THE GREY WOLFS EYE

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 201, 26 August 1939, Page 3 (Supplement)

THE GREY WOLFS EYE

—By Conrad Templeton

Were the Australian authorities becoming suspicious that all was not as it should be near the grey wolf? There was the man and the two boys who had braved all the opposition he had put in their way. Were they spies? Seeking to learn the rights of the winking eye of the Grey Wolf? It looked as if the work of years was to go for naught. If he were not careful he would see again the inside of a prison! Maybe he would be made to suffer even a worse punishment! A law unto himself, he had not kept in touch with British law. "His ruminations were interrupted by the appearance of one of his trusted men. "Captain Trevalyn, we have secured the man and the two boys who have been spying on us. What would you have us do with them ?" Trevalyn smiled. "What would you do with them, my friend, if you were in my place ?" he asked. "I should kill them, sir, and leave their bones to fatten the dingoes.

They are dangerous, and we cannot afford to let them see what is going on hereabouts. Is that not so?"

"Tliev won't get the better of me. We've got them, and we are going to lrold them until —" He ' paused and looked inquiringly at the other. But he did not learn anything. The man who was in the confidence of Captain Trevalvn was not one to discußs such questions with those under his command.

"Hurry!" he ordered. "You'll learn soon enough what their faite is to be, and that of those who presumed to dictate.,"

Ten 'minutes later the man was back. His face wpre a puzzled look.

"They have gone," he said when he had regained his breath. He had raced from the cave. "Gone!" lie repeaited. "Yet the men never left the mouth of tlie cave for an instant."

"Tliey have probably gone farther into the opening than you were prepared ito go." A laugh that was half a sneer; then: "You aren't superstitious, surely. You who claim to be courageous. Examine the cave thoroughly, man, and bring those three to me at once. I'll como with you and make sure thait you do a good job of it."

At the cave's mouth he met four disconsolate men. They claimed to have gone to the end of the cave —a circuitous route, they explained, over rough stones and the debris of vears.

"I'll see for myself."

Accompanied by his henchmen he strode into the cave. For a while the going was easy. After a time the eave's roof seemed to come suddenly towards tlie ground. A distant rumbling sound came ito them and then the sound of falling stones.' The mouth of the cave had fallen in, leaving them imprisoned ill its rocky fastnesses. CHAPTER X. The Egress From the Cave. "Mocco! There isn't any such word." • Frank Thompson had been pondering on the question asked him by Captain Bob. He walked for 50 yards without saying anything more, his* thoughts still busy on the problem.

"I think you must have made a mistake. Perhaps it was Morocco they were mentioning. There are some foreigners among that smuggling gang."

Captain. Bob bristled. "It isn't a smuggling gang; it's—it's worse than that, I'm afraid. Forget about it at present. The word I heard was 'Mocco.' I heard it not once, but many times. It seemed to be the—the—" The skipper appeared to be lost for a phrase to express himself intelligently.

"Do you mean the key-word?" George asked.

"If yon like, but it isn't the expression I should have used. But it'll do. It was 'Mocco' and sometimes 'Moccos.' Man the- capstan, lads, but I'll be ropesended if I can make head or tail or it."

"How far do we go in this direction?" George looked ahead and frowned. They were not walking direct to the Grey Wolf, but were diverging to the right. "I don't like moving away from our objective. As far as I can see, it would be safe enough to approach by a more direct route than the one we are taking. We can see ahead of us, and at the first sign of danger we can hurry to the gafety of the bush."