THE SILVER DAGGER

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 166, 19 August 1914, Page 2

THE SILVER DAGGER

CHAPTER XIX. IN WHICH MR GRANGER MEETS MISS TORFREY. Mr Granger was staggered and amazed. It took a good deal to frighten him, but he would have confessed to a little fear of a sort that he could not define, sine* he had not encountered it before. ; He recovered himself with an. effort fciuV wiped his forehead with the remains of the handkerchief that had bound his hands. The action recalled to him the fact that the Spaniards had not'inoticed that he was free of the encumbrance. He smiled. That was the Very first thing he would have noticed in a similar situation. He supposed it was characteristic of them. ' The thought carried him away for a moment from the horror he haft encountered, but •he soon reverted to it, and stood looking at the hole in the wall. He did not put in his hand again to take out the dark lantern. He was mot equal to that. He shook his head.

Mr Granger remained shaking kis head and pondering upon it and other things for the best part of three days. The only thing that happened to him was the periodical arrival of» bread and win? brought by the two men who had captured him in the grounds of Pensil-ij-etta Cottage. ; Hje thought deeply, and made many plans of escape, none of which would seem to work, for he could get no light ©n the problem of the guard on the passage. 4 The light came upon him with a rush on the third day. He suddenly began to tremble with tl» .excitement of a new., discovery, and to curse himself under his breath as a fool for not having made it before. j He flung himself down at full length With his eyes on a level with the aperture. No light; nothing could be seen. Then fie placed his mouth as close to the hole as he could, whistled three or four; times. He was taking some risk;, but,the stake was w6rth it."

,He listened. There war no response. Finally, he called: " : -' 'ls anybody there? " ' Some faint sound, or suggestion of a sound, caused him to wriggle himself still closer to the wall. He placed his car'against the'aperture. His keen eyes, gleamed in the light of the lantern. His "handwas on the he was ready to spring away in case of an al^rm;,from ;r-ll& listenetl with'all his might. _ A smile broke over his Joatures.

"'By Jimmy, Pudifin," he thought, 1 'you are a fool after all, and I thought you had intelligence." At last he rose and' paced the cell 'from end to end, reflecting. '

=«o»=»i By R. A. J. WALLING i aoc Autkor of " Flaunting Moll, " A Sea Dog of Devon, &c.

[ COPYRIGHT]

"Yes, Mr Pudifin, you ought to have known; you ought to have been able to see. But you never thought o£ what was close to your hand. A lucky accident —a lucky accident, indeed. I -wonder whether she can guess. The Don gave her no sign. Clever old villain in his way. I wonder what she did with the lantern? I wonder what she thought it was put there for? Does she guess there's a friend at hand? Ugh! To put your hand in a hole like that and f eel" it grasped by another hand—that'.s a creepy thing, Dick Granger. It takes you some time to realise that it's a lady's hand; and upon my soul I'd never have guessed it. Sethis is where theyH-e had v Miss Torfrey all the time. "And what in heaven's name do they think they're going t© do with her?":

Granger sat down pn his bundle of fern. "I'm hanged if it ain't the greatest story I ever heard of. But what's to be' done? Speak to-her, of course. But tia*e is precious, and I may be disturbed. What do you say to her?" He speculated on his question deeply. Then he got down on the ground in front of the aperture again. He listened. "All quiet," said he. "Now for it —Miss Torfrey.'' He called aloud. There was ho answer. The sounrf does net-reach her. Why, I wonder? Grainger smote himself. "Of course —l'm a bigger; fool than Pudifin.-Sh«'s done what jf.did." He got up and looked around the chamber. There was nothing that; would serve his purpose. His eye lit on the fern bed, and he pulled out a few fronds and twisted them tight. This he pushed through the hole. It met some obstruction. He pushed harder. The obstruction gave way, and there-was a smashing noise, as though something heavy fell from a height, and the clatter was succeeded by a little affrightened cry.

"What on earth have I done now?" exclaimed Mr Granger, drawing "back. Then he withdrew the fern, and looked through the hole. "Jiminy!" he cried again. A dim light shone back to him; he was looking into the second cell, and his reading of the map had not betrayed him.' It was strange that these was no regular communication between the two pieces, but there was the fact. The cell was there, and somebody was in it. He* endeavoured to discover what was the nature of the place, but he could distinguish nothing except the gleam of wall was thick. be wrong or I may be right, Dick," said he, "but here goes." ;?■/ Aud'. again he cried "Miss Torfrey! " His own voice sounded strangely deep and muffled to himself as he projected the sounTl into the unknown

space. But this time there came an answer —it was a girl's voice.

"Who is it calls?'' He distinguished the words—they were scarce above a whisper. '' I am a friend,'' said '■' Granger. "You do not know me; but I &m.a friend of Mr Pudifin and of yourself." He listened again. "Is Mr Pudifin there?" she asked.

"No; goodness knows -fl*ere Pudifin is. I am only here by accident—a prisoner like yourself.'' > "Can I trust you? Oh, you are not deceiving me!" The accustomed mind of Granger was ,a little touched by this appeal. "Listen!" said b% "Is there any danger of being overheard in there?" "No; I am alone." '' Well—listen. I am a d-etective,. employed by Mr Pudifin to try to find you.'' "A detective?" came the voice in dubious tones. "Yes; but not Benson —as you will recognise by the voice, Miss Torfrey. Mr Pudifin has seen through this business, and lie came to Westport to employ me. It was only by accident, as I said just now, thsft I got here. Mr Pudifin and I were trapped, and I was taken prisoner, perhaps two or three rTays ago, and brought here. By Jiminy! it's all accident! Who* hand did I touch?" "It was mine." "I hope you were not as frightened as I was. I hid a few little things in this hole, and I was getting them out when I touched your hand." "Mr Pudifin —you say he was with you when you were trapped? What became of him?" "Never fear, Miss! . Don't you trouble. He'll be all right—and wouldn't Me like to be here instead of me, that's all! Now, how are we to act? Shall we—sh! sh!"

Granger rose from the ground, dragged his bundle of fern to the neighbourhood of the hole, lay down on it, covered himself with the blanket, and extinguished the-light; • •

He was none too soon. The footsteps he had- heard along tl?8 passage stopped outside the door, an/1 presently the Spaniard whom he had distinguished as "the Don" enteredV bearing another lantern-; He looked, up&n the recumbent form.

Granger turned over as though to avoid the light, snored, and settled his head on his arm. The Spaniard went out softly, locking the door again. Granger waited until the footsteps had died away, then quickly uncovered the aperture, and called to Miss Torfrey again. "You were disturbed?" said she.

' "Yes, my friend the Don came inland found me asteep. All's clear. What was I saying? I know all about your capture—you were caught while watching the chapel and carried off to this place. But how did you get in there?" "How did you know the way I was captured?" she asked. "Mr Pudifin and I put two and two together—he found an ornament from your hair in the grass, undqr...the. chapel window! He's keeping it —only too anxious for the chance of giving: it back to you again.. But how did you get in there? How did they get at you? "There's a ruined chapel above—the way is through a narrow staircase. Yon lift a stone in the cors-er near the east window. I never knew of it before. But how did you get there too?" "Through a sort of cave. It's

strange there is no communication between the two cells. What was the place?" "I believe it belonged to some ancient monastery." "There must be a communication. They'd never have built the place .without one. What was that noise just 'now when I pushed my ferns through the hole?" "You knocked down the stone, and it fell on my shoulder." "Oh! I'm sorrv. But—it fell? I'm lying on the floor, and the hole is close to the ground? Where are you?" ! "I'm standing on tiptoe on a table, 'and the hole is close to the ceiling. I found it out one day trying to discover some way-of getting out. I've been hiding things in it that I did not want to lose. That's how my hand met yours.''

"I see," cried Granger. "Of course, my room is higher than yours. The island slopes towards the shore, and I'm on the seaward aide. Are you close against the wall?" "No, there's a little sort of alcove in front of me, and under you, I suppose. '' "What! " he exclaimed. "Oh, I'm a "perfect fool.- Wait a minute, Miss Torfrey!" " ' . "Fool!" he muttered to himself. "Why, Dick Granger, you haven't as lmasl) brains as Pudifin."

He took his jemmy and scraped furiously at the''dirt accumulated on' the floor of the cell where he had been lying. It was the accumulation of ages. Some inches down, he came upon a flat stone, and in the centre of the flat stone was an iron ring. And upon the sight of the iron ring, Mr Granger scraped .mere furiously than ever till he had the whole of.tbe flat stone clear. The sweat rolJed down his face as he worked. This v was a secret evidently unknown to his friends the Dons, and he intended to probe' it to the bottom before they had a chance to disturb him. -

He contemplated the iron ring dubiously-. It was old vaiid rusted, and he questioned whether lfc- would stand much strain of pulling. • He went round the edges of the stone -;with his jemmy, clearing the hardened dust away as well as he could, land in one place he found a broken edge where he could use his burglar's implement as a lever. He prised and prised, and at last the stone seemed tp give a little. He worked with the strength of two men as he saw the black dust crumbling under the pressure. The tkin line spread around the

square. '"Now!" cried Granger aloud in his excitement. He stood up and planted a foot on each side of the stone, lifted the" ring, threaded the jemmy through it, and witii both hands pulled with all his might. . It gave, it gave! It <*ame an inch or two. But it was a tremendous weight, and he had to ease off. As he let the stone fall back, he heard a noise of crunching and cracking, and the ground seemed to be subsiding be-, neath him. He. leapt, back, shouting -"Stand clear! " The great stone fell with a booming sound into the- apartment beneath him, carrying with it the surrounding masonry. . ' '' * A smother of dust arose, obscuring the light and half blinding him, but he did not hesitate. He lowered .himself upon his elbows through the opening thus made, and alighted, in the cell of his companion prisoner. In front of him stood a pale and hollow eyed spectre bf a girl. She was shaking; she could not speak. She placed her- hands tipon his shoulders, .and burst into a/fit Of crying. Mr Pudifin, after the visit from his venerable friend Radford, had a trying week in bed!'" Hei sent a message to the lodging wheTe the pseudo Jim Porter had beea accommodated, and learnt that he had not returned. The days passed, and there was no sign of him, On the eighth day he felt strong enough to go out. Before he had finished his breakfast a telegram was delivered to him. ; It was from the chief of police at Westport, and ran: V Yacht sailed last night. I have-mes-sage that .your friend still on board. B. shadowed till yesterday, then , disappeared. Probably gone in yacht."

Pudifin laid the little slip of pink paper in front of him and tried to puzzle it out. : In the vague \vay in which all his thoughts had run with regard to the Castilian, ? he, 4 connected it with the' fate df Lucy. He could not help thinking that, whatever had happened to her before, she was now irrevocably lost to him. He remembered that Diego had said it was of no use to move until the yacht was ready; Hosking had described the preparation of quarters, on board for the senorita. Now the yacht was ready and had moved, and it was probable that anything he could do would be too late to avert the unknown catastrophe. His only hope now lay in Hosking, who w«s on board the yacht. (To be continued.)