Rocky Ford enterprise., 1907-06-07
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CHAPTER X.
An ANair With the csretaksr.


In some sandwiches and a bottle Of
ale at midnight.
III there's nothing more. sir"
THAT is all. Bates. And he went
sedaieiy To his own quarters
~ was restless and In no mood for
bed. and mourned the lack of variety
In my srandfather's library. moved
about from shelf to shelf. taking down
one book after another. and while thus
engaged came upon series Of large
volumes extra illustrated In wafer col
ors OF unusual beauty. They occupied
a lower shelf. and ! spra~ied on the
fioor like boy with n new picture
book In my absorption. pilins the
great volumes about me. They were
on related SUBJECTS pertaining To the
French chaicaux.
In the last volume ] found a sheet
of white note paper no larger than
my hand. q forgotten book mark. I aS.
sumcd. and half crumpicd II In my iin.
gers before ! noticed the lines Of
pencil sketch on one side OF IT, car
ricd II to the table and spread II out.
II was not the bit of idle pcncliins
scale had evidently been followed and
the lines drawn with n ruler. With
such triics my grandfather had pn
doubt amused himself. There WAS n
long corridor Indicated. but Of this
could make nothing. ! studied II for
several minutes. thinking II might
have been n tentative sketch of some
part OF the house. In turning 4, about
under the candclabrum I saw that In
several places the glaze had been
rubbed from the paper by nm eraser,
and this piqucd my curiosity.
brought n magnifyinI glass 10 bear
upon the sketch. The drawing had
been made with hard pencil and the
eraser had removed the lead. but n
well defined imprint remained.
was able to make out the letters.
W. q to Ca reference clearly
enough to points Of the compass and
n distance. The word ravinc was
scrawlcd over rough outline Of u
doorway or opening of some sort. and
then the phrase:
THE DOOR OF BEwILDERMENT.
Now ! am rather an imaginative
person: that Is why engineering cap
tured my fancy. II wns his efforts
to make an architect "a person who
quarrels with women about their
kitchen sinks!) OF a boy who wanted
TO be an engineer that caused me to
break with my grandfather. Fate was
busy with my affairs that night. for.
instead OF lighting my pipe with the
4 .,i. It,,t, lad
TO study 1t seriously.
drew for myself rough outlines of
the interior OF Glcnarm House rs II
had appeared TO me. and then tried
to reconcile the little sketch with ev-
cry part of 1t.
THE Door of Bewildcrment' was
the charm that held me. My curiosity
was thoroughly aroused as TO the hid
den corners of the queer old house.
round which the wind shrieked tor
mentingly. went to my room, put
on my corduroy coat. took candle
and went below. One o'clock in the
morning is not the most cheering
hour for exploring the dark recesses
of strange house! but had resolved
to have look at the ravine opening
and determine. II possible, whether 1t
Ae any relation to THE Door of Be-
wilderment."
II was quiet in the great cellar;
only here and there an aren window
ratified dolorously. I carried tape.
line with me and made measurements
of the length and depth of the corri.
dor and of the chambers that were set
nff IL I n
my notebook for further use. and sat
down on an empty nail keg to reflect
The place was certainly substantial:
the candle at my feet burned steadily
with no hint of draft; but l saw no
solution of my problem. | was losing
sleep for nothing; my grandfather's
sketch was meaningless. and I rose
and picked up my candle, yawning.
Then a curious thing happened. The
candle, whose thin flame had risen un-
waveringly, sputtered and went out as
4 sudden gust swept the corridor.
had left nothing open behind me.
but some one had gained ingress to
the cellar by an opening of which !
knew nothing.
l faced the stairway that led up to
the back hall of the house when. to
my astonishment steps sounded be-
hind me, and, turning. saw a man
carrying lantern coming toward ne.
| marked his careless step; he was
undoubtedly on familiar ground. AS
watched him he paused, lifted the Ian
tern to level with his eyes and be-
gan sounding the outer corridor wall
with hammer.
Here, undoubtedly. was my friend
Mcrgan-again! There was the same
perrodicity in the beat on the wall
that l had heard in my own rooms.
As began at the top and went method'