Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1892-08-13

thrust my money and Jewels in;i
my pockets and started off on thu
pursuit.
l was wide awake by this time
and was now terribly eager to arres
my midnight visitor.
] was determined not to arouse the
house u-.til it was absolutely neces
Gary.
The clock struck three as ! dartet
into the passage to surprise him.
Down stairs l went in less than nc
time.
But was too late. Those minutes
occupied in collecting my valuables
and slipping on my things were all
wasted time.
There was no trace of him. II
was terribly dark in the passages,
and | was rather nervous of sud
den encounter in the dark.
Besides he might have firearms,
while was comparatively unaImed.
The notion of coming flop up against
him in the pitch darkness extin-
guished some portion of my enthu.
siasm.
Besides. while / was rejecting
what to do and where to go, found
that I had lost myself entirely.
knew nothing about the ins and outs
of the rambling old hotel, and / had
not taken my bearings and quite
forgot the number of my room.
wandered about the passages for
quite half an hour, and at last, after
fruitless search for the mysterious
man in the box, / happily discovered
a half open door and found out my
room by my boots.
Now came the question what to dol
There was no trace of the man in the
room. The door of the room was
open as / left it, but the black box
was shut.
What should / do9 Should l alarm
the house and get called fool for
my pains, supposing the box was dis
covered e,uptya Should / lift the lid
and risk everything in final tusslei
Should I lock the door from the out
side or lock the door from the inside
and go to bed again9
l went deliberately up to the box
and struck it violently with my
stick. 1t was not quite closed after
all, and / heard to my surprise a
howl of pain from the inside.
AS luck would have it, had got my
man after all My mind was instant
ly make up. Idarted suddenly back,
gave the box another violent crack
with my stick, rushed out of the room
and locked the door
And then l shouted with might
and main. A pell pull was handy
and pealed at it. Up came half a
dozen walters, and, lastly, up came
the pursy landlord of the Drei Lieb-
chen.
Having collected my forces,
opened the door. We were only just
in time, for the window was wide
open, and with one bound across the
room 1 just managed to secure his
last retreating leg.
dragged the culprit back into the
middle of the room and made him
show his guilty face.
Maxi" cried the landlord and the
walters with one voice.
They knew the object of his visit
when they looked into the black
box, for there were secreted every
atom of silver-knives, forks, spoons
and dishes-which the household
possessed
The mystery was soon explained
The midnight visitor was a dis
charged waiter, and he had hit upon
the happy eXpedient of the black box
and the false telegram in order tc
conveniently rob the house.
The thief was Immediately handed
over to the police. The detestable
box was dragged out of my room into
the passage. locked myself into
the room and slept without break
until every bell in Annasberg woke
me out of my slumbers and reminded
me it was morning
AS for my dear Annabel, she made
far more of a hero of meas all good
women do-than / really deserved
and after dinner that night, over the
walnuts and the wine, with deal
little hand resting cozily in mine
under the tablo-I told the assem- blet
guests, with as much picturesque
force and dramatic intensity as
could muster, the true and authentic
legend of "A Night at the Drei Lieb
schen; or, the Landlord, the Lackey
and the Black Box. Clement V