CHAPTER XX.

Otago Witness, Issue 1704, 19 July 1884, Page 24

CHAPTER XX.

Calamity. E baffled conspirators saw Grace Hope bound over a stile like a deer and dash up to the mine ; then there was a hurried colloquy, and some men were seen' to start from the , mine and fun toward* Hope's cottage.' What. actually took place v was this : She arrived panting, and begged to be sent down the mine at

once ; the: deputy said, " You cannot, miss, without an order from Mr Hope." "I am his daughter, Bir " said she ; '• he has claimed me from Mr Bartley this day." At that word the' man' took off his bat to her. " Let me down this instant, there's a plot to fire the mine, and destroy my dear father." , " A plot to fire the mine !" said the' man all aghast. " Why, who by ? Hy ! cage ready there 1 "

" One Burnley, but he's bribed by a stranger. Send me down to warn' my father ; but you ■ -run and seize that villain ; you cannot mistake him. . He wears a light suit of tweed, all one ' colour. He has very blaok eyebrows, and a face like a. corpse, and a large gold ring.on the little finger of bis right hand. You .will find him somewhere near my father's cottage. Neither you nor, l have a moment to lose." • ' Then the deputy called three more men, and made for Hope's cottage, while /Grace went down in the cage. - ' > „ Bartley fled in mortal terror to his .own . house,' and. began to pack up bis things to leave the country, Monckton withdrew to the clump of fir trees, and from that thin shelter watched the mine, intending to levant as soon as be should see Hope come up safe and Bound'; but, when he saw three or four men start from the mine and run across to" him be top.k'^a alarm and, sought tibe'th" icker shelter of a cbpae ■ hard by! It was very thick cover, good, for ' temporary concealment ; but he soon found it was so narrow that he could't 1 emerge from it on either side without being seen at once, and his quick wit told him that Grace bad denounced him, and, probably described him accurately to the miners ; be was in mortal terror, but not unprepared for this sort of danger. The first thing he did was to whip off bis entire tweed suit and turn i£ inside out ; he had bad it made on purp6se,itwas!a thin- : tweed, doubled with black idrseyniere, so flfat : this change was a 'down'frigbt transformation: ■ Then he substituted^' black tie for a' 'colour e'd ' pne, whipped out a 'little mirror and his hares--' , ; foot, browned and* coloured his cheeks, put !on an admirable ferey' wig, whiskers', moustache, ' and beard, and partly whitened his eyebjrowa, and hobbled feebly out of the little wood an infirm old man. Presently he caught sight, of his gold ring. "Ah 1 ". said he, ". sb,e \b a'BORrD pirl ; perhaps she noticed that in {be struggle!? He took it off, and was, going to put it Inhis pocket, but thought better of th,at, and ohuck'e^ ft into a ditch. ' Then be made for the vs(a|ge. - The pursuers hunted about' the bouse and, of, course, didn't find him ;' but, presently, one of them saw him crossing a meadow not far ofi;, , so they ran towards him and bailed him. ".Hyl mister*" He went feebly on a.nd did. P.P.t seem to' hear ; then they hailed bitn again an,d" ran towards him. Tpen. he turned, and stppped, and seeing, men running towards him; took out a large pair of round spectacles, and put them, on look, at them. By this artifice that which in reality completed his disguise seemed but a . natural movement in aa old man to see better. - who* it was that wanted him. .• " „ '• „ " What be you doing here ? " said the roan, " Well, my good man," eaid Monckton, affecting surprise, "X have been visiting an old friend, and now I'm 'going home again. I. . hope I'm not .trespassing. Is not this the way to;tbe village? They told me it was." " That's right enough," said the deputy; "but" by the way you come you must have seen him.' 1 " No, sir," said Monckton, " I haven't •'••" .anybody . except one gentleman- • *' through that wood ther* — " -£>« KWl»tw»K Wl»tw» , urt x passed it." ue like, sir ? " .veil, I didn't take particular notice, and he passed me all in a hurry." " That would be the man," Baid the deputy. " Had he a very pale face ? " "Not that I remarked; he seemed rather „ heated with running." ■ ' " How wa'B be dresßed, sir ? " , . • - " Oh, like many of the young, people ; .all of one pattern." "Light or dark? "Light, I think."

•-•Was it a tweed Buit?" *' I almost think it was. What had he been doing?, Anything wrong? He seemed to me to be rather acared-like." " Which way did he go, sir?" 11 1 think he, made for that great house, sir." "Come on," said the deputy, aud he followed this treacherous indication, hot in pursuit. \ 'Mbnckton lost no time. He took off twenty ' years, and reached the Dun Cow as an old acquaintance. He hired the one vehicle the establishment possessed, and was off like a shot to Derby ; thence he despatched a note to his lodgings to say he was suddenly called to town, but should be back in a week. Not that | ha ever intended to ahow his face in that I neighbourhood again. Nevertheless, events occasioned the stoppage of both his flight and Bartley's, and yet broke i up their unholy alliance. I It was Hope's n'ual inspection of the Bartley mine, and he took things in order. Months ] ' ago a second shaft had been sunk by his wise instructions, and but for Bavtley's parsimony would have been now completed. Hope now ascertained how many feet it was Bhort, and noted this down for Bartley. Then; still inspecting, he went to the other extremity of the mine and reached a sort of hall or amphitheatre much higher than the passages. This was a centre with diverging passages on one side, but closed on the other. Two of these passages led by oblique routes to those old works, the.shoring of which had been reported unsafe. This amphitheatre was. now a busy scene, empty trucks being pushed off, full trucks being pushed on, all the men carrying lighted lanterns tha£ wavered and glinted like " will-of-the wisps." Presently a bell rang, and a portion of the men, to whom this was a Bignal, left off work and began to put on their jackets and to wait the descent' of tbe cage to take , them up in parties. At this moment Hope met, to Wb surprise, a figure that looked like Ben Burnley." He put up his lamp to Bee if he was right, and Ben Burnley it was. The ruffian had tha audacity to put up his lamp, as if to scrutinise the person who examined ■ him. ' " Did I not discharge you ?" said Hope. "Ay, lad," said Ben ; " but your master put me on again." With that he showed Bartley'a , order and signature.' 11( ._ .„ ' Hope bit his lips, but merely said "He will '"^ rue it." Burnley sidled away ; but Hope .cried ' to one or two men who were about. " " Keep a sharp look out on him, my men, " your lives are not safe whilst he'a in the mine." " , Burnley leaned insolently' against a truck, and gave the men nothing to observe ; the next '* minute in bußtled the honest miner, at whose instance Hope had come down the mine, and .begged him to come and visit the shoring at once. ' , Hope asked if there were any other mon there. The miner replied in the negative. I ."Very well, then," said Hope, "111 just take one look at the water heve, and I'll be at ' ' the shoring in five minutes." Unfortunately this unwary statement let ", Burnley/ know exactly what to do ; he had already concealed in the wood-work a canister of dynamite with a fuse to it to last about five •minutes He now wriggled away under cover of Hope's dialogue and lighted the fuse, then he came flying back to get "safe out of the mine, .and leave Hope in his death-trap. But in the meantime Grace Hope came down in the cage, and daught sight of her father and came screaming to him, " Father ! father ! " " You here, my child 1 ' " There s a plot to murder you ! A man called Burnley is to cause an explosion at tho , old works fust as you visit them." '. " An explosion," cried Hope, "and fire-damp ' about. One explosion will cause fifty, — ring • the bell— h6re men ,! danger 1 ' Then there was a rush of men. " Ben Burnley is firing the mine."--There was a yell of fury ; but a distant explosion turned it to one of dismay. Hope caught his daughter up in his arms, and put ber into a 'cavity. "Fly men to the other part of the mine," he *ried. . There was a louder explosion. In ran ' Burnley terrified at his own work, and flying to escape. Hope sprang out upon him. "No < you don't— living or dead — you are the last to leave this mine." Burnley struggled furiously, but Hope dashed him down at his feet. Just as a far more awful explosion than all took place, one side of the amphitheatre fell in and the very earth heaved. The corner part of the shaft ' ' fell in upou the cage, and many poor minors ' who were hoping to escape by it ; but those •scaped for the present who had obeyed Hope's order and fled to another part of the mine, and when the stifling vapourß bad drifted aw#y there stood Hope pale as death, but strong ac iron, with the assassin at his feet ; and poor ' Grace crouching and quivering in her recess. The fate now awaiting these three was either .a speedy death by choke-damp, a slow death ' by starvation, or a rescue from the^ outside under circumstances of unparalleled difficulty, since there was but one shaft completed, and th^t wati now closed by a mountain of debris.