The Savannah morning news., 1900-08-19

decided that the place had been deserted
a long time; perhaps years, Moore now
ever seemed to know where he was going,
and he led me, by a detour. around the
house. so that we finally approached 1t
from the front.
Just before we stepped from the conceal
ment of the bushes to approach the door.
l felt my friends hand upon my arm ana
heard him whisper very low: Follow me
closely, and do exactly as l say. great
deal-our safety-may depend upon It,"
Then he went ahead.
We stepped upon the riclSety porch as
silently as we could. but despite our efforts
IL creaked dlsmally beneath our combined
weight Then, TO my surprise, Moore, with
the butt of one of his pistols, hammered
loudly upon one of the panels of the door.
After the silence that had preceded his
act, 1t seemed to my strained senses as
| If the noise made by the knocking might
have been heard a mile away. Notwith-
standing THAT fact there was no immedi-
ate response, and presently Moore ham,
mered again, this time louder than before,
and the summons had to be repeated the
third time before there was anything like
a response. Then from beyond the door,
a masculine voice inquired who Is
there?"
"Marston Moore" replied my eompan-
ion In loud tone.
"Alone2" was the sedond query
mo; accompanied by a friend"
There followed n moment of silence, and
then the voice beyond the door said:
"Why didn't you come alone as you
were tcld to do? There isn't any room for
strangers here; you know that"
| thought | heard Moore swear under
his breath. but was not sure; and then.
in tone which there was no mistaking,
he shouted:
open that door, Madgley, or I'll kick
it in and 1t WON'T be difficult thing to
do either. Open 1t, and open 1t quickv'
There was another short interval of ST.
/ lence, and then, rather to my surprise,
the door swung slowly back on its hinges,
leaving space of impenetrable blackness
| in its place. There was not sign of a
human being to be seen. The man who
had spoken to us from behind the door
had disappeared-or. rather. he did not APP
pear at all
Moore Immediately passed through the
aperture into the darkness and disap-
peared, but a second later l heard his
voice:
Come on, Ferguson" he said; '1t's all
right"
1 followed without hesitation, but had
scarcely passed the threshold when strong
arms seized and pinioned me from behind,
a blanket was thrown over my head and
before / could do ANYTHING to resist the
attack. / was dragged to the floor. and by
many hands held helpless while others
bound me. Notwithstanding the struggle
in which I was engaged, | was conscious
that there was another one near me- and
1 believed that Moore had been attacked
In the same manner. Fools ehat we
were" thought, ito enter that dark cor
ridor as we had done without first taking
precautions TO avoid exactly the thing that
hed happened"
called aloud TO Moore but received no
reply; except for the deep breathing of
the men near me, the silence was abso-
lutte
As soon as was hound so .ha. ,horo
was mo chance To-, mo ~, 1000 -, -,
.ora raised mo from ne eonr 80 ~
me AWAY knew that nv c.rrtaa 80
20 the ecoond oocr ~ The brud,n,s Ia
oreeen,l,, , was tal,en tnto = iarae -.
s,,rara ,hora no., = a. a,d - ~ a..
,,.,ht co,,Ia 80 ,hat ~ 49,, =. ~, ~ u u,
assarI,ed mo ,,e-o garhsd e., ~ ~ ,ap
,.s,.I. III. l ..ai. ~ .iie 'o" "eH-
Ntro". 1870 az, ~ ,,,, ,,..,
a. -. ,,'a.,., se hl.ie oi
,iU =, -. 49, ,a ~ "ru reila'nen