THE LAVENHAM TREASURE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20991, 30 September 1931, Page 17

THE LAVENHAM TREASURE.

By OTTWELL BINNS. (copyright.) Author of "Diana of tho Islands," "The Trail of Adventure," " The Mystery of the Atoll," etc., etc.

A STORY OF TENSE AND DRAMATIC ACTION BY POPULAR WRITER.

CHAPTER X.—(Continued). To plunge into that wide reach of park and wood, without anything to guide Ilim, was mere vanity, and ho waited for any sound or sign that would indicate the whereabouts of the ma.i for whose safety the girl was so anxious. The time of waiting grew prolonged. With the remembrance of those two shots, he began to grow anxious. Had the pursuit triumphed, and was Hammerton lying dead somewhere in the park or in the copses away to the right ? The silence seemed ominous. To his anxious mind there was a tragic quality in the stillness. He had a half-formed conviction that these two shots proclaimed a fresh tragedy, and that somewhere out in the shadows lay a dead man. In that case A sharp whistle broke on his dismal reflections. A shout followed, other voices answered, and with an assurance that the game was still afoot, and his heart leaping with relief, he began to run across the lawn in the direction of the trees, whence the sounds had come. Before he reached them the moon sailed clear of tke clouds, and he saw the trees clearly. As he ran he perceived another runner, a man who skirted the wood for perhaps twenty yards and then plunged into it. "Hare or bounds?" he muttered, and ran for the place where the man whom he had seen had disappeared. When he reached it, he stood for a moment staring into the shadows in front. He did not know whether the individual who had vanished there was Hammerton or one of his pursuers; but whilst he stood there, a second man broke from the trees, and almost before Lavenham saw him launched himself upon him. Instinctively, rather than of set purpose, the artist struck with the poker and his assailant went down like a felled ox. In the same moment Lavenham heard feet crashing through the undergrowth in the wood, and without delay hurried in the direction of the sounds. The moon, clear of the clouds, filled the wood with shadows. More than once he stopped, thinking there was a man in front of him, only to find that it was some trick of the moonlight among the trees. Then quite suddenly, in a glade-like place, he saw a man running. The turf under the trees deadened the sound of the man's steps, and the unearthly light gave him a ghostlike appearance. But the fact that he was aloue, and that there was apparently no one else in the immediate neighbourhood, brought to Lavenham an uplift of heart. Here, he was assured, was the fugitive Hammerton, sound of wind and limb, with his pursuers tricked or left behind. But for the fict that any noise must attract the baffled hunt he would have hailed the fugitive. Deeming that action would be the merest folly, he started to follow the man. He was still running when the fugitive disappeared, having apparently walked straight into a tree. For a moment he was utterly nonplussed. The thing was incredible. His imagination he thought must be playing tricks with him, and indeed, the shadows in the wood were very confusing. Then he moved toward the tree in question, and before he reached it the explanation was afforded him. What looked like a shadow on the trunk was really an opening where the wood had rotted away, and he was still moving toward it when the vanished man emerged into view again, and began to run forward, apparently without, seeing the artist; but as he became aware of him, he stopped suddenly, and lifted something that he carried to the shoulder. Lavenham remembered the slugs that had struck the window frame and thojloor at the Priory, and knowing that he was in some peril, cried out sharply: " Hammerton, for heaven's 6ake —" The other lowered his weapon and ran forward. " You," he cried tensely. " You Lavenham ! Go back to the house! Guard Helen! You don't know this crowd. They're capable of—"" A sharp whistle sounded. A hoarse voice gs.ve a view halloa! and a man appeared running toward them. As they saw him a second man came in sight-, and Hammerton cried imperatively: " For God's sake, go. I'll come along shortly." The artist waited no longer. Hammerton's urgency proclaimed a very real apprehension. For some reason the man feared that the hostility directed against himself might include Helen Lavenham; and that he should be so afraid sowed fear in Lavenham. He slipped into the shadow of the trees, and as he did so heard a sharp " P-l-u-nng! " The sound was followed by a raging cry. " Perdition! Tho fellow's shooting. 'Ware slugs, Pete." Lavenham glanced round once, and had a glimpse of Hammerton standing in the moonlight; that camouflaged air-gun ready for action, with tho two men halted a little distance away plainly uncertain how to proceed. Then as he moved on he heard a laugh, Hammerton's by the sound; there followed shouting; and he divined that onco again the moth-hunter was in flight, with the other men in pursuit. He lost his way among tho trees; wandered for some minutes, stumbled in a clump of brambles and dropped the poker somewhere in the heart ot the clump. Picking himself up, he did not trouble to look for the weapon, but hurried forward in the direction where he conceived the house was. Tho shadows were denser in this part of the wood, apd ho ran straight into a man who emerged from behind a bunch of hollies. The man gripped him. " Now—you blighter! " Face to face, held in a hug liko a bear's, he saw tho other's face was blood stained, and divined that here was tho felltfw whom he had felled with the poker a little while back. That the man recognised him, or at any rate guessed him to be his assailant, seemed certain, for there was a vicious snarl on his face, and he could not possibly have mistaken him for the bearded Hamnierton. Instinctively ho struggled to free himself, but his opponent had a wrestler's hold and lifted him off his feet with the plain intention of throwing him among tho trees. With a thought that such a fall might mean a broken neck or back, Lavenham clung to the man like a cat; and though tho fellow swayed and whirled and butted with his wounded head, he could not break the artist's hold. Then with his feet still off the ground, Lavenham bethought him of something. In such a desperato case there was no room for sportsmanlike rules. Instinctively, ho began to kick tho man's shins, knowing how vulnerable the man was there. The fellow spat an oath, made ono more desperate attempt to throw his opponent; then as the latter's boot toe found the bone, he gave a sharp groan and roleasod his hold, but almost simultaneously struck viciously with his right fist. The blow was a stnggerer. It caught Lt.venham over the heart, and knocked him to the ground. He lay there helpless for a moment, breathless, aware only of intolerable pain', and of a darkness which seemed shot with little points of fire. Then tho darkness lifted a little, his brain functioned, and he was aware of his opponent staggering toward him. Ha heard the man laugh savagely, and saw him lift a foot.

" Now, you crawling worm. I'll trample the life out of you." The ruffian meant just what he said. Lavenham had no doubt of that; and still doubled by the agony of the blow that ho had suffered, lie was helpless to protect himselt. He tried to roll away, and lifted a hand to save his face. The fellow saw the action and laughed, I'll spoil your—" A feminine cry of fear sounded through the night, checking the fellow's words. He looked round. "Lumme! What's that?" Layenh'am himself had no doubt of the meaning of that cry. The peril which Hamnierton had anticipated had materialised, and Helen Lavenham was in danger. The thought helped him to triumph over tho agony which he still suffered. He drew a gasping breath, clutched suddenly at the other's legs and jerked sharply. Taken by surprise, the man crashed backwards, grunted once and lay still, his head against a tree. Slowly, Lavenham picked himself up, the effort causing him new pain; his heart beat so violently and irregularly that he felt that he must choke.. He looked down once at the ruffian, saw that ho was really out of action, and then with a great effort began to stumble forward. When be was out of sight of his fallen antagonist, he leaned against a broad tree-trunk; and, notwithstanding his intense anxiety, schooled himself to wait until the wild beating of his heart steadied a little; then again ho began to go forward. From behind, in the depths of the wood, occasional sounds reached him. Once a man shouted; and twice there were whistles, one very, very sharp and clear, a if the whistler were summoning others to him; and finally, just as he broke into the open, from the road bordering the park there sounded the soft purr of an automobile. The wide lawn in front of him was a mere void of darkness at the further side of wtiich the lights of the Priory gleamed. He began to move toward them as quickly as he could; but slowly for all that; for the blow that he had taken had been a cruel one, .*nd his limbs shook as if he had a palsy. Before he reached the house he was aware of a white figure standing on the steps and had a hope that his fears were groundless; then ne became aware of someone running up the gravelled drive toward the house. Who the runner could be he could only conjecture. Possibly Hammerton had heard that feminine cry of distress, and it might be he; or again it might very well be one of the men who had previously entered the house, returning. He could' not be sure, and in either case it was incumbent upon him to make sure that no harm had befallen Helen Lavenham. Before he reached the terrace the man who had been running up the drive had arrived at the door, and Lavenham heard a man's voice asking excited questions. " But what have a-been to do? An' where be Miss Helen gone ? Ruth d'say that—" He heard no more at the moment. That some untoward thing had overtaken Helen Lavenham the words revealed, and as he recalled the cry of fear which he had heard in the wood, his apprehensions were confirmed. Hammerton's anticipation had been justified. The girl had been brought into the circle of Spanish John's nefarious activities, though why, he could not even dimly guess. His new fears set his heart pounding afresh. Again he felt that he must choke; and (is hf! began to cross the terrace towards the man and the girl, who stood there in her night attire, he staggered like one far gone in drink. The man heard him coming and swung round; then cried challengingly: " Now, who the blazes be you ?" In answer to the man's challenging question, Lavenham explained as concisely as he could. " I am Charles Lavenham, a friend of Miss Helen's. I was here a little while ago, when some men entered the house. When they left there were sounds of trouble out there in the grounds—shots were fired and at Miss Lavenham's request I went 1 o find out what was happening. I wis attacked and I heard a cry from tho house here " He broke off, and asked sharply, " I heard you ask where Miss Helen had gone. Is she not here ?" " No, zur," answered the man, " not if tales be true. I was home a-bed, having been up two nights with the child who is sick, when I heard two shots. ' Poachers,' said I, an' the pheasants being my job, I got up an' started to dress, I zat in a chair to lace my boots, and it's God's truth, zur, that I failed asleep again, being that dog-tired; an' I knowed nothing more, till I heard Ruth hammering at the door and shouting about wild deeds happening here; an' I came along just zo fast as I could; though now I know no more than the man ;n the moon what have happened." (To be continued daily.)