THE GOLD WORSHIPPERS

Auckland Star, Issue XXXVI, 21 October 1905, Page 11

THE GOLD WORSHIPPERS

CHAPTER XV. ■ GOLD! GOLD! GOLD! Two days after poor Simson was burI i c £ I called at Standinghoe for Mary plavle, and we walkea inland along jjje" bank at the edge of the creek- I ua< * not seen her for over a week, for I had not left Trunions since the night when 1 translated the secret of the globe and the tutler was found dead iv the library. T had last parted from her in high "hopes of attaining the desire of my ■ heart- I now had to tell her that I ]iad achieved success. For the night previously I had turned a couple of ' poinds of buckshot into a small block •of solid gold an< i aa -d tested the truth of the formula that had fallen into my; ' hands. We had much to talk about as we

-wandered along the bank that ran between the creek and the lonely marsiliJiiiid. We had few secrets from each other in those days, and my dear sweet- • jjoart knew most of the story of the yeiliow box. I had pledged her to setiecv and I think she enjoyed the idea of knowing that which had been care- • fully concealed from everyone else. It 1 showed the confidence I placed in her and also, I fear, nattered her woman's vanity. For no healty girl is superior to small feminine weaknesses. I told her of my success and her eyes sparkled with delight as I drew the : small lump of gold from my pocket- and

placed it in her tiny hand. "Oh, how heavy it is,"', she cried, "and such a little piece of it." She threw it up in the air and I caught it, placed it back in my pocket; and kissed

■'"Worth £90, that bit," I said, "and you. darling, are worth all the gold in tie world," and I kissed her again and again. ""And what is this?" .she.asked, laying ier hand on a heavy lump in my other -potket. "Is it another piece of gold?" I did not answer- She slipped her hand into the pocket and drew out a revolver. She replaced it and I saw a look of uneasiness cross her face. "What is that for?" she asked, nervously. "To guard the gold," I replied, trying to make a jest of it. "What are you afraid of?" she insisted. I did not acswer. Then I framed a lie.

"They are a rough lot about here," 1 "' said, looking across at Standinghoe, ■"and if it were known that I had a lot of gold r" I stopped, and I think - a look of fear must have come into my face. "Be frank with mc, dear," she pleaded. "You have told mc all the bright side of the matter. lam not afraid to look on the dark side of it." '■"Why bother your dear head about such things," I said, gaily. "I don't ' "want to worry you. There are always disadvantages attached to great wealth ' wd this is one of them."' "But who should want to kill yen?" *j| she asked, and I saw tears -coming into '! mier ■ eyes. '.'•: J'Sit down here," T said, pointing to a '. smooth, soft patch of gnrss on tbe 'edge'of the bank, '"'and I will tell you all I know about it, though I would rather not do so." We sat down side by side and I told * her everything. I told her of the visits of some unknown person to the louse, of the snake in the cellar, of the make I thought I had seen on the night of the wreck, and also on the night of Smson's death. I told her of the look of terror on Simson's face. I spared her nothing and, even as I told the story, I glanced behind mc from time to time, as though expecting to see " something emerge from the thick bed of tall reeds at the foot of the bank be-

hind us. Then, when I had finished, I took one of her hands in mine and looked earnestly into her face. "I have told you all this, dearest." I said, "not merely to gratify your wish, out in order to impress upon you the necessity for being careful where you go *hen you are by ycufrself. You may tcmemb?r that more than a month ago Tasked yon never to go far from the village by yourself. I think I gave you some reason which was not the true one. 'Xow you will see that there is danger ,' abroad. Wlieno? it comes I don't know. -But ft lurks in. this neighbourhood, either in the ciafsb.es or the sea. Dan?°r from man and beast, mark you. For God's sake, dearest, be careful. I would not have them take from mc what is tns dearest treasure in all the world." For answer she threw her arms round my neck and held mc close to her. , "I am frightened." she said. "What 'does it all mean?"

I kissed her and laughed. «r>' I)on ' t te lightened, Mary," I said. gj|j TJnly be careful. Very soon I shall have ' ? ou - ra r my own, and you will be as safe m'Trunions as in Kfonstadt. When I ' ain 'rich-1 intend to make it as impreg- . ' aaWe as a fortress." '•xm am frigbtaned," sn - e whispered. _What does it all mean? I wish you I ■Mdn-'t told mc." It simply means." I replied, "that •frneone wants to discover the secret of , *l»e yellow box. It would be a stupendous theft, a robbery of more wealth than there is in the whole world." 'Set who knows of it?" she asked, a nd indeed I could not answer her. We 1 *ffe both silent for a little while, and I m? her scan the waste of marshes ana ,We inscrutable surface of tbe sea as oD gh to find some answer to her question.

■ Then she suddenly flung her arms °p4 m J neck and ehmg to rac. -;-i.Give.it np," she whispered. "Cast it ■, ** ln to the mud. We can be quite ! "*PPy, you and I, without riches, oh, 'nn PPy - ""' e shall be safe. No We will trouble about us. Give it up, oarlmg; g i vo ifc all upj T i mp iore you!" i reasoned with her gently, and after - ,lnft succeeded in calming her sudden in r( tv, ySm ° f fear ' T P ainte d the future ■ c the most glowing language at my wnmand and opened out so gorgeous a ■ of -wealth that the colour came , nee more to her cheek, and her eyes • P ?* le d with enthusiasm. Vnr^ c .» Sl ' all bR the riL>hes t F°P le in tllc l*ic- T Cr '" Cri ' " and "*' ith allour Il ' Tes TioWnl 15 ' ilost P eo ple do not become 'sta f i- routn llas Passed. But we shall !_, rt -"fe'with the greatest fortune ever *nT\ ln tbe histor y mankind. We *h> , ■ y- ou nar, happy in our love, and :-^,,, aII . England at our feet. Nothing , ■-.-.- ' v °c impossible for tis. -We shall be I Powerful. We can purchase wbat"ihi* ire ' We shal l be able to ban " ' Aa . | overt y. and finance the whole nation. j SW ? r OUr Personal wants, land, houses, -ttll!' T Ky ' buy all that is iv **«taU Ton shall be queen of all i

By J. B. HARRIS BTJRUun,. •, author of TJacohra," "Dr..SHex- "The Bin** Motoi

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faintly graS P £t ' sh * sai * about iS T terrible Abou, such power. It cannot be rMit It seems against the laws of nature"'' ' -Nature intended the waters of this creek to•overflow the marshland at high ride £ek «!° I bUi,t thia bank an * driven , land" "' and Cattle feed on

Set sometimes the wind and the ft I°° stTon S-" »lM said solemnly, non? n + , aDk breaks aMd waters pour over the land again." out ™V° T J teet lau SMng, and held out my hand.

u7^ U t retUn ?'" l said ' "«» sun s getting ow and I do not care to te out after dark."

Sh e took my hand and I helped her I £,£*! *»*■ And as we walked home we JJ™, « " ur J °™ and all the happiness that the future would bring to us. | We parted a few hundred yards before tie illage commenced. Under the shelt*i of a high bank crowned with a few ! small bushes I took her in my arms and kissed her passionately. . "Good-night .dearest," I whispered. Don't be afraid, but be careful. In a few weeks nothing shall harm you. Till i then be careful, and don't go "far by yourself You and I together need not be afraid of anything, there," and I gutted to the sunset in the west The whole sky was a sheet of gold, save for a long aark cloud that was poised over .the sun, and that was fringed with brilfiant light High up in the heavens floated a few white islands bordered with rose-coloured foam. The long wide creek wound glittering among the green marshes, and even these were flecked with pools of gold. "Gold in the sky," I cried, "and gold in the water! Gold evervwhere'. Gold' Gold! ! Gold! ! !"

We parted, and I walked back to Trunions alone. And." before I had gone a quarter of a mile, the dark cloud swooped down on the sun, and the gold died from the water and the marshland. I stopped, and it seemed to mc that the cloud had assumed the form of a giant hand, grasping all the golden light behind it in its sable fingers. "Perchance,"' I said to myself, as T hurried homewards, "that is the shadow of the hand of God." CHAPTER XYT. - THE GOLD FEVER. During the next month I made more than a million pounds sterling, and succeeded in turning out five hundredweight of gold a day. But with the appliances at my disposal I had to work from morning to night to do this. I had already enlarged the furnace in the cellar, but it was even now scarcely big enough for my requirements. From breakfast time to lunch, and from lunch to dinner, I bid myself from the fresh air and light, and stood half nuked bofore the. crucible of molten metal. At times I even forgot my meals and laboured far into the night. All my thoughts and energies were concentrated on the pile of small yerrow bars, which were accumulating in the corner of the room. I had to exercise considerable ingenuity in disposing of them. I shipped them to the Continent and re-shipped them to England. They were addressed to my name, e/o the Bank of England. I had opened an account there, and I took a day off for the purpose of interviewing the bank on the question of converting the bullion into coin. I explained that I was the fortunate possessor of an alluvial mine in South America, and that I was simply turning out gold by the ton. The official shrugged his shoulders and asked no questions. He told mc that the bank were bound to take all gold offered to them, and that they were not concerned with its origin. So "long as it passed the assayers. and was honourably- come by, it would be converted into sovereigns, and the value placed to mv credit, or else handed to mc in notes." I was considerably relieved to hear this, but I told the man that I might have to ask hhn to take a considerable quantity. "Send -it along," he said, with a grim smile. "We can do with all the gold in the world," and he explained to mc that o-old "svas the life blood of a nation, and that its power and prosperity depended on the amount it possessed. All the credit, all the commerce, all the fighting strength of a country existed solely on a zoldbasis. He told mc that whereas the cash deposits at the hanks amounted to nearly a thousand million pounds, there was not a tenth of that gold m the coxmtrv. and that a payc like that of the failure of Overemd and Gurney brought ruin even to houses 'of established wealth and credit. • , All listened to him my heart swelled with pride, and I saw myself indeed a king among men. a patriot abul wark of the national credit and pros perity. I seemed like the hero of a *&£%» iv all you like. Mr. Drew," he taS as we parted. "We'd take a hundred million sterling, if you had it He laughed, as g w^tpp-rfa 2 in the light of weU pleased with the result of my Ttffc The gold j a3Sa yed, and had been found to be 01 JffSSiffi&i £r nothing of the outer "no ag receir . . ' „j +„ fheir customers' affairs. I 'i 7„n longer any fear of losing the had no on^e * - jh d purc has»a ft hv day and night. -I coma ftrdtoUugh at an/further attempt, to steal my property. , T ■ I When I returned from London I reso lved to take a week's holiday and devote myself to other mutters than the mere amassing of wealth. I had only seen Mary Playle once during.the. nasi month, and then only for a few minutes. I at once went over to Standinghoe and spent the whole ot my first day with her. " ■ - She was, a little cold at first, and reproached, mc with., neglect. But I explained to her that! had been worfcin<r for her sake, and that sometimes a man had to leave his sweetheart for a year.while he toiled in somevforeign country to make his fortune.

j_ "Sell, a little time each day," she [whispered/as I held her fa my arms; | "Ton could surely spare mc a little tune."

I ''* wi H give you all my life, soon, J darling," I replied, "when I have finished money grubbing. And I think ot you an the time." And then I turned the conversation to what I had <I*Hif'1 * H if' and of m7: P lana for the fntTirc > of how I intended to rebuild Trunions and make.it one of the finest places in England, and of all the spledours I would devise, and the mansions I would purchase all over the world. ; iT 4?, d tilat reminds me.'M concluded, 'I did not forget you when I was in London yesterday. I bought you a httle present." *

I handed her a small leather ease, ■and watched her face as she opened it. 'Oh, how lovely!" she cried. "Oh, it is good of you." dear."

A large single pearl of perfect shape and lustre glowed softly against a background of blue velvet. It had cost mc £2000.

"I want you to have it set as a ring," 1 said; "as a new engagement ring. I will have it done for you if you like the idea.".

• She gkineed at the little circlet of small sapphires and diamonds on her finger, and pressed it to her lips. It had only cost a few pounds, but I guessed what was passing in her mind. 'Td rather wear this one," she said, sn yly> **if you won't he angry with mc. There won't be room for two on the finger, and this—this was the first."

I laughed and kissed her band, telling her to have the pearl set as a brooch if she preferred it. But for all that, I was a little annoyed, and the more so because I felt that I ought to have beeu pleased.

When we separated that evening I felt strangely depressed. The day had not been altogether a happy one. A slight, cloud seemed to come over the sunshine of our love. I put it down to the fact that my thoughts were so full of visions of 'wealth that I had unconsciously . neglected the woman I loved.

When I reached home, I told myself that my day's outing had cost" mc about £30,000, and aiter dinner I went down into the cellar and worked hard all night to make up for lost time. A had sign this, if I had only known it But I could see no further "than my pile of yellow bricks.

The next day I only spared the morning, and- went back to my work after lunch. But I found time to wire for an architect. He came down to lunch the following day. I was too husy to go into details, hut gave him a free hand to erect mc a pa'laee on the marshland behind Trunions, and adjoining the present house- I would not have a stone of the old building touched, and though there were a hundred fairer sites even in the same county, a certain pride, of ancestry made mc stick to the place where so many of my forefathers had lived and died.

He asked mc how much I was prepared to spend, and I told him a million, or double that if necessary. But it had to- be built in twelve months, if it took twenty thousand workmen to do it. If he referred to the Bank of England he would receive an assurance that I should be able to pay for it. -• — .......

I think the good man, who stood at the head of his profession, looked upon mc as a lnnatic, sent down by Providence for his especial' benefit. He told mc that he had just designed a palace for a Russian prince on the banks of the Neva, and that it would save time if he used the same plans. I told him to build it as he liked, but that it must have a moat and rampart all round it, and be essentially a palace within a fortress. He left mc with a puzzled expression on his face and a cheque for £10,000 in his pocket.

I did not see Mary Playle at all that day, and only for an hour on the day following. The next day, however, I spent all the afternoon with her and worked the whole night to make up for it. I had now trebled the size of my furnace, and was able to turn out a ton of gold a day.

The next day was the last I had set aside for a holiday, and, more than a little ashamed of myself, I devoted it all to the woman I loved. As we parted I told her that I should probably be very busy for some time, and would not be a hie to see much of her, and then, as delicately as possible, 1 approached a subject which I had had in my mind for some days.

"I have been thinking, Mary, dear," I said, tenderly, "that it would be better if we put off our marriage for a little while, that is, if you don't mind. It seems a beastly thing to say, but I can't help thinking that it would be nicer for both of us. I should like to have the new house to welcome you to. I should feel that you were safer. They may strike at mc through yon."

"How long will it take to build?" she asked in a cold even voice.

"Only a few months," I replied; "ten thousand men are going to work on it, and I'll have the number doubled" placed her hands on my shoulders, and looked into my eyes. I laughed.

"What do you see?" 1 asked. gailyT"

"I seo* a pale, haggard face," she replied, slowly, "weary eyes, a forehead wrinkled with constant care, a feverish twitching of the lips. I see all this, dearest, and it makes mc very sad." I took her in my arms and she burst into a fit of passionate sobbing.

,; Give it all up," she cried, "for the love of heaven, for my sake. You are rich already. Throw the yellow box back into the sea! I "wish yon had never found it."

I tried to reason with her, but she refused to be comforted.

"I tell you what I will do, dearest." I said at last. "If you will arrange for our marriage to. take place in two months time I will promise you that a month from to-day I will destroy the box and the globe and will never touch either again. I shall then have all my time to devote to you, and you will not be worried by my attention to the absorbing pursuit of gold. Moreover, our married life will not be marred by the fear of anything that may now desire to hurt us. Is it a bargain?" She raised her face and her eyes shone brightly through her tears. "Do you mean it?" she asked eagerly. "I swear it on my word of honour," I replied. - - ''Then I will consent," she replied, "gladly consent—with all my heart. I feared this might go on for ever. But I shall see you sometimes, shall T not V* "Once a week for a wbftle afternoon," I replied! "Many, lovers do nofc'meetso often."-.-. ! 'f '-' . .- -

"And ■ you will always do this? Each week?" ' :■'

"Always," I replied, "so long as I am, aKve. Good-night, dear heart.' L will call to-day week at two- o'elbck. Goodnight, my dearest one."

| "Good-night, my dear lover," she whispered, and after one long passionate embrace we parted. Long before I reached Trunions T saw" the flare of hundreds of lamps :fn the gathering darkness, and, as I drew near, I saw a vast army of men digging and wheeling away barrow loads of earth. Behind them stretched row after row of huts arranged in streets like a little town. The work had begun, and they were excavating the foundation of my new palace. For a whole year the work was never to cease by night and day. The very- thought" cjf St stirred my blood, and the face, of Mary Playle vanished from my mind. '"A ton of gold a day," I muttered to myself, as I entered tbe library and locked the door. "Say, £120,000 a day. That is about £3.600.000 a .month, or £43,200 000 in the yearZ' I took a whisky and soda and a sandwich from a tray on the table and, throwing myself into an easy chair, juggled with figures till my brain reeled.

The enormous sum of forty three million pounds seemed a mere trifle to my insatiate desires. As an income, well and good. But as a capital amount— why. there were .men in Ameijica with more than that, mere vulgar financiers with no power to direct the destinies ©f nations.

I rose to my feet and clenched my hands. I had but one year. I had sworn it.

I paced up and down tbe room like a maniac, and every now and then I caught sight of my face, white, stern, and haggard, in a glass that hung on the wall. I hardly recognised it.

. "I must have more," I jrrowled like a wild beast; '1 must have ten times as much. The output must be increased. I must get someone to help mc. some one I can trust. To-morrow I must find someone." Then I suddenly cheeked myself and remembered that I had taken a whole day's holiday, and that I was wasting the precious moments. I unlocked the door, went down a passage, and knocked five times on another door made oi stolid steel. There was * whirr and a click, and the door swung open. A great burly fellow faced mc with a revolver, but on seeing who it was he lowered his weapon, and smiled. "Everything right, Williams'!" I ask-

"'All is well, sir,' he replied, and that is all that passed between us. He was a taciturn fellow, and both he and his comrade, who watched in turns, were well paid to keep their mouths shut, a virtue they practised even in the presence of their master. Acting on explicit instructions, he crossed over to the far end of the room and turned his back on mc.

I went up to the safe, a huge steel structure, nearly ten feet high and standing ou a base six feet square, and arrant some letters on a disc so as to spell the word '"lover." Then I inserted a small key, which was fastened to a steel chain round my waist, and the door swung back of its own accord. I took out the precious globe—the only thing in the safe—left the room without a word, and . returned to tbe study. Then I locked the door, and went down into the cellar.

This passage between tbe safe and the cellar was to mc the most perilous part of tb.-r whole bsuinesa. The globe was practically inaccessible in the safe, but it was possible for someone to steal it from mc while it was about my person. I resolved that night to take the two watchmen into my confidence. They would act as a body-guard, and would, moreover, assist mc to turn ont a much larger quantity of gold.

The fire was banked up in tbe furnace and the application of a powerful artificial draught soon forced it into a white hot glow.

In one corner of the room stood a large heap of leaden bars. Every day they were shot down a shute from outside like coals into a cellar. I took some of them and threw them on the furnace till it would hold no more, and then watched the metal subside into a molten lake covered with green and yellow scum.

Then I placed the globe in a sort of wire cradle and plunged it into the molten lead. I left it there for seven minutes and forty-three seconds by my watch, and then drew it out again. To all appearance nothing hadhappened. and the first time I tried the experiment T was grievously disappointed, for it did not then occur to mc that the scum consisted of impurities, and naturally would not change.

I took an iron cradle and took off the crust on the surface, and there underneath glittered a pool of liquid gold. I poured it carefully off into moulds and once again filled up. the crucible with lead.

And so I toiled all through the night, sweating in every pore, although I stood stripped to the waist, and every hour the pile of lead grew smaller, and the floor was covered with an ever increasing array of y.sllow bricks.

At last T stopped through sheer fatigue and put on my clothes. I looked at my watch. It -was half-past four.

Then suddenly I heard a mufSed shriek overhead. I firing open the door and plainly heard a man's voice calling for help, but before I had reached the top of the stairs it had died away into an agonised moan. I burst into the library, revolver in hand. All was darkness, but I heard a series of cracks as though some enormous dog were crunching the bones of a giant chicken. (To be Continued Next Saturday.)