Contraband

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22305, 20 January 1938, Page 7 (Supplement)

Contraband

PART I Jack Conway was afraid. He halted suddenly on the slope that led down to the gulf, his hand on the pistol that he wore at his waist. So far he bad not used it, but he felt that very soon he might need to. .

, This had been an eventful week for Jack. On Monday he had left his work at a dairy farm on the plains, and with a head full of romantic ideas about ships and sailor* men, had gone down to the port at Ellis Bay in search of adventure. Strangely enough he seemed likely to find it. At first nothing had happened; no one on the wharves required his services. Then this morning someone had pushed a letter under the door of the room at the boarding-house where ha was staying. It asked him to re-, port to the captain of the Dorian at 10 o’clock.

All Jack learned from the interview was that he had been watched wandering about the waterfront, and that inquiries had been made regarding him. He looked a likely boy to complete the Dorian’s crew, though whither the ship was bound Captain Douglas could not reveal. Would he like a job? So he had signed on as the ship’s cabin boy. The skipper had regarded him with a critical eye when the arrangement was complete. “Handy with your lists?” he had asked, “We don’t pay our cabin boys wages like you’re getting for doing nothing.” That was the only hint he had given of the element of danger in their mission. In the afternoon the little craft, a fast motor-launch, with a carefully selected crew of three besides Jack and the captain, slipped quietly out on ..the tide. Jack had talked with Seeley, the second-in-command, as they went down the bay, but from him he could learn nothing. All through the afternoon they had struggled on into the wind. The shore dropped from view astern, and slightly to starboard an irregular land mass appeared, presently to'become the sharp outline of a rocky island. For this the Dorian had set her course.

It was only as darkness grew that the captain at last gathered the crew together amidships. To every man he handed a firearm. Then he spoke. “You might as well know, men, that this island is our objective. A lot of contraband 1 is supposed to be passing through it, and cur task Is to get to the bottom of the matter. If we can catch the culprits on the job we’ll challenge them there and then.

“According to our reports a ship is expected to land cargo there to-night. It’ll be watched by their shore party till there’s an opportunity for a boat to come out from the mainland. If each one of this crew Plays his part that opportunity will never arise l .” Not a very talkative man was Captain Douglas. He hadn’t made such a long speech in months. So abruptly, with a wave, he dismissed them, shouting forward to the helmsman, “half speed,” And in a ouieter tone, “Bring her round slowly to starboard, Roberts, and keep about 400 yards off-shore. Be ..careful of the drift. There’s a gulf somewhere along the east coast. When I give the word run in as quietly as possible. We’ll have to hide the boat.” The spot where they anchored half an hour later was in a sheltered arm of the gulf. Captain Douglas seemedMiuite familiar with

(By F. A. Jones)

the place. Presently t»c- moon had risen. The captain and Seeley had taken Jack ashore in the dinghy, and sent him for water to a spring that fed a creek 100 yards or so up tlie hill. It was as he was returning that he had stopped so abruptly behind a fringe of pines. For on the slope below a man was standing; he was not a member of the Dorian’s crew, and he held a rifle in his hands.

Several minutes passed before Jack realised that he was unseen. The stranger, tall and heavily built, was watching something below, and Jack could not doubt that He had descried the captain and Seeley. Clearly he had only just come upon the scene, for the boy had passed that way but a short time before.

Jack felt the tension growing. He wished something would happen, yet could think of no move he might make himself. Then, just as he felt he could remain still no longer, the man moved. There was a moment of hesitancy while he

fumbled with his rifle before turning sharply to the right on to a narrow path, more or less open, that ran round a ledge on the hillside above the gulf, and climbed to the higher country that made up the mass of the island. The pail of water that Jack had been carrying he had placed among the bracken, and now it was forgotten. His fear was overcome by the knowledge that for the time being he held the whip hand. Forgotten, too, were the captain’s warnings. There was no time to lose. Silently he moved down the slope and along the path that the stranger had taken. Shadowing the fellow in the moonlight was nerve-straining work, made more difficult by the fact that he appeared to be suspicious. Every 100 yards he would stop and look nervously back. Jack found it hard to time his stops to this eccentric fear, but by moving in quick bursts from tree to tree while the other was going forward, he kept himself hidden most of the time. The track ended on a level platform, heavily wooded and backed by a sheer wall of rock. It was a magnificently placed look-out, commanding a view of the eastern coast of the island and the sea be-

yond. Just now it was flooded in moonlight, and even before he climbed on to it Jack could see through the trees the broken outline of a hut. He was excited now. It was clear that this was the hide-out of the smugglers’ shore party, ideally situated for a stand against any who might attempt to take it. Only from the path could an assault be made. But, more important, Jack had a sudden conviction that fp:om its site overlooking the sea it might be used as.a signal station. That was something that they had not counted on. Waiting, therefore, only a few minutes after his quarry had disappeared among the trees, he went softly forward till the hut was in full view. The door was closed, but he was near enough to hear the voices of two men within. One lifted itself abruptly, bluntly. “Well, you’ve only 10 minutes till Frampton’s signal is expected, what’ll you do? Run up the alarm flare, of course. What else do you think you can do? Give them the all clear? Eh? Of course, there’s a risk. The other crowd will certainly see it What does that rAat-

ter? Our first job is to keep the ship clear of the island while there’s danger round. Anyway, before there’s time for a raid everything incriminating in this hut will be destroyed. This is a show down, Thomas. It’s finish, see? I’ve been wafting for visitors for the last three years. I’ve thought hundreds of times of what I’d do when they came, and I don’t intend to risk my neck.”

Jack grinned a little. He couldn’t help it. Whoever was in charge here had certainly made his position clear. “Where are the alarm flares?’’

This reply, more quietly spoken but still sharp and' clear in the stillness after the first explosive outburst, brought Jack back to earth. He saw his task; at all costs he must prevent the alarm from bejhS flashed to the smuggling ship if Captain Douglas’s mission was to succeed.

Hardly had he begun to look about when the door of the hut flew open, and Thomas, the man whom he had been following, rushed out into the moonlit avenue between the trees, straight towards where the boy stood in the shadows. Only the fear that paralyzed Jack

saved him. Not‘till the Mttfj passed, only a few feet IWK he realise that the signals nawlg fired from further along the PjWj form, and that his presence, all, had not yet been diseoinnH| Again he had that nish JSIMB? fidence. He was in the 'CtMBp. camp, hut their forces ySHfe divided, and for the moment - bably both men were too. .M dealing with the emergency «g ; had arisen to be bothered arms.. And — the thought occurred to him —was it aotSßg:. sible that Captain Douglas. haitlßl grown anxious about him, mlghtw now .have dispatched someone"* look for him? , The thought encouraged - Drawing deeper into the shaflOg he tinned to see where Thomas Mg gone. He saw him stop a shflißH. yards away, close against tbeJgg face. He was pulling at someOwW that at that distance Jack could recognise. . i *sU ' Turning only one bawWJ, glance to the hut, and reassure**® the continued absence « second man, Jack drew the Tgj volver from his belt. With ftig; ing hand threw back the *H|i catch, and crept along the Wg of the bush. Now he conM'WS, clearly a tall pole—the sgM station! Within a couple yards of where Thomas stood MW by it, he stopped, and in a Mgs* whisper jerked: “Stand still. *” up your hands,” The man half turned. Jack »*j a sickening feeling. He hadtft.W* courage to fire. The dropped, and he leapt forward. *r struck only one blow. j’ Swiftly he turned to the gear * which Thomas had been worjO*g. An endless rope ran up a pol*-5 the top of the cliff. Half attaM<s to it was a flare, and on the ground near where the had fallen. Jack knew that must be lit in response to the sows , signal, and that was expectea any minute. Before he had wg to examine them there was a*® behind. He turned. He was d™® aware of a flash of light tor 08*5 sea. Almost simultaneously .**s shots sounded. Jack’s sboogg hurt him, and he felt himself ing. J „ & (To be continued.) ■ r-i

CUMBERLAND SHEEP A legend tells us that Herdwjcfc. sheep are peculiar to the Lake v trict in England, because they . the descendants of a flock of 40 that swam ashore from a oPf**: ish ship wrecked by the gale helped Drake to beat the Another explanation is that are from the old stocks brought w the Norsemen who went there mu ing the ninth and tenth centiJiwj However, there they are, ana appropriate, too. They’re ““JJJ and agile, and can slip o^ 6 fells with the greatest of Flocks of these sheep roam all ~V, the Lake hillsides, even m 8* Wasdale, notable at one tune *5 having the biggest liar, the snrau. church, the deepest lake, an® highest hill in the country. In this district the sheep go the farm, and there is a float-.; Birker Fell that has been hanwg down from father to son for years. They are great walkers can jump five foot walls. their search for food, get into nies and on to ledges that times demand a rescue hazardous job, for the sheep not like being rescued, ano wrestle with a sheep while swing!, ing on a rope, is no joking nraw*^.