THE STOLEN DEBUTANTE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21716, 3 February 1934, Page 13 (Supplement)

THE STOLEN DEBUTANTE

By OTTWILL BINNS , Author of "The Cry in the Night," "The Lavenham Treasure," etc,

A SENSATIONAL MYSTERY STORY

CHAPTER IX.—(Continued) Peter considered. He did not. quite know what to do. To attempt to tie up a more powerful man than himself was fraught with danger. Ho would need both hands for such a task and even if he couid manage it with one hand, if the fellow, accustomed as he was to firearms, risked a shot from the pistol, anything might happen. But there was that key in the door. The man broke 011 his thoughts again. " Think y'urself middlin' spry don't yew, catching me on tho hop like this? .But yew ain't got that girl away yet, an' suppose yew do, what d'yew reckon is goin' to happen to yew? Yew ain't used to our brand this side; but I guess yew heard a bit, an' yew can take ifc> from me that one or other of us will gii, yew beforo yew're through with the game. If yew value y'ur young life—" "It has attractions!" interrupted Peter, " but I haven't time to tell you what they are just now." " An' yew won't have time to worry about 'em no more after yew've stopped one. . . What for do yew want to go buttin' into things that aire no concern of y'urs when—" Peter heard the words, but gave them no attention. The man's head was cocked forward, and there was an odd look in his eyes. Was he expecting his friends to return. That was scarcely probable; but ho determined to take no chances. " Stand up!" he said sharply. " Get into that corner. Hands up! Face to tho panels." The man obeyed each command in turn, and scarcely was ho in the corner, when, with a quick move, Pentreath ran one of the heavy lounge chairs against his back, wedging him there. The next second he was at the door changing the key to the outside. The man turned his head to see what was happening. " Face about! By heaven—" He lifted the pistol and the man turned. Then, swiftly, Peter changed tho position of the pistol, and fired at the lamp chimney. It went with a crash and tho light was extinguished. He heard the girl give a little cry, and as he banged and locked the door, he called to her reassuringly. Then he pulled out the key and flung it from him as he ran to the girl's cabin. She was standing half-dressed, whitefaced, with fear in her grave eyes; but as she saw him. the fear vanished, and an immense relief took its place, followed by recognition. "You!" she stammered. "I remember ... in Tulsa —" " Yes!" 110 said. " Quick, we must get away at once. Never mind anything else. That cloak, there, will serve." He caught the cloak from the chair where it lay, flung it around her, then grasped her hand. " Come!" As they ran for tho stairs, shouted threats and battering noises came from the main cabin. Tho ruffian was apparently trying to break his way out; but both the door and the lock were stout, and Peter was assured that he was not likely to achieve his purpose before they could leave the hulk. " Go first!" he cried to the girl, and as he followed at her heels, saw that she was shoeless. On the deck he caught her hand again. " This way—there is a boat." They reached the accommodation ladder, and as they did so, the girl staggered and gave a little cry of pain. " Oh!" she gasped. " I . . . I . . ." She sagged as if fainting. It was no time for ceremony. Peter caught her in his arms, and in the same moment, caught a sound of splintering glass. He looked round, but in the darkness could see nothing to account for tho noise. He lifted the girl with the intention of carrying her down tho ladder, and as he did so, the darkness across tho deck was stabbed by flame, a bullet " plunked " in the bulwark, and through the swish of the rain, came the crack of the pistol that had fired it. He looked swiftly in the direction from which the sound same, and, suddenly, understanding came to him. " The skylight!" The man whom he had left in the cabin would be able to reach it from tho table, and, if he thought of a chair, would even be able to climb out. Plainly he had another weapon, and was disposed to uso it, which, considering the desperate crimes of which he was guilty, was not in any way surprising. Tho pistol cracked again, and more glass was splintered as Peter turned and set foot on tho accommodation ladder. The girl was now a dead weight in his arms, and he was sure that .',i!:e had fainted, which, though havi: - ;; to carry her hampered his freedom of action, he thought was just as well. He was almost at the foot of the ladder, when he heard more glass crash and laughed a little exultantly as he thought that tho ruffian was having some difficulty in getting out of the cabin. " A fine plumber's bill for someone," ho thought, and then looked for tho dinghy. It was a moment or two before 110 saw it. A strong ebb tide was apparently running, and the boat was against the side of tho hulk at tho full stretch of tho mooring rope. Ho had to set the girl down on tho steps while ho hauled in hand over hand, as quickly as ho could. The boat came against tho tide slowly. He was in a fever of impatienco, fearing tho advont of the ruffian from tho cabin all tho time ho hauled. Ho knew that now tho man would bo ruthless, tliat there would bo no mercy either for himself and tho girl, sinco their escape would infallibly ruin whatever purposo 110 and his fellows had in view. At last tho boat came alongsido, and hitching tho ropo to the ladder, he picked up the girl, and stepped into the bobbing craft. He set his burden down in tho stern, slipped tho hitch ho had mado to tho rail of tho ladder, and was immediately carried to tho end of the mooring ropo by tho pull of tho tido. He groped for, and found tho ring through which the ropo was passed, and then discovered that it was held in tho ring by an eye-splice. For a moment 110 was almost in despair. He had 110 knife, and there was nothing for it but to haul at tho ropo until he reached tho end by which it was moored to tho hulk. Desperately ho began to do so, standing precariously and hauling, with each new reach of his hand bringing tho boat back to the accommodation ladder. Ho reached it, and was struggling with 1 tho knot which the rain had tautened, | when ho heard feet stamping at tho top of tho ladder, and knew that the man whom he had left in the cabin had freed himself. Ho had proof already that tho man was armed, and feared tho worst, but still gave his wholo attention to the recalcitrant knot. Then 110 caught a laugh, so cruel in quality, that involuntarily, he shivered. The crack of tho pistol which he feared followed. The ropo, with which ho was struggling, was jerked out of his hand, and tli.o boat, released from restraint, whirled in tho hurrying tide, , throwing him from his feet. Ho fell in

the bottom of the boat, felt a jerk as tho boat reached the end of tho painter, then heard a rending sound, and like a horse released from control, the boat bobbed forward. "Thank heaven!" 110 whispered, and groped for tho oars. He could not find them, though he tried again. Then, realising they were not there, he remembored the sound which he had heard from his hidingplace in the deck-house —the sound of something heavy dropped on the deck, and knew that what lie had heard must have been tho oars as tho man dropped them after carrying them up from the boat. There was nothing to be done but surrender tho boat to the drift of the tide. He dropped to the seat, and, as he did so, something struck him violently in. tho shoulder ? jerking him forward, so that he fell m the bottom of tho boat. In the same second ho was aware of a searing pain. That a bullet had found him, he guessed, and lay quite still, wondering how serious the wound was, and hoping that the tido would quickly carry the dinghy out of range. His hope was realised. He heard no more shots, and looking on the backward way, saw no spurt of flame which would have proclaimed that tho ruffian on tho hulk was still firing. Lifting himself up a little, ho looked at tho girl, to save whom 110 had ventured so much. She lay where ho had placed her, her white face just visible in tlio wet darkness, tho cloak he had thrown around her in the cabin fallen away, and revealing neck and bare arms. He mado an effort, and crawling toward her, folded the cloak carefully about her, causing himself excruciating pain by doing so, the wound in his shoulder hurting dreadfully. For a moment after making the effort lie lay in tho bottom of tho boat, and then discovered that ho was lying in water. That puzzled him for a moment, until he remembered that tho heavy rain might account for it, but an instant later, as he heard a slight gurgling sound, he knew that it did not. He groped for the plug used for draining the boat, thinking it must have become displaced, and he found it. It was firmly fixed, and the rising water in the boat was not entering that way. Then he guessed tho truth. Tho bullet which had severed the ropo, or some other, had gone clean through the planking, and the water was pouring in as from a tap. Ho listened, and began to search for the leak, without finding it, however, and as the water mounted, he grew alarmed. To be adrift on a hurrj'ing tide, without oars, and with no control whatever of the boat was bad; but to be adrift in a boat which was in process of becoming waterlogged, was infinitely worse. There was no saying how long tho situation would last. At any moment some disastrous thing might happen. but, with his wounded shoulder, lie could do nothing. Lifting himself on to the thwart, he crouched there, beaten by tho rain, shivering with the chill thus induced, hoping against hope that tho tido would carry the boat iuto tho bank. After a little time he lost that hope. Ho seemed to be drifting into a broader current — at any rate, the shadowy woods on either side seemed to bo farther away. The boat was lower in the water. It was riding heavily, and he knew that it was only a matter of time before the water would swirl over the gunwale, and the boat sink beneath them. Ho stared ahead in tho darkness, then closed his eyes for a little time, and opened them to see something directly in front. Ho had time to do 110 more than mark it, when tho boat crashed into it, and as the water came swirling over the side, 110 heard the girl, whom he had thought still unconscious, give a sharp cry of fear. r CHAPTER X

Peter's fin;t thought was that they had struck the bank; but a second later lie discerned the outlines of a small yacht. The boat drifted round, then bumped alongside, every second 011 the point of foundering. He groped for a hold and grasped a ropo at the end of which a cork fender was hung. Then lio cried out to the girl: " Grip mo, quick, for God's sake! " His urgency broke through tho fear which had moved her to that sudden cry. Lifting herself she put her arms about him, and almost at the moment the boat swirled from-under them, and they hung precariously at tho yacht's side. Peter cried out, "Don't bo afraid! Hang 011, and drag yourself nearer. Feel for my hand and got hold of this ropo. Got it? Good! Now reach up for tho gunwale. It's a low one. Can you climb aboard? I can't help much. I have a crocked shoulder." Tho girl under tho spur of peril proved herself something of an athlete, and without help from him, scrambled aboard tho yacht. Then lying on the deck she leaned over with her face very near his. " Did you say shoulder—" " A bullet hit mo when wo left that hulk. I can put no weight on my left arm." " Then I must bo your arm. I am strong. Wait! " <■ She altered her position a little, and gripped his coat lifting ns she did so. Peter shifted his hold from the fender-rope to the gunwale, rested for a moment, then at a word from her lifted himself, while sho hauled with all her might. Ho achieved the gunwale and rolled over on deck. The action wrung a groan from him, for the shoulder was very painful, and as he lay there gasping for breath, he was conscious of a sudden feeling of nausea, and an overwhelming weakness against which he fought desperately. The girl's voice seemed to come from a great distance, and ho could not catch clearly what she saying. Tho swirling of the water was accentuated, and the yacht seemed to be spinning round in some extraordinary way. It made him dizzy and he closed his eyes, then slid into a faint induced by loss of blood. Quite a long time after, he became aware of the girl's voice again. " You must drink this. It will do you a world of good. Thero is no milk, so you will have to take it black. Don't move. 1 will raise your head." He could see tho speaker only indistinctly, hut he was very conscious of the hand which lifted his head. The hot coffee, which sho held to his lips, after the first few sips was more than comforting, stimulating him, and making him his own man again. lie drank the whole cupful, and then asked: " Where are we? " " In that small yacht on which we climbed when the boat sank. I found matches and a spirit lamp and a whole cupboard full of stores, from which I looted the coll'oe. If tho owner should happen along, heaven knows what will be our portion —gaol as like as not." She spoke lightly, and as ho remembered through what she must* have passed, Peter was conscious of a' surge of admiration for her spirit. He answered her in tho light vein she had adopted. " Scarcely that! They'll treat us as first offenders and bind us over, or fine us—" He broke off and achieved a rather quavering laugh. " As a millionaire's granddaughter they'll make your fine a swinging one, I expect." " How do you know that 1 am —" " I know all about you," he answered, " or, at any rato, quite a good deal." >

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"But. hovr? You heard in Tulsa, perhaps, after that crash among the crockery? " " Ah! You remember me? " " I remembered you when you came to that cabin, after you had taken away that vile man." " Yes! And I remembered you before that, when I saw you being carried in an unconscious state from one car to another, and again in a house on the Thames, when you wero drugged. I had meant to take you away then —" " You have tried to get me from these men before to-night? " she broke in, quickly. " Why, yes, I had tumbled into the middle of a mystery that intrigued me, and which I only really began to understand a few hours ago. I was indiscreet enough to relate the little adventure in which I had you to one who participated in it, and who I suspect is impersonating you." " Impersonating me! " exclaimed the girl. " Why? Who is she? " " The name she is known by among her intimates is Jane —Cicero Jane, ana I fancy that the aim of the impersonation is to get possession of your grandfather's fortune." "But how absurd! Why, grandfather is coming to England in the Berengaria." " Which arrives to-morrow." he Baid, quickly, with a sudden thought of what that arrival might mean, "or is it to-day? " He looked at his luminous watch to find that it had stopped, and the girl replied: "It must bo to-day, I think. You were a long time unconscious, and I dressed your shoulder afjfajr I got into this little cabin. . . . But if. grandfather is due to-day that girl will bo proved an impostor at once." " Yes," answered Peter, and reflected that there was a possibility that it might not be so, if the ruffians who had left the hulk proceeded with their terrible scheme. " If she knows that he is coming—" began the girl, and Peter with a fear that she might get near the truth, and be thrown into infinite distress and apprehension hastily intervened. The luck will be if she doesn't. She will have the shock of her young life when ho appears, or, for the matter of that, when you show up at Lady Daneby's. She is there you know in your place, though to-night she was in this neighbourhood." " I do not understand —" began the girl, . and stopped suddenly. "Oh!" she whispered, sliiveringly, as if ehe had an unexpectedly visioned terrible things. "Oh! . . . But it can't be!" " What—" " That man! I had almost forgotten. He talked about my grandfather. He hinted that the others —the others meant to kill him. And he offered if 1 would marry him —" "I heard him. The scoundrel!" said Peter, guessing that the girl had at least a dim notion of the truth. " But don't worry. This is England. Things are not done here as they are done abroad, and the Berengaria does not arrive until afternoon. When daylight comes wo shall got out of this, and we shall warn the police, who are on the look-out for these ruffians." " How do you know that?" asked the girl, quickly. "As I told you, I saw you carried from one car to another in an unconscious condition —" " That must have been after I flew from Cherbourg—instead of coming over on the Homeric." Peter remembered a certain discrepancy in the time relating to the other girl's supposed landing from the Homeric and thought to himself that here was a possible and complete explanation, but saw no need to mention it. Instead, he gave the girl by his side news of events which startled and shocked her. " That night two men wero shot. One of them, the man who drove your car was shot beforo my eyes by the man who was on that hulk —" "Dear God!" she whispered in horror. " And the other, a Pinkerton detective of tne name of Pasquali must have been shot before —" " But—but—why?"

" I don't know. Ho must have knoivn the men, been interested in their doings, and they discovered him. What is vital is that there were two men shot that night by these ruffians, in whom tho polico aro more than interested. They will be glad to know of their whereabouts, and in the morning when we get ashore wo shall send them word —" " Yes! Yes! Or my grandfather—" She stopped and he felt her shiver. " But for you, I —I —" " Don't think of it, Miss Endicott. Try and put it out of mind. You aro hero and safo for tfte present." " But when daylight comes?" she whispered a little shakily. • " We shall be safer then than we are now. This creek is a quiet one; but there will bo some traffic up and down it, and no doubt houses near by. Wo shall got to one of them—" "Listen!" she whispered. "Oh, listen!" Peter listened, wonderingly, but heard nothing and asked, " What is it?" " I thought I caught the ' chugchug ' of a launch going by. Yes! There it is again. Oh, if—if—" She moved nearer to him like a child afraid of soino unseen thing. Peter, who, this time had caught tho sound, put his arm around her. " Steady, Miss Endicott. It may be nothing. Some local boatman running up to Beaulieu, perhaps." " But if it is that man—" She gave a shudder, and to comfort her, Peter spoke with dissimulation. "I do not quite see how it can bo. The man Jake was really marooned on tho hulk, unless there was another boat." " How do we know that there was not! There was another man on that old ship when these others took mo there. He may have had a launch. I do not know this part of England—" She broke off, and Peter grew thoughtful. It. was possible, of course, that the man Tony who had awaited the others might have arrived at tho hulk by sea. A quite small launch could easily make the passage from Hytho or even from Southampton, and there would bo no difficulty in hiring one. Ho had seon no sign of any such craft about the hulk; though to bo sure in the darkness ho might easily have missed it. There was another thing, also. Ho had spoken to tho girl about some boatman running up to Beaulieu, but in his mind he was sure that the craft had been going down stream toward the sea, and why any man following lawful occasions should be abroad at that hour and on such a night was not clear. But lie folt it incumbent on him to reassure his companion, and ho spoke lightly as ho could. "No matter! Whoever was driving that launch has gone on." For quite a long time they were silent; but at last tho girl spoke in a whisper. "It is a strange thing that wo should meet in Tusla and that you should savo my life there, and now here." < " Fato!" bo interrupted, with a laugh. " Fate! You believe in fato?" "In this case, yes." Ho spoke lightly, but without a hint of laughter. " Do you know that on the very night when 1 first saw you in the hands of those, men I had been thinking of you?" " I should never have thought you would have remembered me." (To be continued on Saturday next)