THE FLAMING CAVERN

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22618, 5 January 1937, Page 15

THE FLAMING CAVERN

By ANGUS MacVICAR Author of "The Screaming Cull," etc.

SYNOPSIS On a sweltering August night in the Red Sea John Ralston throws- himself over tho side of a liner. With his daughter Uona he had embarked at Mombasa for London. Diving to his rescue, David MacNeill, a rich young farmer returning to Scotland from Rhodesia, receives from the would-be suicido a " knock-out" punch. But John Ralston has not such a strong wish for self-deslruction : s it seems, for when David regains his senses he finds they have belli been picked up by an Arab dhow and that Ralston is conversing familiarly with the skipper, a magnificentlybuilt negro,, whom hi addresses as l'eter M'Gomba. David feigns unconsciousness and learns strange fads about a flaming cavern, a mysterious man with a hare-lip, a Sir "William Dumlonald, and, lastly, an important date, September the 17th. Handed back to the liner as the only survivor, David confronts Ron.i Ralston with the facts. CHAPTKH IT.—(Continued) "David," she said in a little quiet voice, "perhaps I've given you cause for anger. If tliat; is the rase, then I'm sorry. You're probably thinking, too, that niv father and I deliberately chose your friendship, out of all the other people in the Dnnavertv Castle, because your character would be the most easily moulded to our plans. Well, I shall be frank with you. To a certain extent, your thoughts are correct, for I've heard mv father say that you were so solid and steadfast that if you declared he had been nervy and depressed before —before he jumped overboard, everybody would believe you, and the idea of his suicide would pass without question. I was of the same opinion. Hut as time went on, 1 felt mean and unhappy in having to deceive you. .1 valued your friendship, David, and 1 knew that i) you discovered our duplicity, you would be hurt. Hut we had no suspicion that, in the crisis, you would prove so brave and—and find out things." The young farmer lay hack in the bed and turned awav from the steady gaze of her blue eyes. I here could he no doubting her sincerity; but still the remnants of his annoyance remained. And he was averse to admitting that he had made a tool of hinisell. "1 wonder," he said ungraciously, "if you arc now trying to twist me round your little finger so that 1 shall ; be persuaded to keep your secret and I your father's?" She rose from the wicker chair by I the porthole. She came over to the bed I and looked down at him. "I wasn't trying to twist you round mv little finger," she said steadily. "J. wanted to keep your friendship for no ulterior motive. There are some things. David, that are done quite without the thought of gain, a fact that you, with i vonr rotten Highland imagination, don't seem to realise. Hut it is obvious now that friendship between us would be impossible. \ou are making it so. Nevertheless L would appeal to you to keep niv father's secret, for no other reason than that if you spread the truth the consequences may prove fatal to the peace of the world. I cannot now ask you to keep silence for my sake; but I do implore you to keep silence for the sake of Britain, for the sake of every white man." Her breast was heaving and her hands were clenched by her sides. Her I face was now pale as death. David, I heedless of the pain in his back, i twisted round and rose on an elbow. "Uona!" he muttered. "Forgive i me! I'm a beast. I know I in a beast, j Oh, Uona. don't leave me now." I "I'm afraid you have given me no I choice." There was a tremor in her | voice, but her head was still high. "You I have ruined whatsoever there was j beautiful between us. Perhaps some J day—perhaps on September the seven- | teenth —you may realise exactly what prompted my father and me to deceive ■ I you—a little. It is a cause of which I cannot tell you now. But 1 can assure you that it is something more important and tremendous than your pride." "Bona!" he called out as she turned to the door. "I shall keep your secret." "Thank vou," she answered. "Goodbye." The door closed behind her and a breath of the perfume that she used came .to him. David lay over on his back staring at tlio ceiling. CHAPTER 111. THE MAX WITn THK HARKI.IP David's recovery from his attack of liver trouble was quick enough, and Dr. MacNab's forecast that he would be up and about before the Dunaverty Castle reached Marseilles proved to be correct. His recovery from Hona's scornful reference to his Celtic pride did not take place, however, during such a short period. In fact, the more he thought about her slowly roused anger against him, the more he cursed himself for being a fool—and worse than a fool. On the day prescribed by Dr. MacNab for his first short stroll about the decks an illuminating idea came into his mind. If she had not valued his friendship why had she been so hurt hv his lack"of trust in her motives? A designing woman would have obviously dismissed his suspicions with a light laugh. Bona had obviously been dismayed by his bullying, ungentlenianly conduct. Indeed, she had taken the interview so much to heart that she would not see him nor speak to him again. It will be observed that the young farmer's study of feminine psychology was now proceeding along more orthodox lines. As he went up on deck anticipating a lonely promenade lie was stopped Invarious groups of passengers eager to ask about his health and to learn details of his attempt at rescue in the Hed Sea. He discovered himself to be a most popular man and, for the first time, learned that one must pay dearly for popularity. Throughout the morning he was dismayed to find that wherever he went in the ship he was to be the centre of an admiring crowd, but that, though his eyes roved continually, he was to see no glimpse of Uona. Once, leaning over the after-rail with one of the card players whose acquaintance he had made in the smoke room, he learned that Uona Halston's intention was to go ashore at Marseilles. It, was his informant's opinion that she meant to proceed overland to Calais so that she might reach England sooner than by the Dunaverty Castle. "We've scarcely seen her since the incident in the Uod Sea," volunteered the stout little tobacco planter. "She has the majority of her meals in her own cabin. I don't blame her, poor girl! It was a tough break !" "When do we get to Marseilles?" inquired David softly. "To-morrow?" "Yes. About five in the afternoon. Hear we're to spend a night at the quay. Uig cargo of wines to be loaded. I believe. Going ashore?" "i might, if 1 feel well enough." As time went on lie inclined more to the idea that he should, on the morrow, make a stout endeavour to interview Uona. He was almost certain, of course, that she would refuse to see him; but in that case lie believed that his most promising plan would be to go ashore also at Marseilles and try to keep trace of her movements. He had decided that she was playing some dangerous game and that sooner or later she would need a man's assistance. II she would not accept his kelp, then he must take steps to ensure that in spi to of her own desires she should bo protected. If he lost trace of her in the town, then he would make use of the clues ho had picked up from John Ralston and

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A STORY OF INTRIGUE, ADVENTURE AND SECRET SERVICE

Peter M'Gomba. His course of action was plain. If he failed, and if in the end he did lose Uona, he would not be plagued by regrets in the matter of having used small effort. Keeling easier in his mind than he hail done for a whole week, David at last drowsed to sleep. Ju the morning he sent a steward to Hona's cabin with a note. It was a note upon which he had laboured for an hour, and it contained every thought which had tormented him during the past few days. He abased himself to her. He pleaded for one more chance of proving iiis friendship. He tried to make excuses for the attitude he had taken up. He begged to bo allowed to .see ber sometime during the afternoon. The steward returned with an answer. David, dropping a piece of silver into the man's hand, turned almost blindly to the rail and slit open the envelope. He did not take long to read the enclosure. "Dear Mr. Mar-Neil,it ran. "You are even more despicable in your abasement than you were in your anger. Please understand that 1 do not wish to see you again. Uona Halston." He lit a cigarette; and when he had consumed half a packet he went to the purser's office and intimated that he meant to leave the steamer at Marseilles. He would take ashore, he said, only a suitcase; the rest of his luggage might go straight to London, where he would later pick it up at Euston. Shortly before the hour of afternoon tea the Dunaverty Castle nosed past the low islands of Pomegue and Ratonneaii, picked up a diminutive pilot whose booming voice was in striking contrast to his stature, and edged slowly into her berth in the Bassin do la Gare Maritime. The great Marseilles <| i lays were swarming with people, laughing and chattering and getting in each other's way. Standing by the gangway and watching for a glimpse of Uona as she mingled with the shore-going party, immediately beneath the towering bull of the liner, David happened to notice a group of three people, each of them, he suspected, endeavouring to appear as unobtrusive as possible. They were so close to the side of the vessel that David, from his position at the rails, could make out almost every detail of their features. They stood talking in low voices and glancing furtively at the gangway. One of the group was a tall slender man with a clean-shaven, lined face and luminous dark brown eyes. He wore severely cut black clothes and a short cane; and it struck David, from the peculiar immobility of his face and from the dead yellow colour of his skin, that he was a Kurasian. Something about his carriage and the deliberate manner in which he swung his cane, sent a chill of loathing through David's heart. Some instinct warned him that about this man there were the dangerous qualities of a snake, j Another of the trio was small and | rotund, and save for the wary, cunning flash of his green eyes, one might have taken him for a hearty little farmer from the Rhone Valley. His clothes of hodden grey material also suggested a man engaged in agricultural pursuits, and his face, round and ruddy and bland, was typical of a worker in the open air. It was the third member of the company, however, who held the greater part of David's interest. In the first place, he was almost certainly British and the young farmer had a shrewd notion that he was a Scot, for the high cheek-bones, the full bleared eyes and the dark curling hair reminded David irresistablv of a Skyeman with whom lie had been friendly in Rhodesia. In the second place he was built on massive lines. His shoulders bulged beneath a brown tweed jacket His neck was short, and the breadth of a light blue collar seemed to cover it. Beneath loose grey flannels could be discerned the outlines of muscular bow legs. And then David caught his breath. The stranger had thick broad hands. Filmed over by long black hair, they had the appearance of great strength and, singularly enough, the ring linger of the left hand was missing. But though he moved some considerable distance to the left, the young farmer could not secure a full view of the unknown man's lips. David glanced round hurriedly. There was still no sign of Uona. He decided that lie could watch for her as easily from the quay as from the deck of the liner. He snatched up his light suitcase and joined the queue for the gangway. Edging gradually to a point of vantage in the centre of the crowd, he found himself on the cobblestones of the wharf, and with an air of inconsequence he strolled across in the direction of the interesting trio. His routCj he knew, would not be likely to arouse their suspicions, for it led him almost directly toward the big Customs Office, where he would have to declare the contents of his scanty baggage. As he came abreast of the three strangers his heart leaped and there was a rush of blood to his cheeks. His excitement had not been falsely aroused. The huge man whom he took to be a Scot had thick, protruding lips. And the upper had a remarkably well-defined triangular fissure, like the upper lip of a hare. Was it possible? Was it possible that this might be the man spoken of bv Mr. John Halston and Peter M'Gomba? David moved slowly past the little group. He heard the strangers speak softly to one another and suddenly he saw their e\os shift simultaneously toward a single object. David, too, turned his head. They were all gazing intently at the slim, lightly-clad figure of Uona as she descended to the quay. Laying his case down and stooping as if to tie Ins shoo lace, David listened intently for any word the strangers might let fall. And he thrilled as he heard the Kurasian speak. "MacPhedran!" he announced smoothly. "That is she! That is Halston's daughter. My agents in Port Said have done good work. She may resign her task if her father is truly dead. But we must take no chances. We shall learn all that she knows, and then —" The black-browed Scot slid his tongue into the triangularsspit in his lip. "I shall see that her activities are curtailed! Trust me, Aaron Cudd!" The Kurasian inclined his head. "I do trust you, MacPhedran;. hut not because of any trustworthiness in your character. You will accomplish my desires for the sake of your own pence of mind You agree, Monsieur Cailloux ?" The other kept on smiling. "Hut, certainly," he agreed. "We are all of a kind." "Then, MnYPhedran," ordered Aaron Cudd, "follow her. Bring her to my home before ten o'clock to-night—and, by the way, he careful that she comes before me in a fairly rational frame of mind. I have several important questions to ask her. Afterwards you may do as you will where she is concerned." MacPhedran of the harelip growled and his thick hands clenched. He turned abruptly and followed Uona toward the Customs barrier. Aaron Cudd, with a swift smile for M. Cailloux, strolled off in the Frenchman's company. David, coining down to reality with a start, hastened in the wake of Uona and MacPhedran. Things, reflected the young farmer, were becoming rather involved; hut his duty was still clear, in spite of the. questions whirling in his head he must do his best to protect John Halston's daughter, even though she had shown him clearly her contempt for him. (To be continued daily)