Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1901-08-03

1851 VIM laii Ia "a Jul lAbhSst
to the opposite ne-for the support OF
both, as is common in wils In the
shadow near the far end of this-it was
SO directly under our window that J
coud only see the other end of it
made out a easement, family illumi
mated from within.
/ shook my head.
w cannot get down it," | said
measuring the distance to the beam
and the depth below it, and shivering.
Marie say we can, with a short
rope" Croisette replied. His eyes were
glistening with excitement.
But we have no rope!" | retorted
l was dull-as usual. Marie made no
answer Surely he was the most stolld
and silent OF brothers. / turned u
him. He was taking off his waistcoat
and neckerchief.
Good l cried. / begin to see now
OFF came our scarfs and kerchiefs
also, and fortunately they were OF home
make, long and strong. And Marie had
a hank of four-ply yarn in his pocket
as IT turned out, and | had some stout
new carriers, and two or three yards
of thin cord, which / had brought 70
mend the girths. If need should arise.
In five minutes we had fastened them
Cunningly together.
II am the highest" said Croisette.
But Marie has the steadiest hand"
l 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
ground.
True" Croisette mad to admit.
But he must come last, because who
ever does so will have to let himself
down"
l had not thought of that, and |
nodded. 1t seemed that the lead was
passing out OF my hands, and | might
resign myself. Still one thing | 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 | mounted on
Marie's shoulders, and climbed-not
without observation-disclosures the win
dow, taking as little time over it as
possible, for a bell was already rro-
claiming midnight.
All this / had one 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 Il mo-
raent in which to think. The sense Of
the vibrating depth below me, the airi-
s'N''f ~ - III 6l''lil Jun
frightened me. Are O ready?" NUT
tered Marie, perhaps with a little i'm
patience. He a not a scrap of imag-
nation, had Marie.
NO! wait a minute!" I blurted out,
clinging to the sill, and taking a last
look at the bare room, and the two
dark figures between me and the light.
mo-" / added, hurriedly. "Croisette-
boys, / called you towards just now.
| take 1t back! / did not mean It!
That is ALL" l gasped. Let go!"
A warm touch OF my hand. Some
thing like a sob.
The next moment I felt myself slid
ing down the face of the house, down
into the depth. The light shot up. My
head turned giddily. ] 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 II was too late TO think Of that,
and in another second my feet touched
the beam. ! breathed again. Softly,
very gingerly, | made good my footing
oh the slender bridge, and, disengaginS
the rope, let It go. Then. not without
another qualm, ! sat down astride OF
the beam, and whistled in token Of sue
cess. Success so far!
1t was a strange position, and l
have often dreamed of 1t since. In the
darkness about me Paris lay to all
seeming asleep. a veil, and not the veil
of night only, was stretched between n
and me-: between me, n mere lad, and
he strange secrets of n great city;
stranger, grimmcr, more deadly that
night than ever before or since. How
many men were watching under those
aimly-seen roofs, with arms in their
hands? How many sat with murder
at heart? How many were waking,
who at dawn would sleep forever, Or
sleeping who would wake only at the
knife's edge? These things | could not
know, any more than ! could picture
nov many boon companions were part
ing at that instant, just risen from the
dice, one to go blindly-the other
watching him-to his death? l could
not imagine, thank heaven for It, these
secrets, or a hundredth part OF the
treachery and cruelty and greed that
lurked at my feet, ready to burst all
bounds at a pistol-shot. 1t had no sig
nificance for me that the past day was
the 23d of August, or that the morrow
was st. Bartholomew's feast!
No. Yet mingled with the jubilation
which the possibility of triumph over
u enemy raised in my breast, there
was certainly a foreboding. The vi
DANES hints, no less than his open
boast, had pointed to something TO
happen before Notwithstanding
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 l sat in the darkness astrida
OF my beam, that / could see, closing
the narrow vista OF the street, the
heavy la of the Louvre, and hat the
murmur Of voices and tho tramp OF
men assembling came from it's courts,
with now and again the stealthy chal-
lenge of a sentry, the restrained voice
Of an officer. Scarcely a wayfarer
passed beneath me; so few. indeed, that
| had no fear of being detected from
below. And yet, unless I was mis-
taken. a furtive step, a subdued whis-
per were borne TO me on every breeze,
from every quarter. And the night was
full Of phantoms.
Perhaps all this was mere nervous
ness, the outcome of my position. AT
any rate | felt no more of it when
Croisette Joined me. We had our dag
b;ers, and that gave me some comfort.
we could once gain entrance to the
house opposite, we had only to beg, or
in the last resort force our way down
stairs n out, and then to hasten with
What speed we might to Pavannes
dwelling. Clearly 1T was a question Of
tune only now Whetnef BezerS band
or we should first reach it. And struck
by this whispered Marie to be quick.
He seemed to be long in coming.
He scrambled down hand over hand
at last, and then l saw that he had not
fingered above for nothing. He had
contrived after getting out of The win
dow to let down the shutter. And
more; he had at some risk heightened
u rope, and made a double line Of it,
SO that 1T ran round n hinge of the
shutter; and when he stood beside us,
he Q 1T by one end and disengaged
1t. Good, clever Marie!
"Bravo!" 1 said softly, clapping him
on the back. Now they will not know
which way the birds have fiown!"
So there we all We're, one of us, L
confess, trembling. We slid easily
along the beam to the opposite house.
But once there in a row one behind