Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1888-05-05
the GREAT HESprR,
By FRANK BARRETT.

~ ms senses: he asked. "1Ou are con.
vnced that a c.oul !, rising in the hori-
iOl because yol see it. bat ann ! 10 DENY
rs existence because | have no sight.
Are you justified, then, IN declaring that
we are not menacel by this disaster
which is 10 ~overwhelm us because YOU
have not my faculty of provision? You
who cannot deny prescience TO a bee, tie
presentiment OF coming storm to cattle,
tell me that my conviction Is nothing.
1t Is only by conviction that we live.
What saves us from destruction but the
conviction that, by stepping into an
abyss, we must fall? i tell you to look
about you; we are on the edge of an
dullest intelligence. Your turn will
Gomez
had hung my watch in tho pocket
upon the hanging at the head of the bed;
its lively ticking sounded strangely out
of keeping with the gloom and stiffness
of the surroundings. The shaded light
gave n funeral aspect to the bed-hang-
ings; the baldaquin over my head might
have been a catafalque for the dead. |
wondered how many men had ended
their days on this bed since those hang
ings had been put up. Would Van
Hoeck's presentiment be fulfilled? Should
l be found there in the morning dead!
1t was well suited for n murder that
bed. with its pall-like h~angings to con
ceal the lurking murderer.
Tic-tac, tic-tac, ~tic-tac, ~tic-tac, tic-tac.
My ear had become SO familiar to tho
brisk movement of my watch that tho
slightest sound was audible above it.
And a sound, slight indeed, | heard.
To my mind, dwelling then upon as
soe,;-, - an,,,InJ lilo Tho IT,, ~ ~
dagger from its sheath.
Turning my head toward the side from
which the sound seemed to proceed, I
fancied l saw the heavy curtain move: it
was between me and the lamp. The
movement was as slight as the sound. If
it was a fact that heard one, it was a
fact that | saw the other.
drew myself up gradually, and, lean
ing forward, ! suddenly flung back the
curt with my left hand. There was
no r. distance to my hand; nothing to be
seen oeyOnd but the lamp burning stead
lily on the table, the saddle-back chair,
and the dim outline of the big chimney
piece.
| got upon my knees, and pushed the
curtain flat against the wall. to be sure
hat there could by no possibility be my
one concealed in tho heavy folds-to AS
sure m self that my suspicion vas ut
terlv without foundation.
This end Of the room was comparative
" light. and the saddlc-back chair was so
placed rs to preclude tho possibility of
any one hiding beyond it.
If the curtain had indeed moved, it
must have been by a hand from under
the bed. 1t was easier to believe that |
had been mistaken in seeing the slight
t,,nr,n,,ny,t than TO ~ tInf had
: overlooked a concealed thief when |
looked under the bed to satisfy Van
Hceck; SO | let the curtain fall, and lay
down again.
My thoughts still dwelt upon the idea
of assassination. Setting aside the idea
of an intrigue in which Lola was con-
cerned, there was yet nothing preposter-
Gus in Van uoeck's prcScntiment. There
were eight or ten servant in the house,
and undoubtedly every one of them knew
of the marvellous treasure in my keep
ing. They would tell their friends in the
adjacent village, the keepers, the trades
people-in a few days the story would be
carried about and made known to hun
dreds: and was there none among them
whose cupidity might take practical
form?
1t was quite possible that under this
very roof there was n with the inge-
nuity and daring to plan and execute the
robbery. A servant intimately acquaint-
ed with the arrangement OF the OOmS
and the peculiarities Of the building
would probably know of the external
means of communication between the
bay and the oriel windows. Without
this knowledge, no one, it seemed to ne,
would dare to attempt that hazardous
=, SCoca Of NIGHT opi IN fhn. ,jnrly. ln,t
with that knowledge. and possibly some
previous practice. the feat was sufficiently
practicable. In that case, Edith might
actually have heard and seen what she
had since attributed TO Imagination.
But what end could be served by these
repeated attacks upon her sensihility2
A cause Is sometimes discovered bycX-
aiming the effect. Now, what effect
had been produced By these attacks!
The first had frightened Edith excessive
ly; the second had made n lighter ini-
p~ression-thus far the effect had been
confined to her; but the third--for
only to a third fright could | attribute
her scream of terror-had brought her
father and myself from our rooms. In
stantly, something like the truth flashed
upon my mind:
To bring me from my room was the
very object with which the attack upon
Edith had been made.
Unriddling the mystery with this key,
! assumed that the thief had watched re
close the door upon Van Hoeck and ro-
turn to my room; that, after allowing re
sufficient time to get to bed, but not to
fall into sound sleep, he had made tho
attack upon Filth, opening her door be-
foreliand to provide a speedy means Of
escape and to allow her cry to be more
distinctly heard; that, having succeeded
in terrifying her. he had sped down the
stairs in the left block. passed through
the library and dininS-roon, and ascend
ed by the stairs in the right block about
the same time that l might be supposed
to have reached Edith's room, and that,
reckoning upon my keeping the Great
Hesper under my pillow. and leaving it
there in my alarm upon Edith's account,
he had expected to have possessed him.
self OF u treasure. If what thus as
sumed was q fact, then, indeed, this plan
might have succeeded but for Van
Hoeck's prudent insistencc upon my
strapping the diam0nd to my wrist.
As | thus explained what had happen
ed, a more startling reflection occurred
to my mind. The thief had been disap-
pointed in not finding the diamond be-
meath my inflow lut he vet mj0hl rot