CHAPTER IV.

Otago Witness, 5 December 1900, Page 32

CHAPTER IV.

A fortnight later the Ogilvies prepared for the journey to Dunedin. Mr and Mrs Evans and Mr Ogilvie had driven ' in to Wharenua, and Jean was left to keep house and pack their belongings. She had begged to be left because she knew they could not be home until late, and Robin was com- i ing to say good-bye for a few months. ' She went to the chair to meet him, and he took her i across to his side of the river. Douglas noticed how thin the guide-rope was in one place, and he tied a knot in i it before fastening up the chair, leaving just enough rope [ free to reach the other side. They strolled up the river bank J to the place where they had met, and lingered there. Neither saw the pale face with glittering, evil eyes that glared ' at them from a clump of manuka above, as they sauntered back. Joey, the Portuguese, had mischief on foot, and he | chuckled with fiendish delight as he followed the lovers back to the chair, carrying a rough stone. He would wait until The Swell had started the chair i with Jean in it, then he would " do for " him as he had vowed ( lie would. Afterwards he would wipe off all the other j old scores at one blow. The jutting rock on the landing ' hid the two, but Joey heard Jean making some objection, and the man's voice replying laughingly. Then to his disgust he saw that they were crossing together, the man with his arm round the girl. But they should not escape him thus.

With a yell he dashed to the landing and cut through the rope. Robin turned and saw the ugly face on the bank, and he realised how Joey had taken his revenge. The chair was already half-way over, and there it hung. Jean clung to Douglas, shivering. A horible string of oaths came to them over the water, and Robin covered eJan's ears with his hands, and ground his teeth in fury. He waited for a volley of stones to follow, but fortunately Joey did not think of that course. "He, he!" he yelled; "you swing there while I go and settle that Graham, and the whole push down there — Humpy too. Did you know that there is a nice little stock of dynamite in the boatshed there, and Graham and Pram are down with your Rainford?" Again the demon's laugh made Douglas writhe, for he knew what the fiend meant to do. And he was helpless. With a final curse and a recommendation to them to listen carefully or they might not hear his cracker go off, Joey disappeared. " Oh, God help them !" Jean moaned. The man's brain was on fire, and he could see no way to save the lives of the unconscious men in the house down the river from a horrible death. Unconsciously he began rapidly drawing in the loose rope, and when it resisted his pull, he remembered the knot he had tied. It won't pass the pulley, he thought. But will it hold? ' Jean, listen, and be brave," he said. " The rope is still in the pulley, and perhaps the knot will hold, but we must not risk our whole ■weight on it. You must pull on it carefully, and I will kneel and help along hand over hand on the wire rope. Jean crouched in one end of the chair, and Douglas rose to his knees in the other end, and grasped the wire overhead.

" Courage, sweetheart !" he whispered. " Now !"

Hnd over hand he went, holding himself in the chair and drawing it with feet as well as hands, while Jean slowly gathered in the visibly shortening rope.

An exquisite basin of fresh water, margined by narrow shores, which girdle it from the surrounding sea.

"We can do it, Robin !" she cried, as they moved onsteadily, " and you will save them all." " I will," he replied through set teeth. Jean shivered as she saw the blood pour from his torn hands, but she too set her teeth, and murmured loving words. They did do it. Douglas wrapped his coat round Jean, and guided her into a safe hiding place among the scrub, where he left her. Meanwhile Joey had had many minutes' start, and Douglas was weak from the strain he had undergone. But presently his strength returned, and he sped along the narrow track, breathing prayers to a long-forgotten God. He knew that Joey dared not go through the paddock, although it was now almost dark. He would probably make a wide detour and come up round the lower end of the flat, just below the boathouse. So the house was nearer to him than to the Portuguese. His surmises were correct. Mr Rainford and his two companions were busy with some maps spread out on the table, when they were startled by a stone crashing through the uncurtained window. They went quickly out to the door and saw Robin Douglas close at hand. He had stopped to fling the stone from the foot of the slope in front of the house. He could not speak, but he caught hold of Graham and Pram and turned to run down the slope, then dropped to the ground. Thoroughly alarmed, the three men did what they could to revive him. " Get brandy, Rainford," said Pram. " Keep — out — of — the house !" gasped Robin. " Joey — dynamite — boatshed." Then Rainford and Graham knew. " Take him farther away," said Jack. " I'll see to that devil '" And keeping on the turf he ran down to the boathouse, and crept cautiously to the door. Rainford and Pram helped Robin farther from the house, and then the manager went off after Graham, who had now seen that the shed was empty. He did not know just where the dynamite was, and he did not want to use a light. So he crept back to Rainford, who said he knew where to look, and they went back together. " It's there all right," he said. " I'll stay and watch while you go and hear the rest from Douglas."

The abovf view s illustrate, as popular "Points in the Playground of the Pacific," (1) Moeraki ; (2; St. Clair ; (3) Sumner ; (4) Broad Bay ; (5) Government Hut on the track to Milford Sound ; (6) Portobello ; (7) Whakatane; (8) The Nuggets; (9) Island Bay; (centre) In the Bush, near the Arthur River, Milford Sound.

Jack found Mr Pram fanning his friend with his soft felt hat, and Robin was speaking slowly. Graham cauglit his wrists, and looked at the bleeding hands without a word. Then he turned and went back to the boathouse, and told Mr Rainford. Not five minutes later Joey crept cautiously in, and began to force off the lid of the dynamite box with a chisel. He gave one yell when Graham's hands gripped him, and then assumed a sullen silence.

The two men roped him up, and Mr Rainford asked Graham to bring the others down. Words cannot describe the looks with which Douglas and the Portuguese met each other.

Mr Rainford kept guard over the prisoner until two policemen from Dunedin came in reply to a telegram, and found the man who had been " wanted " in Capetown for several years.

Refusing to wait to have his hands bound up, Robin hurried Graham up the river, his heart aching for Jean in her lonely hiding place. They found her in a state of collapse, and carried her down again to the manager's house, for the chair was useless now. Graham crossed in the boat, caught a horse on the other side, and rode up to the Evans's place. Mr Ogilvie and Mrs Evans drove back to the boat, and went up to the house, where they found Jean anxious to get away from the claim. They had told her that Joey was well guarded, and had not the shadow of a chance of escape, but she could not be at rest while so near him. Douglas went back to the Evans's place with them, remaining several days, and in the end he went to Dunedin when they did, as his evidence was required at Joey's trial. All this happened years ago. Robin Douglas is now managing a rich claim of his own on the Manuherikia, and his wife has almost forgotten the horrors of that night. Jack Graham is still on the Molyneux, but his is another story. Finis.