The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1907-01-11

thing that impressed me was, where
could he have pot the stolon property
if he had fallen suddenly after partak.
ing of the drugged wine? The spoil
ought to have been in that ROOM 1t
was not, for had examined it,. ::
All this time the man had been ST.
lently thinking, now he said. "Loek
here, sir. In front Of the house the
grass is rather long. | was walking
on it at the time, and when received
the blow | was right in front of the
gate. You examine that grass and
see if there are any signs of fall on
the grass, or if any one has been drag
ged along it, for | feel sure that ! was
carried from that spot into the house.
IL will go and examine it, | said,
much struck by his intelligence; "and
now good-by for the present, and don't
get down hearted"
reached the front of the house and
carefully searched the grass. Soon l
found place where it looked disar.
ranged. and getting out my lens l
carefully examined it. Yes, there was
the mark of the fallen man; little
farther back was the mark of another
man who had evidently stood there
some time But, search as l would,
there were no signs Of any one being
dragged along.
Suddenly an idea s.iuck me, the
footprints seemed very deep. | made
one or two beside them; mine were
not nearly 80 deep. What did this
point to? The maker of them ad been
heavily laden. There could be no
doubt of it, the william had taken of
his own shoes and put on those of the
arrested man; then he had carried him
across the garden and thrown him
through the window unconscious,
pouring a glass Of the drugged wine
down his throat; then be had robbed
the dead man and departed.
Search as l might l could find no
more traces and the matter became
more puzzling. The burglar seemed
either to have flown away or to be
still in the house.
When l reached my lodging and
thought the matter over there was
only one possible conclusion. The
murderer must still be in the village,
and some of the stolen property must
be still hidden in the house or grounds.
About ten l cautiously crept. into
the garden and scaled tree which
stood in a direct line with the old
mans bedroom.
Presently l saw the light in one Of
the bottom rooms go out and soon af
| IcI Iuc 0lu Udu ulluSCli ChuiC W W euS
bed. First he very carefully drew the
window curtains together, which shut
me out from view.
l cautiously descended and began
to climb up the creeper which covered
the house, and was as thick as mans
wrist IN some places.
My heart beat violently as | neare0
bis window, the stem OF the creepel
was getting thinner and one false steE
might ruin all, but | reached it a.
last, and, by bending under the win
dow, had fine view. The first thing
that surprised me was that he ha6
not begun to undress; but a greater
was in store, for after walking across
the room and locking the door b
touched board in the wall-whict
was of panneled oakland it sprane
open, reves ling small, secret cham
ber. 1t might have been Aladdin
cave, for it glittered and shone, ever
in tie pale light. it contained "th'
stolen property!
watched with great interest TO
the next development, but am bount
to admit that it almost staggered me
The old man fumbled with his bear(
for some time, when it suddenly fel
of, revealing the face of man abeu
forty; then the wig followed suit, and
the metamorphosis was complete. l
was a young man in disguise. Th
mystery was solved.-NeU York Mai
CARE OF THE LAMP.