People's Pilot, Volume 4, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 June 1894 — THE OLD MILL MYSTERY [ARTICLE]

THE OLD MILL MYSTERY

By Arthur W. Marchmont, B. A.

Author of “ Miser Iloadley’s Secret,” “BiWlm Power,” “By Whose Band,” “ Isa,” Ac , Ac. [Copyright. 1595, by the Author.] CHAPTER X— Continued. *‘Ah, you’re one of the knobsticks, pren’t you? And you meant to betray ;us to the man who has been robbing xu in this strike, so that you might pcrape a little dirty favor at his hands?” “I meant to try and save you from |the commission of a crime,” said (Mary, again speaking confidently and bravely. “That’s very good of you,” answered the man, with a 6neer. “Having accidentally overheard us, you wanted to turn the information to our moral good. You’re a nice lass, you are.” He gave a short, bitter, angry laugh, which some of the others echoed. “One more question. What do you mean to do when you getaway —if you get away at all, that is?” “What do you mean?” “What do I mean? Why, how are yon goingtouse the information you’ve got by accident, as you call it? You aay you’re not a spy?” “I’m no spy,” answered Mary. “But you overheard this plan of ours?” “Yes.” “If you’d got away unseen you meant to make use of the information by trying to balk the plan?” “Yes.”

“Well, then, if you pet away now you’ve been seen, how are you going touse the information you’ve got?” “I didn't say I was going to use it at all.” “Don’t chop your words with me, girl,” said the man, fiercely. “Answer the question: Do you mean to go and tell anyone what you’ve heard, or don’t you? Out with the truth.” “That depends,” answered Mary, looking him boldly in the face. At this reply some of the others made threatening gestures and rapped out an oath or tivo in their excitement. , “Depends on what?” asked the man. “On whether you intend to try and carry out the plan. If nothing’s done, I shall say nothing; if anything happens, I shall say what I have heard and seen to-night.” “The devil you will!” cried the man fiercely. “Then we’ll have to take Bteps to prevent you, that’s all;” and with that he went away, and, drawing ,the others round him, recommenced the private consultation. It was now evident to her that the man who had been questioning her ■was trying to impress some opinion or plan upon the rest. One or two others were seemingly reluctant to accept the ’counsel he offered, and expostulated with him. Among these was Gibeon Prawle. The argument increased in strength as the vehemence of the speakers grew. Then Gibeon Prawle broke away from the others, went to the girl and spoke to her. “Mary, will you promise never to breathe a word of what has passed tonight, if, as you say, the whole plan is dropped?” “Yes, I promise you,” said Mary. “I promise on my honor.” “You hear that, mates?” he asked, turning to them.

“Oh, aye; we hear it. But who the devil can trust a woman’s tongue?” growled Jack Dilwortli. “I’m for Jos Hamer’s plan. There’s only one sort of silence you can depend on; and I like something more to trust to than a lass’ tongue.” “So do I,” answered anothar of them', “but I don’t see how you’re going to get it in this case. Beside, I don’t see that she can do much harm even if she does loose her tongue.” “Then you’re a fool, that’s all,” broke in the man namer. “In the first plate she could get the whole lot of us prosecuted, and if you don’t know what the cursed judges think of a conspiracy to wreck and destroy a mill, I do. You'd think the infernal works were built of human lives when these devils on the bench come to sentencing a man for touching ’em. I knew what the business meant when I began with it, and I was ready to risk it. I’m ready to risk it now and take the silencing of that wench yonder on my own shoulders as well, 1 tell you this,” he 'said fiercely, with a voluble oath. “I’m not going to gaol to save a lass like that from a squeeze on the throat or a knock on the skull. You can do what you like; but I mean what I say.” As one determined and resolute man taking a decided course will generally carry others with him, so it was now. This decisive tone influenced the waverers. “What do you propose to do, then?” asked Gibeon Prawle, his voice somewhat hoarse with nervousness at the other’s manner, and at the desperate course which he knew underlay it. “Why, give the girl a tap on the skull snd leave her here alone with the fuse. There won’t be much left to tell tales, I warrant you,” and the man laughed a short, callous, brutal laugh. “Yon mean to murder her, do you?”

Bald Gibeon; and more than on* of the men shrank at the word. “I don’t mean going to gaol for her. You can call it what you like,” answered Hamer. “Please yourself.” “Well, I’m not going to be a party to it,” said Gibeon. “I don’t like it, and I’m not going to do it.” “Then take your hook out of this, and leave more room for men who haven’t got white livers and chicken hearts! Cut it,” growled Hamer, fiercely. “No, I’m not going away, either,” answered Gibeon, sullenly and yet ballfrightened. “Or, if Igo and anything happens, I shall make a clean breast of it.” “You sneaking hound!” cried Hamer, and before any of them, could interfere he rushed at Gibeon, struck him to the ground, and bound him hand and foot. “You shall 6top now, and have a share of the treat you didn’t expect,” he said, as he rose to his feet. “Look here, mates, we’re in this business together, 6ink or swim one with another. You understand that?” he said, pausing and looking from one to the other.

“Yes,” they said, cowed by his manner and his violence, though not relishing the position at all. “Then you agree to stand by me and do what I say?” “Yes,” said the men again. The whole conversation, except one or two of the fiercer sentences between Gibeon and Hamer, had taken place in tones too low to reach Mary’s ears, although the little she had heard had been enough to frighten her excaedinply. Hamer now turned to her. “How are we to know that you don’t mean to speak of what you’ve seen and heard to-night?” he asked roughly. “Those who know me know that I keep my word,” answered the girl. “I daresay they do,” he replied, gruffly, “but then I’m not one of those who do know you. I want proof—that’s what I want.” “I can’t give you more than my word,” said Mary. “Oh yes, you can; and that’s just what you’ll have to do.” “How can I?” asked the girl. “I’ll show you. You can give us proof that you can be trusted by just stopping here and making no effort to go away for a certain time. Do you understand? You’ve nothing to do hut just to keep where you are and make no noise. I f you do that for a quarter of an hour, you shall go free. But if you stir hand or foot, or try to call out so that either of us hoar you, well, you’ll bring down punishment on your own head. You’ve got to watch this skunk,” lie said, kicking Gibeon Prawle, “till we come back to fetch him.”

“Why can’t Igo now? I tvon’t say a word to anyone. Indeed I won’t.” “No, I don’t think you will,” said Hamer, significantly, “but you’ve got to give us a little proof of it, that’s all. Put out your hands. ‘Safe bind, safe find,’ my girl, is my motto,” and the miscreant laughed as he seized the girl’s hands and bound them tightly together. “Now for your pretty little feet; just something to keep your ankles warm,” and he chuckled coarsely as he fastened her feet, making her sit down on a heap of hay. “Now, you understand, and don’t you play any nonsense with me,” he added in his fiercest and most savage manner. “If you make the least sound it'll bring me back, and I shan’t stop then at tying your wrists together. Next time the noose’ll go round your neck. “Now, mates, you’d better go,” he said, turning to the others, and speaking in a whisper. “I’m going to give the fuse about eight minutes, so that we can get to the other end of the village; bear a light, Carter,” and he bent down, and, putting a key into a small square case wliich he took from the ground, he turned it once or twice. Then he growled out some fresh words of menacing caution, while he put it down close by the girl and went out into the darkness. As soon as he was outside, he made off at the top of his speed after the other men who had already vanished. The first feeling of the girl was one of intense relief that they had gone. She had feared violence of some kind, and now that she thought the dread of violence had passed her I spirits rose. She determined that she would not move until they i came back, and thus show them j she was to be trusted, and she j leaned back on the heap of hay and waited silently and with a lighter heart than she had known for some hours. Then it suddenly occurred to her to doubt whether this was so, and whether the men had really gone to the mill now in order to carry out their horrible plan while she lay bound in the shed.

At this she sat up and thought for the first time of Gibeon Prawle, like her, bound hand and foot, though, unlike her, unconscious. She strained her eyes in his direction and then called to him: “Gibeon, Gibeon.” She could not catch any reply, but listened intently. As she listened thus she heard a faint ticking sound. It was like the quick tick, tick, tick of her alarm clock, but sounded as if muffled. What could it be? She bent down her head, and stooping forward became aware that the cord with which her hands had keen hastily bound had slipped. With a quick jerk or two she loosened it a little more, and then succeeded in getting her hands free. She listened again, and groping about in the direction in which the sound seemed to come, her hand came against a small, squarely-made box. Wondering what it was she picked it up, and found that the ticking came from within it. Suddenly, with a fearful rush of blood to the heart that almost choked the valves and stopped the blood flow, the truth flashed upon her. It was the infernal machine with which the man had intended to wreck the mill

In a moment she mw why she had' been ordered not to move for a certain time. They had planned to kill her by blowing the shed to fragments, and had managed to gain time to get clear away. Great heavens! The machine might explode at any moment, and hurry her companion and herself into eternity. Yet he was stiU unconscious; and she was bound so tightly that she couldn’t stir either foot. She held the diabolical machine in her hand like one dazed—afraid to throw it away, afraid even to set it down again, afraid to move, lest it should explode. AU she could do was to try and calm herself with a hastily uttered prayer to God for help. CHAPTER XL THE EXPLOSION. As the thought of her peril forced itself upon Mary with I ncreasing plainness her natural resourcefulness and courage began to assert themselves. If she was to save her life and that of her companion it was evident that she must lose no time in making the attempt. How was she to do it? Clearly, there was but one way. By some means or other the two must get away from the shed before the explosion could take place. But how? Gibeon Prawle lay in a state of unconsciousness, bound hand and foot—how securely she could only guess—while she herself had her feet fastened together so firmly that she could not move them even in the slightest degree. Her hands were free. She turned, therefore, and, choosing the spot within her reach which seemed the best suited to her purpose, she laid down the deadly little machine as lightly and carefully as possible. Moments were growing precious. Every second seemed an hour, and she trembled and shook as she tried to estimate how long it would probably be before the explosion might be expected. Death or escape could only be a matter of moments.

She began with quick, trembling fingers to feel the knots of the cord which bound her feet. In her agitation she began to pray for strength; but in the midst of the prayers she stopped as a new thought occurred to her. Why not attempt to escape alone? If she left Gibeon she would probably be able to cra.wl away to a sufficiently safe distance. All that he had done to harm Tom, and all that Gibeon had threatened to do, occurred to her mind to justify her in leaving him. But she reflected how he had endeavored to save her from the fate which she believed the other men had planned, and it was for making that attempt lie had been left to share with her the fate. This decided her. She could not play the traitor in such a way. She stooped toward him and shook him as violently as she could. She pulled his hair, pinched him and rolled his head sharply from side to side, her efforts growing more and more violent in her agitation, as she thought of the precious moments that were passing. But she could make no impression upon him. There was no time, however, for anything but action, and she tried to think of a fresh course. Probably the man had a knife in his pockets which would enable her to cut the cords which bound her. Hastily she felt in his pockets, and to her intense relief found in one of them a large clasp knife. She drew it out, and after some little difficulty cut the cords which had bound her feet, and tried to jump up. With a cry of fear and pain she fell to the ground immediately. The rush of released blood when the cords had been loosened seemed to numb her, giving her much pain and robbing her of the use of her limbs. The feeling passed, however, in a short time, and then she cut the cords with which Gibeon Prawle had been bound. She tried once more to rouse him; but all to no purpose. She could not restore him to consciousness. She was at her wits’end what to do. The time was flying so fast. Both their lives were set on the cast of a few moments; and a horrible death must overtake them both unless he could be roused. There seemed to be nothing to do except to try and carry the deadly machine to a distance sufficiently great from the shed to render its explosion comparatively harmless. She tried to nerve herself to do this; and wished she had done it the moment she had been able to get free from the cords that had bound her. llow far must she try to carry it? How far dared she carry it? It was indeed a case of daring. It might explode while she was carrying it; and she shuddered as this thought struck her. It was not a bright night, and she might trip; she might let the horrible thing fall; or a hundred things might happen to prevent her carrying it far away in safety. StHl, it had to be done; there was no other course, except that of running away and leaving Gibeon Prawle to his fate. She went to the spot tvhere she had placed the infernal machine, picked it up as gently as possible, and prepared to hurry away from the shed. As she did so a sound came from her companion. He sighed and moved and muttered some inarticulate sound, Despite the fearsome burden she held in her hand, Mary stopped and bent over to him. Then she called to him, and was glad when he muttered some sort of reply. Next, she ran quickly from the shed, and placing the deadly machine on the ground some little distance away, ran back at once to recommence her efforts to rouse him and get him away from the place. When she got back he was Bitting up, dazed and giddy, and perplexed at his condition and surroundings. “Gibeon, Gibeon!” she called, “we must get away from here at once.” “Who’s that? Who are you?” murmured the man. “Pm Mary— Mary Aahworth," answered the girl

“What’s happened? "Than a—i I?" L ■aid, passing his hand across his eyet “Your life is In danger; and if yo don’t make haste and get away fron here, you’U be blown to pieces! cried the girl, choosing what sht thought the best appeal, that to hii fears. It had the effect she intended, and in a moment he was on his feet. “Come with me, instantly,” said Mary, leading the way. The man staggered a few steps aftei her, and then triad to clutch at the posts of the shed; he missed them and fell with a heavy thud to the ground. “It’s no use, lass,” he murmureo, with a half groan. “I’m all muddled and queer; I can’t walk.” “Lean on me; there’s not a moment to spare,” cried Mary, tnming to him. her heart sinking. “If you don’t want us both to be killed where we are, you must get away at once.” She said this in a tone that roused him again, and with a violent effort he struggled to his feet, and, leaning heavily on the girl, and stumbling and dragging at every step, he crawled slowly out into the night. “Quick, quick!” cried Mary. “Every step may mean the difference between life and death. For God’s sake, make an effort.”

Thus urged by the girl’s words, Gibeon Prawle made an attempt to quicken his steps, and as the air had hastened his recovery of consciousness he wac able to make better progress. “What does it all mean, Mary?” he asked, in a puzzled, confused way. “I don’t understand it, lass.” “Don’t try to think—don’t try to do anything—but get as far away from that shed as possible,” answered Mary. “What has happened is this: You were struck by Joseph Hamer and knocked insensible, and then bound.” “Ah, yes, I remember. The devil wanted to kill you just because you liad overheard our plans. But where ar« they all?” “They left you and me there. You were insensible, and they bound me hands and feet, and then told me they were trying me to see whether I wa« to be trusted, and then—” At that moment a terrific report rang out on the night air, seeming to split the very heavens with a deafening crash. The earth seemed to shake and totter under their feet, and they were both thrown on the ground with great violence. [TO BB CONTINUED.]