Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 157, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 July 1914 — Page 3

THE DEVIL CHAIR.

A Chronicle of the Strange Adventures of John Haynes and His Gyroscope Vehicle

THE MAN AND THE MAELSTROM

HE RAGED AND FLUNG HIS ARMS TOWARD THE SKY

On the lonely rock seven miles from the Norwegian coast John Haynes sat waiting. The gray fogs, lifting momen tartly.'disclosed the barren shores of the mainland far to the east, uprearing in steep cliffs beside the clefts of the fjords. All round him were the black, turbulent waters, ink-black Under a sky of scurrying clouds, save where, two miles away, a line of foam showed that the returning tide was waking the terrific forces of the maelstrom, that giant circular whirlpool from whose clutches no ship has ever emerged. There John Haynes waited, a man so filled with the turbulence of his own angry dreams that he might have been himself one of those elemental, natural forces that played and struggled around him. Of all the men who had banded themselves together to rob Haynes of his western lands, Frederick Beyers was first and foremost, both as regards the launching of the conspiracy and in the sharing of the spoil. Haynes was an Englishman.who had fallen heir to a vast, undeveloped western territory whose value was estimated conservatively at eleven millions of dollars. Failing to induce him to accept a million in settlement of his just claims, the conspirators had leagued themselves with the law, bribed judges and lawyers, and sent'him, under a false name, to the penitentiary for a trumped-up crime. Through the trickery of his own counsel Haynes was de prived of the opportunity to defend himself. The rogues had hoped to enjoy the proceeds of their crimes undisturbed — at least during the fourteen years which Haynes was to serve. But in the prison workshop Haynes had invented a new and terrible machine — a gyroscope, which, attached to the feet, or any vehicle, would drive it at any speed up to two hundred miles* an hour. As scientists know, the strangest feature of the gyroscope, which is nothing but a gigantic top, is that it maintains the angle of incidence at which it is first set spinning and cannot be dislodged therefrom. This feature, of course, communicatee itself to the vehicle to which the top is attached; hence, it can traverse roads, single lines of railroads, or even rope cables, adhering tenaciously and firmly to *he narrowest track. By aid of this contrivance Haynes .had effected his escape from the penitentiary and had returned to the world to wreak justice upon his prosecutors. .. One by one his enemies received their meed. Some died, some met more dreadful fates, unknown to the world, which, chronicling their disappearance with passing wonder, was unaware of what the rest of the conspirators knew but dared not publish—that Haynes was forking out the vengeance which he was resolved to exact to the uttermost. Frederick Beyers was the boldest of those remaining. He

(Copyright by W. G. Chapman)

did not wait for the blow to fall, but abandoning to his son the care of his business interests in Chicago, fled with his millions to the shelter of his steam yacht, and put out to sea. Provisioned for weeks, with a skilful crew, a library, a chef, and a selection of choicest wines, he cruised the seas. Beyers liked a sea life and was prepared to stretch out the period of his exile indefinitely—that Is to say, within reasonable limits; until his own detectives succeeded in cornering his enemy.

But Haynes eluded Beyers’ spies with ease. Mounted upon his gyroscope, he could traverse twelve hundred miles in a night. At-last,'in desperation, they abandoned the "search" for him. Beyers, condemned to exile for an unlimited period, accepted his fate rather than return to face his enemy. He sailed over the seas of Europe, wintering in the Mediterranean, then spending the summer months in the North sea and the Baltic. He was off Norway when at last Haynes found him.

_i After he emerged from the penitentiary at Nokomis Falls, Haynes found the daughter from whom he had been separated at the time of his arrest. She was living in a remote hamlet in northern New York, ignorant of her father’s fate and thinking him dead. He rescued her and eent her to Chicago, instructing her to await his orders there, after enlisting her in his schemes for revenge. When his chase after Beyers began he instructed Eleanor to obtain a position as a stenographer in Beyer’s offices in that city, now controlled by his son, in order that, if opportunity arose, she might obtain information serviceable to the fulfilment of his plans. Eleanor' Haynes rose rapidly; within six months she had become young Beyers* confidential secretary; and it was from her that John Haynes discoverSß where his enemy was to be found. Beyers was to be at Kristiensund, off the Norwegian coast, on a certain date in October., Haynes, disguised as an English tourist, found his yacht there provisioning. The man himself had gone into the interior for a week’s salmon fishing, but was to return on the following Saturday. Nothing could have suited Haynes* plans better. But he found it impossible, in spite of his disguise, to go aboard; the watchman Informed him that he was forbidden to admit strangers. As to Beyers, the man confided that he kept armed guards at his side who would not hesitate to shoot trespassers. Haynes also learned that, since the village did not boast of a hotel, Beyers would sleep aboard the vessel on Saturday night, awaiting the Sunday morning tide which should give depth of channel to enable her to clear the narrow passage of the fjord, in which she found shelter from the turbulence of the North sea. - ; .

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN, RENSSELAER, IND.

By H. M. EGBERT

Haynes had five days in which to plan and achieve. He took the train to Kronstad, a northern port, and,' representing himself to be an agent for a ship’s Chandler, he purchased there twelve thousand yards of strongest cordage. \ This he had placed aboard a sailing sloop in sections, and, loaded almost to the gunwale with his strange freight, he set his course for the lonely, uninhabited rock seven miles from Kristiensund, from which he hoped to draw Beyers to his destruction.

The scheme which he had contrived was the most fiendish that could have entered the brain of the most desperate and conscienceless criminal. It was, in its way, worthy of any of the ‘famous murderers- of the- daye when murder flourished as a fine art in Italy. Between the isolated rock and the mainland, at certain tides, there swept and eddied and sucked the giant whirlpool, the maelstrom, the most terrible monster of all the formidable perils of the sea. From the maw of this terrific monster no boat, once caught, has ever escaped. Drawn into it from distances of half a mile or more, its victims, with accelerated pace, rush to their destruction, spin for a few seconds upon the circumference of the monster, look, horror-stricken, into its gaping jaws, and then, circling at a terrible speed, plunge down to death, a thousand fathoms below. <

Although, when the tide runs slack, boats may cross the site of the maelstrom unscathed, yet so potent is the terror which it inspires, that none dare to approach it No wonder, then, that the rock on which Haynes took up his abode was uninhabited!

He spent two whole days splicing his rope together. When at last the entire length had become >a single piece, he spent a third day winding it around a series of strong poles which he placed deep in the sand, fortified by pyramids of rocks until they were immovable under the strongest strain that he could bring to bear. Then, filling his gasoline tank, he tested his gyroscope and set it up in such a manner that in its revolutions it would wind in the whole length of cordage. When this had been completed he let the gyroscope run down, fastened one end of the rope to the tiller of his boat, and, on the Friday night, when the tide ran low, he pulled for the mainland, towing the rope behind him, which unwound automatically as the gyroscope, no longer in action, spun like the gigantic top it was and drew the lengths of cordage from the, poles. " ’ ~ : The night was so intensely dark that Haynes could only gauge his direction from the revolving lamp in the lighthouse upon the great cliff which dominated the entrance to the fjord; and even with its aid he was so far drawn out of his course by the current that he landed finally two miles to the south of his destination, beneath the railroad terminal,, which at this point I

approached within a score of yards of the cliff’s edge. A train had just arrived with tourists aboard. Through the still air Haynes heard a woman’s laugh and shivered for a moment, for the voice sounded strangely like that of hie daughter. Almost it dissuaded him from his purpose; it was difficult to retain his mind at the tension necessary for its accomplishment when the thought of Eleanor came to him. But he dismissed this weakness and, with a shrug of the shoulder, pulled hard along the shore in the direction of Kristiensund.

Evidently the tourists had been bound for a neighboring village, not Kristiensund, for everything was dark. The inhabitants had retired to bed long since; while, from the fact that the vessel itself was dark, Haynes concluded that Beyers bad not yet returned from his fishing trip. True, he might have elected to seek such, shelter as the peasants in the vicinity of the station could offer him, in preference to the hazards of a night drive back to his ship through the darkness. Listening to assure himself that the watchman was not on deck, he paddled noiselessly to the stern end of the ship, and, taking the rope between his teeth, plunged overboard, found his footing on the sandy bottom on which the yacht rested, and fastened the rope securely around the rudder’s base. When he emerged, breathless, dripping and shivering in the night air, he held the vessel captive; for, even had the steersman suspected that an invisible bond held her at the mercy of a man seven miles distant upon a barren island, the knowledge would come too late. Once in the grip of the waves, the vessel could not be stayed. The early dawn was in the sky when John Haynes scrambled up the rocks of his island refuge. Without waiting to change his clothes, he filled his gasoline tank again and set the gyroscope in motion. The lengths of dripping cordage came up slowly out of -the sea and wound themselves around_

the top. Haynes detached them as they looped themselves round it and carried them from post to post. At last the rope tightened, there came a hardly perceptible pull, and hastily he shut off the mechanism. That pull was the resistance of the ship, seven miles distant Out of the mist-wrapped seas she answered him. He was her master. and master of those aboard. But whether that were so or not did not matter to the man in the boat That he would have to sacrifice the lives of innocent men in order to achieve his revenge did not occur to Haynes. Nor would he have cared; for his whole soul was set upon the death of the chief of his enemies.

Haynes slept most of the day, but all through the night of Saturday he lay awake upon his lonely rock, shivering in the cold, and ever and anon taking the rope in his hands to feel that slight arid indifinably thrilling resistance which told him that the yacht still lay at her anchorage. If she should sail too late! But that could not be; she could never emerge from the shallow waters of the fjord except at such a time as the same tide which carried her awakened the sleeping forces under the black surface of the ever-tossing sea. For the tide which bore the vessel from her sandy bed would also set in motion the slow, gigantic eddying of the whirlpool. At four o’clock he took the rope in his hands and felt the strands tighten under his fingers. At five, when the waves were dashing more strongly on the rocks under'the force of the tide, he pulled again. This time there came no pull in answer. The ship had sailed!

He touched the pin which set the gyroscope awhirl and, in the increasing. light, saw the long, dripping lengths of rope emerge again?" He ran from post to poet, winding them round them in a fever of haste. But, as fast as he ran, the ship and gyroscope outpaced him. The cordage gathered, long fathoms of line, already green with the sea growths that had fastened themselves on it, upon the rocks behind him. 5

No matter; though the cordage lay loosply upon the rocks it would tighten soon enough when the pull of the maelstrom strove with the gyroscope. It was his purpose to set these two forces against each other, to hold the vessel suspended over the edge of the whirling trough for a full hour, kept there by the instrument which he had devised, before stopping the motor force and- letting the ship plunge headlong into the sucking seas. He laughed loudly at the thought of his revenge. A. ray from the sun pierced the fog clouds. It shone on the black waters and brought into view the distant coast with its tall towering cliffs. Between them rolled the whitening surges of the maelstrom, two miles away. And equidistant between the pool and the shore was a tiny ship, as small, to his view, as a top ship on i pond, head-ing-straight toward him. His vengeance was on the point of accomplishment Now, as the sun gained fullest mastery over the mists and illumined the vast breast of the sea, he could pqroeive that the oncoming vessel was sailing not head first but stern first, her head pointing valiantly toward the receding shore. But all her engine power was helpless against the pulling force of the tide (ind the busy gyroscope that hummed beside him; '. . J

He had been so Intent upon h)s task that he had not seen the boat which was approaching from behind a jutting angle of the rocks. It was not till her keel grated that he sprang to his feet, to meet the man who came toward him, clambering over the rocks. Then he gasped in amazement and dismay, and, overcome by bis sudden advent, stood gaping at him, incapable of action. For this was Frederick Beyers! But there was no thought of hostility in his

mind, no sign of anger on his face; nor did he think to draw the pistol in his pocket, though Haynes was unarmed.

“You are surprised to see me here?” he asked. “You want to know how I came? I rowed across the strait this morning, before the tide set strong, to give you this.” He drew a letter from his pocket, addressed to Haynes, but unstamped, and it was in his daughter’s writing.

“Yes, I learned that you were here,” said Beyers. “And I resolved to place my life in your hands, for I am tired of this ceaseless flight. Besides, things are different now. Read your letter, and then, if you still want'revenge, we will fight our battle out here on these rocks."

Haynes opened the letter arid hastily skimmed its contents. He flung it from him with a groan and sprang toward his enemy, who was examining the gyroscope with astonishment He did not understand the purpose of it nor of the poles and cord.

“The ship!” screamed Haynes, and pointed sdawafd. Beyers looked and for the first time saw the nearing vessel. She was traveling at a pace quite perceptible, stern on, and by her motions it was obvious that something astonishing was happening to her.

“I ordered her to wait at the entrance to the fjord,” said Beyers. “She must be coming in search of me.” “Man! man!” yelled Haynes, catching the other by the arm, “do you see that line of foam toward which she is traveling? That is the maelstrom. Do you understand? There is no power on earth can save her. And it is you whose life I sought, not that of —my daughter.”

He raged and flung his arms toward the sky, and the hum of the gryoscope sounded like the death-call to his hopes. In fact the man had wrought the destruction not of his foe, but of all he held dear. For the letter stated that his daughter had arrived at KrisShe was married to Beyers’ son. She begged his forgiveness; she was going with her husband to seek hie father and she would carry the letter .with her'in Order to send it to her father as soon as she could discover him. And he must put his revengeful plans behind him. Presently Beyers touched the other upon the arm.

“Can nothing be done?” he asked. “Remember, if your daughter is aboard the Viking, my son is also. Can we forget our enmity now and fight to rescue them?” ■ .

His words recalled Haynes to his senses. He looked out The ship was traveling at a fearful pace toward that line of foam, which heaved and shuddered as the unchained devil beneath it reared himself and stretched out his gaping jawe for his victims. Suddenly a hope, born of desperation, came to the Englishman. 4 "There is a chance!” he muttered. “There’s one chance in a thousand—the gyroscope can pull the ship across the whirlpool without sinking her—if the rope stands the strain!” He rushed towards the machirie. “Pull in the coils and follow me,” he shouted, and the two raced furiously froipl pole to pole, winding in the slack of the rope, while the gyroscope hummed and buzzed busily and the oncoming vessel leaped racing toward the maelstrom. At last the rope rose taut out of the sea. The slack was folded. They dared look seaward again and saw the yacht turning slowly upon a circular* course that never closed, since at each completed circle she rode nearer toward a central point, blacker than pitch in the midst of the spume-tossed waters. It was the heart of the maelstrom.

Yet the tug of the gyroscope was not ineffective, for, thoughthe ship plunged like an unbroken colt, it could be seen that she still evaded the pit that yearned for her, and, though she spun like a top upon the dizzy edge of it, the pull of the mechanism counteracted the force of the maelstrom. And neither gained, apd round and round that crater of death the vessel raced, half under water and yet upheld by the strong centrifugal force of her swift motion. If she could stay thus -until the tide went down and the devil returned to sleep beneath the top of the waves! But even now the force of each contending power was equal, and the tide was not at the full. Two hours must pass, and long before that time the gyroscope would fail and the rope slacken and the maelstrom claim its prey. Or even earlier the cable might part asunder.

Had the pull been direct it would have parted long ago, for the rope was by far the weakest of the three contending forces. But since the whirlpool’s power was not direct, but always exerted laterally, the .rope had play as the ship circled upon her course, and hence held, though it was mow stretched like a taut bridge over the waters. - >■ A desperate hope entered Haynes’ brain. “Beyers,” he shouted, catching at the other's arm like a maniac, “if I make fast the rope, twining It tightly among these poles, do you think you can hold in the slack after I shut off the gyroscope?” The other did not understand. Haynes shut off the machine one in- ! stant, and the rope shot through his companion’s hands and cut them to the bone. Beyers dropped it with a scream. Haynes started the gyroscope, picked up the rope, and wound it among the poles, fastening it in knots with all the force that he could try to bear. When he had tied seven or eight.he took the slack in his hands and touched the pin of the machine again; The humming ceased; Haynes, straining against the rope, held it with an effort. He fastened seven more knots and tried again. This time he held the-rope easily. When he let go there was a

straining of the posts, but the tope didf not ran seaward. “Now, Beyers,” he said, handing the elack to his companion, "hold this as i best you can and watch the posts. I lam going to remove the gyroscope. There will come a time when the puH of the maelstrom will uproot these poles, and carry the rope away. But that should not be for an hour. For half an hour, at least, we are safe. Hold the slack firm; fight with every ounce of your strength ; fight as though you were one of these Hvlng rocks that have fought against the elements through uncounted ages—for there are lives more precious than our own at stake.” He hurried down to the edge of the sea and, grasping the boat which Beyers had brought, he dragged it to the small strip of _sand which formed the anchorage and landing place. From his own sailing sloop he brought a hammer and nails and planks and cords. Then, lifting the gyroscope, he set it under the keel of the overturned boat “How does the rope stand?” he shouted to the man above. “Holding!” cried Beyers briefly, and Haynes set to work. In ten minutes, with planks and nails, he had secured the gyroscope to the keel of the f'lt Beside him the green, dripping rope skimmed the top of the sea. It ran. a snaky, undulating ribbon over the w# ters to where the Viking reached and epun over that pool of death. She was tilted more dangerously now, but still centrifugal force upheld her. “Come here!” called Haynes, and, when Beyers ran to him, he added, "lift up the boat with me and plant her so that the rope catches the groove in the wheel under her.” Beyers obeyed, and how the boat lay once more on the sand,, the rope stretched under her. and climbing the rocks behind her. Haynes motioned Beyers back to his place. He stepped inside and, bending over, touched the pin which set the gyroscope beneath the boat in action. Instantly the boat roee on the rope. She stood erect as though floating on the pond of a mill; her timbers quivered, and suddenly Beyers, watching above, saw her dart off across the surface of the sea, running like an arrow across that tmdulating line to where the yacht circled the edge of the maelstrom. His eyes could hardly follow her course. Two minutes later a little group, lashed to the deck of the Viking, saw a boat by her side, apparently anchored in the' air. The yacht swung at so great an angle that her gunwale was level with that of the boat, and the seas swept both incessantly. Arid though the vessel swung round at an appalling speed, and heaven and sea were blended in one Infuriate cloud, and a roar as of thunder had long since deafened their ears and dulled their senses, that boat rested beside them as though beside a mooring stage. Haynes looked down. He looked down into an immense, eddying space, a pool of blackest night edged with <hite foam, a crater which, instead of slching forth, tugged down. All was motionless in the center of this terrific hole in the sea, and the walls of it were solid as earth and ridged with streaks and splashes of fire. And, looking down, he felt an irresistible impulse to leap into it Then the memory of those whom he had come to save revived his swimming senses. He looked up. Eleanor stood lashed beside him, not six paces away, and by her her husband. And near them was a little group of sailors, similarly lashed to the rail. He shuddered and stretched out his arms. “Eleanor!” he called. She saw him but she did not heed him. She thought him but the fantasy of delirium. Nor did the others heed, but gravely looked at him. Their senses had been numbed by the imminence of death and by the whirl of the ship. Although the boat spun round beside. the ship, rising and falling in its dizzy, circling course, she maintained a perfectly even keel, and her nose, thrust hard against the vessel by the impelling force of the gyroscope, made the two one. There was not an inch of space between their sides. Haynes drew his knife and cut Eleanor’s bonds and held out his hand to her. "Come, Eleanor!” he eaid. She obeyed him as though hypnotized. She did not speak or seem to recognize him, but gravely stepped into the boat and, at his bidding, crouched there. In like manner Haynes rescued her husband—then the sailors. Then, when the boat was full, Haynes leaned over the side arid reversed the gyroscope. Two minutes later the boat’s keel grated upon the island shore. And then, as though a marble statue thawed into life, Eleanor awoke, and flung her arms about her father’s neck, weeping, and the rest awoke and knew that their dream had proved to be reality. But before either could speak a cry came from above, and Beyers ran down the rocks, shouting and pointing seaward.. As though shot from a can- ; non the lengths of line went hurtling through the air, screamipg against the wind like sirens. And, with a plunge, the Viking reared herself and disappeared beneath the waves. Beyers grasped Haynes’ hand silently.

Holding Trade.

"You look disgruntled,” said the shoe man. Yes,” snapped the hatter. “Had a little rush just now, and a couple of prospective customers walked out without being waited on." "They seldom get away from me,’’ declared the shoe naan. "I take off their shoes as soon as they come in.” —Judge. ' '