HARCER THAN STEEL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16850, 15 May 1918, Page 10

HARCER THAN STEEL.

£ BY GUY THORNE, Author of "When It Was Dart." "A Lost •>— 'V Cause,'" etc.-

(COPYRIGHT.)

?: Xll.— (Continued.)

Eansha\yE looked on with a grim smile. ™3 see you are going to leave nothing to chance," he said. "For my part, I wish you good luck. I wish I could give you more help than I have, but my oath binds me."

% They were ready at last. |j"Xow," Boynton said, "we're ready, FaJishawe. You, however, are supposed JO have already left the hotel." And lie detailed the ruse which he had prac**stxl with Winterbotham, a short time Jpefore.

j '; Fanshawe laughed. /..'" You've nil your wits about you, I can Sec," he said. " Well. I suppose what has been done once can be done again. jAnyway, it doesn't much matter since we have made terms with each other, and Jfrou're going to let me go free." £.'. " The bcSt thing is for me to go downstairs >shd keep the landlord and the people'-below in talk for a minute or two," Gerald said. " I shall tell them that I -am going out on the mountains myself, to look for Miss Milton. You and Winterbotham, Fanshawe, creep downstairs and set on to the Pendrylas road. Walk slowly, and I'll catch you up."

The manoeuvre was executed without the slightest hitch. Boynton spent tw.o minutes or so in the lounge. He procured a couple Of pieces of rope from Mr. Price, explaining that they would be useful in th search, and with the landlord's good wishes tinging in h-s ear, he hurried out of the hotel and on to the Pendrylas road. "The night was dark, though the sky wa; star spangled. The sea made a low moan ijfilg noise to his .right, and to his left the mysterious,mountains towered into the Heavens, His feet in their nailed climbing Boots rang .sharply upon the bard road as fie swung forward at a good pace, until he made out two dark and slowly moving figures a few yards ahead.

"I feel deadly sick," Fanshawe muttered as Gerald joined, them. " That stuff of. yours is terrible, Boynton. As soor. as I get on board X shall go to my cabin and weep like a log. If you can manage to gite a dose of it to Lord Llandrylas, yens have my heartiest good wishes, though I, sim taking a fortune of his lordship's nior.ey away with me to the west." He shrugged his shoulders, and they went onwards without another word. * At last they came to the straggling village of the .slate quarrymen, and passing through it bv two brightly lit public j houses, from each of which a chorus of song was pouring, they stepped over a $«gle'• of' railway lines and on to the pjer, which was lit at regular intervals W. gas lamps. •Soon they made out trie rising lights of the Mabinogion, and then the lons white shape of. the mysterious yacht came into full view. The tide was nearly at the full, and the ship's deck, was ajniost on a level with the pier. A sailor sfflod smoking at the gangway. ."Is the luggage on board?" Fanshawe a>ked in a sharp, authoritative voice. It's all aboard, sir," the sailor answered, and the sAiser gentleman, too. He's asleep in his cabin." H'Very well then, I will go on board aft well, bat first of all, run up to PlasnflSwyr Cottage, and tell Mr. Lloyd 1 want .Sf.sejs Bim at once." transport manager/ "Yes; be quick about it." The man touched his cap and shambled off. "> ■:"'** Well wait here," Fanshawe said in a low^vcice— unless you woujd like to go aboard and lest in the saloon?" £ " I think we'll wait here," Gerald answered dryly and he heard Fanshawe fgiKß a little chuckle in the dark. .J' Tm not so bad as all that, Boynton " Jhe man. said,, r? and indeed to Gerald he I jseemed a curious mixture of good and ! £ t' J But have it our own way" I i. in about, fi-e minutes, a short, thick-set' man humeu down the pier -with the) > PFSood "TH*- Mr. Flint," he said. hS o »" 3 " Pleasure of doing , night at full tide.- His lordship asked me So £0 and see these two gentlemen at the Pwylog Hotel. They are friends of the ! S'oflng lady that's lost on the mountains." i k. 'Dear, dear- ' said Mr. Lloyd, svmnabietkally. "A bad business that * I i v , i- a 'l , ansh awe went on, "and his lordship told me to afford them ever? possible assistance. .They want to go up on .the mountains-at once, and to save time you must send them up in one of the tiuriks with a man to show them the way on the moor. You've got steam up, 1 suppose?" .- -' "' *. It '.Oh yes, Mr.'jlint. It is up night and m! ho I can 3,ave ; thein run OP within half aniiour. •«* ««-u»« L 4 y X. wdl *&»»' li y°« will go to the end of the pier,-these two gentlemen will Join you in a few"minutes, f want.t6navo a final word with them." ™ ■y ■ : ";Good-night, Mr. .FJini See you back Won I suppose ?»-,the man .answered ami th^V? e '4m?'' Fanshawe replied an ,4* he ,? he tur «ed to Gerald. P W. Sin eood-bye, .ißoynton,". he said. . VVe shall never meet again; I wish vou every possible success. g You are go K into deadly danger, but I believe you will win through. It is all owing to me that poor Miss Milton is in the pfsitioHhe is I --though I could never have foreseen i! ?o a rS c eTry attd «** aS «rf3 me

K n s? nodded curtly, did not offer to shako Jtnjb andl pepped over the gangway on teh flared up V yacht " roof of the X m up from tbe roc > f of the "alopn they saw him standing there for a St* tall dark figure And then he went below and they saw him no more said Now for it, Winterbotham Boy Son Erfid, "and God help us »°J»«» raifetTn ln a kind of rough miniature railway station upon which a single "re light threw a ghostly radiance. £ cr eat ir Z k \ Capao,e of holding two tons of silt* glided towards them olzt of the daft ' .Its rough, said Mr. Lloyd, "but you wont mmd that, seeing the business you w hi ' look you. There will be one change fe # get "Eto £ he first platform, but SS wfiXf.*" be with von all the whateffer." y aU the - They thanked him and scrambled into Welshman' accompanied by a little silent Welshman in corduroy. Mr. Lloyd went md Xd a t h T. Blde ° f the ]i tle P lat "- anu pulled it. There was a clang a liaht winked upon the mountain side a bell rang and then the steel cable tightened and the truck began to move. Tney sTt down upon some-sacks upon the floor „ 111 f° re ,? art J***" to ™° and the who" thing gathered momentum. The B*ht« rrf be .village sank below them. Twotwink Jmgpomts of . /««? green marked w& &nS on waited at the pier side. thflse dwindled to nothingness, and the wind of their passage grew coldTwhile the rroise of their ascent echoed through the deep gulley up which they rushed. It was a strange sensation, this fierce atoming .of the mountain. They could see ■JOttuw the stars above the vast walls of slate on either s de. At last th«' pace slackened there was a slight jerk ' £5, wiy alon * level grouhd for a, livans got out and motioned them to do i, ee . There was a click as an electric' standard, was turned on, and they found *WMs:,9n.aJittle platform surrounded *>% a high amphitheatre of rock A 1™ yawnrng -Lunnel slanting upwards t iZ t.irk \Ji *C • Ihe y entered another W mM n - there wa « «w ringingnf I m £ 6 & l l e n r rt e h^ nd r they Med . ,«t£eper. V i,, SriJS? S?^ e ,ffM much , Sluj.. * " i;UOBt hke tolling up a |

ladder Bet against a house as they crouched inside the truck. The noise was deafening, and' it seemed to continue for hours. At last the hot air of the tunnel cleared and they came out into the great central quarry itself gigantic, echoing, place of unknown extent, forlorn and terrifying. Their guide unlocked the door of a small shed and returned with three lanterns, which he Jit. "If you follow me carefully," he eaid, " there's no danger, and You'll be up on the moor in ten minutes." They wound in and out among huge piles of dressed slate, dodging past lines of trucks and innumerable little sheds, until they came to a roughly-cut stairway in the side of the artificial precipice before them. On one side was a hand-rail; on the other the rock itself. The little man flitted ahead like a monstrous gnome. His lantern made fantastic play of light and shadow as they followed him. Higher and higher they went upon their winding way, until they must have risen nearly three hundred feet, and nothing separated them from the gulf below, save the guide-rail of dew-drenched rope. At last it was over. They went through a gate in the facing which defended the abyss, and found their feet among the heather. "Will you be going to the castle?" the man asked. *' Yes, we want to find out if they have any news," Gerald said. " Well, it isn't three miles away. The moon will be up soon, and you can't miss your way if you keep this track until you reach the road. Then it's fair going till you get. to the castle. You can keep these lanterns." Gerald thanked him and give him money, and then he disappeared below the brink of the precipice. They walked on briskly for two or three hundred yards until they struck a beaten road which led from thecaetle to another part of the quarries from which all supplies were brought. Then they blew out the lanterns and hid them in a clump of heather. " I've got the plan of the cattle thoroughly in my mind. I can't make a mistake. When once we're inside we must be guided entirely by circumstances. Personally I shall stick at nothing." "Nor I, sir," Winterbotham answered, and the other heard his teeth grate together in the dark. " There's another thing I want to say. Our first plan is to rescue Miss Milton, i that's agreed upon?" " Of course, Mester Boynton?' " Very well, then. The mysterious horror at which Mr. Fanehawe hinted is only a secondary thing. Now, it's quite possible ,in getting Miss Milton away we can do ; it at all—that one of us will hare to go under. I want you to promise, WinterI botham, as I promise you, that whoever sees a chance of getting her away, even if he has to abandon the other, he will do it. It's a lot to aek from you. My position is different." "I'm with ye, sir." the little man answered simply. " IVo no one dependent upon me. I've had a good life, and, well, I'd just die for that young ladv, same as you would." Their hands gripped hard in a sacrament of chivalry of mutual faith. "The moon will he up in about an hour," said Gerald, when thev had pro- j gressed a few yards cm their way. "At j this rate we shall make the castle in | another five and twenty minutes. Don't 1 you agree that it will he a thousand times better to try and get inside while it is still dark?" "I'll follow ye in everything," Winterbotham rejoined, and they began a quick and steady march on the tnrf at the side of the faintly-gleaming road. Ten minutes, twenty minutes, passed, and then Winterhotham touched Gerald's arm with a low hiss. , "Yonder!" he whispered. They strained their eyes through the dark, and an immense pile of goblin masonry seemed to heave itself before them, blacker thanMiigbt and silent as a tomb. Gerald sank upon his knees, produced Fansh awe's map, and placed an illuminated compass upon it. " This is the side," he whispered, after half a. minute's scrutiny. "We must follow the wall to the right for two hundred yards. Ah!" k Two,things happened simultaneously. A twinkle of yellow ■light showed High up in the air, and the deep musical bay of a distant hound came to them through the silence. "It's t'other, side of t'castle," Winterbotham murmured. "But what are them lights?" Come and see."

I The road wound away to the left. They I crossed it without a sound, pushed their i V 2*\ t i rouh the heather to the right, I winch Fanshawe had told them went unto the very edge of the moat. Instant by instant the vast pile grew more distinct to their straining eyes. Battlemented wall and crenulated tower detached themselves from the star-spangled background, and above all hang the huge central mass of the Aeep. It was there that the lights came —a row of narrow windows. Gerald heard a sound like someone ranning. For a moment, Ins hand gripped the butt of his revolver. Then he realised that it- was the drumming of his own heart. She was there, up in that grim tower, three hundred feet high! He plunged forward. "Go easy, Mester Boynton, go easy. We re very close there now." Winterbotham was right. A-few more steps and the towering outer walls of the castle seemed about to fall upon them They were not fifty yards from the castle. Gerald dropped upon his hands and knees. The heather had almost ceased They felt nothing but smooth twrf as-they crawled onwards, dragging their alpinestocks behind them. -. • Suddenly Gerald stopped. He saw- ' faint glimmers like scattered glow worms, - a yard or two ahead. They did not seem to be quite on his own level, but down a depression of some feet— stars were reflected in the broad dark waters of the. moat. He touched Winterbotham upon the arm. Without a sound they crawled on their stomachs to the very -edge of the I water. Six yards wide, Fanshawe had said. It seemed a hundred, it seemed like an enchanted lake laving the feet of a high precipice. Again, but unmistakably from the other side of the castle, and so perhaps a-quarter of a mile away, came the musical baying of the hound. I On this side of the castle there was not ! a sound, not a light of any sort. !1 " There's no one watching, at any rate " I i Gerald whispered,, after they had crouched '' there for several minutes. " I'm going to risk it." He took the powerful electric torch 1 from his pocket, and sent a level ray i

I skimming over the water, moving it this 1 way and that. But finding no break in , the huge moss grown blocks of stone yon- ; der, he shut it off, and without a word began to crawl parallel with the moat, I Winterbotham following him. When they ■ had gone some sixty yards, and remained silent for at least a minute, he tried again. They had hit the spot exactly. The beam quivered and focused itself. Six yards away was a low, pointed archway in the wall, closed by a heavy nailed I studded door. Three steps descended | from it to the water. Then they saw < something else. Moored to a nail in the : wall by the side of the steps was a small boat. i "Thank God!" Gerald whispered. "That's our way back!" He shut off the light as he spoke. , Winterbotham did not answer, but he seemed to be scuffling oddly at Gerald's side. " What are you doing ?" he asked. " Taking the things out of my pockets," the other answered quietly. " Catch hold of the cylinder, Mester Boynton. I'm a proper fish in water." Before Gerald could say another word, the little man had writhed to the brink of the moat and let himself down in the water without a sound. There was a tiny splash or two, then Gerald cautiously switched on the torch. He saw Winterbotham climbing over the stern of the boat, and in a few seconds more he leant over the edge and caught it by the nose. "Steady," Winterbotham whispered, as Gerald let himself down. "There are no oars, but there's a boat hook." Even as he spoke, he shoved off, and the impetus sent them shooting over the moat, until the little crafj grated against the steps. They waited in silence while herald returned the cylinder, spare torch and' other things to Winterbotham. Then! mooring the boat, they crept out upon the slippery steps up to the heavy door. Wo b» continued on Saturday ant.)