The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-10-10

I The stiffness continued Mr.. Ledbet-
ter'S head was now on the floor and he
could see the stoutilegs as far up as the
shins. They were quite still The feet
were resting on the toes and drawn
back as it seemed, under the chair of
the owner. Everything was quite still:
everything continued STILL 4 wild hope
came to Mr.. Ledbetter that the un-
known was in fit or suddenly dead,
with his head upon the writing ia
BILE. =
The stiffness continued What had
happened? The desire to peep became
irresistible. Very cautiously Mr. Led
better shifted his; hand forward, pro-
jected a pioneer finger and began to lift
the valance Immediately next his eye.
Nothing broke the stiffness. He saw
now the strangers knees, saw the back
of the writing table, and then-he was
staring at the barrel of a heavy re-
volver pointed over the writing table
at his head.
;'Come out of that, you scoundrelr"
said the voice of the stout gentleman,
in a tone of quiet concentration. Come
out. This side, and now. None of
your hanky-panky. Come right out
now"
Mr. Ledbetter came right out, little
reluctantly, perhaps, but without any
hanky-panky, and at once, even as he
was told.
"Kneel," said the stout gentleman,
land hold up your hands"
The valance dropped again behind
Mr.. Ledbetter, and he arose from all
fours and held up his hands. Dressed
like parson," said the stout gentle
man. I'm damned if he isn't 4 lit
tie chap, tool You scoundreli What
the devil possessed you to come here
tonight? What the devil possessed you
to get under my bed?"
He did not appear to require an an
swer, but proceeded at once to several
very Objectionable remarks upon Mr.
Ledbetter's personal appearance. He
was not very big man, but he looked
strong to Mr.. Ledbetter. He was as
stout as his legs had promised. He
had rather delicately-c hiseled small
able area of whitish face and a num-
Der of chins. And the note of his
voice had a sort of whispering under
tone.
What the devil, say, possessed you
to get under my bed %
Mr.. Ledbetter, by an effort, smiled a
wan, propitiatory smile. He coughed.
Il can't quite understand" he said,
-
Why What on earth?-
It's soapl No-you scoundrel. Don't
you move that hand
It's SOAP" said Mr.. Ledbetter, from
your washstand. No doubt if
Don't talk said the stout man. It
see it's soap. OF all incredible things"
IF 1 might explain"
Don't explain. It's sure to be a lie,
and there's no time for explanations.
What was L going to ask you? An.
Have you any mates?"
In a few minutes, if you
Have you any mates, damn you? If
you start any soapy palaver I'll shoot.
Have you any mates?"
No" said Mr.. Ledbetter.
81 suppose it's a lie, said the stout
man, but you'll pay for it if it is. Why
the devil didn't you floor me when L
came upstairs? You won't get a chance
to now, anyhow. Fancy getting under
the bedl I reckon it's a fair cop any
how, so far as you are concern ed
Il don't see how l could prove an
alibi." remarked Mr.. Ledbetter, trying
to show by his conversation that he
was an educated man. There was a
pause. Mr.. Ledbetter perceived that on
chair beside his captor was a large
black bag on a heap of crumpled pa
pers and that there We're torn and
burned papers on the table; and in
front of these, and arranged method
ically along the edge were hows and
rows of little yellow rouleaux-a hun
dred times more gold than Mr. Ledbet-
ter had seen in all mis- life before. The
light of two candles in silver candle
sticks fell upon these. The pause con-
tinued. 1T is rather fatiguing holding
up my hands like this" said Mr.. Led
better, with a deprecatory smile
That's all right said the fat man.
But what to do with you L don't ex-
actly know -
7 know my position is ambiguous"
Lord" said the fat man. "Ambig-
uous! And goes about with his own
soap, and wears a laundering great
clerical collari You are a blooming
burglar, you are-if ever there was
oner'
ITO be strictly accurate" said Mr..
Ledbetter-and suddenly his glasses
slipped off and clattered against his
vest buttons.
The fat man changed countenance, u
fash of savage resolution crossed his
I face, and something in the revolver
clicked. He put his other hand to the
weapon. And then he looked at Mr..
Ledbetter, and his eye went down to
the dropped pince-nez.
Full cock now, anyhow" said the fat
man after pause" and his breath
seemed to catch. But III tell you,
you've never been so near death before.
Lordi I'm almost glad. If it hadn't been
cooked
be lying dead there now
Mr.. Ledbetter said nothing, but he
felt that the room was swaying.
"a miss is as good as a mile It's
lucky for both of us it wasn't Lord"
he blew noisily. There's no need for
You to go pale green for little thing
like that"
Il can assure you, sir said Mr.. Led
better with an effort
call in the police, I'm bust A little
game I've got on is bust. That won't
dc. If | tie you up and leave you again
the thing may be out tomorrow. To-
morrow's Sunday, and Mondays bank
holiday-Tve counted on three clear
days. Shooting you's murder-and
hanging-and besides, it will bust the
whole blooming kernooze. I'm hanged
Il l can think what to do-I'm hanged
if ! can"
viii you permit me-
You gas as much as if yon were
real parson. I'm blessed if you don t.
Of all the burglars you are the Weui
Mol won't permit you. There ism t
time if you start off jawing again III
shoot right in your stomach See? But
know Iow-I know now. What we're
going to do first, my man, is an ex-
animation for concealed arms. An ex-
animation for concealed arms And
look herel When [ tell you to do a
thing, don't start off at a gable, do It
brisk
And with many elaborate precautions
and always pointing the pistol at Mr.
I.edbetter's head, the stout man stood
him up and searched him for weapons
Why, you are a burglarl" he said
You're perfect amateur. You haven't
even a pistol pocket in the back of
your breeches. No, you DON'T Shu.