Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1902-10-22

mistaken in thinking that ne hcard 8
noise, the man resumed his work Of writ
ing, and Captain Grant gradually raised
} his head again.
For ten minutes those tiger eyes were
glued upon the detective. Then the sol
der began to descend the tree with the
agility and the noiselessness of cat
Once upon the ground he stood and shook
his fist upward, muttering low words
which contained terrible threats. Turn
ing, he vanished from view among the
trees beyond the mill, and in about the
same place as where the two women had
seen him disappear on that other evening,
when they could not tell whether it was
| Roger Darrell or some one else, the two
men being Of the same build and the at
mosphere deceptive.
| A couple Of hours later Captain Grant
once more appeared upon the scene. In
| his hand he carried a large can of coal
| oil, stolen from some neighboring farm
house His object was apparent-he in
| tended to troy the mill by fire after
all, and if thing were possible get rid
of the detective at the same time.
For some time he glided about in the
lower part Of the mill. Not light was to
be seen, for Carol had retired to her room
in the dwelling and her mother had closed
the blinds In the lower story so that she
might be undisturbed in her occupation Of
reading old letters from her husband.
The Captain used dark lantern, and
in a short time had everything arranged.
A slow match was ignited that would
take certain length of time to burn, and
during this time he meant to secure the
dat nf 4tn In
Of the window was out of the question,
for it was only a small bulrs-eye opening,
and even a much more slender man tilan
the Russian detective would have had
trouble in passing through it.
Up the stairs erept the would-be muir
derer with the stealth of burglar. His
ears were on the alert for any sound, but
nothing was TO be heard save the heavy
breathing of the sleeper in the little room.
Ali this while the slow match he had
ignited down below was slowly creeping
toward the oil saturated rags and chips,
which once blazing nothing could extin-
guish. Captain Grant little knew what
danger he was mourning, and the terrible
trap he was about to enter.
Reaching the room in which the Rus
sian detective lay sleeping, having thrown
himself upon the cot without undressing,
he looked in. The candle still burned,
but dimly from want OF shutting. and as
the door was open he saw that the key
was on the inside.
To remove this to the outside was his
first care. This he accomplished without
awaking the sleeper, and then all was in
readiness for the elimination Of his plan,
but he could not resist the temptation to
creep across the little room and gloat
over his enemy once more before the
fire cremated him.
How his eyes cleaned as he gared
down upon the man who had hur ted him
so long. and whom his knife had allied to
kill. Ills breath came hard, a, though
excitement reigned within, and his hand
unconsciously sought the weapon in his
pocket.
At this instant, however the right hand
Of the detective suddenly shot upward
and clutched the throat of the soldier.
and ut the same time threw 'mself up
ward.
The two of them went over with
crash, locked in a deadly embrace, and
upon the floor there ensued a terrible
struggle Each man put forth his hest
efforts, and, had the detective been fully
WELL he would have had but little diff
Guilty in mastering the other for he was
a man Of wonderful physique, but the re-
cent cowardly blow received from this
self-same man had weakened his frame
considerably, so that he had all he could
do to equal the fierce endeavo,r made by
Captain Grant to overcome him.
They managed in some unaccountable
manner to gain their feet, and, like a
couple of giants, swayed TO and fro, as
IL they were two reeds bending in the
breeze
All at once they went to the floor with
a great crash, and such was the force of
their fall that they were separated. each
being hurled in an opposite direction.
When Captain Grant managed TO gain
his knees, it was only to hear sharp
snap. The door had, moved by the vic.
lence of their actions. slammed shut.
Remembering that it was a sprin, iJcl;.
the man uttered a cry full OF horror. and,
springing forward, attempted to open il.
but the door remained fast. The spring
lock had caught, and he himself had re-
moved the key to the outside, thus seal
ing his own doom, as it appeared.
When the full consciousness Of their TO-
sition broke upon him, Captai1 Grant ut
tered low cry Of horror. for his soul
was overwhelmed by the magnitude Of
the doom he had thus cunningly brought
upon himself.
Hearing an exclamation of triumph
from his enemy and recent adversary, he
turned. The candle still burned feebly
close at his hand and he could see the de-
tective half Cruuching on the door, while
pistol was in his hand.
Captain Grant was equal to tive occa-
/ sion. however. for with one blow Of his
! hand he hurled the candle to the further
end of the little compartment. causing
I darkness to ensue of such dCnseness that
neither could see the other.
/ Hold, manw cried the Captain. hoarse-
! "; "of what use are hostilites now? We
are bound TO die together heze like rats
/ in hole"
what mean you, serpent?' came from
! the foreign agent, who was painting heav-
lily,
Il mean that we are locked in here,
and the old mill is on fire. Under the
door even now you can see an increasing
light. Listen, and You will hear the
voices Of the fire tiends. We are DOOM
ed"
This is your work. demon" calculated
the detective, jumping up aud yainly rat
tling the door.
Il acknowledge IT, but l have been
caught in my own trap answered the
miserable Captain.
To their ears now came low, mutter-
ing sound, like increasing thunder. II