Loading...
The Wingham Times, 1909-09-30, Page 7T> is W1NGIiAM 'T'iMES, SEI'TE."`MBER 30 19ksi 7 THE MYSTERY Brij STEWART EDWARD WHITE • And SAMUEL HOPKINS ADAMS COPYRIGHT. 1907. BY MecLIJRE• PHILLIPS e< CO. "Still, I should be glad to have you .gentlemen present if only for a mo - remit," insisted Darrow presently. "Perhaps it would be as well—on ac - .count of the patient," said the surgeon significantly. "Very well," assented the captain. The three went to Slade'$ cabin. He was lying propped up in his bunk. 'Trendon entered first, followed by the •captain, then Darrow. "Here's your prize, Slade," said the surgeon. Darrow halted just inside the door. IWitl' an eager light in his face Slade leer '. forward and stretched out his ha: •'+uldn't believe it until I saw ko• .. 1 man," he cried. it 1 c ow's eyebrows went up. Before S1aJ,• had time to note that there was "Here's your prize, Stade," said the sur- geon. no response to his outstretched hand the surgeon had jumped in and push- • ed him roughly back upon bis pillow. "What did you promise?" he growled. "You were to lie still, weren't you? And you'll do it or out we go." "How are you, Hagen?" drawled Darrow. "Not Eagen. I'm done with that. 'They've told you, haven't they?" Darrow nodded. "Are you the only ,survivor?" be inquired. "Except yourself." "The nigger? Pulz? Thrackles? The captain? All drowned?" "Not the captain. They murdered ;him." "Ah," said Darrow softly. "And you —I beg your pardon—your—er—friends disposed. of the doctor in the same way?" "Handy • Solomon,". • replied Slade with shaking Ups. "Hell's got that fiend, if there's a hell for human fiends. They threw the doctor's body in the surf." "Yoii didn't notice whether there were any papers?" "If there were they must have been destroyed with the body when the 'Java poured down ..the valley into the sea." "The lava, of course," -aissented Dar- row, with elaborate nonchalance. "Well, he was a kind old boy—a cheer- ful. simple, wise old child." "I would have .given any right hand 'te save him," cried Slade. "It was so sudden—so damnable"— "Better to have. saved him than me," said Darrow.. Ile spoke with the first touch of feeling that be exhibited. "I 'have to thank you for my life, Hagen— For Women Who ,are Discouraged :Because of lingering weakness and nervous derangements there is stew hope and cure.• If ;your system is weak and run down, your blood thin and watery and your nervous system exhausted choose a treatment such as l)r. Chase's Nerve Food, which has never been equaled as a means of building up health, strength and vigor, • That Dr. thane's Nerve Food is par- ticularly successful in the cure Of ail- ments and c:'erangements from which women suffer inolit is attested by such letters as this frond liMrs. D. D. Burger, Heather ]arae, Alta., who writes: "Mrs. Armstrong, my niece, had great rveakness, heart trouble and indige!tion, 2n fact she wee run down in every way" and had lost all hope of ever getting wall again. She bad been it poor health for over four year`s sifter the birth of her first child. The persistent use of Dr. Chase's Nerve Food hailitoven of marvellous benefit to Iter. She feolt real well now, is lookin fine sits flesh ing up so that one would hardly believe ler the sand person," 50 cent! box, 6 boxes for $2.50, at Ali c ealertr sr Nitons t, Estes £ 0o., Toronto. '1 beg your pardon—Slade. It's hard to remember." Dr. Trendon arose and Captain Park- inson with him, "Give you two hours, par. Darrow," said the surgeon. "No more. If he seems exhausted give him one of these powders, I'll look in in an hour." At the end of an hour he returned. Slade was lying back on his pillow. Darrow was talking eagerly, confiden- tially. In another hour he came out. "The whole thing is clear," he said to Captain Parkinson. "I am ready to report to you." "This evening," said the captain. The mess will want to hear." "Yes, they will want to hear," as- sented Darrow. "You've had Slade's story. I'll take up where he left off, and he'll check me. Mine's as incredi- ble as—as Slade's was. And it's as true." A CHAPTER XXXIII, S they had gathered to hear Ralph Slade's tale, so now the depleted mess of the Wolver- ine grouped themselves for Percy Darrow's sequel. Slade himself sat directly across from the doctor's assistant. Before him lay a paper cov- ered with jotted notes. Trendon slouched low in the chair on Slade'S right. Captain Parkinson had the oth- er side. Convenient to Darrow's hand lay the material for cigarettes. As he talked he rolled cylinder after cylinder and between sentences consumed them in long, satisfying puffs. "First you will want to learn of the fate of your friends and shipmates," he began. "They, are dead. One of them Mr. Edwards,fell to my hands to bury, as you know. He lies beside Handy Solomon. The others we shall probably not see. Any one of a score of ocean currents may have swept them far away. Tae last great glow that you saw was the signal of their destruction. So the work of a great scientist, a potent benefactor of the race, a gentle and kindly old heart, has brought about the death of your friends and of my enemies. The innocent and the guilty, the murderer with his plunder, the officer following his duty, one and the same end—a paltry thing our vaunted science is in the face of such tangled fates." He spoke low and bitterly. Then he squared his shoulders, and his manner became businesslike. "Interrupt me when any point needs clearing up," he said. "It's a blind trail at best. You've the right to see it as plain as I can make it—with Slade's help. Cut right in with your questions. There'll be plenty to answer, and some never will be answered. Now, let me get this thing laid out clearly in my own mind. You first saw the glow— let me see"— "Night of June 2," said Barnett. "June 2," agreed Darrow. "That was the end of Solomon, Thrackles & Co. A. very surprising, end to them if they had time to think," he added grimly. "Surprising enough from the surviv- ors' viewpoint," said SIade. "Doubtless. They've had that story from you. I needn't go over it. This ship picked up the Laughing Lass, de- serted, and put your first crew aboard. That night, was it not, you saw the second pillar of fire?" Barnett nodded. "So your men met their death. Then came the second finding of the empty schooner. Captain Parkinson, they must have been brave men who faced the unknown terrors of that prodigy:' "They volunteered, str," said the cap- tain, with simple pride. Darrow bowed with a suggestion of reverence in the slow movement of his head. "And that night --or was It two nights later—you saw the last appear- ance of the portent? Well, I shall come to that. Slade has told you how they lived on the beach,. With us in the valley it was different. Alnidst from the first I was alone. The doctor ceased to be a companion. He, ceased to be human almost. A machine, that's what he was. His one human instinct was—well, distrust. His whole force of being was centered on his discovery. It was to make him the foremost scientist of the world; the foremost individual entity of his time—ot all time possibly. Elven to outline it to you would take too much time. Light, heat, totiite power iii incredible degrees and under such control as has never been known., These were to be the agencies at his coli. The push of a button, the turn of a screw—oh, he was to be master of such power at no monarch ever wielded! Rleheea-pshaw! Riches were the least of it. IIe could create them prueticitiiy. But they would be super - Mums. Power; Unlimited, absolute power was his goal. With his end achicl-cid, he weld eetablifib an autoc- racy. n dynasty of science—Whatever he those. Ohl 3t was n rich hued, golden, glowing dream, a dream such as corn's souls don`t formulate to these Male clays—not our kind of men. The 'I'eutoule nlystiCisnt—you understand, And it was all true. Oh, gaiter "Do you olefin us to understand that tae hurl bite leaver you describe?" ask- ed Captalai Parkinson. "In hie greet. Then eoteetl a prile- tiea3 gentleman with a steel book. A follower of dreams, too, in hie way. Conflicting Intereetil-yati k lova liow;,-it Is. One well alined blow from the more practical dreamer and the great- er vision passes. I'ni getting ahead of myself. Just a moment" Itis cigarette glowed fiercely in the dimness before he took up his tale again, "You all know who Dr. Schermer - horn was. None of you know—I dnu't know myself, though I've been his fac- totum for ten years—along how many varied lines of activity that mind play- ed. One of them was the secret of en• orgy -.-concentrated, resistless energy. Man's contrivances were too puny for lhiin. The most powerful engines he regarded as tops. For a time high ex- blosives claimed his attention. He wanted to harness them. Once he got to the point of practical experiment. Yon can see the ruins yet—a bole in southern New Jersey. Nobody ever understood how he escaped. But there he was on his feet across a ten foot fence in a plowed field—yes, he flew the fence—and running, running, furi- ously in the opposite direction when the dust cleared away. Some one stop- ped him finally. Told him the danger was over, 'Yet I will not return,' he said firmly and fainted away. Thai disgusted him with high explosives. \Vliat secrets he discovered he gave to tiie government. They were not with- out value, I believe." "They were not, indeed," corroborat- ed Barnett. "Next his interest turned to the nat- ural phenomena of high energy. He studied lightning iu an open steel net work laboratory, with few results save a succession of rheumatic attacks and an improved electric interrupter, since adopted by one of the great telegraph companies. The former obliged him to stop these experiments, and the in- vention he considered trivial. Proba- bly the great problem of getting at the secret of energy led him into his at- tempts to study the mysterious elec- trical waves radiated by lightning flashes. At any rate, he was soon as deep into the subject of electrical sci- ence as his countryman, Hertz, had ever been. He used to tell me that he often wondered why he hadn't taken up this line before—the world of ener- gy he now set out to explore, waves in that tremendous range between those we hear and those we see. It was nat- ural that he should then come to the most prominent radio -active elements, uranium, thorium and radium. But, though his knowledge surpassed that of the much exploited authorities, he was never satisfied with any of, his re- sults. "'Pitchblende, no!' he would ex- claim. 'It has not the great power. The mines are not deep enough yet!' "Then suddenly the great idea that was to bring him success and cost him his life came to him. The bowels of the earth must bold the secret. He took up volcanoes. Does all this sound foolish? It was not if you knew the man. He was a •niigbty enthusiast, a born martyr. Not cold blooded, like the rest of us. The fire was in his veins. A light, please. Thank you. "We chased volcanoes. There was a theory under it all. He believed that volcanic emanations are caused by a mighty and uncomprehended ener- gy. something that achieves results ascribable neither to explosions nor heat, some eternal, inner source. Ra- dium, if you choose, only he didn't call it that. Radium, as known to our modern scientists, he regarded as the harmless plaything of people with time hanging heavy on their hands. He wasn't after force in pin point quanti- ties—he wanted results. Yet I believe that, after all, what he sought was a sort of higher power of radium. The phenomena were related. And he had some of that concentrated essence of pitchblende in the chest when we start- ed. Oh, not much, say about $20,000 worth. MaybeQthirty. For use? No. Rather for comparison, I judge. "'Yes, we chased volcanoes. I be- came used to camping between sam- ple hells of all known varieties. I got so that the fumes of a sulphur match seemed like n draft of pure. fresh air. Wherever any of the earth's pim- Had Stomach Camps Would Roll on the Floor in Agony. Mr. Wm. Kranth, contractor and builder, Owen Sound, Ont., writes:— 'Having read some of the testimonials of cures effected by Dr. Fowler's Extract of Wild Strawberry, Y thought it advis- able to say a word of praise for its merits. Some years ago I was much troubled with stomach trouble and cramps. I used to roll on the floor in agony, and on one oocasion I went into a faint lifter offering interseely for four hours. A short time after this, in driving to town, I Was attacked again and bad to lie down in my rig„ seeking relief. "'When. I reached, the drug store I asked the druggist for a quick remedy acid laid behind the counter until relief van*. The remedy 1 received from the dot 'at WM Dr. Fowler's Extract of Wild Strawberry. Whenever, after that ti I felt cramps corning on, I found relief in the above rnentioned . ' and I mach :turf cured of this d u malady. The bottle is small but rtai; contenfa effect a marvelous curet 1 can recolunendrecommend it Highly for the cute of cramps Dr. Fowler's Extract of 'Wi'Id mart. t brry lise been ontlmi market for 64 year. It is not L tie* i lied Untried **MOO. Ask for it and insist on getting What you auk for. Refuse substitutes. They're dlingerous. Price 25 cents. Manufactured only by I.ltiltouu Co,, ltiraiitcd, Tw'Olt6tk Ont. Kidney Disease For Years This Well Known Gentleman Strongly Recommends "Fruitna-tives" to all Sufferers. JAMES DINGWALL, Es%, "I have much pleasure in testifying to the almost marvellous benefit I have derived from taking "Fruit -a -lives." I was a lifelong sufferer from Chronic Constipation, and the only medicine I ever secured to do me any real good was "Fruit-a-tives." This medicine cured nie when everything else failed. Also, last spring I had a severe ATTACK OF BLADDER TROUBLE WITH KIDNEY TROUBLE, and "Fruit-a-tives" cured these complaints ,for me, when the physician attending me had practically given me up. I ani now over eighty years of age and I can strongly recommend "Fruit- a-tives" for chronic constipation and bladder and kidney trouble. This medicine is very mild like fruit, is easy to take, but most effective in action." (Signed) JAMES DINGWALL. Williamstown, Ont„ July 27th, Igo8, se a box, 6 for $2.5o—or trial box, 250 —at dealers or from Fruit-a-tives Limited, Ottawa. pies showed signs of coming to a head there were we, taking part in the trouble. By and by the doctor got so thoroughly poisoned that he had to lay off. Back to Philadelphia we came. There an aged seafaring person, tem- porarily stranded, mulcted the profess- or of a dollar—au undertaking that re- quired no art—and in the course of his recital touched upon yonder little cess- pool of infernal iniquities. An un- charted volcanic island—one that he could have all for his own. You may guess whether Dr. Schermerhorn was interested. "'That iss for which we haf•t.o long in vain sought, Percy,' be said to me in his quaint, link chain style of speech. 'A leedle prifate volcano labo- ratory to ourselves to have. Totally unknown, undescribed, not on the chart to be found. Tomorrow we start. I make a list of the things to get.' "He began his list, as I remember, with three dozen undershirts, a gallon of pennyroyal for insect bites, a box of assorted fishhooks, thirty pounds of tea and a case of carpet tacks. When I hadn't anything else to Worry over, I used to lie awake at night and specu- late on the purpose of those carpet tacks. He had something in mind. If there was anything on which he prid- ed himself, it was his practical bent. But the list never got any further. It ceased short of one page in the Iedger, as you may have noticed. I outfitted by telegraph on the way across the coutineet. "The doctor didn't ask me whether I'd go. Ile took it for granted. That's probably why I didn't back out. Nor did I tell him that the three life insur- ance companies which had foolishly and trustingly accepted me as a risk merely on the strength of a good con- stitution were making frantic efforts to compromise on the policies. They felt hurt, those companies. My healthy condition had ceased to ap- peal to them. What's u good constitu- tion between earthquakes? No, there was no use telling the doctor. It would only have worried him. Be- sides,i b' that theisland 1 i d t believe be � i d was there. I thought it was a myth of that stranded anciodt mariner's imag- ination, When it rose to sight at the proper spot, none were more astound- ed than the bad risk who now addres's- es you. "Yet I must say for the island that It came handsomely up to specifica• lions, Down where ,you were, Slade, ?-on didn't get n real insight into its disposition. But in back of us there was any !incl of action for your mon- ey—geysers, hell spouts, fuming fis- sures, cunning little craterlets with half portions of molten lava ready to serve hot, more gases than you Could create in all the world's chemical labo. ratorles—in fact, everything to make the plate n paradise for Old Nick and Dr. Schermerhorn. Ile brought along in his precious Chest besides the ra- dium some sort of raw material; also as near as I could make out . sort of cage or guardianship scheme for his concentrated essence of cussedness when he should get it out of tho vo1- c11no. "In the first seven months be put- tered around the little turners, with tin occasional excursion up to the main crater. It was my duty to tollot.- on and drag him away when he fell nn- coiiscious. Satellites I would try to get him before be Was quite gone. Then he would become indigliant and fight tile. >? erhaps that helped to lose me hie Confidence. Mere and more he withdrew into himself. There Were days when he spoke no word to me. It was lonely. Do you know* Why I used to visit you at the beach, Slade? T suppose you thought I wad' kaeptng 'bitch on yeti. Tt wasn't that it was loneliness. /la a Way it hurt toga toe,. for one couldn't help but be fond of the old boy, and at times it seemed as if he weren't quite hltnscl1.. Par- don me if I may trouble you for the matches. Thanks. "Matters went very wrong at times. The doctor fumed like itis little craters, growled out long winded, exhaustive German imprecations; wouldn't even eat. Then, again, the demon of work world drive hit with thong and spur. IIe would rush to hls craters, to his laboratories, to his ledger, for the pur- pose of entering unintelligible com- mentaries. He had some peculiar con- trivance, like a misshapen retort, with which he collected gases from the cra- terlets. Whenever I'd hear one of those smash I knew it was a bad day. Meantime the volcano also became— well, what you might call tempera- mental. "It got to be a year and a quarter-- a year and a half. I wondered whether we should ever get away. My tobacco was running short, and the bearing of the men was becoming fidgety. My visits to the beach became quite inter- esting—to me. One day the doctor came running out of his laboratory with so bright a face that I ventured to ask him about departure. "'Not so long now, Percy,' he said in his old, kind manner. 'Not so long. The first real success. It iss made. 'We have yet under entire control to bring it, but it iss made.' "'And about time, sir,' said I. 'If we don't do something soon we may have trouble with the men.' "'So?' said he in surprise. 'But they could do nothing—nothing.' He wag- ged his great head confidently. 'We are armed.' "'Oh, yes, armed. So are they.' "'We are armed; he repeated ob- stinately. 'Such as no man was ever armed are we armed.' "He checked himself abruptly and walked away. , Well, I've since won- dered what would have happened had the men attacked us, It would have been worth seeing and—and surprising. Yes; I'm quite certain it would have been surprising. Perhaps, too, I might. have learned more of the great secret, and yet I don't know. It's all dark—a hint here, theory, mere glints of light. Where did I put— Ah, thank you!" CHAPTER XXXIV. OR some moments Darrow sat, gazing fixedly at the table be» fore him. His cigarette tip glowed and failed, Some one suggested drinks. The captain asked Darrow what he would have, but the question went unnoted. "How I passed the next six months I could hardly tell you," he began again, quite abruptly. "At times I was bored—fearfully bored. Yet the ele- ment of mystery, of uncertainty, of underlying peril, gave a certain zest to the affair. In the periods of dull- ness I found some amusement in visit- ing the lower camp and baiting the nigger. Slade will have told you about Wm. He possessed quite a fund of voodooism. He possessed more before 1 got through with him. Yes; if he had lived, to return to his country I fancy he would have added considera- bly to Afro-American witchlore. You remember the vampire bats, Slade? And the devil. fires? Naturally I didn't mention to you that • the devil fire business wasn't altogether as clear to me as I pretended. It wasn't, though. But at the time it served very well as an amusement. All the while I real- ized that my self entertainment was not without its element of danger too. I remember glances not altogether friendly, but always a little doubtful, a little awed. Even Handy Solomon, practical as he was, had a scruple or two of superstition in his makeup on which one might work. Only Eagen— Slade, agerSIade, I mean—was beyond me there. You puzzled me not a littlo in those days, Slade. Well— "Did I say that I was sometimes ani nosed by the doctor's attitude? Yes. It seemed that he might have given me a' little more of hisconfidence, butone can't judge such a man as he was. Among the ordinary affairs of life he had relied on me for every detail. Now he was in- dependent of me. Independent! I doubt if he remembered my existence at times. Even in his blackest moods of depression he was sufficient unto him- self. It was strange. How he did rage the day the chemicals from Wash- ington went wrong! I was washing my shirt in the hot water spring when be came bolting out of the laboratory, and keeled me over. I Came out -pretty indignant. Apologize? Not at all. He just sputtered. His nearest approach to coherence seemed to indicate a de. sire that t should go back to Washing. ton at once and destroy a perfectly reputable firm of chemists.. Pigtails be calmed down and took it out in enter. hag it in his daily record. He Was quite proud of that daily record and remembered to write in it on an aver- age of once a week. "Then the chest went wrong. Wheth' er it had rusted a bit or whether the chemicals had got in their work on the hinges I don't know, but one day the professor, of his own initiative, receg- nlzed my existence by lugging his box out in the open and asking me to fix it.' Previously he had emptied it. It Was rather a complicated thing, with an inner compartment over which was a hollow cover, opening along one rim. That I conjectured was designed to Hold some chemical compound or salt. There were many minor openings, too, each guarded by a similar hollon* door. My business was with the heavy top cover. "'It should shut and open softly, gently; explained the professor. 'So. Not with-a-grating•sound to be-steoin- panted,' be added, with his curious et. feet of linked phraseology. "Half n day's work fixed it; This lid would !tend open of itself until tipped tit a considerable sager, when It would,. tall and lock. Only on the outer shell WAS theta tt lock. That one was a good ».r.,. vow .. Tit 4r rr s �`eJ�lii 6firuti �a'"-; a aCa'� � =• �'IA Vole 'reparaticnfoct'><s- similatir4ilIcToodc&mi agcla- ta t 111D,Stotachs aiaWc tiers of pro"i.U'tcsDiges ticlt,Clizetittl- ressEVAR :.Cdatains neither Opiuirt:Mc plata 101' i'.fili r i. NO`I'11/1.111 cOTIC. P+•w'fin Seel.. r7x(Swi 'a B,p'ieile Serle - �t-cise Ssc,i + e :pprrnrnt Ii f en,quSs - (r ur(t .1,,v,r . Aperfrct Remedy for Cora ton, Sour Stu'1wctl,3.)i�t lit ^a, IVorins ,Ccitvuisions,Feveri s�il- ii,eCS du'1 Loss op SW'IEA TacSiim c Signature of NEW 'YORK. ra YF. For Inkknl a tua11, tvhmU,161ren. The Eid You Have ,was Bought Bears the Signature � � l of a1 ill Use For Over Thiry Years RIA COMPANY. NEW YORK CITY. bit of craftsmanship. "'So, Percy, my boy,' said the doc- tor kindly, 'that will with sufficient safety guard our treasure. When we obtain it, Percy. When it entirely fin- ished and completed shall be.' "'And when will that be?' I asked. "'God knows,' he said cheerfully. 'It progresses' "Whenever I went strolling; at night he would produce his curious lights. About his waist flickered a sort of •aura of radiance. Sometimes they were fairly startling. One fact I made out by accident look- ing down from a high place. They did not project from the laboratory. He always worked in the open when the light was to be produced. Once the ex- periment took a serious turn. The lights had flickered and gone. Dr. Schermerhotn had returned to his lab - (To be Continued). SPECIALLY SELECTED. A mild -faced individual entered the poi. tilt$ ;e. Do you keep stamps?" he asked. "We do sir," answered the polite clerk, somewhat surprised. "What sorts do you keep?" pnraned the customer. "All the valves that are issued, sir," replied the official, "from a halfpenny upward." "Could I see some penny ones?'' Promptly the office clerk produced a twenty shillings' worth sheet of penny perforateds and spread it upon the counter. "There you are, sir," he said, "If you want penny stamps, there are as few." The mild -faced individual looked them over, and then pointed to the centre. stamp on the sheet. "I think," he said, prodnoing a penny, "I'I1 take that one, please 1"—Ex. Newspaper Bargains. The TIMES and The Weekly Globe to Jan., 1911, for $1.60. The TIDIES and The Weekly Mail and Empire to Jan., 1911, for $1.60. The Tortes and The Weekly Globe to Jan„ 1910, for 25o. The TIMES and The Weekly Mail and Empire to Jan., 1910, for 25o. Thein s and The Family Herald and Weekly Star to January, 1910, for 25e, These Special Offers are Made to New Subscribers Perfect Underwear -Fit Means Perfect Gown -Fit ANY woman knows that no gown Can possibly look well if fitted over ill-fitting underwear. Watson's Underwear overcomes this weakness most common in most other underwear. The graceful, snug and perfect fit of Watson's is knitted into the Un- derwear in the making, instead of being stretched in afterwards. This wonderful glove -fit is per- manent, regardless of washings. is skillfully made of the finest rnatetiais, in a sanitary factory, by clean people. The lovely softness and smooth - of Wat mooth- ofWit son's affords Underwear -Comfort you never teen dreamed of. And the wearing qualities of Watson's is worth about two suits of ordinary underwear, yet Watson's costs you ;no more. Asir to set Doane of tht many different Watson styles. ". THi? WATSON MANitia'ACTt;RIN(> C0.,Y.'11)., rrAiartl,nirfe.