The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1900-11-02

4 cay, perhaps ne was mere DeIOre N1ClOlaS
the First. Anyway, we can t settle the
question standing out here. What d you
say to going inside to see if he has left
a will among other things? You may
certainly consider yourself the old gen
tleman' S heiress if he has stored any
property here. -
ooh, perhaps he hasl Mr. Guthrie,
will you kindly act as executor?"
"Most certainly, madam" said the
young man with bow. s'Please stand
on one side and leave the coast clear
for the engine of the lawl''
He went hack 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 experimental shoulder
came into violent contact with pro-
jecting iron stud
'tHave you hurt yourself9" inquired
Dolly an3iously.
"Only a trife. But 1 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 a careful scrutiny of ev-
cry part of the barricade with both eyes
and knuckles.
"The door is not really very strong, I"
| she said at last, land even in its early
| days crowbar would have made short
work of it. F"
'tBut we haven t the crowbar'
NO, and SO 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.
All right, Dollyl' 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
eesy 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-
tions, and after 90 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
a very few minutes space capped wide
ly enough to admit Of their bodies
squeezing through.
whats on the other side7'' asked
Dolly
The undergraduate lit a match and
examined the country ahead of them
ga boarded passage, he reported,
! leading to another door.
"Open?"
| eyes. l can see the end of ladder
peeping through it,
'We're getting there at last, :" cried
the girl excitedly. "See if you can get
through that hole you We 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 dust, the pair set off down
the passage toward the other door which
lay SO invitingly open before them.
They never reached it.
Suddenly they felt the wooden floor
ing yield under their feet, and, with a
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 it 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 a
shoot of boards and went off sliding
down that at a slightly lessened pace
Then their involuntary slide ceased
almost as suddenly as it had begun.
They reached a terminus and fetched
up with jerk. Billows of binding
dust sprang out on all sides, and for
some ten minutes they seemed to be in
danger of suffocation But as soon as
they ceased to founder about the stuff
gradually subsidized, and they We're able
to cough their threats clear and look
around them to see what sort of pit
it was into which they had fallen.
The pivoted trapdoor in the floor
above had snapped to again, and, al
though the shoot of planks below ii
showed certain new made scorings, ev-
erything else was much the same as il
must have been before Neither Of the
pair had fortunately been hurt, for be-
meath their feet was stack of moulder-
ing PUSHES, which had broken their fall,
and as it had been placed exactly at the
foot of the slide they decided that il
had obviously been meant to serve Just
that purpose. Before them was small
door ajar, through which came the light
which showed them these details OF
their prison.
With eager curiosity they went on
through this door and found themselves
in snug, square room, with low
wooden roof, in the center of which was
a ships skylight. Through this the sun
was streaming in shafts of radiating
light, which focused themselves with
an accuracy that seemed almost pur-
poseful upon another tar letter inscrip-
tion scrawled over the door which had
admitted them. This was the legend