Evening star., 1898-05-14

| .''hA~At tficy tldu 1tcu away = USSl
stiffness set ia' I standing alone at one
| end OF the rood. my eyes fixed on the hour
| glass ana the sergeant with his four men.
| IKE statues az the other. also gazing at
! the same sinister object. The sergeant was
| the first TO break the silence
| Lieutenant" he said. do you wish to
| write anything
He stopped 81 prt being an unready man.
| rarely Tenturint far beyond yes and no.
4 should li& to communicate with one
in this houset Id 1 said. but the gen.
erai has forbidden it. all 1 ask is that
You shall have-any body conveyed from this
rosm rs's,nn as speedF as possible after the exc
Very good le,uenant,' answered the
| After that, Tor a sTong time. no word was
spoken: watched my life run redly
.hroash the wasp waist of the transparent
giass. then suddenly the sand ceased to
lower 1t has stopped said the sergeant
| must shake tha glass; stand where
I YOU are. ooIinnanded sharply. Your
| or9erS DO rot run to that
| Inc hihit of obedience rooted the SER
| geant to the spot
Send one of your. men to Gen. Trel-
| a"ny' L said. as il / had still the right
| to be obeyed. TELL him what has hap
| peiied. ana ask for instructions Let your
nan tread lightly as he leaves the room -
| me serse ant did not hesitate moment.
! out gave the order required of him. The
| soldier nearest the, door tiptoed out of the
| house. Probably. more than half an hour
| nad passed. during which no man moy ed
| the sergeant snd his three remaining
| solGiers seemed afraid to breathe, then We
| heard the step Gf the general himself on
| the stair l feared that this would give
the needed impetus to the sand in the
! glass but when Treiawny entered the
status qGo remained. The general stood
| looking at the suspended sand without
| s7oea king
That is What happened before. general
| ana mat * Why l not at my place
| "a "a
nave thus deServedlFr earned my death
| but l shall die the happier if my gen.
eral believes | Am neither a traitor nor Il
| cC"-ar1"
| Vance6 70 the table. slightly shook the
| hoiir glass ard TIE sand began to pour
| again: Then he picked it up in his hand
| examining it minutely. as if it We're some
| k;ad OF a strange toy. turning it over and
| ever He glanced up ri mo and said. quite
| III his usual tone. if nothing in par
| ticular had come between
| Remarkab!e thing that. Sentore, isn't
! Very" l answered grinily.
He put The glass down.
| Sergeant. take your men to quarters
Lieut. Sentore, L return to you your sword
| you can perhaps make better use of it
| alive. than dead. l am not Il man to be
| disooeyed. reason or no reason. Reneni-
| Der that, and row go to bed
| He left me without further word, and
| huckiing on my sword L proceeded
straightway to disobey again.
| I mad great liking for Gen. Trelawny
| Knowing how he frmed and ragged at being
| thus held helpless by ar apparently i'm
| pregnable fortress in the unimportant town
| Of ElsengoIe. / had myself studied the cita-
| Gel from all points. and had come to the
conclusion that II might be successfully at
| tempted, not by the great gates that opened
en- the square of he town. nor by the in
| ferior west gates, but by scaling the SEEM
] ingy unelimbable cliffs at the north side.
The wall at the top of this precipice was
| low. and owl 1g TO the height of the beeting
cliff was inefficienuy watched by one lone
| sentinel who paced the battiaments from
| corner tower to conner tower. | had made
| my plans. intending to ask the general $
permission to risk this venture, but now
l resolved to try it without MS knowledge
| or consent. and thus retrieve. if l could.
| my failure of the foregoing part of the
| night. Taking with me long, thin rope
which had in my room, anticipating such
| triaf for IT, | reused five of my picked
| men. and sleIttly we made our way to the
| foot of the northern cliff Here with the
| rope around my waist l worked my way
| diasonally up along cleft i'll the rock.
| which, like others; parallel to it, marked
| the face of the precipce. A slip would be
| fatal. The lo6sening of a stone would give
| warning 10 the sertinel whose slow steps
l heard on the wall above me. but at last
.reacled a narrow ledge without accident,
! and standing up iE the darkness, my chin
was level with the top of the wall on which
| the sentry paced. The shelf between the
bottom of the wall and the top of the cliff
was perhaps three feet in width. and gave
| ample room fer man careful of his foot
ing. Aided by the rope, the others, less
expert climbers than myself. made their
way to my side Cne by one, and the six of
us stood on the ledge under the low wall
We were all in our stockinged feet, some
<xf
ings AS the sentinel passed. We
crouching iE the darkness under the wall.
the most staivart of cur party sDrang up
behind him. the soldier had taken off his
jacket, and. tiptoeing behind the sentinel.
he threw the garment over his head, tight
ening it with twist that nearly choked
the man. Then selling his gun that it
would not clatter on the stones, held him
thus helpless while we five climbed up be-
side him. Feeling under the jacket I put
my right hand firmly on the sentinels
throat, a1 d. nearly choking the breath out
of him. said:
Your life depends on your actions now.
VIII you utter sound if l let go your
throat.
The man shook his head vehemently and
l released my clutch.
Now" I said to him, where is the pow
der stored? Answer in a whisper and
speak truly
The bulk of the powder he answered.
sis in the vault below the citadel
"In the lower room of the round tower
by the gate.
Nonsense. l said: they would never
store 1t in place so liable to attack
''There was nowhere else to put it," re-
piled the sentinel. unless they left 1t in
the open courtyard, which would be quite
as unsafe.
rs the door to the lower room in the
tower bolted?"
There is no door" replied the sentry,
"but low archway. This archway has
not been closed, because no cannon balls
ever come from the northern side.
How much powder is there in this
room?"
II do not know; nine or ten barrels,
think
1t was evident to me that the fellow. In
his fear. spoke the truth. Now the ques-
tion was, how to get down from the wall
into the courtyard and across that to the
archway at the southern side Cautioning
the sentinel again that if he made the
slightest attempt to escape or give the
alarm instant death would be meted to him.
1 told him to guide to the archway,
which he did, down the stone steps that led
from the northern wall into the courtyard
They seemed to keep loose watch inside.
the only sentinels in the place being those