The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1893-11-19

Suddenly the truth flashed upon me.
Madame, without her wigP / whispered.
Again a head appeared at the opening,
and aided by his friends. the Count
scrambled through, though with difficulty.
for his broad shoulders all but stuck in
the narrow opening.
The burglars now proceeded, by some
method which was not quite clear to me,
to fix sconces. holding lighted candles, to
various parts of the wall. They made a
then, withOu: further loss of time the
Count and Antoine set to work on the door
of the larger, while the third man began
like operations on the smaller.
So soon as they were fairly at work.
Macpherson crossed the room to the barrel
containing the diluted sulphuric acid, and
turned on the tap, after which he returned
to his post Of observation by my side
Keep your eye on that fellow working
at the bottom of the smaller safe. He is
nearer the floor. The gas will reach him
before it touches either of the other two"
watched. scarcely venturing to breathe,
such was the intensity OF my excitement.
Some ten or twelve minutes passed, and
began to fear Macpherson's plan was
failure, when the man he had indicated
dropped the tool he was using; and after
swaying from side to side for moment,
fell forward on bis face insensibe.
His fall did not for the moment attract
the attention of his comrades, busy as
they were in their own share of the work
Presently, however, as the atmosphere
became more and more vitiated, the can
die lowest in position began to burn less
brightly. and at last the failure of light be-
came so marked that the Count" tho was
working at the upper part of the larger
safe, turned round and looked at the can
dies with a puzzled air; finally snuffing
them with his hugers. as II hoping 10 cure
the defect IN that way.
Finding that his expedient had not the
desired effect, he turned round again, ap-
parently 10 consult with his colleagues
Meanwhile, however, the noxious gas
had reached the level at which Antoine
was working, and with brief convusve
fight for breath he threw up his arms and
fell senseless like the first victim.
Never have / seen such an expression of
terror as came over the face IF the So
called Count. as he gazed on the fallen
bodies of his accOmpllceS.
Panic-stricken, he made a rush for the
hole in the wall, but it was too late. In
the midst of his struggles to escape the
deadly gas overlook him, and he too fell
back lnsensible.
Not a bad nights work." said Macpher-
son, aloud, as be rose from his knees and
proceeded to stop the flow of the acid.
NOW we will ring for OGrady, and then
we must make all haste To lug these TEL
lows out of that room. l did not bargain
for three of then, and every minute the
gas becomes more deadly. Remember
what told you. Venture IN only just far
enough TO get rope round your man, and
hold your breath while you st0op to do it,"
At this moment OGrady appeared, look
ing little bewildered, for we had not told
him why his presence would be required.
"0'Grady," l said. burglars have
broken into the strong room, and L want
"Bur-r-r-gIars. is it?" replied O'Grady,
peeping down through one of the bulls
eyes.
One or two of the candles happened to
have been fixed above the level which tie
gas had reached. and these still burned
brightly. though the rest had long since
gone out.
Ghost of Mosesi but they're all dead
corpses"
mot yet" said Macpherson, "but they
soon will be, unless we get them out pretty
quickly; hurry for the police aud you shall
know all about it afterward."
Fortunately the police station was only
just over tue way. OGrady sta rted, leav-
Ing the door open behind him. and in few
minutes was back again with sergeant
and two cOnstables.
MeaDN bile Macpherson and myself had
opened the strong room, and with some
diff ulty had succeeded in getting out the
man nearest the door, who happened to De
Antoine.
Shall we tie his hands?" 1 inquired.
Never mind that now" replied Mac.
pheIson. Hes safe enough for tie time !;
and meanwhile the gas is spreading. Give
me the rope again and stand ready to
pull"
handed him the rope, in which we had
made loop about three feet in length.
Carefully holding his breath he slipped
this over the body of the Eext man (the
sham Countess de la Roche), and By haul
ing on the cord we managed to pull him
through the doorway.
What O'Grady had told the sergeant
cannot say. but the puzzled look on his face,
as hr flashed his bulseye on the forms of
the two men lying i'll the passageway out
side the strong room was most comica
whats this. gentlemen-murjer? ?" he
inquired, looking from me to Macpherson
as if uncertain " Eich of US to ''run in"
'Only burglary al present, Mr.. Jackson"
l replied; land there are two of the burg
lars for you. The other is still in tue strong
room. and we shall be glad of your help to
get him out"
That's soon done." said the officer, pre-
pairing to enter.
Stop bit," interrupted Macpherson ::
''il's not quite so easy as it looBs That
room is filled breast high with a poisonous
gas, which has knocked over those fellows
as you see them. In the upper part of the
room, where those candles are burning.
the air is pure enough, but below that level
ii is suffocating.
Our best plan will be TO walk in and
stand three on each side of that fellow.
will call 'oDe, two. threeP at the word
two each must dip down and lay hold of
him, and at three lift him up aud carry
him out. but don't breathe while you are
STOPPING, or you will be knocked over as
he ISL
There was no time to argue the point.
The remainder Of the party marched into
the strong room, and following the direc-
tions of Macpherson We succeeded in get
ting out the remaining burglar
"Why. good graciousw exclaimed the
superintendent, "it's the Countp'
YES" | said, ''the Count, and Antoine
and madame. all three of them"
The three inseDsbIe men were removed
On stretchers-a grim procession. Mac
pberson followed them to the police sta
ton, but instead of the anticipated half
hour, it was more than three hours before
ne returned, and he looked completely ex-
hausted.
II have had an awful fright" he said.
1.-The other blackgnards came around in
twenty minutes or so. but the young ONE
the sham madam really thought he was
done for He had longer dose of the GAS
than the other two. and it was Just touch
and go with him.