The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-12-17

every inch of these grounds. having
wandered there many hours during
my sojourn at the mansion. And the
thought came to me that it would not
be difficult to escape in that maze of
hedge and shrubhery had once fair
start of my pursuers-
Within my range OF vision was por-
ton of the driveway, and presently l
saw the emperor's carriage roll away,
followed by several others. Piexoto
was seated in the last of the carriages,
but only a small portion of the Uru-
guayan guard accompanied the cor
tege.
1 tried to see. if the minister of po-
lice was among those who were returns
ing to Rio but was unable to note his
presence in the brief time the car
riages were in view. Nor did Valcour
seem to be with them. Captain de
Souza evidently remained in charge of
the guards left at the mansion.
Well, longed to leave the place
myself, now that the emptiness Of the
secret vault had been disclosed; but
for some reason my captors desired me
to remain a prisoner
The day dragged YEARLY away. One
of the BruguayanS brought me food
at noontime, and I ate with good ap-
when I attempted to raise the win
dow the surly guard outside presented
his carbine, and respected his wish to
leave the sash lowered
During IflS time ndQ ample OPP
portunity to speculate upon the as
tonishing events OF the morning; but
my attempt to solve the problem of
EHat had become of Dom Miguel and
the records seemed absolutely futile.
That the body of the chief had been
removed by some friendly hand-the
same that had saved the funds and pa
pers-there was no doubt whatever.
But when had this removal taken
place?
A. o,,, +f,,,a a -7ea+f,7er. t,c,,a ,oted
me that the vault had been entered in
time to save Dom Miguel from suffO-
cation; but a little reflection soon
caused me to abandon that notion. AL
lowing that the slayer of Madam la
bel had been a patriot, and left the
train at the first station beyond Cruz,
he could not possibly have returned to
de Pintra'S mansion on the sWifteSt
horse within eight hours of the time
my friend had been entombed alive,
and long before that Dom Miguel
would have succumbed to the con-
fined atmosphere of his prison.
Moreover. none of the conspirators
who knew of the ring or was compe-
tent to recognize it had been on the
train at the time of label de Mars
death. Therefore the patriot who
finally secured the key to the vault
and saved the records must have OBJ
tanned the ring long after any hope of
saving the life of the imprisoned chief
had been abandoned
Somehow, il occurred to me that the
man in the shrubbery had not been
murdered by the Mexican, but by
some one of our band who had
promptly cleared the vault and escaped
with the contents-even while the en-
peror and his party were in possession.
of the house The ring might have
been dropped during the escape and
found by the Mexican-this being the
only plausible way to account for its
being in his possession.
Although these speculaions were to
some extent a diversion, and served to
occupy my thoughts during my tedious
confinement, there were many details
to contradict their probability, and I
was not at all positive that I had dis
covered the right explanation of the
mystery
It must have been near evening
when the door was again opened. This
time a man was thrust into the room
and the door quickly locked upon US.
started from my chair with an ex-
cIamation of dismay. My fellow-pris-
oner was the mad Mexican!
CONTINUED Next Sunday.)