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A? g. (a OR, A MlDN CHAPTER XLII. I Whilst events were moving rapidlyI outside, time at Longdean Grange seemed to stand still. The dust and the desolation were ever there, the gloom brooded like an evil spirit. And yet it was but the calm before the storm that was coming to banâ€" ish the hoary old spectres for good. Still, Enid felt the monotony to be as maddening as ever. There were times when she rebelled passionately against the solitude of the place. There were moments to her when it seemed that her mind couldn’t stand the strain much longer. But she had hope, that blessed legâ€" acy 1.0 the sanguine and the young. And there were times when she Would creep out and see Ruth Gates, who found the Rottingdean Roadl very convenient for cycling just now. 'And there was always the anticipa- tion of a telephone message from Chris. Originally the telephone had been established so that the house-» '-:‘- ld could be run without the inâ€" ". .ision of tradesmen and other strangers. It had seemed a great, 'anomaly at the time, but now Enidl blessed it every moment of the 'day.i 'And she was, perhaps, no‘ ‘ite sol Unhappy as she deemed he..~..;lf to be. She had her lover back again, nOW, with his character free from every imputation. The sun straggl‘ed in through the. dim, dusty panes; the monotonous voice of Mrs: Henson (ironed in the. drawing-room. It was what Williams; called one of the unhappy lady’sx "days." Sometimes she was quiet: .and reasonable, at other times the dark mood hung heavily upon her. ‘She was pacing up and down the drawing-room, wringing her hands and whimpering to herself. Enid had slipped into the grounds for a little; fresh air; the house oppressed her .te'ri'i'bly toâ€"day. The trim lawns and blazing flower-beds were a pleasing contrast to the misery and disorder of the hoiuse. ‘ ' Enid passed on into the shadow of the plantation. A little farther on nearer the wall the dogs seemed to be excited about Something. Wilâ€"l ' liams’ rusty voice could be heard ex- ;postulating with some intruder. By him‘ stood a man' who, though fairly well dresseu, looked as if he had slept in hngarments for days. There :was a dazed, puzzled, absent espres- -sion on his face. “You might have 'Williams croaked. “If you stood still they dogs would pulled you to pieces. How did you get here?" “I’ve lost it,” the stranger mutâ€" been killet,”= l tered. “I’ve lost it somwhere, andi hadn’t -I shall have no rest till I 'find it." “Well, go and look in the road,” ‘Williams, suggested, smoothly. "‘Nothing ever gets lost here. Just you hop over that wall and try your 'luck outsude." Enid came forward. Evidently the intruder was no stranger to her. 'Williams started to explain wrolubly. lint Enid cut him short at once. i “A most extraordinary thing has happened,” she said. “It is amazing "that this man should come here of all-places. Williams, this is the manI ‘Van Sneck. ’ “What, the chap as was wounded 'in the hospital, miss?" “The same. The man is not in full possession of his senses. 'And if lie-I ginald Henson finds him now it is likely to go hard with him. He, :must be taken into the house and' looked after until I can communi- cute with. somebody I can trust. Mr. Steel, I think. He must be got back! to the hOSpital. It is the only place where he is safe.” Van Sneck seemed to be looking on with the Vacant stare of the mindâ€" less. He suffered himself to be led to the house, where he was fed like .a child. It was in vain that Enid plied him with all kinds of ques- tions. He had lost somethingâ€"he! would have no peace till he had . u I found it. This was the one burden] .of his cry. Enid crossed to the} window in some perplexity. The, next moment she had something else! to occupy her mind. Reginald Henâ€"i :son was coming up the drive. Just' for an instant Enid felt inclined to; despair. i “Williams,” she cried,‘"‘i\fr. llenâ€"l :son is here. see our unfortunate visitor. lle canâ€"t .not possibly know that Van Sneck is here; the whole thing is an acci~ ~dent. I am going down into the! hall. I shall contrive to get Mr..- Henson into the drawingâ€"room. Without delay you must smuggle Mini Van Sneck into your apartments‘ over the stable. You will be per-i fectly safe if you go~down the back .staircase. As soon as the drawing~ room door closes, go.” Williams nodded. He was essen- tially a man of action rather than words. -With all the coolness she .could summon up Enid descended to the hall. She gave a little gesture of surprise and disdain as she caughtl sight, of l-lenson. l “So you came down to welcome Inc?" Enid said, coldly. A sudden light of Henson's blue eyes. rage lit up He caught Enid _.,._.~...V._.,.... ... . I. r _, _. #Wflâ€"WW , , , , . , . . . . ,‘flrrm-r....qu'â€"‘W3 1 coldly. i old self. 1 a cat. ‘before her eyes. __ Y i i IGHT CALL E l __ _._.l 3 Lama-imam“ almost roughly by the shoulders and pushed her into the drawing-room. There was something coming, she knew. It was a relief a minute or two later to hear Williams's whistle as he crossed the courtyard. Henson knew nothing of Van Sncck’s pre- sence, nor was he likely to do so now. “You are forgetting yourself," Enid said. “How dare you touch me like that?" “By heavens,” Henson whispered, vehemently, “when I consider how I have been fooled by you I wonder that I do not strike the life out of you. Where is your sister?” Enid assumed an air of puzzled surprise. She raised her eyebrows, But it needed no very bril- liant intelligence to tell her that Henson had discovered something. “I had only one sister," she said, “and she isâ€"â€"-â€"" “Dead! Rot. No more dead than I am. A nice little scheme you had put up together with that scribbling ass David Steel. But Steel is going to get a lesson not to interfere in my affairs and you are going to get one also. Where is your sister?" Despite his bullying triumph there was something nervous and anxious about the tone of the question. It was not quite like Henson to let his adversary see that he had scored a point._']3ut since the affair of the dogs Henson had not been quite his It was easy to see that he had found out a great deal, but he had not found out where Chris was yet. ' ' , “I know nothing," said Enid. “I shall answer no questions." "Very well; But I shall find out. Accident put me on the trail first. And I have been to see that man Walker. He never saw your sister ‘after her ‘death,’ nor did the under-* taker. 'And I might have met my death at the fangs of that dog you put upon me. What a fool Walker was.” ' Enid looked up anxiously. Had Walker said anything about a second opinion? Had he betrayed to Hon- Son the fact that he had been back-' ed up by Hatherly Bell? Because they had taken a. deal of trouble to conceal the fact- that Dell had been in the house. I “Dr. Walker should haVe called in.. n another opinion, ly. ‘ “The man was too conceited for that, and you know it,” Henson growled; “and finely you played up- .n on his vanity. she said, mocking- Enid ‘was satisfied. Walker had evidently said nothing about Bell; and Henson, though he had just come from Littimer, knew‘ nothing about Chris. ,y.“You have made a‘ statement,” she snid, “and in reply I say nothing. You have chosen to assume that my sister is still alive. Well, it is a. free country, and you are'at liberty to think as you please. If we had anything to gain by the course you suggestâ€"â€"â€"” “Anything to gain!” Henson burst out angrily. “Everything to gain. One whom I deemed to be dead is free to follow me to pry into my affairs, scheme, I presume. If you and your sister and Miss Gates hadn’t talked so loudly that day in the garden I might. notâ€"â€"â€"” “Have listened," said Chris, coldâ€" ly. “Ears like a bare and head like _ llut you don‘t know everyâ€" thing, and you never will. You scoundrel, you creeping, crawling scoundrel! If I only dared to speak. if I cared less for the honor of this unhappy familyâ€"" “if you could only get the ring," said Henson, with a malicious sneer. “But the ring is gone. The ruby ring lies at the bottom of the North Sea.” Some passionate, headless words rose to Enid's lips, but she checked them. All she could do now was to watch and wait till darkness. Van Sneck must be got out of the way before anything else was done. She did not dare to use the telephone yet, thong-h she had made up her mind to ask Steel to come over and take Van Snack away. Later on she could send the message. Van Sneck had eaten a good meal, so Williams said, and On no \account must he: had fallen into a heavy sleep. ’l‘herei With dyn'HmO-‘l was nothing for it but to wait and watch. with Mrs. Henson. ragged and unâ€" kept as usual, taking no notice of l-Icnson, who watched her furtively during the meal. Enid escaped to her own room directly afterwards, and Henson followed his hostess to the drawing-room. Once there his manner changed on- iirely. His lips grew firm, his eyes Were like points of steel. Mrs. I-Ienâ€" son was pacing the dusty floor, mut- tering and crooning 'to herself. Hen- son touched her arm, at the same time holding some glittering object It was a massive ruby ring with four black pearls on either side. “Look here,’ he whispered. you recognize it? before?" A pitiful, wailing cry came Have you seen it Mrs. Henson’s lips. bling from head strange agitation. the ring as a thirsty man in a des- fairly l Dinner came in due coursed She was trem~ to foot with 8. She gazed at ert might have looked on a draught of cold spring water. She stretched out her hand, but Henson. drew back. “I thought you had not forgotten it," he smiled. “ t means much to you, honor, peace, happineSsâ€"your son restored to his proper place in the world. Last time I was here I wanted money, a mere bagatelle to you. Now I want £10,000." “No, no," Mrs. Henson cried. “You will ruin meâ€"£10,000! What do you do with all the money? You profess to give it all to charity. But I know better. Much you give away that more may come back from it. But that money you get from a creâ€" dulous public. And I couldâ€" expose you, ah, how 1 could expose you, Reginald Henson." “Instead of which you will let me have that £10,000. " “I cannot. You will ruin me. Have you. not had enough? Give me the ring.” . Henson smilingly held the gem aloft. Mrs. Henson raised her arm with the clouds around her. activity astonishing in one of her years she sprang upon Henson and tore the ring from his grasp. ~The thing was so totally unexpected from. the usually gentle lady that Henson could only gasp in astonishment._ “I have it,” Mrs. Henson cried. “I ha it, and I am free!" dust rising in choking Then with an Henson sprang towards her. With a quick, fleet step she crossed to the window and fled out into _the night. A raging madness seemed to have come over her again; she laughed and she cried as she sped on into the bushes, followed by Henson. In his fear and desperation the latter had the dogs. He was in the midst of them, they were clustered round himself and Mrs. before he was aware of the quite forgotten Henson fact. "Give me the ring," he said. “You can't have it yet. Some day I will restore it to you. Be sensible If ,anybody should happen tosee you." 'Mrs. Henson merely laughed. The dogs were gambolling around 'like so many kittens. They did not seem to heed Henson in the joy of her pre- Isence. He came on again, he made 'a grab for her dress, but the rotten fabric parted like‘a cobweb in his hand. A warning grunt came from one of the dogs, but Henson gave no heed. “Give it me," he hissed; “or I will tear it from you." ~ (To be Continued.) ___._.+__._._..._ RICHES IN THE OCEAN. London .Lancet says Sea Holds 100,000,000,000 Tons ‘Gold. Qldgschem'es for. extracting. gold from sea water die hard,' butlwhile there has been some dealings "in the shares of the latest syndicate formed thus to obtain the precious metal, few people in British Stock Exâ€" ch'an'ge circles are disposed to re-- gard the venture as more than a scientific experiment. Now, the suggestion for collectinlg gold from the sea comes from raâ€" ther a remiarkable ((Lilai~tenâ€"â€"na:in'ely, 'th'e London Lancet, in which an ar- ticle holds out most inlanvel-ous enâ€" couragement to the company proâ€" motor. The article says the estimate that a ton of sea water CODllellllS approxiâ€" mately one grain of gold, the yield Iwould ammmt to something like 200 tons of gold per cubic mile, and as the volume of the world's ocean is estimated at 500,000,000 c'ulbic miles the. total possible yield of gold would be no less th‘am 100,000,- 000,000 tons. The Lancet goes on to observe it should be borne in mind, however, that the original observations as to the sea containing gold were made on waters which wash the shores of a gold-lieari-n'g countryâ€"inlam‘cly, New South Wales. ‘ “Still time, no doubt,” it conâ€" tinues. “suffices to effect the uniform- (listributi‘on of the mineral salts of the sea. allhaugh the compositiom of sea water varies with the locality 'from which it. is taken. “We should have thought that an Ieminently practical experiment in it‘h'is direction before now would have ibeen undertaken by the great steamâ€" iship companies. Most steannshlips lare equipped with electric inst'alation Iand it Would be quite an easy mat- -ler for them to start a system of. lelcctroplal’ing while at. sea, wit-bout gin‘terl‘cring seriously with the pro- gress of the ship. “A couple of large copper plat-es ,snspendcd in the sea and connected would serve as elec- Itrodcs and collect gold contained in the sea water during a voyage. At {the and of the vayage the plates §coulvd be examined for gold, and some practicability of recovering the ~metal would be gained. “If it proved that the steamship companies could add to their equip- ment. an effective electrical gold drodger‘ they possibly might 'be inâ€" ldnced to cheapen the passenger rates laccording to the success of the sysv tom." _____._ +_._..., MEAN THING. “You .lm-ow.’ saidhfiss Kreech. after her solo, “I intend to go glab'roa'd to finish my miusical (vim-Iv “Do lion." "Why not suggested Miss Cadley, from the expense?" finish it right now," “aind save BRITISH COLUMBIA. Canadian Rockies Not So High as Was Thought. In no part of the world excepting Alaska has there been more rapid progress in geograplhical exploration in the past few years than in Br‘i-Uis‘h Columbia. The latest facts concern a number of new passes through the Rocky Mountains. Some. readers may be surprised that there should be anything left in British Columbia to discover. The fact is that the Govermnent surveys are yet far from covering the larger part of that big region. The fine geographic-a1 work that a. miss-ion- ary has recently been doing Shows that there are still opportunities for -discdvel'v in this part! of the Domin- io'n. Father Morice, whose mission staâ€" tion is on the shores of Lake Stuart nearly in the centre of, bile Province, has been travelling many hundreds of «miles in a canoe, mapping all the streams, lakes, mountains and val- leys in the upper basin of the Netâ€" chiakihoh River. A fine map of 'his discoveries, which has just been pubâ€" lished by the Neuchatel Geographi- cal Society of Switzerland, shows many details that have been seen on. no previous map. Lake Moricc, for example, which is not found on the latest atlas sheets of British Columâ€" bin, is fifty miles long, ankl 777 feet deep. The new passes in the Rockies have been studied by a party of Grand Trunk Pacific engineers who have been engaged in the work about a year. A newspaper has re- ported t~hat this party has discover- ed the Smoke River, Porcupine, Red Deer, W‘apiti and Pine River passes, but this statement is not quite cor- rect. All these great. passes through the Rockies to the north of the (.lmraicliâ€" an Pacific Railroad have been known to exist for some time, but the enâ€" gineers have been the first to study them in detail. and they now reâ€" port that they are all available for railroads, that the gradients on the cast are very gentle and that some of the passes are wide enough for double tracks. The scheme of the Canadian Paci- fic Railroad was laughed at as im- practicable until the great gateway: through Kicking Horse Pass was discovered. It is now known that further north there are several other passes lower than those which the Canadian Pacific uses and that they will amply suffice for all of Canada's railroaid needs through the moun- tains. . ' Explorations of the past few years show that the old ideas of the gera'bed. iPcaiks still appear on some of the maps as from, 15,000 to '17,â€"‘ 000 "feet above the sea. - Dr. I-lloctor recently wrote that pro’bafbly nlone of'tho mountains of British Colum‘bia rises above 13,000 or 13,500 feet. Outram, Collie amid about a dozen other men have wit-h- in the past ten years ascended many of the high peaks of the Canadian Rockies anfd made observations to ascertain their altitulde. The re- sult is a decided decrease in the previously accepted altitude of a number of the highest moxrnt-ains of these ranges. __._.__..+.,._.... Being Made. In a description of the IJI‘Ogl‘CSS which is being made with the Cape to Cairo telegraph, a writer in the Glasgow Herald states that the line has now reached Udjidji, the capital and chief town of German East Africa, which is on the eastern shore of “Lake Tanganyika.” For the moment construction work is sus- pended while the reute northward is carefully surveyed and the sections of the line that have been erected are got into thorough working order. From a purely commercial. point of‘ view the line is fully coming up to, if not _excceding, the expectations that were formed concerning it. When the work “of construction is recom- menced the route will probably be along the eastern shore of the Vicâ€" toria Nyanzal, and will then strike due north to the town of Rosarcs, which is the southernmost point of the Soudancse telegraph system. A junction will be effected here be- tween the two lines, and the scheme for a “Cape 'to Cairo” telegraph will then be an accomplished fact. The engineers of the line are, how- ever, faced with a difficulty in. their' preparations for carrying it forward to [l-(ljhlji, inasmuch as the country for a distance of 100 miles through which the line would have to pass is very swampy, and quite unfit for the erection of a telgraph wire. It was at first thought that a wide detour would have to be made at this point in order to escape this region, but latterly other councils prevailed, and a, much more daring experiment is likely to be tried. This is the installation of the Marconi system of wireless tekâ€" graph'y in order to bridge over this inhospital‘de delta country. This combination of an African jungle swaa‘np with the latest triumph of scient ii‘sr discovery reads very strangely, but it is only another instance of the onward march of civilization through what wore until a Comparatively few years ago the the earth. have u nkn own ' parts 0 CAPE-CAIRO LINE. Good Progress Towards Union A RACE'FOR DEATH. To end a holiday ‘by deliberate height-‘3 of the leadingpcaks 0f the the little beasts, stimulath by inâ€" Cwnlsvd'iwn Rockies were much exag- horned instinct, are Striving to ._Z__.“_"_."' MICE AND RATS MIGRATE THE WANDERING WAYS OE WILD LIFE. Facts About the Remarkable Mi.- gration of the Lemmings. T'h'e fable of the country mouse and the town mouse has a founda- tion in fact. Mice occasionally mi- grate in large numbers when food grows scarce, and travel consider- able distances to fresh houses. Farmers in a. part of Perthsh'ire, Scotlan'd, had a good reason to be- com-e aware of this fact when. a couple of years ago, vast swarms of mice invaded their cornfields at blarâ€" vest time. , ’ But the mouse only tratvels when it has to. The rat, on the co'nzt'nary seems to‘ take a yearly outing, in very much the same fashion as do human beings. Rats are the mlost migratory creatures in the world. Whole troops of rats leave t'h‘eL towns at the card of summer, anid spend a month or two in the country, ap- parently in order to enjoy the change of food which the country affords at t'h‘at time of year in the Way of fresh fruit and grain. llcfore the cold weather sets in. they are all back in their old quarters. 'Reind-eer migrate with the same regularitv as swallows. They move south when Winter sets in, but as soon as ever the snow begins to melt they travel st'ea'd‘ily north, sometimes for as much as a thouâ€" sand miles. suicide is so strange a phenomenon that for a long time natu'nalists lO'OkCKI upon the stories of ‘the mi- gration of the lemmings as an im- Yet the facts are beyond dispute. At irregular inter- vals these vat-like creatures start out from their homes in the fast- ~nesscs of Northern Scandinavia in huge droves, numbering tens of thousands. and travel steadily southâ€" wands.‘\\Death pursues them in a. Hawks and other prey hover above them. Wolves, and man 'decifm‘a'te Thousands are drowned in rivers. Yet the rest struggle on 1111- til they reach the sea. They do not stop. They plunge in, swim out, and struggle on, until at last their strength fails, a'nid they drownf Not one ever returns from this jourâ€" ney of death. V This extraordinary migration of the lemmings has long been a puzzle probable fiction. hu‘n‘drcd forms. birds of Foxres, them. to naturalists. I nation that has been offered is that reach longâ€"lost winter quarters in the lost '-Continen't of. Atlantic, which now has deep buried beneath- the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Who would dream of a crab trav- elling any considerable distance? Yet recent investigation shows that crabs go riglft out to sea in winter, and only come in to shore again when spring returns. 'At 'Beadnell, near the Ferne Islands, 12-1- marked were liberated in October, 1902. Twelve have since been re- caught. One of these was picked up less than a year later only seven miles south of Aberdeen! 5; INSECT INVADERS. If it were not for the migrations of fish, our food supply would suffer severely. Each year the herrings come down from the unknown Nort-h past our coasts, and are caught in their lirillions. Curiously enough, during the past few years the shoals have been taking each year more and more northerly tracks, and there is a great discussion as to whether they are permanently altering their route. Salmon, of course, go up rivers every year to lay their eggs. The seaâ€"trout, t‘he sturgeon, the sea-lamâ€" prey, an‘d the eel all not in the same fashion. _ Insects, too, migrate at times in immense nusm'bers. Ildvery year, diur- ing the month of Junie, the dwellers in P'a'nalma see v’ast flights of butter- flies move across the isth'm-us from east to West. If a wind arises, whole flights are blown out to sea, and drowned in millions. Airts of some kinds are tremendous travellers' In Africa, when the 'driver anits bear down upon a vil- lage, the negroes run for their lives. crabs The violet land-crab of the West Indies us’uallv resides inland; but once. a year it tna‘vels down in elf/tiring armies to the sea. ‘ +- . FIVE HUNDRED “V. L’s." There are five hundred heroes of all ranks in the British regular army who have attained the distinc- tion. of the Victoria Cross, that sim- ple decoration “for valor" which is universally regarded as of incom- parable value and significance. It is claimed for the 24th Regiment, known as the South Wales Border- ' ers, that it stands at the head of the entire British army in the number of winners of the Victoria Cross, which it has produced. It has six- teen names on the glory roll as against, to take the next. highest figures, fourteen of the Rifle Brigade and thirteen of the King’s Royal Rifles p...”â€" Sheâ€"“I have been sufl‘ering dread- fully lately with shooting pains in my face." Hieâ€"“You 1n|1v have been using too much powder." One 'c‘urious explaâ€" _ .ivl. 13131 5.3.29” rangers, . rm,” 03-64“, {a {4,}. 1‘ 1w ah” I u.,~:: . .. N . .. “village” :. *‘tf‘wf‘t Hf“; 'i"?\ {,9 1a.; .v . .. 4M ‘f -¢.- w= “at: 1:1“ .‘é;§.fis§s&é3&ziz‘e;ifi ,