The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1885-01-22

by a tiny lawn and low screen OF ever
greens. Once or twice in the course of
The night one of the mounted constabulary
would ride slowly past as he went his
rounds; but ! was without any knowledge
as to the particular time when he might be
expected, or whether in fact. the time at
which he might be looked for at any
specified point did not vary from night to
night Still, there was just a possibility
that he might put in an appearance at any
so | stationed Bessie at the win
dow TO keep q lookout for him and be in
readiness to raise an alarm the moment she
heard the tramp of his horses hoofs. For
once, in a way, the lightning was some
thing to be thankful for; each fash lighted
up the highroad for a considerable dis
lance on both sides Of the house.
When this was done it seemed as If
everything possible had been done, and yet
it was next to nothing With both hands
pressed to my eyes. | stood thinking as I
seemed never to have thought before.
Then it wa that-as sudden, swift and
startling as one of those flashes which
were mOmentarily Illuminating the outer
wOrld-an idea shot through my brain
which for an instant or two seemed to
cause my heart to stand still. And yet at
the first blush l. was an idea that had
about it nothing so preposterous, so
numerous even, tllttI udu lllc ucGO b6Sn dI
all less imminent l should have discarded
it at once as little better than the inspira-
ton of mad woman. But. preposterous
as the idea might seem, for the life of me
I could think of no other, and every min
ute now was invaluable. There was no
time for hesitation. must discard it or
adopt it, and that without a moments de-
lay. Il will try it it can but fail, said
to myself, with an inward groan.
On the toilet table was jar of white
tooth-powder which had been replenished
the previous day. ] shook out quantity
of this powder, shut my eyes, and pro-
and hands. That done, drew the white
coverlet off the bed and draped myself
with it loosely from head to foot; then
unbound my hair, which in those days
was ebony black and reached below my
waist, and shook it round my face and
over my shoulders in "mOst admired dis
order. l was now ready for the role 1
had made up my mind to enact.
Bessie has told me since that she thought
/ had taken leave of my senses. Just at
the moment my toilet was completed, and
as / turned and advanced toward her,
another long, quiveTing flash lighted up
the room. A low shrek burst involun-
tarily from my sisters lips, and she shrank
away from me as though | was something
altogether uncanny.
"Oh, Barbara, dear, what is the matter? "
she cried. "Why do you brighten me
so?"
at is not yon I want to brighten, but
the men down stairs, / replied Then,
in few hurried words, I told her my
plan.
She would have tried to dissuade me,
but there was no time to listen. Leaving
her there watching by the window, ready
to raise an alarm in case the mounted con
stable should pass on his round, | stole
swiftly and noiselessly down the carpeted
staircase and only paused when l reached
the corridor below could hear sub
dued murmur of voices and q moment
later I was startled by noise of falling
glass. The burglars had succeeded in eff
separated only by the drawingroom door,
which, although locked, was an obstacle
that very few minutes would suffice to
overcome. With an indrawing of my
breath sped quickly past the door along
the length of the corridor until / reached
the opposite end, where there were two
more doors, one of them being
that of my brothers Office, which
also was locked, and from the lock of
which now withdrew the key. / have
omitted to state that the window Of Johns
OlllCG WAS S6CuICQ NY GWO SlOuG
which was probably one reason why the
thieves had chosen to effect an entrance at
point more readily adopted for their pur-
pose. The second door at the end of the
corridor shut off a short passage leading
to the kitchen. This door / succeeded in
opening without noise. I had decided to
take my stand a little way on the inner
side of it, and there await the course OF
events. By this time the men were busily
at work forcing the lock of the drawing
room door a thin thread of light which
shone from under showed that although
the lightning was still as frequent as be
fore they did not find it sufficient for Their
purpose.
Scarcely breathing l waited. was toe
excited, too wrought up, the tension of my
nerves was too extreme to allow of any
personal fear. 1t was all terribly real, yet
with strange, vague sense of unreality
underlying it. felt as if I should no.
have been surprised had [ woke up and
found the whole affair resolve itself into 6
dream, while yet fully assured in my mind
that it was nothing of the kind. Suddenly
the noise at the door ceased; the lock had
been forced. The thread of light disap
peared; for few moments all was silence
the most profound. Then faint creaking,
which at any other time would have been
inaudible, told me that the drawing room
door was being opened and that the
crucial moment had come. I pressed one
hand over my heart, and for few brief
seconds an almost overpowering longing
seized me to get back to my room at any
cost and lock myself within. But it was
too late; by this time the men were in the
corridor. knew it, although could moi
see them.
'Where's the door we want?" I heard
one whisper to the other.
son the right-the first door we come
to.
As they advanced a step did the same
What noise was that?" asked one Of
them quickly.
Don't be fool There was no noise.
81 tell you there was. Where's The
glim?"
But the lightning was quicker than the
bulPs-eye. 1t came, shifting the dark
ness and flooding the corridor will
the binding intensity of its glare
Then I saw the men and the mel
saw me, but darkness had hidden us from
each other again before they had time Il
make sure that their eyes had not de
ceived them.
One of them gave gasp and Whispered
to his mate: "What was that tall whit
thing at the end of the passage? Seemed
to me like a ghost
Ghosts be dashed There amt no sucl
things. Here's the glim. Well soon SCI