The weekly true Democrat. (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1905-1912, 1909-09-10

I'm bach 81 81 8
e fe q "a khia. - vac aensitls
- ll1e confidence IhonEh tbs were
.y Ne @ ~ frse60m et.iI ~ oa
fle knees &c tie Folss 81 very ne. -
@ Was poised. lettering 90 e pima
re a chancs
- fts end taking heart 81 GegDeEa-
toa. - STOPPED ard removed his
e1oes E prosecution which later ap.
oealo6 90 ~ sense og tie Ridiculous
O. piaw - tie racket he bad raised III
e1taEi1E but which at TIE moment
seemed most natRral and ID accord-
anee With common aensa Then. re.
lnE. - held be breath. staring and
listening About him fhe pitch DARK
ness was punctuaaed with fading
points q Gre. and ia BIZ ears was e
noise % strange Whisperlngs.
he went forward gingerly. feeling
rs way IKE q blind man on strange
ground Ere long be stumbled over q
dOorsiIl and found that the walls Of
the passage had fallen sway He had
entered a room, q black cavern Of
indeterminate dimensions. Thence,
progressing over complaining doors
through what may have been the Berv-
ants hall. q large room with a table
ID the middle aud q number Of pro-
miscuous chairs Cwitness bis tortured
shins), he finally blundered into the
basement hallway
By now a little calmer. be felt as
Bured that this was really No. o
Erognali street and g little happier
about It all, though not even momen-
tnrIly forgetful Of the potential police
and night Waterman. However, be
mounted the steps to the ground door
without adventure and found himself
&c last IN the same dim and ghostly
hall which be had entered some six
hours before. The mockery Of dusk
admitted By the fanllght was Just
strong enough TO enable him to iden-
tify the general lay OF the land and
arrangement OF furniture
More confidently with each uncon-
tested step be continued bis quest
Elation was stirring his spirit when
be gained the 6rst door and moved
toward the foot Of the second flight
approaching the spot whereat be was
TO begin the search Tor the missing
purse. The knowledge that be lacked
means OF obtaining illumination de-
. 6egred him nothing. He had some
hope Of finding matches IN one Of the
adjacent rooms. but, failing that, was
prepared 20 ascend the stairs on all
foura. feeling every inch OF their sur
face II Il took hours.
And thus II fell out that, ct the In
slant he was thinking Il time 70 begin
20 crawl and hunt, bis stockinged feet
came into contact with something
heavy, yielding. warm-something that
moved, moaned and caused his hair 70
bristle and bis flesh 20 creep.
We viii make allowances for him.
All along he had gone on the asSump-
\ ton that bis antagonist Of the dark
stairway would have recovered and
made or with all expedition 10 the
course OF ten or twenty minutes at
most from the time Of his accident
To find him still there was something
entirely outside Of RirkwoOd's reckon
ing. He would as soon have thought
TO encounter, say. Calendar-would
/ have preferred the latter. indeed.
HPoos devfT murmured the young
man. "He must be IN a pretty bad
way Cor sureF' he knelt, compassion
Rentling his heart, and put one hand 20
the insentient face. A warm sweat
moistened his fingers. His palm was
famed by steady respiration.
UNNECESSARILY perplexed. the Ameri-
can rose. slipped on bis shoes and but
toned them. thinking hard the while.
What ought he 20 dO7 Obviously nlght
suggested itself-incontinent flight, an
ticipatlnR the mans recovery. on the
other hand, Individually the latter had
sustained such injury that conscious
ness, when II came to him, would hard
~ be REINFORCED By much aggressive
power. Moreover, II was 90 be re-
membered that the one waa In that
house with quite as much warrant as
the other unless Kirkwood had drawn
q rash inference from the incident Of
the ragged sentry. The two Of them
were mutual Il antagonistic trespass-
era. Neither would dare bring about
the arrest Of the other. And then-and
this was not the least consideration to
influence KIrkwOod-perhaps the Eel.
low would die IL be got no attention.
light upOu the gubiecf acfuol "A