Waterbury evening Democrat., 1906-01-11

pdSSdStS dHu CIdlihieS to Dc cApioicu' Presently we both came to a stop on a simultaneous thought. 7
 "This is really no use." said. "Tts quite impossible to exhaust all the 1 possibilities of this house, And still adhere to my previous notion that Mrs. Main was hardly in sufficiently pa- cific state to judge between shadows"
 I'm with you there," said Sheppard l cheerfully. fA.-1l,
 Very well, then: bed" said I, and to bed we went, admirably tired with our 1 excitement and our lab0rs. ]. 1 must have been asleep for some 1 hours when I awoke from dead uncOn- sciousness with the presence of some one in the room expressing me- AL most as I sat up heard Montgomery's voice 's"e
 Are you awake, Greatorex? There's some one about the house. &~ | I sat still, striving to dissipate the | confusion of my brain. Somewhere, far i off. remembered that had heard this before. But with a strenuous effort of 1 the will I threw off the dwindling hands of sleep and got out of bed We'll go and see," said I. "What time Is it."
 | Il don't know" said Montgomery as lit candle with fumbling fingers But my watch is over. I think it's about F or L.
 Now. young man." l said, having pulled on some clothes, what about this alarm of yours:' | Ut was d noise-it woke me up" ex- plained Montgomery. sheppard re- 1 lieved me at II, and I turned in, feel | ing very sleepy. I thought 1 slept like a log, but something got on my nerves, I suppose. At any rate, it woke me up
 My dear lad, what was it?" asked impatiently.
 Tt came from the back of the bed," | he answered Tt was a sound of feet"
 Something within the walls" ar i gued: mice. beetles
 l Montgomery shook his head. Come and listen,' he pleaded. followed him. Certainly he was the least imaginative young man in the world. and 1t puzzled me that he should have taken this whim. Perhaps it was not fancy. Suddenly Mrs. Mains statement, which l had doubted and | ridiculed, returned to my mind in a flow of memory.
 Montgomery's room stood upon the back of the castle and, like all the rooms which were in use, faced the | park. It was small. square, cham Der. lined, as had been practiced throughout the castle, with oak. Mont gomery pointed to the pillow. My head was there," he explained. Lis i ten"'
 lay down upon the bed and rested. There's nothing to be heard said l.
 Watt" said Montgomery eagerly. ! A silence ensued. Don't you hear auything?" he asked.
 1 shook my head. My dear boy, it was fancy" said and was raising my ! head from the pillow when suddenly a slight sound struck upon my ears and I paused in the act and in the center of my speech. Il hear something now." I said But it's only the batter of rain
 | Montgomery set his ear to the wall. That's not rain" he whispered. He was right: it was not rain; it was the noise of feet falling lightly upon stone. 1 At once took fire.
 What is behind this oak?' asked. There must be some passage here" l sounded with my knuckles on the board. Its hollow"
 A careful inspection with the candle revealed a seam in the oak, which might mark the site of hinges, and to- gcther we pushed firmly on the panel. It fell back slowly. being. as I found afterward. without lock or spring and merely held in it's place by disuse and dirt. Within. tine light shone upon a black hole and dark flight of stairs l leading downward.
 We must see the end of this" said | Montgomery. and hopped into the dark ness like a frog. followed. Below there was now silence: the footsteps had died away. The narrow flight in the wall continued for some thirty steps and brought Us. as I reckOned, to inc foundations of the castle. Here We were fetched up promptly by a blank wall of wOOd-no doubt a similar encasemeni of oak as that in which the panel above was set. Cropping about. we fumbled upon a latch and opened the door quietly The candle iared on the walls opposite We were in the dark corridor leading 10 the treasure. AS this discovery flashed on me I b.or1 .naa rfsor,a tho Euftrad that I had