The Lair of the White Worm

Sir Nathaniel went on cheerfully. "When the world of commerce wakes upto the value of your find, it will be as well that your title toownership has been perfectly secured. If anyone ever deserved such again, it is you."

With his friend's aid, Adam secured the property without loss of time.Then he went to see his uncle, and told him about it. Mr. Salton wasdelighted to find his young relative already construc

tively the owner ofso fine an estate--one which gave him an important status in the county.He made many anxious enquiries about Mimi, and the doings of the WhiteWorm, but Adam reassured him.

The next morning, when Adam went to his host in the smoking-room, SirNathaniel asked him how he purposed to proceed with regard to keeping hisvow.

"It is a difficult matter which you have undertaken. To destroy such amonster is something like one of the labours of Hercules, in that notonly its size and weight and power of using them in little-known ways areagainst you, but the occult side is alone an unsurpassable difficulty.The Worm is already master of all the elements except fire--and I do notsee how fire can be used for the attack. It has only to sink into theearth in its usual way, and you could not overtake it if you had theresources of the biggest coal-mine in existence. But I daresay you havemapped out some plan in your mind," he added courteously.

"I have, sir. But, of course, it may not stand the test of practice."

"May I know the idea?"

"Well, sir, this was my argument: At the time of the Chartist trouble, anidea spread amongst financial circles that an attack was going to be madeon the Bank of England. Accordingly, the directors of that institutionconsulted many persons who were supposed to know what steps should betaken, and it was finally decided that the best protection againstfire--which is what was feared--was not water but sand. To carry thescheme into practice great store of fine sea-sand--the kind that blowsabout and is used to fill hour-glasses--was provided throughout thebuilding, especially at the points liable to attack, from which it couldbe brought into use.

"I propose to provide at Diana's Grove, as soon as it comes into mypossession, an enormous amount of such sand, and shall take an earlyoccasion of pouring it into the well-hole, which it will in time choke.Thus Lady Arabella, in her guise of the White Worm, will find herself cutoff from her refuge. The hole is a narrow one, and is some hundreds offeet deep. The weight of the sand this can contain would not in itselfbe sufficient to obstruct; but the friction of such a body working upagainst it would be tremendous."

"One moment. What use would the sand be for destruction?"

"None, directly; but it would hold the struggling body in place till therest of my scheme came into practice."

"And what is the rest?"

"As the sand is being poured into the well-hole, quantities of dynamitecan also be thrown in!"

"Good. But how would the dynamite explode--for, of course, that is whatyou intend. Would not some sort of wire or fuse he required for eachparcel of dynamite?"

Adam smiled.

"Not in these days, sir. That was proved in New York. A thousand poundsof dynamite, in sealed canisters, was placed about some workings. At thelast a charge of gunpowder was fired, and the concussion exploded thedynamite. It was most successful. Those who were non-experts in highexplosives expected that every pane of glass in New York would beshattered. But, in reality, the explosive did no harm outside the areaintended, although sixteen acres of rock had been mined and only thesupporting walls and pillars had been left intact. The whole of therocks were shattered."

Sir Nathaniel nodded approval.

"That seems a good plan--a very excellent one. But if it has to teardown so many feet of precipice, it may wreck the whole neighbourhood."

"And free it for ever from a monster," added Adam, as he left the room tofind his wife.

CHAPTER XXV--THE LAST BATTLE

Lady Arabella had instructed her solicitors to hurry on with theconveyance of Diana's Grove, so no time was lost in letting Adam Saltonhave formal possession of the estate. After his interview with SirNathaniel, he had taken steps to begin putting his plan into action. Inorder to accumulate the necessary amount of fine sea-sand, he ordered thesteward to prepare for an elaborate system of top-dressing all thegrounds. A great heap of the sand, brought from bays on the Welsh coast,began to grow at the back of the Grove. No one seemed to suspect that itwas there for any purpose other than what had been given out.

Lady Arabella, who alone could have guessed, was now so absorbed in hermatrimonial pursuit of Edgar Caswall, that she had neither time norinclination for thought extraneous to this. She had not yet moved fromthe house, though she had formally handed over the estate.

Adam put up a rough corrugated-iron shed behind the Grove, in which hestored his explosives. All being ready for his great attempt wheneverthe time should come, he was now content to wait, and, in order to passthe time, interested himself in other things--even in Caswall's greatkite, which still flew from the high tower of Castra Regis.

The mound of fine sand grew to proportions so vast as to puzzle thebailiffs and farmers round the Brow. The hour of the intended cataclysmwas approaching apace. Adam wished--but in vain--for an opportunity,which would appear to be natural, of visiting Caswall in the turret ofCastra Regis. At last, one morning, he met Lady Arabella moving towardsthe Castle, so he took his courage _a deux mains_ and asked to be allowedto accompany her. She was glad, for her own purposes, to comply with hiswishes. So together they entered, and found their way to theturret-room. Caswall was much surprised to see Adam come to his house,but lent himself to the task of seeming to be pleased. He played thehost so well as to deceive even Adam. They all went out on the turretroof, where he explained to his guests the mechanism for raising andlowering the kite, taking also the opportunity of testing the movementsof the multitudes of birds, how they answered almost instantaneously tothe lowering or raising of the kite.

As Lady Arabella walked home with Adam from Castra Regis, she asked himif she might make a request. Permission having been accorded, sheexplained that before she finally left Diana's Grove, where she had livedso long, she had a desire to know the depth of the well-hole. Adam wasreally happy to meet her wishes, not from any sentiment, but because hewished to give some valid and ostensible reason for examining the passageof the Worm, which would obviate any suspicion resulting from his beingon the premises. He brought from London a Kelvin sounding apparatus,with a sufficient length of piano-wire for testing any probable depth.The wire passed easily over the running wheel, and when this was oncefixed over the hole, he was satisfied to wait till the most advantageoustime for his final experiment.

* * * * *

In the meantime, affairs had been going quietly at Mercy Farm. Lilla, ofcourse, felt lonely in the absence of her cousin, but the even tenor oflife went on for her as for others. After the first shock of parting wasover, things went back to their accustomed routine. In one respect,however, there was a marked difference. So long as home conditions hadremained unchanged, Lilla was content to put ambition far from her, andto settle down to the life which had been hers as long as she couldremember. But Mimi's marriage set her thinking; naturally, she came tothe conclusion that she too might have a mate. There was not for hermuch choice--there was little movement in the matrimonial direction atthe farmhouse. She did not approve of the personality of Edgar Caswall,and his struggle with Mimi had frightened her; but he was unmistakably anexcellent _parti_, much better than she could have any right to expect.This weighs much with a woman, and more particularly one of her class.So, on the whole, she was content to let things take their course, and toabide by the issue.

As time went on, she had reason to believe that things did not point tohappiness. She could not shut her eyes to certain disturbing facts,amongst which were the existence of Lady Arabella and her growingintimacy with Edgar Caswall; as well as his own cold and haughty nature,so little in accord with the ardour which is the foundation of a youngmaid's dreams of happiness. How things would, of necessity, alter if shewere to marry, she was afraid to think. All told, the prospect was nothappy for her, and she had a secret longing that something might occur toupset the order of things as at present arranged.

When Lilla received a note from Edgar Caswall asking if he might come totea on the following afternoon, her heart sank within her. If it wasonly for her father's sake, she must not refuse him or show anydisinclination which he might construe into incivility. She missed Mimimore than she could say or even dared to think. Hitherto, she had alwayslooked to her cousin for sympathy, for understanding, for loyal support.Now she and all these things, and a thousand others--gentle, assuring,supporting--were gone. And instead there was a horrible aching void.

For the whole afternoon and evening, and for the following forenoon, poorLilla's loneliness grew to be a positive agony. For the first time shebegan to realise the sense of her loss, as though all the previoussuffering had been merely a preparation. Everything she looked at,everything she remembered or thought of, became laden with poignantmemory. Then on the top of all was a new sense of dread. The reactionfrom the sense of security, which had surrounded her all her life, to anever-quieted apprehension, was at times almost more than she could bear.It so filled her with fear that she had a haunting feeling that she wouldas soon die as live. However, whatever might be her own feelings, dutyhad to be done, and as she had been brought up to consider duty first,she braced herself to go through, to the very best of her ability, whatwas before her.