The Madisonian. (Virginia City, Mont.) 1873-1915, 1896-12-26
CHAPTER M.


When Stamer came to the gable 0i the
house next but one to the public house.
end the wall of which formed one hail of
The northern boundary Of the yard. he
paused and listened. He could hear no
sound of life or movement near him be-
yond the snort or cough of a horse now
AID then.
After a pause of two or three minutes.
he stopped. slipped off his boots. slung
thnm round his neck. and having hltched
The crook OF his heavy stick 10 Il belt he
wore under his waistcoat, he laid hold of
the w~atcrpipe that descended from the gut
ter of the double roof to the yard. and be-
gan ascending the gable of the house with
surprising agility and speed.
In less than two minutes from the time
lie first seized the w%atcrpipc b" dlsap-
reared in the gutter above. Tie "raWlcd
in d few yards from the edge and then
reclined against the sloping states OF me
roof 70 rest. The ascent had taken only
a couple Of minutes. but the e~Xerti"n had
been very great. and he was tired and
out of breath.
Then he unscrevcd his ~icrrulc and
Withdrew the hampton and unscreWcd the
handle of his stick. aud was busy i'll the
darkness for awhile with the weapon ne
carried.
He particularly wished TO have 4 steady
hand and arm that night. so he made up
his mind that he would rest until fly" min
;ltes to Il. Then he should get into
position. He should creep down the
gutter until he came 10 the gable wall
standing up over the roofs of the houses
on which he now was lying. He should
then be almost opposite the window al
which he last night SAW the dwarf wind
M his clock. He should be Il little out
of the direct line. but not much. The
width of the street was no more from
. house to house than fifty feet. The dis
lance from the wall of the house he
should be on then. and the wall OF Forbes
bakery could not be more than sixty fctt.
The weapon he carried was perfectly
trustworthy at a hundred and fifty yards.
or more. He had been practicing that
afternoon and evening M an old hat forty
wards, and he had never missed ii once.
Forty yards was just double the distance
he should be from that window if he We're
on a parapet instead of being at the coping
tie. living on the inside slope of the roof.
ALLOW another ten feet for that. This
+ would bring the distance up to seventy
feet at the very outside. and he had never
missed once at a hundred and twenty feet
lie had given himself now and then ;
y rood deal OF practice with the gun, for M
enjoyed peculiar facililies: because th'
factory wall by which the lane at tn
back of his place ran. prevented any on
n seeing what he was doing, and the nois'
Of til. factory drowned the wlir of tn
gun and the whiz of the bullet.
At half-past II that night tn" priyat
bar Of the public house held about hal
I'd a dozen customers. but it lacked n" cl'
waiting presence Of Oscar Leigh. who a
ways gave the assembly Il distinctly II
,rllectual air.
4 few minutes later. however. the spill
~ its of those present rose. for NJ. osca
Leigh came in, rubbing his forehead an
complaining of the heat.
Il have only 4 minute or two. mus
- be off to wind up" said Leigh. "Te
. ,,inutes to II by your clock, Mr.. WI
inms; that means Il quarter to right tim
ut is, have heard, the most Wonde
. full clock in Chicago spoke an acqualn
ance.
"In Chicago! In Chicago. In the worl
sir. 1t is the most wonderful clock ev
conceived by man. Well, my tim" Is u
Good night. gentlemen
He scrambled off his high stool and W
quickly out of the bar. 1t was nov ii
minutes to - o'clock, right time. !
crossed the street. and opening the p
waite door of Forbes, went in. closing I
door after him.
As he came out John Timmons turn
into the street. He went on until he cal
oppositc the window of the clork-roo
Here he stood still, thrust his hands dc
- down in his trousers pockets, and leani
- his back against the wall. prepared
watch with his own eyes the winding
the clock.
In less than five minutes the window
the TOD room. which had been dark. or
ually grew illumined until the light "a
full through the transparent oiled mus
curtain. Timmons could see for all pr
teal purposes as plainly as through gls
There Leigh is. anyway thou
Timmons. working away at his lc'
..~-a Can it be he was doing the same til
at this hour last night: Nonsense.
was walking away from this place v
me nj this hour last night as sure /;
am here now. | must be going Il
There, he is turning round now and !
-- ding to the men at the bar. They
4 he did the same last night. and. as |
there's the clock VIZ were under stril
the quarter past again. | must be g
mad. | begin to think last night II
iave been all il dream with me. | d
tnlnk he al right. 1 J. otie''
vitchcraft, but there's something WI
here; I'll watch this out anyway.
Wti--whiZ!
"Why, what's that over head!
Tmmons looked up. but saw notllr
ITS some young fellows larkinG.'
SIM. He glanced back at the window.
what Il funny way he's nodding
head now. And there's a hole in the
tain and there seems to be q noise in
room. There goes the gas ont. sup
the clock is wound W now. Stran
didn't hear the clock strike the hour,
ao. yet Leigl's light is out
DIV And John TimmOns walked out or I
.ynI street and took his way eastW
CHAPTER Xxi.
W. On Saturday morning about . o