PUSBLISHED BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT. THE WATCHMAN OF ORSDEN MOSS: A ROMANCE OF THE LANCASHIRE MINES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11113, 14 May 1898, Page 3

PUSBLISHED BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT. THE WATCHMAN OF ORSDEN MOSS: A ROMANCE OF THE LANCASHIRE MINES.

i Bt J. MONK FOSTER, i Author of "A. Miqer's Million," "A Pit-Brow j T.aasrls," "Slaves*of Fate," "A Crimson } Fortune," 4c, 4c. j COPYRIGHT. |

CHAPTER XL.-THE BAT IN THE TRAP. For some moments the Jew did not speak when Mat Shelvocke concladed his grisly declaration. Straining like a fettered beaut at his chain, he stood there, his knees bent a little, his hands upiifted with the palms turned outward, aa if in awed supplication, while his dark, cunnkig face was strangely distorted, halt fearsoma and part joyful. Then suddenly the man fell backward, seated himself on the cold stone floor, and a queer harsh, grating chuckle came from bis ' black, heavily bearded lips. "Hal hal Mr Shelvocke," he exclaimed, with a hollow pretence at mirth. " Sou are jesting, surely, I am glad to know, for at firafc I was much afraid. I have beard before of you mining men catching people and bringing them down the pits just to frighten i them very much. It was a very good joke, too, I thought; but 1 don't like it, and if i you have done with me -I shall be glad to go. i Ha! Hal It was very Rood joke, but I'm tired of it, Mr Shelvocke." " You infernal, black-souled scoundrel 1" j Mat hissed, psssionateiy, as he took one step i towards the Jew, lifting his fist in his anger, j as if ho meant to smite the sitting man. | " This is no joke, as yon will find out in the \ course of a few days. You ara here, and by : Heaven bers you shall stay till you rot, unless : you render up to ma the secret Levi Blacksbaw has paid you handsomely to keep. Shadrach Varnie, I swear :it before God, who Bees us both !" The crouching man stared at the speaker as he stood there in the faint light caßt by the lamps, whose glow fell on his animated face and uplifted hand. Slowly Varnie answered: " If you ars not jostling you are romancieg then, my young friefid. What secret have I of ar>y man's, my dear Mr Shelvocfce J" " You know, and before you leave this place I shall know as well. Rest assured of two things, Vamle. No subterfuge or falae speaking will gave 'jjou now. I am a desperate man, fighting for my honour —perhaps my life. Yon know aomathing that will clear the one and put t'aa other beyond all danger. If you do not choose to gpeak yon shall perish here of hunger and cold—shall be buried here also — and the world above will never learn what your end was. I swear it!" .The young man went down on bis knees, clasped hia bands together, as if invoking divine audience, cast his eyes to the great beams . spanning the roof, and cried soJfiainly: " Here on my knees, in the sight of God, who knows I am innocent, I swear to sacrifice this man's life unless ba delivers the murderer of my poor uncle up to justice 1 So help me, heaven I" These words were uttered with all the dramatic force he could summon. Mat rose quietly to his feet, &*& turned as if to deparr., when Varnie's voice broke the stilln9ss suddenly. " What can I tell you, Mr Shelvocke ? I know nothing. I have no secret of Black- | Shaw's!" ; '"Lits will not avail yon now, scoundrel!" | Mat said sternly. "If you are resolved not j to glva yoar briber away you had better ] pray. lam going now, and when I return j in 24 hours' time you may have changed your j mird!" : | "Mr Shelvocke, for the love of God hare mercy 1 On my soul, I tell yon I know nothing!" • j 11 Yon know much, and I know yon know 1 j What were yon doing at Orjsden Hall the other evening ? Why did Levi Blackshaw I giVa you a thousand'pounds in bank notes wlisn you met him at midnight in the hut '6a OrsdenMosß? Why did he talk of thooting you because of the secret you held 1 Why did you tell him that you had left n letter behind you setting forth where you were going and why? Tell me the reason of all these things, and thsa I may believe -you, Mr Varnie!" " My God, wa were watched 1" '■* Watched and overheard I You know Sergeant Roberts, the officer who was talking to you in the te«e when I seized you ? He was at the hut, on the roof, *nd hoard everything. Even if I were to free you he would arrest you as au accomplice." "He dare not! Let me go I You will suffer for keeping me here." " I have taken the law into my own hands, and am prepared to stand the consequences 1" Mat said firmly. "In desperate cases desperate means mast be resorted to, and I have done that which seemed best to me. When the law fails to reaca such as you, uJ\ others, men must sft«k justice for themselves. My life is t-t stake as well as yo»r own. Do you vrondtr that I use the wh|p when Igrsspit!" : "Mercy! For God's sake do not go 1" the Jew wailed. "I am going. It is midnight now, and I shall return to-morrow at midnight. In the meantime you will nave an opportunity of thinking calmly over it all. Before I go, let met me tell you something. This lamp will go out in an hour or two. Then you will have the darkness and silence and your thoughts for company. A little distance from you is the spot where the body of my poor uncle was found. Perhaps his shade j may visit you in the quiet watches of the j night. Good night. Now, men, come along." The three men turned, and as they strode away the Jew's courage gave way, and bis appalled exclamations made the cavern ring. " Come back I Come back 1 For Heaven's sake stop, and I' will tell you all! Releaso me 1 Take me out of this hell, and I will tell j you all!" " When you have spoken I will free you, and not a moment before," was the unflinch- ; ing reply. "Goon if you have decided to i Bpeak." ' j The three men seated themselves in a i cluster near the chained man, who began by j isking: "If I tell you all will you guarantee that I shall not ba harmed in any way 1 " " All that I can do for you shall be done. If I you are guiltless in everything save a know- | ledge of the real criminal, no barm can beliul | yon. Now, be quick and speak." j Then in his own fashion the wretched Jew ' disgorged the secret he had beeia paid so well: to keep. CHAPTER XLI.-NAOMI'S F INAL ANSWER. It was the morning following the strange disappearance of Lettice Forrester, and the two cousins, Naomi Shelvocke and Levi Blackshaw, were seated at breakfast, to which each was paying but an indifferent attention. Levi's swart countenance was more than ordinarily pale on this morning, was more than usually thoughtful also; and at times, as if aware of the change in his appearance and manner, ha made an effort to appear at his ease, and to deliver himself of the customary commonplaces of conversation in his habitually indifferent fashion. Bat his endeavour was much less than successful, and his failure irritated him. He was afraid of his handsome relative's penetrating ejes, more afraid stih of her shrewd brain and canstic tongue; and at such a time, whem the crisis of his destiny was s~proaciiirig and almost at hand, he felt he had uwsd to be complete master of himself and all bis cunning. • 9 Without BeemiP'i-'MO notice his ooasin'o demeanour Naor Voiced every shade of feeling in his fat..,;, change of mood and thought. She' horself was somewhat disturbed that morevng. She was looking brilliantly lovely as eter, but her eyes had no rest in them. The happenings of the previous day afforded her matter for much cogitation. There was the note purporting to come from Mat which the unknown vagrant had brought io her; the unexpected vanishment of Let;ice, while the Hall was practically deserted, md 3he was hovering in the vicinage of Gstiiurst Bridge; and, last of all, the arrival of she local asrgeant of police on a mission the real intent of which she could not fathom. "It was really a moßt singular thing, Levi," she remarked in a tone of indifference which the sparkle of her half-veiled eyes

] belied, " that Miaa Forrester should have i taken it into her hsad to disappear 30 • abruptly last night," j " Moat singular, as you say, Naotrii," he responded, with a show of real interest. " Thera was another singular thing in connection with yonr maid's goiDg away which struck me last night, although I did not cara to mention it in the presence of the sergeant." ! " Indeed 1 What was it ?" ! "That the servant* were all away at the j time, that you and I were out also, and that i oaly the nurse, Miss Kawlings, was at th ; Hall with your maid." { She bit her lower lip involuntarily, atsd I shot a keen, scrutiniojag look at his averted j face, detecting the flicker of a cynical smile [ hovering around tba corner of his closed mouth. Snddenly her heart gave a leap and her beauteous face hardened. In a flash of inspiration she divined what had puzzled her all morning. " Lsvj," she crisd la an altered voice that ! drew his gaze upon her. " permit me to comi pliment you on the admirable way in which I you fooled me yesterday, and all of us last ! night. It was you who sent that tramp with I the letter!" ■ " Perhaps," he said laconically. : "And yoa also wroto that note which bora Lattice Forrester's name 1" ; " Mayba you are right; but what matters ; it who wrote them both ho long ss they i served their purpose so effectually, my dear i Naomi»" [ "I hate to be hoodwinked and used as a \ tool to further tha scbemea of others 1" she ; said harshly. " Evea to push on your i schemes I decline to or made a fool of 1" ! " I was working in our joint • interest, Naomi," he said, quietly and unabashed. " I had reason for fearing Miss Forrester as I much as you have bad cause to hate her. ' Why grumble when I have succeeded in I sweeping a stumbling-block out of our way ? " " You are working in the dark, Levi, and I cannot follow yonr movements," she : answered mor«.i amiably. " I can- only wonder and guess what the end of it all will be." . ' ' "The end I " he ecboed with drawn mouth, j !" I cannot tell yon that—l can only tell yoa j I whst. I want it to be, Naomi I " I He had risen as ha spoke—had lowered hi« ] ! voice, meaningly while speaking, and had j I bant forward across the table as he devoured j j her splendid face with his ardent eyes. Some- ] I thing in his attitude and manner suggested ! I a summer day in an arbor when ho : I bsd registered & solemn vow, and she j I shudderejd involuntarily at the recollection, j I " I would rather not know, Levi, what the : i end is to be," she murmured faintly. " Pro- ] vidence ia wise in keeping too much from >. us." . ■ • ] " Providence I" he almost hissed. " A fioe 1 thing that, Naomi, when the world is with j one—a sorry matter "when the world is ! against you. You have not forgotten the. bargain we made." . 1 " Why speak of that, now ?" I " Because I must 1 For your sake I have j j don*> much that wonlrl otherwise have re- j j mained undone. You promised to be mine, » and now, when everyr-Heg is pointing to the realisation of our aims, why should I not Speak of the great aim of my life?" . ! ■ " Not now 1 Not now! " she pleaded. "It | was a huge mistake! Besides, everything is j I so unsettled and uncertain still." ! "It is almost a certainty," ho Chad.- " A day or two more may make it so. In the name of God do not talk, look, and think as if you meant to cry off oar compact now when I have " j "Stop!" She rose and faced hi mover, the ! I table. "I have said ft Was a mistake. It j I wasi Can I help the facts, of'life? My love j lis not mine to give. lam sorry, Levi, but I | shall never be yonr wife I" ! "And you expacf; me to be satisfied with j I your sorrow ?" he siiftewsd." "By all that is j j holy and dear to me I sw.ear, Naomi : —— " ! Again Blacksbaw was' interrupted in the i fall flow, of his speech. A tap at the chamber door stilled his passionate,whisper, and ; tha moment after a maid entered, saying as ! [ she held oat a brown envelope to him; ■'! "A telegram, Mr Biackshaw." ' I He took the message from7 her, tore off the I cover, and read the telegram with a muttered oath. Then with a hard face and in a hard tone he asked: ■■'>■.'■!• "Is the boy waiting ?" ■•.'•; 1 , ' "Yes." ... " Tell him to stay » moment." ■ ■'< It was but the work of a minute to scribble an answer; io another it was on its '. yriy, and then Biackshaw :.tnrned to Naomi. - ! " I must say good morning, cousin. < Business of an urgent nature demands my imnediate attention. Sometime,, soon, we, wiil • discuss this matter further." , " You have received bad, news, Levi ? " ' she queried, her. fine clark eyes kind now and j her soft voice sweetly sympathetic. j' "Yes, it is a somewhat unsatisfactory j message, Naomi. The other day I sank {', £1000. in a certain speculative business, which I need not name, and I am not sure I. haven't thrown the money away. That is ! all." j " I'm go sorry!" "Thank you. GOOS morning, Naomi." ' . " Good morning, Levi," she responded ' with a feeling of relief as be passed quickly from the room. A minute later she was at the window and J watching him pace along the enow-covered drive. He had the telegram in his bands again, and was reading it anew. What was ' - the intelligence it contained, she wondered 7 The telegraphic message which had dis- , tnrbed Levi Biackshaw so much and which had aroused all his charming relative's feel- J ings of curiosity hailed from a gentlemaa j . with whom our friend had transacted certain important matters of business at various J times. It was to the following effect :— Moot Hall Chambers, Coleclough. ( I must see you immediately. Come to my , office at once without delay. Have something ' to tell you which yon mast know before I depart from England. Thero is danger in tho hir. For; your orrn sake, come. j 8

j Varnie. ] CHAPTER XLII.-THW SPIDER AND THE When Levi BlacVahaw entered the office of the Lancashire BsUance Advancs. Company, of which oar friend Mr, Shadrach Varnie was supposed to be manager only, whereas he was in JC*ct the solß proprietor, he found that gentleman sitting alone, and ] evidently anxiously awaiting his arrival. '

c Underneath his jafc black whiskers and o beard, about, his prominent cheek-bones and bushy brown, the Jew* skin wore a greanishe j white pallor which instantly caught Black5. | ahaw's alert eyes, and the palpable disi- j quietude of the moaey-lender showed his h ; visitor that the telegram had not been a i despatched without seme reason. "-i "Anybody in besides ouvßelves?" Levi aaked with s. cart nod, as betook a vacant chair near the small fireplace. ® " Not a soul!" was the thick, unsteady s j response. "My clerk is away in the country j making some inquiries respecting a client, } sad the office boy will not get back before • afternoon. You got my wire ?" a "Of conrae I got it. Should Ibe here if 1 0 hadn't ? What the de-ica doss it mean ?" ■* Lavi demanded angrily. "I've had just enough of.this bnsiness, Vani;e, and by —— * I don't mean to staad any more humbug! " r j " You have treated m 8 very handsomely, j Mr Biackshaw," the Israelite said warmly, ' "and I Bwear I'll never trouble you again " after this morning. It was for yonr own 1 cake, as well as my own, that I wired you. b What I had to aay I was afraid to write." 1 "What is the nature of this danger you alluded to in the telegram?" Levi asked suilenly. 3 "Your cousin is back again I" the Jew j exclaimed. . j J " That doesn't surprise me very much I " [ " But he has never been away. That pre- : tence of going to America was only pars of a deep-laid plan to throw as both off our 1 j guard." ; j " Perhaps—if it is trna; but be will never r S catch me nappicg, I think!" Biackshaw • snaered savagely. " And is this what you > ! are frightened about ? " • i "I have something much worse to tell 1 j you !" was the firra rejoinder. " Mar, Shel- ■ j vocke is back at Orsden Green—he has never [ I been away for more than afew days; andfor I the last few weeks be has been actually living under yonr very nose and meeting you ■ constantly!" | " What infernal nonsense you are talking 1" Levi cried in contemptuous tones. " What ■ ass has besn foisting such a cock-and-bull story upon you ? If I had thought this wae ! what I was. going in hear I should certainly I not have taken tbe trouble to come here." ] "It is true, I tall you I Varnie exclaimed \in tones of deadliest earnestness. "Both ; our necks are in danger, and, if you are wise, { you will clear out when Ido ! Do you know j that yoor cousin knows now that you went i down the pit that night with Aaron ShelI vocke, and that you were in the old watch- | man's cottage on the very night the man, Dan i Coxall, met with his death 1" i "What arrant rubbish! Have you been f'dreaming? Or ha* your coward heart given i you away before these imaginary fp.ars ?" ! was the scornful retorr. "To put the whole I matter in a nutshell, Mr Varnie, what reason ] have you for thinking all this ?" . i ' " The very best of reasons, as you will admit soon," was the Jew's answer, as be shSfted uneasily on his chair, with his black, ! heady eyes on his companion. " Did it never strike you that the new watchman, Adam Bannister, was your cousin carefully disguised?".' . "My God lls that true 1" Levi exclaimed, as he jumped excitedly to hia feet. ! "Itis an absolute fact, and I leave you to ] puess why be assumed auch a disguise. For many days he has been working, like a rat in the dark, after our secret. And he has had another—a woman, and his sweetheart—working to the same erid inside your very home I""' I " I suspected that, and I have taken steps i to stop the woman's tongue," Lsvi said, j gravely, " She will tell nothing, Varnie." I " But you took your precautions too late I " j was the agitated reply. " That night when I I visited the Hal!, and had that conversation ! with yon in your room, the woman overheard ! enough to put her lover on our trail." i "But what she wrofe never reacbad him. ! She lost what she bad written, and I took ■ care that it never reached its destination." " But the woman reached the man and : spoke. I tell yon again, Biackshaw, that we , axe in danger. We wera watched and over- | heard that night in tbo hnt on the Mo«s when you gave me that thousand pounds." " Who could watch us ? I saw the eight watchman at home, before I went thereto wait for you, and the woman wm powerless j then. Besides, I examined all the hut and around it." ' " Bat forgot to look on the! flat roof of the1 hut, where a police officer—Sergeant Roberts, of Orsden Green—was lying eagerly listening to every wrbrd wa hsd to say to each, other that bight."'. ■ An oath feel from Levi Blackshaw's lips, | and his dark face grew paler and grimmer. ! For & moment or two he sat there brooding | sullenly, and then he looked up with a susi picious look in his eyes and a dangerous I glitter in their depths. : "If what 'you say ia true, Varnie," he asked, his hard mouth curving sneeringly, II how is i What you are still in England ? " •'I wished to warn you." "To warn me at your own risk, eh? No, no 1 Not that. With yonr white liver and the money you have got out of me I cannot believe that. We are in the same boat you know, and if the worst happens it would mean penal servitude for yon." " Yes, I know. That is why I stayed to urge you to clear out at once. Let us go away this very afternoon together," the Jew cried, in supplicatory tones. " Wait a moment. There is another question I want to ask now. How did you get to know all these, thingg you have told me? It almost looks as if my cousin and the policeman had taken you kindly into their confidence, or " —he paused an instant, and that baleful light gleamed afresh in his eyes —" perhaps you were Condescending enough to take them into yours ? " " I was hardly likely to do that, Mr Blackshaw. considering the risk I ran," Varnie asserted, with a deprecatory gesture of innocence. "How did it come then?" Levi said, sternly. "Remember, I want the truth 1 Hitherto you have found me yielding enough when you put your infernal pressure upon me, for I knew I was, at your mercy. But if I tbought yon were capable of betraying me I would shoot you, like the rat you are I" " No, no! Mr Biackshaw," the Jew cried, in accents of fear as he cowered before, the desperate man. "I have done nothing! I will tell you all. Sit down, and don't touch me, and I will teil you all! " " Out with it, then."

"Tour cousin and the sergeant oama to me last night and told me all I have toid you. They tried to bribe ms—offered ma a pardon if I wou!d tell the whole truth, and I refused. Then 1 sent the telegram to the Hall. Oa my soul, that is God's truth 1" " Humph i" Biackshaw muttered grimly. " I wonder if I can believe yon. And you are hero still I That looks strange." " I am going away—yoo go too. Even now the officers are after you-:—at Orsden Green. Go—quick I In the name of heaven go I" " You swaar this is the tratb, Varnie 1 " " On my soul I do." " I will go then." Without mo?e ado Blackabaw turned I away, strode towards tho door, and found it j locked. Instantly be turned with a hoarse cry I of rage, to find that Varnie had disappeared, and that his cousin. Mat and Sergeant ' Roberts and another policeman were striding towards him from the open doorway of an inner room. " Trapped, by " In an instant Lovi had whippad out a i*s- , 5 volver and was holding is towards his hated j cousin ; the next, three reports rang oat in ! : quick succession, and Mat Shelvocke was [ flung backward with a shattered shoulder, while the desperate man was lying oa the ■ floor with the roof of his mouth and sknll torn away. ] (To le concluded.) \ ■