Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-05-06
THE HOUSE OF THE
BLACK RING.
BY FRED LEWIS PATTEE,
Copyright. 1905. by Henry Holt & Coz

out drawer in an old homemade dresser
book
Here. let me see it." The sheriff sprang
toward him excitedly. MY God. that's the
keichline stamp book. Hows this? There
want two "
Let me see it," asked the old man,
there"
''Humph!"
There's something strange about this
I'll take that right along with me- The
stamps are still In 1t.
Here look here. sheriff" Amos voice
came ITGe, from high above them.
Where are yeh Amos?''
Up the ladder. Come up. quick for
Gods sake"
Here. squire. you keep your eye on Jim.
I'm going up" He disappeared up the lad
der I,i as if on an errand of mercy.
Where are you. Amos?'
Here He looked up and saw the ex-
cited face of the man peering down at him
through a round hole the size of a Darrell
head. Come up through. sheriff" In a
moment they stood together in what SEEM
ed 20 be a cellar. A round lid was stand
ing up, hinged at one part like the cover
of a coffee pot.
Say. the whole things ciearer'n day
light. Look here" He closed the lid
which fitted with utmost nicely The top
Of II was of the same composition as the
earth floor. Without the most careful in
SPc~LlOIl oie IH4Sil not IeiI Lnere was any
| opening.
I've been here before This is the cell
/ lar of the old Heller house. The whole
/ things clears mud. as Lem seq. The
gangs been here all winter. and, of course,
/ there needn't be any track in the snow.
| Here's where they went the night Dan and
l chased EN-. spose they had to do their
/ cookin up there on account of the smoke.
Pshaw, It's easy, amt It? The reason
I why snow don't lay around the house is
on account of the warm air that comes up
| from the cave. My senses, won't 1 knock
out LENS pow-wowln? Come les go
down n tell the squire"
They found him wrathful and excited
He tried to kill me" he cried. IF he
hadn't had his hands tied he'd have muir
dered me, sure"
You see that stamp book" Jim was
standing by the table. the book before him.
The minute you got out of sight the
| squire took out his knife and begun to
scrape of some OF the marks. | stopped
| him. that's all. Iona said you found that
stamp book in our barn. and 1 don't want
| this one altered"
Its lie" shouted the old man. He
| tried to kill me-"
| Wal. Amos you take charge of 1t now.
| and you be careful OF It. It's valuable
| ind There was a business ring in the
sheriff voice Come on. Wen go back
now They started out together through
| the winding passages, the sheriff explain
| ing TO the squire what they had found at
| the end OF the ladder.
That clears the whole thing up then -
| He stopped suddenly and faced them with
animation. al Farthing knew all about
| this. or course. He had these two old part
ners Of his in there. and could sneak in
| and out just he wanted to- You re-
| member, Amos. how he slipped in onto you
and Dan that night In April Clear enough
now you see it, amt it?''
The others made no reply. They wound ST.
| lently out through the maryels of the cav
eTn. out into the dark warm OF the summer
night. There was no hint as yet of Hight in
the east. All was silent save the boom of
the run and the signing Of a little breeze
In the rhododendrons and cedars.