Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1901-09-21
J The House of The Wolf,,,,,,S
By N j. WEYMAN

should give him a clear start.
his after-adventures are well known;
Tor he, too, lives. He was stopped
twice after he left us. In each case he
escaped by showing his book of Offices.
on reaching the college the porter re-
FUSED to admit him. and he remained
Tor some time In the open street ex-
posed TO constant danger of losing his
life, and knowing not what to do. At
length he induced the gatekeeper, by
the present OF some small pieces OF
money, to call the principal Of the coll
lege, and this man humanely concealed
him for three days. The massacre be-
Ing then at an end two armed men In
MS father pay sought him out and
restored him to his friends. So near
was France to losing her greatest min
lister, the Duke de Sully.
To return to ourselves. The lad out
OF sight, we instantly sumed our pur-
pose and trying to shut our eyes and
ears TO the cruelty, m ribaldry, and
uproar we counted our turnings with a
desperate exactness, intent only on one
reach Louis de Pavannes, to
reach the house opposite to the Head
OF Erasmus, as quickly as we could. We
presently entered n long. narrow
street. At the end OF IL the river was
visible cleaning and sparkling In the
sunlight. The street was quiet: quiet
ana empty. There was no living soul
To be seen from end to end of II. only n
prowling dog. The noise of the
tumult raging in other parts was soft
ened here by distance and the inter-
Nenlng houses. We seemed to be able
to breathe more freely.
This should be our street" said
Croisette.
| nodded. At the same moment I
espied, half way down it, the sign we
needed n pointed to 1t. But ah! were
we IN time? Or too late? That was
the question. BY n single impulse we
broke into a run n shot down the
roadway at speed. A few yards short
OF the Head of Erasmus we came n
by one, Croisette first, TO a full stop.
a full stop,
The house opposite the booksellers
was sacked! Quilted from top TO bottom.
IL was a toll house, Immediately front
ing the street, and every window in
IT was broken. The door hung forlorn-
~ on n hinge, glaring cracks in it's
surface showing where the ak had
srlintered IL. Fragments OF glass and
ware flung out n shattered In sheer
Wantonness, strewed the steps; and
down one corner of the latter a dark
req stream trickled-to curdle by and
by In the gutter. Whence came the
stream? Alas, there was something
more to be seen yet. something our
ewes instinctively sought last of all.
The body OF a man.
1T lay on the threshold, the head
hanging back, the wide glaring eyes
looking up TO the summer sky whence
the sweltering heat would soon pour
down upon 1t. We looked and shud-
dered at the face. 1t was thai OF a
servant. a valet who had been with
Louis at Caylus. We recognized him at
once, for we had known and liked him,
He had carried our guns on the hills a
dozen times, and told us stories of the
war. The blood crawled slowly from
him. He vas dead.
Croisette began to shake all over. He
clutched n OF the pillars, which bore
up the porch, and pressed his face
against It's cold surface, hiding his eyes
from the sight. The worst had come.
In our hearts l think we had always
fancied some accident would save our
friend, some stranger warn him.
oh, poor Kit" Croisette cried.
bursting suddenly into violent sobs,
'Oh, Kit! Kit"