Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1903-09-10

{. VIM. Henry Peck
0000000000000006 =

nnd accomplice at the same instant.
"You are an idiot" he exclaimed
conceallng his emotion. "You are too
useful to me, Fan. l cannot afford to
lose you. Now away-James Greene
must be growing impatient"
Don't think I'm joking said Fam
as she took the second decoy note. y
did tell my friend to look for me there
Mr.. Hammond. For among wolves
look out for their fangs."
"She has saved her life this time.
muttered Hammond, as the cunning old
woman departed, aud as he stole after
her. "She lives to be witness against
me. She must die in her bed, and her
friends shall find her there, and not iD
The well.'
Creeping after Fan. and unseen by
her, Hammond saw her give the note
20 James Greene, who. all unsuspectin9
| Of assassination, read 1t with smile.
Poor little Katy" murmured James
Greene. as he kissed the beloved name,
how she must suffer here. But | will
soon make an end of her little ankle
!. ties. Lead on, Fan"
Fan seemed half asleep He shooI
her and made gesture toward the
door. He thought she was deaf.
| Poor James Greene!
Fan clasped his warm and honest
hand in her cold. dry claws and LED
him from the parlor into the pitchy
darkness of the dining room. Shf
knew that somewhere in the gloom 3
fierce and desperate assassin held eyt
and ear ready to detect the slightest,
| sign of treachery, and sudden. snaw
! ing pain seemed growing between he'
| shoulders as she remembered Ham
| mond's threat. She remembered, too
the reward she was to get-she fell
half of that reward in her pocket.
When In the basement where
burned a dim light filling the place
with gloom, she paused in terror. She
had never had a hand in murder, and
she was sixtyseven years old. A very
late age to commit SO dreadful crime
AS she paused. trembling, as James
Greene imagined. with the palsy of old
age, she heard the clicking Of pistol
clear and sharp, in the dense darkness
behind her. James Greene heard 1t,
too, and he started.
What was that?" he said, close to
Fans ear, and grasping her arm hard
Something snapped
"A rat trap said Fan. We've
caught rat. guess. Come on
She spoke loudly that some one else
might hear.
An explanation so simple ut once dis.
armed the slight suspicion Of unfair
play in James Greene's mind, and smil'
ing at his fears as he felt his strong
muscles subside from their sudden
swell of alarm, he said to himself:
Il am as nervous as poor Katy was
last night"
They reached the entrance of the
storeroom and here old Fan paused to
still the beatings of her heart.
Click! click! in the gloom again.
"Come on.' said Fan, and pushed
open the door, There's old humber
piled up In here she said. II must
step slow and careful. too. sir. This
way leads to a flight of stairs that goes
up into "a hall where Miss Elgln prac.
tices music"
Lead on, Fan" said James, smiling
at his strange situation, and wondering
what Hammond would say to find him
there.
Old Fan began to count her steps,
long and slow. feeling the floor with
her feet before she rested her full
weight upon the floor. She was not
sure that Hammond believed her story
about a woman friend.
Ten steps, all taken with an icy
sweat delusing her face, neck and bo
som. Ten steps! She knew she stood
upon a trap door over Il dark and moi
some pit fully thirty feet deep.
She halted.
"Wait! l must get key" said She
and letting fall her victims hand hur
ried straight on until she reached the
other door.
That instant Luke Hammond who
had crept after them, turned on a jet
Of gas, till then burning dim almost
unseen spark near the ceiling, and pis.
lol i'll hand, appeared at the door
through which James Greene had
passed.
Move single step and | fire" said
Hammond, aiming his weapon at the
head of the lover. Young man, you
are caught"
James Greene was pale and motion.
less, and his eyes were fixed i'll sur
prisc. not fear, upon Hammond
Luke Hammond held Il pistol i'll his
'ight hand, while his left grasped
cope which passed through hole in
he floor at his feet. That rope was
made fast at the other end to a bolt,
which was all that divided Greene
from the well below.
"If l shoot you, James Greene. you
would die the death of burglar caugh:
In the act" said Hammond.
A CLEAN in the calm, brave eyes of
James Greene warned the assassin that
his pistol was about TO be dared by
tapid spring.
You'll see your Katy no molc! eX.
claimed Hammond, jerking the cord
with all his strength.
A clash, sudden cry Of despair. and
Then dark, yawning chasm remained