The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1899-06-12
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CHAPTER XIV.

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CHAPTER XIV.
| TRAPPED.
The match which Guthrie was hold
ing went ont, and the gloom closed sud-
denly round them again. Dolly gave q
little gasp.
"Frightenedf" asked Guthrie, and
he linked his arm in hers.
"No," she replied, but shivered none
the lesa "l'm not frightened. I was a
little startled at reading the name of
Colepepper on the door, that's ali"
ut was enough to startle any one, "
Baid the undergraduate.
Their eyes were beginning to accus.
tom themselves once more to the gloom,
which the suddenly extinguished match
had for the time exaggerated into dark
ness They could see one another's
face again.
Dolly drew her arm away gently.
| "Yes," said she; lone doesn expect
to be confronted with ones own name
in place like this. OF course I had
heard Of Nicholas the First, as the doctor
calls him. before, and the finding Of the
Santa Catarina showed that he was not
quite Legendary person. But, for all
that, l don't think that I had altogether
had It brought home to me that he
must once actually have existed In the
! flesh till You acraped that match min
ute ago. and then You must own that
a notice like that tarry scroll was rather
a rude reminder Of my questionable
ancestry. 1t isn't 20 forcibly impressed
upon one every day that ono has had a
pirate in the family, and pirate, too,
who seems to have been in full and &C.
tive practice in this very island.
She paused.
"He's been dead a long time. though,
remarked Guthrie alphabetically.
''Yes, ! suppose that does make a
difference" she agreed II hope it
does, anyway"
''It does" asserted the other with
judicial fnality.
II wonder who Piper was" the girl
went on. perhaps he's relation too"
Guthrie laughed. IA crowd Of an
cestors is a great thing, Dolly" said
he, "but shouldn't claim too many of
these all at once, If I were you. Be-
sides as Piper stood godfather to tho
cay, perhaps he was here before Nicholas
the Fret. Anyway, we can't settle the
question standing out here. What d you
say to going inside to gee II he has left
q will among other thingsi You may
certainly consider yourself the old gen.
tleman's heiress if he has stored any
property here"
"Oh. perhaps he hast Mr.. Guthrie
will you kindly act as executorf"
"Moat certainly, madam" said the
young man with a bow. "Please stand
on one side and leave the coast clear
for the engine Of the lawl' i
He went back a couple Of steps, and
then charged the door with all his
weight.
1t remained exactly as It was. The
only tangible result Of the experiment
was that the experimenter's shoulder
came into violent contact with pro-
jecting iron stud.
"Haye you hurt yourself7" inquired
Dolly anxiously.
"Only trihe But haven't opened
the door,"
"Give me the matches"
He handed the box across, and the
girl lit seven matches In slow success
sion and made careful scrutiny Of ev-
cry part Of the barricade with both eyes
and knuckles.
1.-THE door is not reallyvery strong"
she said at last, land even in its early
days orowbar would have made short
work Of it.
"But we haven't the crowbar."
"No, and go it is strong enough to
stop us now, for it's still in good preser-
walton, and SOS the post which holds
the lock mortise But the outside Of the
frame-here, between the hinges-has
got dry rot. Look" And she split off a
crumbling splinter to prove her words.
CAN right. DollyI" said the under.
graduate. II see the trick. Stand out
there, on one side, away from the dust,
and I'll soon have hole through"
The work did not, however, prove SO
easy as it at first sight promised, for
there were veins Of the wood still sound
as ever they had been, but the dry rot
had worked all round these sound por.
lions, and after 30 minutes Of hard fin.
ger work the young man at last got a
hole clean through to the other side. To
enlarge that was an easier task, and in
very few minutes space gaped wide.
ly enough to admit of their bodies
squeezing through.
whats on the other side ?" asked
Dolly.
The undergraduate lit match and
examined the country ahead Of them.
"a boarded passage" he reported,
"leading to another door,"
"Open2"
eyes. I can see the end Of ladder
peeping through it,.
Were getting there at last" cried
Che girl excitedly. "See if you can get
through that hole you've made"
Guthrie squeezed through the aper-
ture with some small difficulty and
then turned to help his companion.
She was Of slighter build and so she
managed it more easily. Then, giving
themselves shake to knock off the thick
Of the oak dus., the pair set off down
the passage toward the other door which
lay SO invitingly open before them.
They never reached 1t.
Suddenly they felt the wooden floor
ing yield under their feet, and, with
startled scream, Dolly clutched instinc.
lively at her companion. Guthrie tried
to jerk his body backward, and his
hands shot out wildly in search Of a
hold. But with squeak Of triumph
as 1T seemed-the floor swung bodily
from beneath them, and they fell like
stones through space.
But they did not drop far. In about
ten feet they came into contact with
shoot of boards and went off sliding
down that at slightly lessened pace.
Then their involuntary slide ceased
almost as suddenly as it had begun.
They reached a terminus and fetched
up with a jerk. Billows of binding
dust sprang out on all sides, and for
some ten minutes they seemed to be in
danger Of sufocation. But as soon as
they ceased to founder about the stuff