Barbour County index., 1909-04-21

breathed normally, when our atten
ton was attracted by a peculiar noise
At first I thought it was rats work
| ing in the walls of the ancient struc
ture. Clarke's sharp eyes, however
detected two small holes in the wains
| coting about three feet from the floor
He began feverishly to work at the
joints of the wainscoting with the
| point of the scimitar which he had
picked from the floor. Finally he sue
ceeded in prying up board sufficient
ly to admit the fingers of myself and
the inspector. With quick pull the
| boards came off one after another.
There. crouched in a niche con
cealed in the wall, bound SO that the
| slightest movement was impossible
gagged. and with his head held by a
rude clamp so that his eyes must look
through the two holes, was Richard
| kingi
Terrible must have been the wrong
1 thought, to merit such a revenge, to
see his sweetheart cruelty murdered
before his eyes. and then to be left to
die lingering. torturing death with
| the picture in his BRAIN
You were just in time, gentlemen.
| My compliments to you," said King
when his bonds were removed. Then
with a cry he dropped on his knees
at the side of the still inanimate Miss
Watrous. seized her hand, and covered
it with his kisses. Then, overwrought
by the terrible ordeal, he fell into a
passionate flood of weeping. My sym
| pathy for him returned. He had both
courage while the danger lasted and
feeling when it was past
No time was lost in getting Miss
Watrous to a hospital for, though
| Clarke pronounced her in no danger,
he feared a reaction when she re-
gained consciousness. The fanatic,
now apathetic. was bundled into a
patrol wagon with the inspector and
Zingaro as guards. Clarke, King, and
myself were seated in another, and
between our knees the girl was made
as comfortable as possible on a
stretcher. When the wagon started,
reused by the jolting, she opened her
eyes and gazed around at us in as
tonishment through the half light af-
forded by two police lanterns. King
bent down and kissing her, whis-
pered:
why did you come, darling? You
risked your life for mine and it would
have been useless but for these men.
Why did you do it?"
Il got your message, Dick, dear, and
l went"
But 1 sent you no word to come" :"
Here Clarke interposed and declared
that in the absence of a regular ply
should be absolutely quiet She closed
her eyes and the swaying of the We
hicle soon threw her into a natural
sleep.
"Now, Mr.. King" said Clarke, 81
think We can talk without disturbing
Miss Watrous. and / suggest that you
relieve the tedium of the ride by tell
ing us who this fanatic is and how
you happened to fall into his power"
The narrative which follows was
broken by the arrival at the hospital
and continued later at the station,
where we all went to arrange the
commitment of the fanatic, but l give
it uninterruptedly.
There is no doubt, ar. Clarke" be-
gan King, that your timely arrival
saved me from a torturing death and
Miss Watrous from perhaps worse. l
do not yet understand who you are or
how it all happened, but my part of
the story is soon told. This old man.
Vladimir Stephanovitch, is my heredl-
tary enemy. can scarcely blame him,
when | think that through my father
his five sons and his daughter are in
Siberia, if they have not already died; |;
that his wife died on the road and
that he himself spent Is years in
the prison camps of Sagahlin island;
that through my father his compan-
ions were scattered and deported, and
one of the most dangerous plots
against the cZar was thus frustrated
"Stephanovitch is of noble birth,
the most noble in Russia, being relat-
ed to no less a parsonage than the
z.
so l have heard my father tell, he
became infected with the dangerous
bacilli of black magic, which still
f1ourishes to a large extent in south
ern Russia. AS the ruling principles
of the black art are greed for power
and wealth, lust for revenge, it was
but step to nihilism. Stephanovitch
gathered together a formidable band
Like the magicians of old, they called
themselves The Brothers of the Left
Hand PATH and they were bound by
the most terrible oaths to encompass
by any means, natural or supernatura |,
the end of existing authority.
''Nihilism has used the dagger and
the bomb, but Stephanovitch added to
these the poisons of the Borgias and
the capacity for leadership which nj
hilism has lacked.
My father had millions invested