DAUGHTER EXILE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23320, 13 April 1939, Page 20

DAUGHTER EXILE

By ALEXANDER CAMPBELL Author of many Hebridean stories and articles.

(COPTRICBT)

An ancient Gaelic prophecy, " They will come from over the sea, pursuer and pursued ... to death . . . " is the base of this thrilling romance. i

CHAPTER XXVII. WHILE WOLFF PLAYED CHESS Professor Pelmann did not look at his captor. He sat by tho fire, beside the table on which the board lay with the chessmen still upon it. Idly his long sensitive fingers moved a black knight. Herman Wolff paused in his act of lifting tho white cylinder of a cigarette into a long black holder and jmiled. "We are all men upon the board, are we no.t?" he said. "The pawns of Fate." Pelmann put down the chessman. "I should like to know," he said, with a slight smile, "what yoU intend to do with this pawn." "You, Professor? Nothing at all—at tho moment. You and I shall wait here together. Will you have a cigarette?" "No, thanks. Why do we wait?" "You should say rather, for whom. But I shall not insult your intelligence by elaborating the point. You must have realised by this time that my—• intelligence service, shall wo call it? — is fairly good." His voice changed, beraine sharper. "I know Schumann is coming here. I know your daughter and Mr. Shane have gone to Tarbert Harris to fetch him. They should be here quite soon. And when they come J "Walk into my parlour, said the spider to the fly," murmured Pelmann Wolff's voice had been rising, and the deformed hand which he always held half-shut had curled into a fist with which he was softly pounding the table. Now, at Pelmann's words, he relaxed again, and a grudging light of admiration came into his cold grey eyes. "Just sol" he said. He smiled. "We understand each other, Professor Pelmann." Pelmann inclined his head. "And when Schumann does arrive?" he asked. "What then?" Wolff smiled grimly. "Let us take one thing at a time," he said. Pelmann glanced at the chess board. He waved a hand. "Would you care to play?" Wolff hesitated. Then he shrugged. "Why not?" They drew up their chairs. Pelmann re-arranged the men on the board. They began to play. • * • In a cabin aboard the trawler the Lilie, two bound men sat back to back. They were tied in chairs, and they had succeeded in edging the chairs together. The sweat was pouring off both their faces. General Mitchell fortunately had cunning fingers as well as a cunning brain. His hands were tied behind him, and the job had been done so well that he could move his fingers only a fraction of an inch, and his hands not at all. It was under these restrictions that he was trying to ease the bonds of his fellow-captive. "Try now!" he urged. Halford exerted pressure —and suddenly his wrists came apart a few fractions of an inch. He exclaimed and wriggled his arms. After a furious struggle he managed to pull one arm free. He had to rest before he could do any more. After the strain came the nervous reaction. But there was much to do yet if the glimmer of hope was not to be brutally extinguished. Halford renewed his struggles. With his free hand he clawed and plucked at the ropes that bound him. He jerked sideways and bent his head to use his teeth on the tough material. Finally he ripped away the last loose lengths and staggered free. He paused a moment to rub his arms and legs. Then, in spite of the terrific ugony which the new coursing blood carried to every corner of his cramped body, he bent over Mitchell and began Ho undo the ropes which held the general. There was not a moment to bo lost. He had scarcely started on the task when there was a thumping noise in the corridor outside. Somebody was approaching tho door of the cabin. There was the harsh grating noise of a key being inserted in a rusty lock. Halford picked up the heavy chair in which he had sat and carried it to the door. With an effort he raised it above his head and waited with straining arms. The door opened. It swung back against the wall, hiding Halford from whoever stood in the entrance. Huber stood 111 tho entrance. He peered into the cabin and saw one chair and one bound man where there had been two before. His breath was drawn in with a hiss. He walked swiftly into the cabin, his hand travelling to his hip pocket as he walked. But tho hand paused. Halford's foot knocked against tho door, so that it swung shut and hid what was happening in tho cabin from anybody in the passage outside. Simultaneously the heavy chair crashed down on Huber's head. Huber fell down 011 his knees and then his head and the upper half of his body slanted forward and banged on the floor. The chair continued falling like a sword in Halford's now nerveless hands. It narrowly missed Huber's body and crashed on the floor. Halford let it go. Huber lay still. "Good work, son!" breathed General Mitchell ecstatically. "Good work I'' Halford bent over Huber's-body and his hand went to Huber's hip pocket. When he rose a snub-nosed automatic was gripped in his hand. He turned to the door of the cabin and softly turned tho handle. He peered round tho corner of the door with the gun held ready and rigid in his right hand. There was nobody in tho passage. Huber had been alone. So much the worse for Huber. Halford took out the key and locked the door on tho inside. Then he slipped Huber's gun into his pocket and returned to the general. In a few minutes Mitchell was free. They heaved Huber upright into the chair which tho general had vacated and bound him with the ropes which had held tho general. When they had finished, Huber was trussed like a turkey. His Jread lolled on his chest. He was still out. As an extra measure of precaution Mitchell took out a handkerchief, borrowed another frpm Halford. rolled them both into a ball, and thrust them between Huber's jaws, then he tore a long strip of material from the sleeve of his shirt and completed the rough gag.

Ho turned to Halford. "'So far so good. But where do we go from here?" Halford looked round the cabin. The room was small and quite bare. There was no port-hole, and no opening for ventilation. On deck," he said. "It's risky, but it's the only way. If we stay on the ship we haven't a chance." Mitchell looked at his companion. There was a glint of admiration in Jiis eyes. Halford was proving himself to be a man after all. "Come on," said Halford. They locked the cabin door on the unconscious Huber stole along the narrow, unlighted corridor. A wooden ladder led to the deck. They could see the cold stars glittering in the square segment of sky over their heads. Halford gripped the gun and went first. Mitchell trod closely on his heels. Halford put his head above the level of the deck and glanced swiftly to right and left. There was nobody in sight. He clambered boldly on to the deck and in a second Mitchell stood beside him. The night was cold and still. The velvet sky was massed with stars, great clusters of them standing out against the soft blackness like jewels. The sea was calm. Tho line of the cliffs ran silently north and south, from Tolstfi to Cellar Head, a series of black ramparts rising against the fainter darkness of the western sky. Directly opposite tho ship a brooding shape' on the cliff top marked tho House of the Birds. The tall black house was silent. One square of yellow light marked an occupied room on the ground floor. Halford motioned with his free hand, and Mitchell padded across the deck after him. Halford put the gun away and peered over the rail at tho water below. Then he began to climb over the rail. ' There was a cry of astonishment from behind them. A seaman who had emerged from tho deckhouse was staring unbelievingly at the 1 two dark figures. Halford slid over the rail and leaped. He struck the water in a fountain of spray. Mitchell wriggled across the rail and let himself go. He went down into the confusion of water which Halford's dive had created,.and struck out for the shore. Halford, swimming in the water, looked back. Figures lined the rail of the trawler. The feeble light of hand torches, after a moment's delay, swept the surface of the sea. Suddenly there was a sharp crack. Halford saw Mitchell throw up an arm. -The general's head went under the water. Halford grabbed him. "Are you hit?" he gasped. Mitchell's voice was faint. "Never mind me. Carry on." Halford did not let go his hold. He swam toward the shore, carrying Mitchell with him. The general was a limp, dead weight. No more shots came from the ship. Dazedly Halford wondered why. No boat was being lowered. But he had little room for thought. His strength was going. He was badly out of practice, and the general was a heavy burden. He had to concentrate on tho 6heer physical effort of reaching the shore, and had no time to think out problems. (To be continued daily.)