The Monmouth inquirer., 1906-10-11
. a penny less. When you ha

as one Of the provisions that you prom
Use not to 60 to the police about it. In
the first place 1 have made my ar
rangements to dodge them, and In the
next you won't care to give yourself
away and be made laughing stock
Of"
you reason logically" replied the
Hon. Charles as he also lighted cigar.
Il have had this house hired for the
last five months. am supposed to be
bachelor and fairly well off, having
only. a man to cook and wait upon me.
His name Is Thomas, and he is an ex-
cellent servant. You can rest assured
that he never will bring you into ridi-
Guile over this affair"
"To sum up, my friend, this is put
up JOB. have been lured here In or
der that / may be forced to buy my
liberty. You want 5000. must con-
fess that, while the price is not extrav-
agant, cannot see my way clear to
paying it just now What conclusion
/ may come to after three or four days
l cannot say"
every weil,n replied the explorer. 1T
is thirteen feet to the partly opened
skylight, with no chance whatever Of
your reAehing it. Thomas will bring
you bread and water three times a
day, and at night you shall have a
mattress to rest on. Three days hence
shall appear again. There is no hur-
ry about this thing. After my next
appearance the price of your Liberty
will be added to at the rate of f100 per
day. You can afford to pay, and / can
afford to wait"
1t was 2 o'clock in the afternoon
when the Hon. Charles Bingham was
left alone in the garnet room. He did
not waste his energies by crying out
or tramping round He did not look up
at the skylight except at long intervals.
The American was no fool. He had
taken his precautions before bringing
prisoner to the house. At o'clock
the man Thomas came in. One look
at him was sufficient to prove that he
was loyal to his master. He had a
frank and honest face, but he also had
keen eye and was stoutly built He
i bIOuSDt DTtdQ anu W dttI. lie Was re-
spectfuI in his demeanor.
''sorry for your poor fare, your hon
or" he observed, but it only depends
ON you to get better The evening pa
pers may help you on a bit. I'll bring
In the mattress later Also a candle"
"A faithful servant is jewel of rare
value" replied the captive as he ate
and drank and seemed very much at
home.
Later ON the mattress and a light
were brought in, but not another word
was spoken. The Hon. Charles was
not a man who jumped at conclu-
sions. That $4,000 could be paid with
out feeling the loss. but he wanted to
think things over bit. Was he worth
the ransom money to himself or the
public? Was the American prepared
to proceed to extremities in case he
did not get his money? The Hon.
Charles held that the London detective
was the sharpest man on earth. The
great man would be missed and hue
and cry raised. Would the sleuths
strike the trail and follow it up?
The room was rather warm that
night, it being summer, but the cap
tive managed to put in very comfort
able night He was up and ready to
bow to Thomas when the bread and
water and morning papers We're
brought in, and he was In fairly good
spirits at the end of the third day,
when the explorer called for his an
swer. 1t was not ready for him. On
the contrary, the captive pleasantly
observed:
"You see, my dear sir, this expert
ence is SO unusual with me that must
have little more time to think it over.
At the end of another three days l
shall doubtless be prepared to give you
a definite answer"
He was told that the three days
would add $500 to his ransom, but
there was no argument over that. His
captor retired, the same food and old
mattress were brought in, and as the
evening grew old the prisoner stretch
ed out for rest He was falling
asleep when he heard the skylight soft
ly raised Then he caught sight of
head and heard voice asking:
as there anybody down there?"
"Only me-" answered the honorable
as he realized that the voice belonged
to a young girl
'sAre you rich or poor, old or young?"
II am fairly rich, and / am a man
seventy years old"
.sThat won't do" said the girl. II
am an orphan. living with my aunt
in this row, ten doors below. If am
to rescue anybody, he must be young
and rich and ready to marry me, the
same as it is in the books. I'm sorry
for you, but must say good night"
..But hold on a minute" called the
captive. II can't turn myself into
young man, but can give some nice
young man money to marry you on.
That will amount to the same thing,
won't il?
'.why, yes; / suppose so. Will you
give ESP"
ssYes-a hundred"
The girl ran away without another
word, but fifteen minutes later she