The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1901-08-01
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} The RNse of The Wolf,,,,,,$$
BY STANLEY j. WEYMAN
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By STANLEY j. WEYMAN

u - SSN>~ 1870
feet below our window there was !,
marrow beam which ran from our house
to the opposite one-for the support OF
both, as is common in towns In the
shadow near the far end of this-it was
SO directly under our window that I
could only see the other end of it
made out easement, family illumi-
mated from within.
/ shook my head.
I'VE cannot get down it, I said,
measuring the distance to the beam
and the depth below it, and shivering.
Marie says we can, with short
rope" Croisette replied. His eyes were
glistening with excitement.
But we have no rope!" I retorted
/ was dull-as usual Marie made no
answer. Surely he was the most stolid
and silent of brothers. I turned to
him. He was taking off his waistcoat
and neckerchief.
"Good!" I cried. begin to see now
Off came our scarfs and kerchiers
also ard fortunately they were of home
make. long and strong. And Marie had
q hank of four-ply yarn in his pocket
Is 4 tWsreeI Vur; .-c j nsa some stout
heesa. garters, and two or three yards
Of thin cord, which had brought to
mend the girths, if need should arise
In hEe minutes we had fastened them
cunningly together.
II am the lightest," said Croisette.
But Marie has the steadiest hand"
objected. We had learned that long
ago-that Marie could walk the coping
stones of the battlements, with as little
concern as we paced a plank set on the
S. ground.
True, Croisette had to admit.
But he must come last, because who-
ever does so will have to let himself
down."
Io1
nodded. 1t seemed that the lead was
passing out of my hands, and might
resign myself. Still one thing I would
have. AS Marie was to come last, I
would go first. My weight would best
test the rope. And, accordingly, it was
SO decided.
There was no time to be lost. AT any
moment we might be interrupted. So
the plan was no sooner conceived than
= carried out. The rope was made fast
to my left wrist. Then 1 mounted on
Marie's shoulders, and climbed-not
without quavering-through the Win
dow, taking as little time over it as
n possible, for a bell was already pro-
claiming midnight.
All this had done on the spur of the
moment. But outside hanging by my
hands in the darkness, the strokes Of
the great bell in my ears, had mo-
ment in which to think. The sense of
the vibrating depth below me, the airl-
ness, the space and gloom around
frightened me. Are you ready?" nut
tered Marie, perhaps with a little I'M
patience. He had not a scrap of imag-
nation, had Marie.
u.s. mo! wait nlinute!'' I blurted out
cling1ng to the sill, and taking last
look at the bare room, and the two
dark figures between me and the light.
mo- I added, hurriedly, "Croisette-
boys, I called You towards just now.
/ take 1t back! I did not mean It!
That Is ALL" gasped. Let go!"
warm touch on my hand. Some
thing like sob.
The next moment felt myself slid
ing down the face of the house, down
Into the depth. The light shot up. My
head turned giddily. l chung. oh, how
/ chung to that rope! Half way down
the thought struck me that in case
of accident those above might not be
strong enough to pull me up again.
But it was too late to think of that,
and in another second my feet touched
the beam. I breathed again. Softly,
very gingerly, made good my footing
on the slender bridge, and, disenga ging
the rope, let it go. Then, not without
another qualm, I sat down astride of
the beam, and whistIed in token of sue
cess. Success SO far!
ut was a strange position, and I
have often dreamed of it since. In the
darkness about me Paris lay to all
seeming asleep. Aveil, and not the veil
of night only, was stretched between it
and me; between me, a mere lad, and
the strange secrets of great city;
stranger. grinmer, more deadly that
night than ever before or since. How
many men We're watching under those
dimly-seen roofs, with arms in their
hands? How many sat with murder
ut heart? How many were waking,
H1tfon Mt S.a1u VIZ 81 Or
sleeping who would wake only at the
kriife's edge? These things I could not
know, any more than I could picture
how many boon companions were part
ing ait that instant, just risen from the
dice, one to go bIindly-the other
watching him-to hts death? I could
not imagine, thank heaven for it, these
secrets, or hundredth part Of the
treachery andscruelty and greed that
lurked att my feet, ready to burst all
bounds at a pistol-shot. 1t had no sig
Iiffcance for me that the past day was
the 2Sd OF August, or that the morrow
was st. Bartholomew feast!
No. Yet mingled with the jubilation
which the possibility of triumph over
our enemy raised in my breast, there
was certainly foreboding. The vi
DANES hints, no less than his open
boast, had pointed to something to
I happen before morning something
wider than the mere murder of a single
man. The warning also which the
Baron de Rosny had given us at the
inn occurred to me with new meaning.
And could not shake the feeling Off I
fancied, as sat in the darkness astrida
of my beam, that I could see, closing
the narrow vista of the street. the
heavy mass of the Louvre, and that the
murmur OF voices and the tramp of
men assembling came from its courts,
with now and again the stealffy chal-
1enge OF sentry, the restrained voice
OF an officer. Scarcely a wayfa rer
passed beneath me; SO few, indeed, that
had no fear of being detected from
below. And yet, unless was mis-
taken, a furtiMe step, a sutodled whis-
per were borne to me on every breeze,
from every quarter. And the night was
full of phantoms.
Perhaps an this was mere nervous
ness, the outcome of my position. At
amy rate felt 9ao more of it when
Grsasette joined me We had our dag
geGs, and that gave me some comfort.
IL we could once gain entrance to the
house opposite, We had only to beg. or
1n the last resort force our way down
stairs and out, and then to hasten with
whal speed we might to Pavannes