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About The Red Cloud chief. (Red Cloud, Webster Co., Neb.) 1873-1923 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 12, 1906)
lumi iiiiiii mummy v s i X -y XShe Holla day Case liit9tiVfitm'' (C NTINUn.) "I must remember Mr. "ftrtihiiin's "warning." she said. "Yon haven't In vented this astonishing Htory Just to 'iitortain mo, Mr. Lester?" "On my word, no," I responded a lit tle bitterly. "I only wish I had!" "There!" bliu said contritely. "I should 1't have doulited. Forgive me, Mr. Lester. Only It seemed so fnutus He, ho Improbable" "It is fantastie," I assented, "but, un fortunately, it Ih true?. We must keep mi eye on M. Martlgny, or Bethune." i "Which Is his real name?" "Those nre the only ones I know, tmt I doubt If either Is the truo one." Uoyce and Mrs. Kemball Joined us a moment later, and we sat watching Hie low, distant Long Island shore un til the gong summoned us to lunch. -A word to the steward had secured us one of the small tables In an alcove at the side. Our first meal at sea was a merry one, Mr. Uoyce seeming In such spirits that I was more than ever determined not to disturb him with the knowledge of Martigny's presence. , As the moments passed my fears M-emed more and more uncalled for. It was quite possible, I told myself, that I laid been making a bogy of my own imaginings. The Frenchman did not appear In the saloon, and after ward an inquiry of the ship's doctor developed the fact that he was seri ously 111 and quite unable to leave his ftntcroom. 1 may as well confess nt once that I was seasick. It came next morning, ten minutes after I had left my berth, not a violent siekuess, but a falntuess and giddiness that made me long for my berth again, but Mr. Uoyce would not hear of it. He got me out on deck mid into my chair, with the fresh breeze blowing full In my face. There was a long line of chairs drawn up there, and from the faces of most of their occupants I Judged they were far more miserable than I. After awhile the doctor came down the line and looked at each of us, stop ping for a moment's chat. "Won't you sit down a minute, doc tor?" I asked when he came to me, and motioned to Mr. Koyce's chair. "Why, you're not sick!" he protest ed, laughing. "It wasn't about myself I wanted to talk." 1 said. "How's your other pa tient, the one who came aboard last?" His face sobered in an instant. "Martlguy is his name," lie said, "and lie's In very bad shape. He must have been desperately anxious to get back to France. Why, he might have dropped over dead there on the gang plank." "It's a disease of the heart?" "Yes, far advanced, lie can't get well, of course, but lie may live on Jjidelinitely. If he's careful." "lie's still confined to his bed?" "Oh, yes. He won't leave it during the voyage if lie takes my advice, he's got to give ills heart Just as little work s possible or it'll throw up the job nl- tou'ether." i turned the talk to oilier things, mid in a few moments he went on Along ills rounds. But I was not long alone, for I saw Miss Kemball coming toward me. "So imtl de mer lias laid Its hand on yon, too, Mr. Lester!" she cried. "Only a linger," I said. "But u finger is enough. Won't you take pity on a poor landsman and talk to him?" "But tnnts reversing our positions r, "I do not see now those lashings she protested, sitting down, neverUio- could have worked loose," said the of less, to my great satisfaction. "It wnl floor In charge. -.... ttt... ii you who were to lie the entertainer) Is our Mcphisto abroad yet?" she ask ed in a lower tone. "Mcphisto Is still wrestling with hH heart, which, it seems, Is scarcely abla to furnish the blood necessary to keen lilin going. The doclur tells me that he'll probably spend the voyage abed." "So there'll be untiling for us to do jiftor all! Do you know, I was longlnn to become a female I.eeoq!" "Perhaps you may still havo thu chance," I said gloomily. "I doubt very much whether Mcphisto will consent to remain inactive." ! tlie captain came up, and the two step- She clapped her hands and nodded n pod aside for a consultation In voices (laughlng recognition to one of tlia Bo low that only an excited word of passing prouiontidors. I French wub now and then audible. I "You're going to Paris, aren't you, turned to MIsh Kemball, who wub lean Miss Kemball?" I asked. j lug against the rail with white face "To Paris-yes. You too?" ' and eyes large with terror. "We go first to Ktretat," I snld and "But It was not an accident, Mr. Htopped as she leaned, laughing, back Lester," sho whispered. "I saw u man In her chair. "Why, what's wrong with that?" I demanded, m some astonish- tnent. "Wrong? Oh, nothlug. Ktretat's n will only alarm her needlessly, we'll most delightful place-only It recalled tulle it over In the morning." to mo nn amusing memory of how ray . Sho said good night nnd led her moth mother was ono day scandalized there er nway towurd their stateroom. I by some actresses who were bathing, A Mystery Of Two Continents By BURTON E. STEVENSON Copyright, 1903, by i Henry llolt and J Comp&ny But It's hardly the season for Etrelnt. The actresses have not yet arrived. You'll lind It dull." "Wo will not stay there long," I said. "But tell me about it." "Ktretat," said my companion, "Is a bohemian resort. It has u bench of gravel where people bathe all day long. When one's tired of bathing there are the cliffs and the downs, and in the evening there's the casino. You know French, Mr. Lester V" "Oh, I know the phrase made im mortal by Mark Twain." " 'Avez-vous du vlu?' yes." "And I think I also have n hazy rec ollection of the French equivalents for bread and butter and cheese and meat. We shan't Btarve. Besides, I think Mr. Uoyce can help. He's been to France." "Of course and here he comes to claim his chair." "I won't permit him to claim it If you'll use it n little longer," 1 protest ed. "Oh, but I must bo going." And she arose, laughing. "Have I been 11 satis factory entertainer?" "More than satisfactory; I'll accept no other." "But you won't need any at all after this mornlng-I don't really believe you're 111 nowl" She nodded to Uoyce and moved uwny without waiting for my answer, Saturday, Sunday and Monday passed, with only such Incidents to enliven them as are common to all voyages, but I saw that (inlet and sea air were doing their work w'ell with my com panion and that he was steadily re gaining his normal health, so I felt more and more at liberty to devote my self to Miss Kemball, In such moments as she would permit me, and I found her fascination increasing In a ratio quite geometrical. Martlguy was still abed, and, so the ship's doctor told ine, was Improving very slowly. It was Tuesday evening that Mrs. Kemball and her daughter Joined us on tho promenade, and we found a seat In the shadow of the wheolhouse and sat for a long time talking of many things, watching the moonlight across the water. At last we arose to re turn, and Uoyce and Mrs. Kemball started on ahead. "Two more days and we'll bo ut Havre," I said. "I'll be very sorry." "Sorry? I'd never have suspected you of such u fondness for the ocean." "Oh, it's not the ocean!" I protested, and what with the moonlight and the soft night and the opportunity "the time and the place and the loved one, all together" would havo uttered 1 know not what folly had sho not sprung suddenly forward with a sharp cry of alarm. "Mr. Uoyce!" she cried. "Mother!" They stopped and turned toward her Just as a heavy spar crashed to the deck before them. CIIAPTEU XV. I UNDERSTOOD In a Hash what had happened and sprang up the stair to the upper deck, determined to have It out with our enemy once for all. I searched It over thoroughly, looking In and under the boats and behind funnels and ventilators, but could discover no sign of any one. When I got back to the promenade a little crowd hud gathered, attracted by the noise of the falling spar, which a dozen members of the crew were busy I hoisting back Into place. ... . .. . I took ii look at the lashings. They had not boon cut, as I expected to find them, but had been untied. Martlguy hud doubtless worked at them while wo sat there talking. "Well, luckily, there's no damage done," observed Mr. Uoyce, with af- fectod lightness, "though it was a close shave. If Miss Kemball hadn't called to us the spar would have struck us." Mrs. Kemball closed her eyes with a ' giddy little gesture at the vision tho words called up, and the otllcer frown- ed In chagrin and perplexity. Just then leaning over tue spnr." I nodded. "I don't doubt it In tho least. But don't tell your mother. It went ut onco In search, of the shlp'd I doctor utuV met film nf the foot of the saloon staircase "How is Martlguy, doctor?" I asked. "Worse, I fear," he answered hur riedly. "He has Just sent for me." "Which room has he?" "He's In 1170, an outside room on tho upper deck." I went forward to the smoking room and looked over the colored plan of the ship posted there. A moment's Inspec tion of It showed me how easily Mar- tigny had eluded pursuit. He had only to walk twenty feet, open a door and get Into bed again. When I Bat down next morning bo Bide Miss Kemball she closed her book and turned to me with a very deter mined air, "Of course, Mr. Lester," she began, "If you think any harm can come from telling me, I don't want you to Bay a word, but I really think I'm entitled to an explanation." "So do I," 1 agreed. "You've proved yourself a better guard than I. I'd for gotten all about Martlguy. 1 was thinking well, of something very dif ferent. I iiad no thought of danger." "Nor had 1," she said quickly. "But 1 chanced to look up and see that dark llgure bending over them, and I cried out, really, before I had time to think." "It was just that which saved them." "Yes; but, oh, 1 could think after ward! I'd only to close my eyes last night to see him there yet, peering down at us, waiting his opportunity. And then, of course, 1 puzzled more or j less over the whole thing." "You shan't puzzle any more," I said. , Then 1 laid tho case before her, step by step. She listened with clasped hands ' and Intent face, not speaking till I , had llulshcd. Then she leaned back in her chair with a long sigh. "Why, It's horrible!" she breathed. "But you haven't given me your ex planation yet, Mr. Lester." I haven't any explanation," I said helplessly. "I've built up half a dozen .theories, but they've all been knocked to pieces, one after the other. I don't j kmnv wimt to think, unless Miss Hol- nUay is a victim of hypnotism or do- mentia of some kind." "Sometimes she's nice mid at other times she's horrid. It recnlls 'Dr. Jokyll and Mr. Hyde,' doesn't it?" "Yes, It does. Only, as 1 say, such an explanation seems absurd." "There's one theory which might ex plain It part of it. Perhaps It wasn't Miss Holladay at all who returned from Washington square with the new mnld. Perhaps It was the other wom an, and the barred windows were real ly to keep Miss Holladay a prisoner." "But she wasn't there!" 1 protested. "We saw her when wo gave her tho money." "Yes, In a darkened room, with n bandage about her forehead, so hoarse she could scarcely speak." I stopped a moment to consider. "Ueniember. that would explain something which admits of no other reasonable explanation," went on my companion "tlie barred windows and the behavior of the prisoner." "It would explain that, certainly," I admitted, though at llrst thought tho theory did not appeal to me. "Yon be lieve, then, that Miss Holladay was forcibly abducted?" "Undoubtedly. If her mind was go ing to give way at all it would havo done so at once and not two weeks aft er the tragedy." "But if she had brooded over it," I objected. "She wasn't brooding at least she had ceased to brood. You havo Mr. Uoyco's word and tho butler's word that she was getting better, brighter quite like her old self ngnin. Why should she relapse?" "I don't know," I said helplessly. "That atl'alr last night lias upset mo s: that I can't think clearly. I feel that I was careless that I wasn't doing my duty." "1 shouldn't worry about it; though, of coni'so," she added a little severely, "you've realized by this time that you alone are to blame for Martigny's pres ence on the boat." "But I had to go to the .lourdains," I protested, "and I couldn't help their going to him. To have asked them not to go would have made them suspect i ne at once." "Oh, yes; but at least you needn't have sent them. They might not have gone at all certainly they wouldn't hi.vo gone ho promptly if you hadu't n'nt them." "Sent thrill?" I repeated, and stared at her in amiremeiit, doubting if I had heard aright. "Yos, sent them," she said again em phatically. "Why do you suppose they went to the hospital so early the next morning?" "I suppose they had become suspi cious of me." "Nonsense! What possible reason could they have for becoming bus-i plcl'oua of you? On the contrary, they went after the key to those padlocks , on tiro window shutters. Of courso Martlguy had It." For a moment I was too nonplused to speak. 1 could only stare at her. "Well, I was a fool, wasn't 1?" I de manded filially. "To tlilnk that I shouldn't havo foreseen that! I was so worked up over my discovery that night that I couldn't think of anything ' else. Of course, when they asked for the key, the whole story came out" "I shouldnt blame myself too severe- IISalilllKill Iy," laughed Miss Kemball as she looked at my rueful countenance. "I myself think It's rather fortunate that he's on the boat." "Fortunate! You don't mean thatl" "Precisely Unit. Suppose the Jour flnlns hadu't gone to lilin. He'd have left the hospital anyway In two or Uiree days. He Isn't the man to lie Inactive when he knew you were searching for the fugitives. He'd have returned then to his apartment next , to yours; your landlady would havo told lilin that you had sailed for En rope, and he had only to examine this boat's passenger list to discover your name." "But, at any rate," I pointed out, "he would still have been In America. Ho couldn't have caught us." j "lie couldn't have caught you, but n cablegram would have passed you in mldocean warning his confederates. If they have time to conceal their pris oner, you'll never find her. Your only hope Is In catching them unprepared. And there's another reason since he's on tlie boat, you've another opportuni ty. Why not go and have a talk with him that battle of wits yon were loolc '.ug forward to?" "I'd thought of that," I said, "but I'm afraid I couldn't play the part." "The part?" "Of seeming not to suspect him. It's too great a risk." "Tlie advantage would be on your side," sho pointed out. "You could tell him so many tilings which he already knows and which lie has no reason to suspect you know he knows. It sounds terribly Involved, doesn't It? But you understand?" "Oil, yes; I understand." "And then It would bo the natural tiling for you to look him up as soon as you learned he was 111. To avoid him will be to confess that you suspect him." "But his name Isn't on tlie pnssenger list. If I hadn't happened to see him as he came on board I'd probably not havo known It at all." "Perhaps he saw you at tho same time." "Then the fat's in tlie fire," I said. "If he knows I know he's on board, (lien he also knows that I suspect him If he doesn't know, why, there's uo reason for him to think that I'll find It out, unless he appears In the cabin, which doesn't seem probable." "Perhaps you're rigid," she admit ted. "There's no use taking any un necessary risks. Tlie thing appealed to me. I think I should enjoy a half hour's talk with him, matching my wits against his." "But yours are brighter than mine,' I pointed out. "You've proved it prelty effectually In the last few minutes." "No, I haven't. I've simply shown you that you overlooked one little thing. And I think you're right about tlie danger 'of going to Martlguy. Our first duty is to Miss Holladay. We must rescue her before he can warn his confederates to place her out of our reach." Tlie unstudied way in which she said "our" tilled me with an unreasoning happiness. "But why should they bother with a prisoner at all? They didn't shrink fro,n "diking down her father." "And they may not shrink from strik ing her down at a favorable moment," she answered calmly. "It will be eas ier In Franco than In Now York." My hands were trembling at the thought of it. If wo should renlly bo too late! "But I don't believe they'll go to such extremes, Mr. Lester," continued my companion. "1 believe you're going to find her and solvo the mystery. My theory doesu't solve It, you know; It only makes it deeper. Tho mystery, after all, Is: Who are these people? Why did they kill Mr. Holladay? Why have they abducted his daughter? What Is their plot?" "Ye ," 1 assented. And again I had n moment of confused perplexity. "But after you find her," she asked, "what will you do with her?" "Do with her? Why, take her home, of course." "But Bhejll very probably be broken Health Calumet makes light, digestible wholesome food.' Economy Only one heap ing teaspoonful is needed for one quart of flour. , down, perhaps even on the vergo of hysteria. You must bring her to ub at Paris, Mr. Lester." I saw the wisdom of her words. "That's very kind of you," I nnld. "I am sure Mr. Uoyce will agree. But we Itave llrst to find her." 1 was glad for my own sako too. j The parting of tomorrow would not, tnen, no a nnm one. Sho left me presently, and for an h0Ur or naro I sat there and looked, In ..very asnect. at the theory alio had sug I gostcd. Certainly there was nothing to disprove It, and yet, as she had said, i It merely served to deepen the mys j tery. Who wero these people, I asked myself again, who dared to play so bold , and desperate a game? Tho illegiti mate daughter might, of course, 1m I LAriuutwMiii iisi'duiv hut who was tne eider woman her mother? Then , the liaison must have taken place in , Franco her accent was not to bo nils , taken- but In Franco Mr. Holladay had been always with his wife. Be sides, the younger woman spoke Kng i llsh perfectly. True, she had said only ! a few words the hoarseness might I have been affected to conceal a differ- enco In voice but how explain tlio elder woman's resemblance to Hiram Aolladay's daughter? Could Uiey both be Illegitimate? But that was non sense, for Mrs. Holladay had taken her Into her life, had loved her And Martlguy? Who was he? What was his connection with these women? That the crime had been carefully planned I could not doubt, ami It had been carried out with surprising skill. Doubtless It was Martlguy who had arranged the plot, who had managed Us development. And with what bold ness! He had not feared to bo pres ent at the Inquest or even to ap proach me and discuss tho case with me. I tried to recall the details of our talk, Impatient that I had paid m little heed to It. He had asked, I remem bered, what would happen to Frances Holladay If she were found guilty. He had been anxious, then, to save her. Ho had yes, I saw it now ho hnd written the note which did save her; ho had run the risk of discovery to get her free! But why? If I only had a clew one thread to follow! One ray of light would, be enough, Then I could see my way out of this hopeless tangle. I should know how to strike. But to stumble blindly onward In tho dark that might do more harm than good. Yos, mid there was another thing for mo to gunrd against. What was to prevent him the moment he stopped ashore wiring to ids confederates, warning them, telling them to flee? Or he might wait, watching us, until lie saw Unit they wero really in danger. In cither event they must easily es cape. Miss Kemball had been right when she pointed out Unit our only hope was In catching tlieni unprepared. Tho Impulse was too strong to ho resisted. In a moment I was on my feet. But, noj To surprise him would bo to make him suspect, I called a steward. "Take Uiis card up to M. Martlgny," I said, "In UT.", and ask if he 1b well enough to see me." As he hurried away n sudden doubt seized me. Horrified at my hardihood, I opened my mouth to gall him buck. But I did not call. Instead I sank buck Into my chair and stared out across tho water. "M. Martlgny," said the 'steward's voice at my elbow, "nnswers that ha will lo most pleased to see M. Lester nt once." . . (To be Continued ) Local drain Market. (Fttrnishod by J. P. 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