Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1899-03-15
want to see if you are really the little
.,:r1 r -e,5 10 ,lo,d1o ~, ,,o1, 1yran -

want to see if you are really the little
girl I used to dandle on my knee"
They were now near the gateway.
They had been moving all this time.
His hand was on the curb of the old
we'll. His face, SO turned that it caught
the full glare of the setting sun, leaned
toward the girl, exerting fascinating
influence upon her. She took the step
he asked, and before we could shrek
out "Bewarel' we saw him bend for
ward with a sudden, quick motion
and then start upright again, while her
form, which but an instant before had
stood there in all it's frail and inspired
beauty, tottered as if the ground were
bending under it, and in another mo-
ment disappeared from our appalled,
sight, swallowed in some dreadful cav
ern that for an instant yawned in the
smoothly cut lawn before us and then
vanished again from sight as if it had
never been.
A shrek from my whistle, mingled
with q simultaneous cry Of agony from
Loreen and the bushes in our rear. We
heard Mr.. Gryce rush, but we our
selves found it impossible to stir, para
lyzed as we were by the sight Of the old
mans demoniacal delight. He was
leaping to and fro over the turf, hold
ing up his fingers in the red sunset
glare.
"Sixl' he shrieked. "Sixl And room
for svo more. Oh, it's merry life I
lead Flowers and fruit and lovemak-
ing ooh, how I cringed at thatD, and
now and then little spice like thisl
But where is my pretty Lucetta? Sure
ly she was here moment ago. How
could she have vanished then so quick
ly. do not see her form amid the
trees, there is no trace upon the lawn,
and if they search the house from top
to bottom and from bottom to top they
will find nothing of her-no, not 30
much as print Of her footstep or the
scent Of the violets she SO often wears
tucked into her hair''
These last words, uttered in differ
! emit voice from the rest, gave the cue to
the whole situation. We saw, even
while we all bounded forward to the
rescue Of the devoted maiden, that he
was one Of those maniacs who have per-
feet control over themselves and pass
for very decent sort of men except in
the moment of triumph, and, noting his
look Of sinister delight, perceived that
half his pleasure and almost his sole re-
ward for the horrible crimes he had
perpetrated was in the mystery sur
rounding his victims and the entire i'm
munity from suspicion which up to
this time he had fancied himself to en-
joy.
Meantime Mr.. Gryce had covered the
wretch with his pistol, and his man.
who succeeded in reaching the place
even sooner than ourselves, hampered
as we were by the almost impenetrable
hedge behind which we had crouched,
tried to lift the grass covered lid we
could family discern there. But this
was impossible until I, with almost
superlluman self possession, considering
the imperative nature Of the emergency,
found the spring hidden in the we'll
curb which worked the deadly mechan-
ism. A yell from the writhing creature,
covering under the detectives pistol,
guided me unconsciously in its action,
and in another moment we saw the IA
tai lid tip and disclose what appeared
1 h be the remains Of q second we'll, long