THE MONEY STONES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18710, 16 May 1924, Page 3

THE MONEY STONES.

■ BY JACK McLAREN. Author of "My Odyssey," "Fagaloa'e Daughter." "White Witch," "Savagery of Margaret Nestor." "Feathers of Heaven," "Skipper of the Roaring Meg." "Red Mountain." "The Oil Seekers," etc., etc. (Copyright.) . CHAPTER XL. Peter was in excellent condition. The hard work of the past few weeks had hardened and toughened his muscles. He had not an ounce of superfluous flesh on him. For all of which he was duly thankful. For the fight that followed was a strenuous one. He needed all the speed of which he was capable in order to avoid the hammer-like blows of his big opponent. If one of those blows had landed the result would have been serious, even if it had not ended the fight there and then. But Peter's speed and training stuck to him. He was quicker on his feet than Norton. Also, his knowledge •of boxing told him when a blow was coming to anticipate it. But though Norton could not manage to hit him, Peter's blows landed time and time again. Both his left and right went home hard on the big man's ribs, chest, and face. A shout of applause came from the crowd each time he landed a particularly heavy blow." The contest resolved itself into a test of endurance. It became a question of who would tire first. At this terrific pace it could not last very long. Presently Norton began to show signs of weakening. He began to stagger under the impact of Peter's blows, and there was less siing in his own, though still exceedingly dangerous. Peter felt that he was winning. A wave of exultation swept over him as he drove in another right and left, with the whole weight of his body behind them to Norton's ribs. Then suddenly a warning shout came to him. "Look out Manners! Lookout!" And Ruth's voice: "Jump, Peter Out of the corner of his eye he saw the wizened form of Iko almost upon him. A knife gleamed up-raised in the man's hand. * Peter threw up an arm to protect himself from the descending thrust, preparatory to springing aside. But the knife never came down. For suddenly something came singing through the air, Iko dropped with an arrow in his chest, and there came the voice of Kua. * "At last! At last! He who would have stolen my Amona, and now seeks to kill my master, is dead! He is dead!" Peter paid him little attention, for Norton was coming at him again, coming at- him like an angered bull, his face livid with rage. In his fury he had dropped his guard. . ' And that was the end of the fight, for Peter carefully measuring his distance, landed him a full-handed left on the point' of the jaw—and Takeall Norton, the man who had never been defeated at anything he had set out to do, crashed insensible to the ground. The spectators, whites and natives alike, crowded about the victor, congratulating him. Iko lay where he had fallen, his life blood staining the ground. Some of Norton's natives dashed water in their master's face, partially reviving him. Ruth pushed a way through the crowd. " Mr. Rossmore," she said, " I want to charge that man, Takeall Norton, with murder." CHAPTER XLI. ' _ , " Charge him with murder!" the Warden repeated. "That is a very serious thing to do, Miss Grierson." ■■■:/■]{ " I charge him, all the same," said Ruth. ' - . " You all heard Pe—Mr. Manners say that though he was convinced that Norton had caused the explosion which killed the labourer, he had no proof of it," she went on. "Well, I have proof! '■ "Listen,"- she continued, as a murmur of surprise went up from her hearers. " Rua, the native who kept guard at the claim, is the lover of my cook-girl, Amona. The night before the explosion, she went down to the claim, to keep him company for a while, as she did sometimes. V " As she was returning, she saw something white on the ground, near the tunnel. She picked it up. It was a soiled handkerchief, with something wrapped in it. Thinking Mr. Manners had dropped it she decided to take it to the house with her. ..■'-' .' • ' ; As she was about to move off, she happened to glance at the * tunnel saw in the oblong opening a shadowy something which might have been a man, but to her superstitious mind, was more like a spirit. Rua, who was pacing up and down on sentry-go, had his back to the tunnel for the moment. Before he turned and came back, the shadowy something in the tunnel's mouth had flitted silently into the jungle. Rua had not seeD it. Frightened, Amona hurried to the house. , : . She paused and then added: — " It was Takeall Norton leaving the tun-' nel after charging the half-finished hole with dynamite. \', " But I v learned nothing of this till some time after the explosion, 1 ' she continued. ■" Amona did not tell me before, - as she was afraid I would laugh at her for being superstitious. Also, she had put the handkerchief on a shelf in the kitchen and forgotten about it. "But next day she came to me and told me what she had seen, just as I have told you, for by ; then she had realised that there was some connection between what she had seen and the mysterious explosion. She gave me the handkerchief, and I opened it." Again she paused. The crowd made not a sound; even the natives, though not understanding a word, refrained from speaking. From a half-reclining position, Norton watched her, half-dazed. "The handkerchief had Norton's name on the corner," said Ruth, " and what it contained was a plug of dynamite with what do you call the things it." " Detonators? " suggested someone. , " That's it! The things that make it go off. He had brought more than one charge, thinking to charge more than me hole, in case one should miss fire. But in sneaking into the tunnel he dropped it; and perhaps Rua was keeping such close watch that \he was afraid to risk spending any time looking for it." From the neck of her dress she produced the handkerchief, with the plug of dynamite still in it, and handed it. to the warden. , ",. "And that's all—" she finished lamely. "By the Lord Harry, and it's enough, too! '* cried Travers. " You've settled his hash, anyway! I'm proud to know you, Mrs. Mann-! mean Miss Grierson. I take back all I 'said about you. I take back all I said about wcaen in general And he shook her vigorously by the hand. , , _:■ "What you have told me makep a very damning case against Norton," said Rossmore. " It's my duty to arrest him at once." He made a signal to his nolice boys, who stood near, and they went to Norton and slipped handcuffs ,on his wrists. The big man was still too dazed to make any resistance. _ . r Ruth had slipped away now, but Peter, who all this while had been . a silent listener, glimpsed her going up the path to the house, and went after her. She was on the verandah when?. he arrived standing with her hands on the rail, looking down At the valley, now dulling'to the . first of the tropic night. , . She made no sign that she saw him till he had mounted the steps and stood beThen she turned her face toward him,. and smiled faintly. '■''/,'-".■'

"I understand (now/'.- he said. " By.. threatening Norton that you "would * lay a • ;■';. charge of murder against him,' you ' forced; . him to tell Deo to take off the - speii ha S' •, had put on those who. worked? for ; me. .■ ; . You went to him as soon as Amoha. told • you— that it? " ' • ■',"" Ye!," she answered, "I took him my ■ -" s proofs, and told him what Amona ,had * said. I suppose it was compounding a felony, or whatever Mr. Rossmore would ."-;: call it; but I saw that it was a chance for you to get your labourers back. 1 was careful to take my pistol on my belt - —and it was as well that I did. > But we. '■■-. won't go into that— kept him off, and—" .::■.[ She stopped suddenly, for he had flung an arm about her. and pressed his iips to hers. " Forgive me," he whispered a moment later. " For what? " she asked softly. For calling me a cave woman that afternoon, or for kissing me in this cave m?.u fashion " " For the first offence, but not for the second," he answered boldlv, drawing her close, for he had seen in her beautiful eyes that which ho had hitherto sought, in vain. Yet ho questioned her about it,, " Do you love me? " " I think I have loved you ever since that night you went to do battle for me at the Lambton Passage," she whispered back. " Let m 6 go," she said some minui es later, glancing down along the path. " Here comes the warden and his wife." His answer was to hold her tighter. "Mr. Rossmore," he cried, " if you will give us a passage, there are two of us who would like to catch' that Australian steamer. "After we have finished a little business we are going to have with the missionary at the Inlet," he added. (the en~d.)