THE SOLITARY HOUSE

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12404, 23 August 1918, Page 8

THE SOLITARY HOUSE

CHAPTER XXVII. • A BXBAKGE XEST. At that moment he would have given all-he possessed for one gleam or glimmer of light; and while he still peered into the darkness through tho leafy branches where ho crouched, and while he still felt the, sinister quivering; of that branch on which ho had just laid his .hands he received a tremendous blow bn the tide.

Perched insecurely in mid-air as ho was he lost his balance and fell, and for one moment thought that all was over as-ho dropped through apace. But his desperate clutching hands caught a thin branch that bent beneath his weight but still held, so that he hung from it by his arms, his feet dangling in tho air. Ho swung them up and they rested on another stronger branch, and in an instant he had hauled himself into safety. Looking upwards, as he felt himself secure again, he saw above him, against the darkness of the sky through a gap .in the widespread branches, a shapeless, crouching form clinging there like some foul and monstrous bird of night and peering down as if to see what had become of him.

The sight, recalled to -hinri all his energy and sent the blood pulsing once mure through his veins with fiercest energy. He forgot his late narrow Escape, ho forgot dangers and risks, he forgot'entirely all warning of prudence and caution, he was conscious only of the one desire to lay his hands upon this abominable creature that price more had nearly wrought his death, and almost literally ho leaped upwards through the tree from branch to branch.

Dense as was the darkness, one might almost have thought that ho could see in it, so surely did he go, so certainly did his hands appear to find the best holders with such perfect skill did his feet move' from one precarious support to another.

The creature above saw and heard Ins coming, and with an almost inconceivable agility swung away, and with an activity fully as extraordinary Keith swung after it. It leaped in the dark from branch to branch, and in the darkness from branch to branch he followed. H ran up a tree trunk so slender that the tree bent beneath its weight, and Keith was close behind, so that the tree bent further still. It leaped across a wide gap to another, sturdier tree, and Keith _ launched himself after through tho < night, knowing not whither his spring was taking him, but somehow or another finding himself safely clinging to a branch that still quivered from the impact of the creature he pursued. Down below Sergeant Price was shouting like a madman and blowing his whistle with all the breath he could spare, for the tumult in the, trees above was as though a dozen demons fought there between earth and sky. From a distance there answered him shouting and the sound of men running as Captain Wallace and others of the police came hurrying to their help; and far above in the dark night there was still the sound of breaking branches and of torn twigs and leaves showering down as the trees swung and swayed beneath the strain of that strange wild contest of the ait.

From one branch above bis bead a dark form dropped so close to the sergeant he might nave laid hands upon it had he been more alert- But in a moment it was gone, running up the trunk of the nearest tree like a, gigantic squirrel, and after it came Keith not more than. six feet behind, and as swift and fierce as the thing that he pursued.

Almost at once as it seemed they were ibynud-dir again,_ swinging from branch clinging to tree trunks, leaping across gaps, climbing with perfect certainty of band and foot in .--tliat pitchy darkness where the slightest slip or miscalculation meant death and where even in the daylight slip or miscalculation must have seemed inevitable-

But perhaps the darkness helped them both, and bad they seen and realised the tilings they did” the wild risks they took, the mad leaps they made, the way they swayed and balance themselves thirty feet up where a bird could scarce have found a footing, the end would have come before it did.

From one tree to another they passed; and all Keith’s innermost being was hob and fierce with, exultation as he felt himself the master of his enemy and "that, in this'wild chase he gained'. He was'so close now he had twice been able to touch the fugitive; be could hear it muttering and chattering to itself liko no human being, but with a note of terror in its voice; and he felt well assured that very soon he would be able to lay hold upon it. Ho had indeed leaped down on the same branch as that on which the fugitive had just alighted when there came all at onco a very bright, clear beam of light questing and seeking through the thick branches and spreading, leafy twigs. It showed him, chock by jowl with him a squat, monstrous, hairy form with long arms bold out to seize the next branch above their heads and next flashed straight into his own eyes, dazzling him and confusing and blinding him so utterly that he .missed' bis hold, missed his footing, lost balance and fell Luckily

, (By E. R. PUNSHON)

Author of "Arrows of Chance," etc., etc.

the tree limb next beneath broke his fall to some extent, but it was not strong enough to bear the. impact of his weight, and it smashed off close to the trunk- He fell with it to the ground, but ho was not hurt, (hough for the moment he lav_ still, dazed and half unconscious, while half a dozen lamps and lanterns concentrated their rays upon him. “Who is it? Who is it?” shouted a voice. You ..fools, lie’ll get away;” shouted Keith, lifting iiimsojl (hi one nhn by a great-effort. “ Quibk, qiilck, ho’s up there somewhere; get all round, cub him off, quick,” Ho heard a voice giving sharp orders and men scattering to obey. Someone bent over him, and a voice he recognised as that of Inspector Wilks said; “Are you hurt?” “No,” said Keith; “don’t let him get away.” “Oh, he won’t,” asserted Wilks encouragingly; “ our men are all around.” “Where is the sergeant? Is Esme safe?” ho asked.

“Yes, the young lady is all riedit,” answered Price for himself. “ Good Lord, wliat was it up there?” “I don’t know,” answered Keith. “I never heard the like,” the sergeant said; "it was like.a dozen madmen given wings and playing hide-and-seek up there.” “ I should have had him in another minute,” Keith said, “hnt that light dazzled me.”

.All round now lights wore showing from lamps and electric torches, so that about the. grove .was drawn n. circle of illumination, while other lights flashed upon each tree in turn and voices shouted excitedly:

“He’s here, he’s there, look, look, he’s gone.”

“ He’ll get away,” Keith said again, and he jumped up and ran to where, at the foot of one of the trees, two or three men were pointing upwards and throwing aloft the beam of a powerful lantern.

“ There’s something there,” one was saying, “ I can sec something plainly.” “lb dees nob move,'' said another; “it is ordv a birds' nest. 1 ‘ “ A big nest”’.said the first man; “ that’s no nasi ” ".I’ll try a.shot,” said Captain Wallace, who was near at hand. He had a small automatic pictol, and ho fired two shots at the dark object that could be Just barely discerned about twenty feet above their heads in the branches ol the groat tree at whoso foot they stood. The shots had no effect, and Keith said: “I’ll go up.”

Without waiting for an answer ho swung himself into the tree. The climb was not difficult, for the branches were strong and grew close together, and soon ho reached the object they had seen from below. Ho found it to be an ingenious and elaborate platform, or indeed kind of Inigo nest, formed rf small branches and twigs woven between stronger ones and strengthened further by rope twined in and out , and. made scours. to the tree's trunk.

The strange eyrie was about nine feet long by perhaps four wide, and strotciied on both 1 sides of the trunk which formed its main support. Tire sides were protected by more rope, so that one could lie ancl sleep there in perfect security twenty feet above the cartli. Overhead, tin, thick loliagc of the tree formed a shelter that only the heaviest rain would bo likely to penetrate. At one end two blankets were lying in a heap, and there were three or. four pockets or hanging bags ingeniously made out of woven grass. In these were stored two dead rabbits that had been recently killed, some raw turnips and some fruit. Into another of these woven bags had been stuffed a quantity of rubbish, such as nut shells, egg shells, fruit skins and so ,on. Evidently the habitant of this place had been accustomed to remove with care all sue), waste matter lest its pro Eence on the ground below might have given a cine to the position of his arboreal dwelling. Keith tested the platform and found vt quite strong and secure, and stand>ng on it and leaning over its edge he shouted down:

“There is a place up here whore someone has been living. “ Living?” a voice repeated. “How? Where? What do you mean?” “Come end sec,’’ Keith answered; ‘it's a kind ol tree shelter; there are blankets here and food.” Ho heard sounds of climbing, and presently Captain Wallace and another man appeared, clambering cautiously up through the dark. They examined the eyrie very carefully, and with many muttered exclamation of as tonishmeub and wonder. ‘‘What a place,” Captain Wallace said. “t expect) the follow was snug here all the time wo were hunting for him down below. I have heard of people living in caves and ditches, but tree tops, ...” ‘‘ One might be very snug up here.” said Keith. “ It- is strongly made and wouldn’t be at all uncomfortable Of course, it would only do for summer. In winter it would bo spotted at once. 5 '

They climbed down again, the Captain deciding that this human nest must be left as it was. till morning. Inspector "Wilks came up to them as they reached tbo ground. ‘‘There's no one in any of tho other trees, sir,” he said; “they have all been searched.” “ Well, we have found his little home, anyhow,” remarked the Captain. But the occupant of that strange dwelling had made good his escape, for it ivns certain that he was no longer anywhere within the circle that had been drawn about the grove. Thq only duo to the manner of his escape came from one of the men who had been stationed at the edge of tho hollow where it sloped down so precipitously and where Keith had so narrowly escaped falling. This man declared, like all the others, that ho. had seen and heaivl • nothing and that nothing could by any possibility have got by him. Throwing the light of the lantern lie hold clown the steep, almost sheer, rocky drop of more than twenty lect, he repeated: “No one could get down there in the dark, could they, now? Rum thing, though, I heard some rabbits playing in the bushes at the bottom, so 1 threw a stone at them to make them bo quiet.” “ Rabbits,” repeated Keith angrily, ‘‘ rabbits at this time—that was him making his escape.” (To he continued.)