The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1896-03-27

crumpled up in his hand An instant
later, with a grooming Of old locks and
a rasping of bars, the low door swung
open and the Prussians poured into the
stone-fagged passage.
"Where is Count Eustace de Chateau
Noir?'
| "My masterl He is out, SIR"
| ''Out at this time of night? Your
life for lie!"
st is true, sir"
"Where?"
81 do not know"
Doing what?"
81 cannot tell. No, 1t Is no use
cooking your pistol, sir. You may kill
me- but you cannot make me. tell you
that which do not know"
SIS he often out at this hour?'
Frequently"
| Sand when does he come homer"
"Before daybreak.
| Capt. Baumgarten rasped out Ger
man OATH He had had his journey for
nothing, then. The mans answers
were only too likely to be true. 1t was
what he might have expected. But at
least he would search the house and
make sure. Leaving a picket at the
front door and another at the back. the
sergeant and he drove the trembling
butler in front of them, his shaking
candle sending strange Pickering shad-
ows over the old tapestries and the low
oak-rafted ceilings. They searched
the whole house from the huge stone
tagged kitchen below to the dining
hall on the second floor with its gallery
for musicians and it's panelling black
with age, but nowhere was there liv-
ing creature. Up in an attic they
found Marie, the elderly wife of the
butler, but the owner kept no other
servants, and of his own presence there
was no trace.
1t was long, however, before Capt.
Baumgarten had satisfied himself upon
the point. 1t was difficult house to
search. Thin stairs, which only one
man could ascend at time, connected
lines of tortuous corridors. The walls
were so thick that each room was cut
off from it's neighbor. Huge fre-places
yawned in each, while the windows
were six feet deep in the wall. Capt.
Baumgarten stamped with his feet, and
tore down curtains, and struck with
the pummel of his sword. If there
were secret hiding-placcs he was not
fortunate enough to find them.
81 have an idea," said he at last,
speaking in German to the sergeant.
"You will place a guard over this fell
low and make sure that he communi-
Gates with no one."
| tsVac orfaiu -
And you will place four men in am.
bush at the front and at the back. 1t
is likely enough that about daybreak
our bird may come back to the nest"
"And the others, captain?"
"Let them have their suppers in the
kitchen. This fellow will serve you
with meat and wine. 1t is wild night,
and we shall be better here than on the
country road"
Sand yourself, captain?"
81 will take my supper up here in
the dining-hall. The logs are laid,
and we can light the fire. You will
call me if there is any alarm. What
can you give me for sppper-you?"
"Alas, monsieur, there was time
when | might have answered what
you wish But now 1t is all that we
can do to find bottle of new claret and
cold pullet."
''That will do very we'll. Let guard
go about with him, sergeant, and let
him feel the end of a bayonet if he
plays us any tricks"
Capt Baumgarten was an old cam
paigner. In the eastern provinces and
before that in Bohemia he had learned
the art of quartering himself on the
enemy While the butler brought his
supper in he occupied himself in max
ing his preparations for comfortable
night He lit the candelabrum of ten
candles upon the center table. The
fire was already burning up, cracking
merrily and sending spurts of blue
J pungent smoke out into the room. The
captain walked to the window and
looked out. The moon had gone In
again, and it was raining heavily. He
could hear the deep sough of the wind,
and see the dark gloom of the trees, all
swaying in one direction. 1t was a
sight which gave a zest to his comforta-
BILE quarters, and to the cold fowl and
the bottle OF wine which the butler
had brought up for him. He was tired
and hungry after his long tramp as he
threw his sword, his helmet and his re-
volver belt down upon a chair, and fell
to eagerly upon his supper. Then,
with his glass of wine before him, and
cigar between his lips, he tilted his
chair back and looked about him.
He sat within small circle of bril-
liant light which CLEANED upon his
silver shoulder straps and threw out
his terra Gotta face, his heavy eyebrows
and his yellow mustache. But outside
that circle things were vague and shad-
pwY in the old dining=hall. TIVE sides
were oak papelled and two were hung
with faded tapestry, across which
huntsmen and dogs and stays were
still dimly streaming. Above the fire.
place were rows of heraldic shields,
with the blazonings of the family and
it's alliances, the fatal satire cross
breaking out on each Of them.
Four paintings of old Seigneurs OF
Chateau Noir faced the fireplace, all
men with hawk noses and bold high
features, so like each other that only
the dress could distinguish the orusadeI
from the cavalier of the Fronde. Capt
Baumgarten, heavy with his repast
lay back in his chair looking up al
them through the cloud of his tobacco
smoke, and bordering over the strange
chance which had sent him, man from
the Baltic coast, to eat his supper in
the ancestral hall of these proud Nor