Ah! he has been a friend indeed," .said Avis, softly in bis ear. "The bast of μ-ood fellows, -with j whose help L was enabled to save my I fair cousin from the Russian's junk at ! Canton." babbled Larry, quite uneon--1 scions of any conceit in his words. i This capped the climax with Jack. -Mv wile's friends are mine, and 1 am right glad to shake hands with yon, PJyinpton." Perhaps he remembered thai the last lime they came together was after a { railroad wreck, when Lord Racket I, I finding him wounded, assisted him up j the bank and to a place of safety. , ; Then come. Kai Wang, gravely exI tending his long nailed fingers, and bending over as though salaaming I before a potentate, while his sallow i features were convulsed in a broad grin, ! such as Larry had never before seen upon his countenance. It was a reception, in fact, and Dr. 'Jack, ragged and g*aunt and unkempt, did the honours with as much eclat as though dressed in a claw-hammer coat I and with a diamond in his immaculate J shirt front. , • Some men can rise above circumstances and environment, and seem at home anywhere. Dr. Jack, possessed this peculiarly enviable quality to the highest degree. Still, however pleasant, this was not j business, and there were .serious quesi t.ions awaiting their attention; questions upon the answer of which hung their destinies, their lives. It was a grand and glorious thing that they had been thus enabled to find Dr. Jack, and all honour must be given to Kai Wang for the wonderful manner in which he had led them on to success; but the end was not yet in sight. They were still in the dungeon under the great Imperial palace of Peking, and safety could only be found somewhere beyond the walls of. the Forbidden City. To accomplish this flight without delay was the subject that now engrossed Kai Wang's intelligent attention. They saw him turn and glide toward the door, and Larry decided that he had suddenly remembered the ponderous key in the lock. Why he should utter such a shrill scream and dart forward so suddenly, justasacat pounces on a nimble-footed rat, might have been a mystery to them, only that Larry caught a fleeting glimpse of a mocking , yellow face beyond the opening, which was almost immediately shut out as the ponderous door crashed shut. ' They saw Kai Wang reach it, and, clutching the clumsy knob, pull with the energy of a madman; pull until the veins stood out on his yellow brow like blue whipcords, and the sinews in his arms seemed almost ready to snap. But, alas, the ungenerous door refused to respond to his wooing, and remained fast. Evidently that treacherous key, turned by another hand on the outside, had gotten in its deadly work, aud they were trapped. (To be continued.)