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WHEN THE SEA GIVES UP ITS DEAD.
WHEN THE SEA GIVES UP ITS DEAD.
WHEN THE SEA GIVES UP ITS DEAD. A THRILLING DETECTIVE STORY. BY MRS. GEORGE CORBETT, Author of “Adventures of a Lady Detective,” “New Amazonia,” “Pharisees Unveiled,” “The Adventures of an Ugly Girl,” “Mrs. Grundy’s Victims,” “Secrets of a Private Enquiry Office,” etc., etc. LONDON: Tower Publishing Company, Limited, 95, Minories, E.C. 1894. WHEN THE SEA GIVES UP ITS DEAD....
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CHAPTER I. “THE DIAMOND ROBBERY.”
CHAPTER I. “THE DIAMOND ROBBERY.”
“Confound that upset! I shall be two minutes behind time—I wish I had walked all the way, instead of trusting to the supposed extra speed of a ’bus, when the streets are so slippery that horses cannot keep their feet.” Thus soliloquised Harley Riddell, ruefully, as he hurriedly picked his way through the somewhat aggressive conglomeration of wagons, hansoms, ’buses and fourwheelers, which threatened to still further belate his arrival at the establishment of his employers, Messrs. Stavanger, Sta
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CHAPTER II. FIRM FAITH IS NOT IDLE.
CHAPTER II. FIRM FAITH IS NOT IDLE.
Harley Riddell was duly charged before a magistrate with having feloniously abstracted gems to the value of four thousand pounds from the premises of Messrs. Stavanger, Stavanger, and Co., diamond merchants. After hearing all the evidence obtainable, the legal luminary thought it his duty to commit the prisoner to the Assizes, and during that time Harley was condemned to undergo the miseries of confinement and mental torture, without being able to do anything to help himself out of the abyss of
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CHAPTER III. “MISS ANNIE CORY IS CONFIDENTIAL.”
CHAPTER III. “MISS ANNIE CORY IS CONFIDENTIAL.”
A few days after the events narrated in the last chapter, Miss Margaret Cory was reading aloud from some manuscript which she had just received by post. Her audience was small, being composed of two individuals with whom we are already acquainted—to wit, her brother, Mr. Cory, and Hilton Riddell, who both listened to her with curious interest. You and I too, dear readers, will take the liberty of hearing what Miss Cory had to say. “My darling Auntie,” she read, “I am now fairly installed here, b
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CHAPTER IV. A SUSPICIOUS DEATH.
CHAPTER IV. A SUSPICIOUS DEATH.
Nearly opposite the residence of Mr. Stavanger there was an untenanted house. The front area was well planted with trees and shrubs, which afforded capital shelter to two men who had loitered there for some time. The men were known to us, being none other than Mr. Cory and Hilton Riddell. They were getting somewhat fidgety lest a mistake had been made somewhere. For it was long past the time appointed for Hugh Stavanger’s departure with Captain Cochrane, and yet they had seen neither the one nor
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CHAPTER V. AN OLD FRIEND IN A NEW GUISE.
CHAPTER V. AN OLD FRIEND IN A NEW GUISE.
The ss. “Merry Maid” was making capital progress. She was well-engined, well-manned, her disc was well in evidence, and wind and weather were all that could be desired. The captain was in an unusually good humour, for, in addition to his regular means of making money over and above his salary, he had an extra good speculation on hand, in the shape of a young passenger whose supposed name was Paul Torrens, but whom we have known as Hugh Stavanger. Mr. Torrens, as we will also call him for a time,
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CHAPTER VI. A MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE.
CHAPTER VI. A MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE.
Late that evening the steward of the “Merry Maid” was sitting in his berth, writing. The accommodation at his disposal was of the most meagre kind. It included neither desk nor table, for which, by-the-bye, the tiny place would not have had room if they had been available. By way of a substitute, however, his washstand, which was of the sort commonly considered quite luxurious enough for a seafarer, was fitted with a deal top, and upon this he had spread the wherewithal to write a long letter. H
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CHAPTER VII. EVIL TIDINGS.
CHAPTER VII. EVIL TIDINGS.
Mrs. Riddell and Miss Cory were sitting in the drawing-room. Both ladies were occupied less fancifully than ladies of fiction generally are. They were darning stockings, and Mrs. Riddell’s spectacles were dimmed with tears, as she held up a neatly finished piece of work, and sighed wistfully, “I wonder if poor Harley will live to wear it again.” “Live to wear it!” was the optimistic rejoinder. “Of course he will. He’s not particularly ill, though he’s naturally low-spirited. But he will soon be
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CHAPTER VIII. ON THE TRACK.
CHAPTER VIII. ON THE TRACK.
A splendid mail steamer, bound for the Orient, was ploughing its way through the notoriously treacherous waters of the Bay of Biscay, whose surface to-day was of the brightest and calmest. There was little to indicate the horrors of which “The Bay,” as it is called by sailors, is so often the witness, and most of the passengers were congregated about the deck, chatting, reading, smoking, or otherwise doing their best to enjoy the leisure hours at their disposal. “So this is the dreaded Bay of Bi
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CHAPTER IX. A BALLOON ADVENTURE.
CHAPTER IX. A BALLOON ADVENTURE.
Mr. Blume, the chief mate of the ss. “Centurion,” was pacing the bridge in anything but an angelic mood, which evidenced itself in perpetual growls at everybody with whom he came into contact. The objects of his displeasure, seeing no adequate reason for it, were not disposed to take his fault-finding too meekly, the result being that the atmosphere on board the “Centurion” was decidedly unpleasant. “I’ll bet my bottom dollar that the mate got jilted last time he was in port,” remarked the secon
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CHAPTER X. A BRIGHT PAIR.
CHAPTER X. A BRIGHT PAIR.
Letter from Mr. Stavanger to his Son . ( Written in Cypher. ) “My Dear Boy,—For you are my dear boy still, although you have of late caused me a great deal of anxiety. You hardly know how much I endured until I received your letter from Malta, and even then I was tormented by a dread of what it might have been found necessary to do. I allude to the death of the steward, which, to say the least, was very lucky for us. You wonder how I know this? I will tell you later on. There is so much to relat
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CHAPTER XI. AN UNEXPECTED ALLY.
CHAPTER XI. AN UNEXPECTED ALLY.
Annie trembled violently when she saw Hugh Stavanger disappearing with the balloon, and for a moment seemed almost fainting with excitement. “Courage, my darling,” said her father. “He can hardly escape us now, for I will at once take steps to have him arrested as soon as the balloon descends. Now your desire to see this balloon ascent is partially accounted for. Oh, here is Major Colbrook. Do you know, sir, the man of whom we are in search is actually in that balloon?” “Are you sure?” “Quite su
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CHAPTER XII. BAITING THE TRAP.
CHAPTER XII. BAITING THE TRAP.
“You would like to know my reasons for believing that your friend has met with foul play,” said Captain Gerard, after the first horror and surprise of his hearers was over. “Well, here they are. It was only yesterday that our second mate, who is new to the ship, related a conversation he had had with the bo’sun. The latter asserts that on the night that saw the last of the man supposed to be William Trace, it was so unbearably stuffy down below that he coiled himself up beside the winch, between
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CHAPTER XIII. MORE DISAPPOINTMENTS.
CHAPTER XIII. MORE DISAPPOINTMENTS.
The “Hornby Cross,” having accomplished its voyage in safety, was viewed with considerable interest as it was being manœuvred into Millwall Dock, whither it had brought a cargo of grain from India. Among the onlookers were a few whose attention was the result of curiosity alone; but the greater part of the small crowd assembled at the dock gates had business of some sort on board. There were relatives and friends of the returning seafarers, eagerly looking out for their own folk, and anxious to
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CHAPTER XIV. AN ACCOMMODATING POSTMAN.
CHAPTER XIV. AN ACCOMMODATING POSTMAN.
“Annie, my child, don’t you think you had better give up this vain chase? You are looking ill and worried. The case makes no real progress, in spite of all our exertions, and you are wearing your life away for nothing.” “For nothing, auntie? Is Harley’s rescue nothing? I’m ashamed to hear you speak like that. It’s a good thing Mrs. Riddell has not come downstairs yet. She would be astonished to find you turning traitor.” “I have heard some people say, my dear, that you have a real nasty temper w
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CHAPTER XV. JUST IN TIME.
CHAPTER XV. JUST IN TIME.
We will now, with the reader’s permission, retrace our history to the night on which the captain and passenger of the “Merry Maid” consigned to the waves the body of the man whom they firmly believed to have murdered. The barque “Halcyon,” bound from Lisbon for Callao, was proceeding quietly on her course and had, up to now, encountered nothing out of her usual experience. The captain, contentedly smoking a big cigar, was leaning idly over the rail and scanning the horizon, on the faint chance o
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CHAPTER XVI. A DETERMINED PURSUIT.
CHAPTER XVI. A DETERMINED PURSUIT.
In a certain house, in a certain street, in the town of Lina, Mrs. Dollman, a very pretty widow, of small attainments as far as time goes, for she was but 22, was talking to her sister, who had come to take tea with her. Said sister’s name was Mrs. Twiley, and she lived at Gibraltar when at home, her husband being a sergeant-major there. The late Mr. Dollman had been a lieutenant stationed at the fortress. He had risen from the ranks by merit alone, and had nothing to live upon but his pay. When
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CHAPTER XVII. RUNNING HIM DOWN.
CHAPTER XVII. RUNNING HIM DOWN.
“Now, Briny,” said Miss Stratton, having assured herself that there was no possibility of her either being overseen or overheard, “we shall have to be smart lest we startle our game too soon again. I think that with all his attempts at disguise it will take him all his time to deceive me. I wonder what he will think of me when he comes under the spell of the fascinations I mean to exercise over him? H’m! Perhaps he is not very susceptible, and won’t be fascinated. In that case, I mean to work up
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CHAPTER XVIII. A WILY SYREN.
CHAPTER XVIII. A WILY SYREN.
When Una Stratton made her appearance next morning at breakfast she bore no evidence of having been up half the night, and her brilliant hair, radiant complexion, and entire get-up provoked the admiration of all who saw her. Nor did they dream that the lady ever presented herself in any other guise, or that she had recourse to art in order to enhance and transform her naturally charming appearance. Contrary to his usual custom, Gregory Staines was also present at breakfast, and Miss Stratton’s e
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CHAPTER XIX. SERGEANT-MAJOR TWILEY HAS A SURPRISE.
CHAPTER XIX. SERGEANT-MAJOR TWILEY HAS A SURPRISE.
“So you are not playing to-night?” “No; I have been thinking over something you said to me last night, and fancy that a confidential conversation might prove profitable to both of us. Suppose we slip out and compare notes?” “I don’t mind. We can easily come back if we wish to do so.” The speakers were Gregory Staines and Mr. Bootle, the latter being the first to open the conversation. As they walked briskly onwards, he gradually betrayed his real character to his companion, or, rather, he would
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CHAPTER XX. A CRITICAL GAME.
CHAPTER XX. A CRITICAL GAME.
The day after the one in which so many confidences had been bestowed upon Mrs. Dollman and her friends by Miss Stratton was one of considerable anxiety to the latter. Poor little Phœbe, although one of the brightest and nicest women in the world, was a very bad actress, and she could not for the life of her treat Mr. Staines with the same cordiality as before, although warned of the immense importance of self-restraint. Personally, she did not feel as aggrieved as might have been expected, for h
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CHAPTER XXI. “WARE ASSASSIN!”
CHAPTER XXI. “WARE ASSASSIN!”
There was a somewhat obscure and badly-lighted stretch of road to traverse ere Mr. Bootle could reach his destination, which was the hotel so much frequented by Gregory Staines. Very often, especially at certain times of the day, the place was tolerably well frequented. But it chanced sometimes that it was comparatively deserted, and upon this fact Gregory Staines counted for his opportunity to get rid of his enemy. That that enemy was a woman was not a deterrent circumstance with him. She was m
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CHAPTER XXII. ANNIE’S RETURN.
CHAPTER XXII. ANNIE’S RETURN.
Mr. Cory’s residence was in a wonderful state of bustle and excitement. A telegram had been received from Annie to the effect that at last she had been successful in her mission, and that her captive was now on his way to England, under such efficient surveillance that he was not likely to escape again. There were endless conjectures as to how this desirable result had been brought about; but none of these were permitted to interfere with the active preparations that were being made, in order to
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CHAPTER XXIII. and Last. JUBILATE.
CHAPTER XXIII. and Last. JUBILATE.
The Court was crowded in every part. For the trial of Hugh Stavanger and Captain Cochrane upon various indictments had aroused immense public interest, and countless rumours were afloat respecting the wonderful acumen, devotion, and heroism of Miss Annie Cory. She was inundated with applications for interviews, and greatly as she disliked much of the questioning to which she was subjected, she submitted to it with the best grace she could muster, for Harley’s sake. Soon she found herself a popul
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