WATCHING EYES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21470, 19 April 1933, Page 19

WATCHING EYES

By T. C. BRIDGES (COPYRIGHT) Author of "Messenger's Million," "The Price of Liberty," ** The Other Mans Crime, Etc., Etc.

ABSORBING NARRATIVE OF LOVE AND ADVENTURE

CHAPTER Xll.—(Continued) The passage widened and grew higher and Jim noticed that tho air was quite fresh. " I'll lay there's a cave at tho cud of this," ho vowed. " I wonder if we're anywhere near under the house? " Chowno shook his head. "Wo hain't that far," he declared. Ho pulled up short. "By gum, look at them icicles! " The passage had suddenly opened into a good-sized rock chamber, the roof of which looked as if hung with icicles reflecting the light of the candles. " They're stalactites," Jim told him. " Made by drip from tho roof." " They be mighty pretty, whatever may they be made," said Chowne. " Do 'ee reckon to find them papers hero, master? " " I don't believe anj'ono has been in here for at least a century," Jim answered as ho glanced round. " What I'm loolung for is another passago which might lead to tho sea-cave under tho house." " Thero bo another passage right enough," Chowne said as ho hold his candle high and pointed to an opening in tho far wall. " That's good," said Jim as ho made straight for the hole. "And it goes in tho right direction, too. Come on, Chowne, I believe wo're 011 tho track. See how it dips." " You bo careful," Chowno warned as Jim hurried ahead. " Looks to mo like ail old mino adit, and if you falls down a. winzo it'll take more'n a doctor to mend 'ee." Jim slowed at once. Chowne might bo right. Tho. cave was natural, but this passago looked as if it had been cut by hand. And his long tramps on Cornish and Devon moors had mado Jim sufficiently familiar with tin mines to know all about a " winze." A winzo is a shaft cut to join two different levels of a mine. It sometimes opens in tho middle of a gallery, and thero is no warning at all until ono walks into a black pit and pitches down twenty, thirty or forty feet on to hard rock below, i Tho passage fell steeply and drops | of moisture oozed from tho roof and : trickled down tho walls. Tho floor became greasy and Jim noticed that the air was heavy and stagnant. Another few' yards and ho knew the reason. A mass of earth and rock completely blocked the tunnel. " Of all tho rotten luck," grumbled Jim, and was stepping forward to seo whether the rocks could be moved when Chowne caught him by tho arm. " Don't 'ee do it, mister. Touch them there rocks and liko as not tho wholo roof'll drop down and bury us both." It was true, Jim felt it was true, but it was very reluctantly that he clambered back up tho slope to the cave. Peaching it, ho began searching for any other passage out. Limestone, he knew, is full of cracks and caves.' Chowne was looking about with interest. Though -lie had lived hero for years he had never even suspected the existence of this cave. " I reckon you was right, sir," ho said presently. " There hain't nobody J used this here cave for a many years. ' This here old box —it's like one my old granfer used to show me when I wero | a boy." Turning sharply, Jim saw j Chowne examining an old chest. It was : mado of hand-sawn oak and clamped 1 with bands of hand-forged iron, so 1 j eaten away with rust that most of , it had fallen away. " That's a jolly sight more than a hundred years old," said Jim. " Three hundred is what I'd put it at. I wonder if there's anything in it." Tho lid | was fastened with an old-fashioned pad--1 lock, but the hinges were so rusty that a couple of blows with a stone burst it open. Chowne fished inside and lifted out a metal bowl, black as soot and' wrapped in mouldering remains of what ! might once luvve been cloth or velvet, j " Nought but old tin," ho with scorn, and was about to thro> it down when Jim took it quickly from his hand and began to examine it by the light of the candle. "Tin!" 110 said sharply. "It's silver!" Chowne wondered at the blazo of excitement in Jim's eyes. " But it bo all spoiled," ho said. " It couldn't bo worth much." " Only about five times its weight in gold," replied Jim. " It's Elizabethan if I'm not very much mistaken. Is thero more? " " There bo some kind of plato, but they do look worso'n tho bowl." " Silver platters, and the same date as the bowl. Six of them," Jim added gleefully. " Chowno, we're in luck. This little lot will fetch four or five hundred pounds." Chowne shook his head. " You're eddicated. You'd ought to know, but me, I wouldn't have took tho trouble to carry 'em homo." •' I'm going to carry them homo and to-morrow I'm going to carry them to London, Chowne." It was lunch-time when they got back, but Jim was too excited to eat. Ho had a glass of cider, then took his prizes into tho study and started to clean them. As tho grime of ages camo away they were revealed as exquisite specimens of Elizabethan silverware. There was a knock and Chowne camo in. " Mr. Lunt to see 'ee, sir," ho said griinlv. Chowno did not like Harvey and made 110 attempt to conceal his dislike. Jim hurried out to meet his cousin. " Hello, old man," Harvey greeted him genially. "What about a run in my car? It's a topping day." "Can't do it; too busy. I've had a bit of luck, Harvey." Quickly he told the story of his find and Harvey listened with interest. "That's fine," lie said. "Silver of that date is worth a pot of money. It'll carry you on.till you find tho bonds." "That's what I'm hoping. Come and see it." He led his cousin into the study, then stopped and stood staring as if 110 could not believe his eyes. Except for the cleaning material, the table was bare. CHAPTER XIII T AIIO ET PRACTICE Jim did not wasto a moment. In three strides ho reached the wide-open ' window, vaulted out and ran round the corner of the house. Since he had been out of tho study no more than three or four minutes, it was certain that tho thief could not have gono far. Jim 1 fully expected to see him on the cliff path. There was no one there. He swung round in the other direction, but tho ; Point was equally bare. Someone came : hurrying up behind him. It was Mrs. I Chowne. Her plump faco was crimson : with exertion, and she was panting for 1 breath. < " Tho man went over tho rock, sir. 1 were upstairs. I seed him from the win- I dow." " Which way?" Jim asked, and she 1 pointed down toward tho end of tho Crag. "All right. Tell Chowne." Ho was off liko a shot and Jim could run faster ' than most 111011. His first surge of anger at tho theft of tho plate had passed, and he was able to think (Nearly. 5 Tho thief, whoever he was, must have 1 been hiding somewhere near the house, 1 probably in that big clump of laurels c opposite tho study window. The moment J he had seen Jim leave the room he had

nipped in and snatched up the plate. The chances were that he had a boat hidden among the rocks off the end of ' the Point, and was reckoning to got across the cove and into the thick gorse on the far side before he could ho caught. 1 All this flashed through Jim's mind as lie ran for the Point, and before he reached it he saw that he was right. A man was pulling away from the end of the Point in a small boat. But he was not heading across the cove; ho was rowing out to sea. The boathouse was built on the inner side of.the Point about fifty yards from its end, and a path ran down to it. ' Jim had left the dinghy tied alongside the landing, but when he reached it, the first thing he saw was that the sculls were missing. There was no need to ask who had taken them. That was obvious, but it was one more proof that the theft had been carefully planned, for the sculls must have been lifted before tho plate was taken. Certainly the man had. not had time to > visit the boathouse since leaving the house. Jim's last hope was the launch, and lie ran back up the path, shouting to Harvey. Ho met liim half-way up. " The launch," panted Harvey, who was not in such good training as Jim. " I'm most frightfully sorry, old man, but she's not in running order. I've been decarbonising, and tho engine's •all to bits." " Then it's good-byo to my silver," said Jim with a sort of fierce bitterness. He was almost sick with disapi pointinent. Chowne rushed up. I " There be a chance yet, Master ■ Jim," ho said hoarsely. " Here bo your rille." Jim's eyes brightened as ho took tho weapon. It was a high-velocity , .23 bore sighted up to three hundred yards. "Good man!" ho said warmly. ! " But you're not going to shoot the s fellow?" gasped Harvey horrified. Jim > did not answer. He was already hurrying to tho Point. Though thero was 110 wind to speak of, thero was still a fairly heavy swell running, tho remains of the galo of the previous day. Also, the tide was on the Hood. The result was that tho dinghy was still hardly more than a hundred yards from tho extreme end of tho Crag. " Jim dropped on a flat rock, took careful aim, and with the whip-like crack of the rifle white splinters leaped from the stern of tho boat. The rower started convulsively, then set to pulling harder than before. Jim hailed him. " That's only a warning," he shouted. " Turn back if you don't | want to die." For a moment the thief [ seemed to hesitate, then perhaps trusting to the distance and the roughness of the water, 110 drove his sculls in afresh. | Jim fired again. For a man who had won many a sweepstake on the Plymouth ranges, this shooting was childis play. As tho boat rose on a wave tho second bullet tore through her hull between wind and water. " \ou missed un again," groaned Chowne. " Don't bo a fool," snapped Jim. " I'm not trying to kill tho follow. Gq and find some sculls. There's an old pair up at tho house. We'll need them if wo'ro to save the plate." Chowno hurried off, and Jim waiting only until tho boat rose again, sent another bullet smashing through her, below watorline. The marks wero not visible where the bullets struck, but he knew r very well that where they emerged 1 they wero making holes big enough to 1 put a thumb through. ! The fourth bullet did tho trick. Yelling to Jim to stop firing, tho man turned and pulled desperately for tho shore. 1 " Come right into the Point," Jim ' ordered. I " I'll never get there," the man answered hoarsely. " You've knocked the 1 bottom out of her." " He's right," said Harvey in a queer, strained voice. " He's sinking." He was behind Jim, standing very still and watching the boat with a halffrightened look in his eyes. Jim glanced round. " Don't worry," 110 said coolly.' " Hero's Chowno with tho sculls. Go and hell) him with the dinghy." Harvey hurried away, and Jim watched the boat. The man was pulling harder than ever, but making very heavy weather of it, and small wonder, for as Jim could see, his craft was already a quarter full of water. "Hurry, Chowne! Hurry;" Jim shouted, but thero was 110 sign of the dinghy. " He'll be too late," he said to himself, and dropping the rifle went scrambling quickly down the rough rocks toward the sea. Flinging off his coat and shoes he jumped into tho water and swam hard for tho sinking boat. Tho man was still rowing, but tho water was nearly up to his knees. Just as Jim reached her, a big slow swell broke over tho gunwhalo of tho boat, swamping her completely, and the thief yelled with terror as ho felt her sinking away beneath him. " Can't swim a stroke," growled Jim, and grabbed tho boat's side just in time to prevent her turning turtle and spilling all her contents into fifteen feet of water. " Hang on to your Hide of her," Jim ordered."" Don't try to climb in, you fool." Then as the fellow went on, struggling: " Keep still, confound you, or I'll break your neck," lie said with such savage emphasis that tho fellow was frightened into obeying. Treading water, Jim looked into the boat and saw a bag in the stern. Ho snatched it, and holding it in one hand balanced the boat with the other and turned to look for the dinghy, which at that very moment carmo into sight round the Point. " You've been long enough," said Jim, drilv, as Chowno rowed up. " T'wcrn't my fault," protested Chowne. " Mr. Harvey, he were in such a hurry getting in, he nigh swamped her. Half full she were, and us had to bale her afore us could start. ' " I'm awfully sorry, Jim," said Harvey. " I suppose I got a bit rattled." " It's all right," said Jim. " Take this bag, Chowne. No, don't bother about 1110. Get this fellow into tho boat if you can. But bo careful, or he'll upset you." " If her does her'll drown," growled Chowne. " You balance the boat, master, while I pulls 1111 ie.." Jim did so, and Chowne hauled the thief into tho dinghy, where lie sat shivering and sullen while Chowno pulled back. Jim, unwilling to let tho plato out of his reach again, held 011 to tho stern and was towed in. And so all four arrived back at tho boathouso. Jim scrambled out and took the bag. ■< " Better tie that chap, Chowne," ho said. " Her won't get away from me," said Chowno, looking at the thief with anything but a friendly eye. The thief himself was a stocky individual with a broad face, snub nose, thin lips, and little greenish eyes which shifted uneasily from one to tho other. " What are you going to do with him, Jim?" asked Harvey. " Lock him up till I can send for the police," replied Jim briefly. " Do you think that's wise?" " What do you mean?" " Just this. If you run him in it'll mean a police court case." " Of course." " Yes, but wait. Then tho wholo story will have to come out. Tho magistrates may say this find of yours is treasure trove. There'll bo an inquest on it. Tho less you say about what you've found the bettor." , (To be continued daily.) •