The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1899-1900, 1899-03-22

advice. He knows his business, and |
know nothing else will content youi
"Oh, I'm so glad" cried the old lady,
and she came to aim and parted his hair
on the brow and kissed him. ~
FF f---9
|, CHAPTER 1x. O. ibg
When the door had closed behind Der,
Hendricks gave deep sigh and smiled
faintly.. IN &A
"She doesn't know what an ,awfqlly
narrow escape Ihad, he ebtgan. @When
l retired last night was so o4ercd dme
with fatigue that l hardly could thke
time to undress. l actually fetfaslh hep
while sitting on the side of the bed
TO take off my boots. almost tumbled
to the floor, and that reused me suf-
ficiently to complete the operation it
"The first intimation of danger came
to me in a dream. l thought was in
the basement Of a burning building,
confined in a room, the walls of which
were solid masonry and the doors Of
iron. l seemed to be choking and gasp
ing for breath. 1t was no dream; il
was reality as far as the sitting sehsa-
tion was concerned, for on waking l
found my arms pinioned, weight on
my breast and towel saturated with
chloroform held tightly over my nos
trils.
"My Lord! it was awful Every vein
in me seemed on fire. felt as if l had
been pumped full of ignited gas. l
tried TO scream, but my human night
mare prevented that, or the slightest
movement on my part.
"All at once the thought struck into
my benumbed consciousness that was
in the clutch of my secret foe, and with
that came sort of repugnant des?era!
tion that had strength. threw out my
right hand, and catching the towel
wrenched it from my nose, and then
sucked down into me Whit of Gods
pure air. 1t seemed to act on me like
releasing a gigantic. spring, for l
hurled him from me as you would a
stinging lizard. heard him strike the
middle of the floor and grunt as the
breath went out of him. Then | felt
hastily under my pillow, and missing
my revolver, and hearing a click from
where he crouched, knew that he had
nabbed it. / was on my feet in mo-
ment, and you can bet did some tall
dodging in the darkness, for knew l
was his target. saw him moving as l
moved, trying to get an aim at me, and
all the time | was edging, sometimes
erect, again on all fours, toward the
corner where knew that old sword
stood-a relic OF the Revolution.
Before he pulled the trigger l had
hold of it. He heard it rattle and
blazed away. His bullet struck the
brass scabbard, glanced off and crashed
into that mirror there. The fash helped
me locate him, and jerking my weap-
on from its rusty sheath, l dashed at
him, hoping to cut him down before he
got another shot. My first furious
thrust with such a formidable weapon
astonished him, and he backed, cooking
the gun as he did so. gave him stab
right at the breast. 1t would have run
a two-inch plank through, but it had
no smore, effect on him than If ! had
struck the iron sides of an American
man-of-war. He had on bullet-proof
suit of clothes. l heard him laugh
derisively, and then he fired again.
felt the twiuge in my side just as my
mother screamed below, and then was
almost overpowered by the thought
that she would rush to my rescue and
get killed along with me. l dashed at
him, cut at the hand holding the re-
volver and was rewarded by heariDgithe
weapon strike the floor at his side. ]
saw him stoop for it, and plunged my
swords point at his back. Itrebound.
ed as if it had struck cork. The next
lick was dealt at his hand as it CROPPED
toward the pistol. knocked his arm
out and he fell sprawling on the floor
The mistake l made then was in try
ing to get possession of the revolver, fcI
when reached for it, he bounded to his
feet, and, kissing like n cat, sprangiout
at the open window through which he
had come. saw his head and shoul
ders disappear below the sill just hs ]
secured the gun. ran to the win dow
and saw him crawling down the slant.
ing roof of the conservatory. Remem
bering his armor, took aim at the bach
of his neck. but was too shaliy to shoot
well, and missed Before my unnervet
fingers could cock the revolver again he
was out of sight, ard heard the gate
in the rear close with slam.
Il started In pursuit dcwn the from
stairs, but when reachedthc first land
ing met my mother and keeled over
in a dead faint. The drug and Ith,
wound were too much for me. came
10 In moment and prevented her from
notifying the police or the neighbors o.
the accident. Then it was four o'clock
tried to get message TO you, bL
failed on the first attempt. That'sth,
/ l. y ~ t1-lL. Z y 49,