The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1893-10-18
CHAPTER III.

".. CHAPTER III.
A STRANGE VOICE.
There was no one in the bar of tho Joy,
but | heard the low murmur Of voices in
the room beyond; so my courage holding
out went behind the bar counter, right up
to the open door, and looked in. The shut
ters were still closed, but by the light that
came in through the bar windows | saw
Drigo and Putty sitting face to face at the
dirty table, with pipes in their mouths and
a can of drink between them, playing
cards. The air was thick with smoke but
it was clear enough that no one, dead or
alive, was in the room but those two
Without looking at me Putty, sorting his
cards asked me what wanted, embellish-
ing the question with few foul words.
His calmness astonished me.
81 want to see the fair man." said l sud
denly.
"Then you'll have to wait till he comes
back"
ale amt gone out, and you know it.
amt took my eyes Off the door since he
came in this morning at half past @"
"Oh, very we'll. If he isn't gone ont
you'd better look about here and find him
Two for his bloomin mob" he added, ad-
dressing Drigo as he turned up card.
two rooms-the bar and the parlor. To find
Taras must look in the rooms above. My
retreat would he cut OF if went up stairs,
and ii Taras was murdered and lying there
knew well enough that should never be
allowed to tell the tale. But took Putty
at his word without hesitation, and pre-
pared for the worst made my way down
the side passage to the stairs, and after AS
surfing myself that the cupboard under the
stairs was empty, save for little coal piled
in one corner, and that the passage itself
contained nothing, went up to the story
above with u faltering step, quaking with
the double terror of finding Taras dead and
of hearing the stairs behind me creak un-
der the pursuing feet Of his murdcrers. |
passed from room to room, laying my hand
against the wall for support, my heart ceas
ing to beat whenever a rotten board creaked
under my foot.
The three rooms that composed the fat
were absolutely empty; there was nothing
above but the cockloft. To reach that
had to ascend ladder and creep through
the trapdoor. But | did 1t, though | ex
pected never to come down again.
The loft was empty and thick with thu
unstirred dust OF years. l descended thu
ladder and went down stairs, too bewild
cred by this mystery to reason upon it. Thl
two men were still playing in the den be
hind oA5 bar; they had not troubled them
selves to follow me-
well, ha' you found himt" Putty called
out, hearing my step.
Ale amt there" answered stupidity.
"preaps he's made o. glass, as you didn't
see him along of his friends and can't SEE
him nowheres about the house"
II wouldn't give him up sneered Dri
go. Come and sit down with us till h'
comes back"
"Oh, if you're a-goin to stay, you kel
give the bar n bit of II clean up. "There'
all them pots Putty broke off short IA.
if he had received some silent admonitioI
from Drigo.
Invent behind the counter and began +,
put it in order mechanically, for m!
thoughts were now occupied in solving tn,
mystery of this disappearance l asked
myself II at any time during my watch
had given away to fatigue and dozed. No
had sat down only for few minutes, ant
certainly had not lost consciousness then
felt that it was an impossibility for Tara
to have passed me without my perceiyinl
him. Had they thrown his body in tn
river2 No! In the silence of the night
should have heard the door in Ferryboa
alley open a second time as | had heard i
| the first nor could Il heavy body have beel
| carried down the alley without the scuf
| fling of feet being audible. Besides, the risl
was one which Putty, ! knew, had not tin
courage to run. And their compuslIre nov
was not consistent with their having dom
| dangerous deed, though Drigo might Yer.
| well have eounseled Putty to assume indif
| ference in order to avert suspicion whiel
! might have led me to communicate witt
| the police.
The most reasonable conjecture / coul,
form was that Taras had actually left th
| Joy with his friends and had turned dow
| to the water instead Of accompanying then
| into Sweet Apple lane. He might have OF
] dered tire waterman to return, and SO 20
| away. Ii this were really the case, Ia
| might return as Drigo had intended-no
that his word was to be taken in earnest
| his whole tone WAS ir' iieal and indicatiy
| of double mcarF.qg. Nut the hope tina
| Taras still lived and might return put neg
| lie into me, and went about my work be
hind the bar with such alacrity that thinl
the men inside conceived | was trying t
make amends for my misbehavior AT an
! rate, after long silence, in which they cas-
furtive glances at me every now and tier
/ their suspicion relaxed, and they cntere
/ heartily into dispute over some trie
which one had played with the cards Will
the other was not watching, and this led t
| their devoting more attention to their gamt
had a row of washed glasses on the ba
/ and was standing in front of the parlo
( door wiping them when my sense of heai
ing gradually took recognition of soun
which did not come from the men at IN
back. Tho silence Of my occupation a
lowed me to listen and yet continue wori
ing The sound was very faint. It's reGt
larity attracted my attention. one doc
not notice the single chirp of II sparrow, bu
| II the chirping is continued peraistently fG
any length of time it never fails to excit
attention. 1t was just the same with thi
sound, which | noticed after awhile o,
Cured in this way, with regular interval
between:
Tap, tap, tap-tap, tap-tap, tap-tal
tap-tap, tap-tap," and so on over and oyt
again,
/ looked round the bar for an explain
tion, saw no vibrating bottle on I'll
| shelves such ns the sound scented to ind
cate. There was no wind to shake the ye
low curtain against the trout Window
seemed to come from the old disused het
engine before me, and touched one of I'll
handles to SEE if it w,,s loose. The rattle
! made under my hand WAS answered aluos
immediately by Il similar rattle, and the
the engine itself seemed to be whisperin
with human voice.