Wallowa County chieftain. [volume] (Enterprise, Or.) 1909-1911, 1909-04-01

end OF the right wing OF the chateau.
which had no other outlet than the
door Of the little chamber occupied by
the forest keeper.
The man. though he was evidently
wounded by our bullets. was now
twenty yards ahead OF us. Suddenly.
behind US. and above our heads, n win
dow In the gallery opened and we
heard the voice Of Rouletabille crying
out desperately:
Fire. Bernierl Firei''
At. that moment the clear moonlight
night was further lit by broad fash.
By Its light we saw Daddy Bernirr
with his gun on the threshold Of the
donjon door.
He had taken good aim. The shadow
fell. But as II had reached the end of
the right wing Of the chateau. II fell
on the other side Of the angle OF the
building--that Is to say. we saw 1t
about to fall, but not the actual sink
Ing to the ground Bernier. Arthur
Rance and myself reached the other
side twenty seconds later. The shadow
was lying dead ut our feet.
Aroused from his lethnrgy by the
cries and reports. Larsan opened the
window Of his chamber and called out
to us. Rouletabille. quite awake now.
Joined us at the same moment. and l
cried out to him;
HE Is dcad--is deadv
80 much the better" he said. "Take
him into the vestlbule OF the chntenu."
Then as II on second thought. he said:
Mono! Let us put him In his own
room"
RouletabIlle knocked Mt the door.
Nobody answered. Naturally, this did
not surprise me.
He Is evidently not there. otherwise
he would have come out" said the re-
porter. LET us carry him to the. ves-
tibule then"
Since reaching the dead shadow, a
thick cloud had covered the moon and
darkened tue night. SO that we were
unable to make out the features Dad
dy Jacques. who had now Joined us.
helped US to carry the body into the
vestibule. where we laid II down on
the lower step of the stairs. On the
way. had felt my hands wet from
the warm blood flowing from the
wounds.
Daddy Jacques hew to the kitchen
and returned with lantern. He held
/ II close to the face of the dead shad-
ow. and we recognized the keeper. the
man called by the landlord OF the
Donjon Inn the Green Man. whom an
hour earlier had seen come out OF
Arthur RANGES chamber carrying a
parcel. But what had seen could
only tell Rouletabille later when we
were alone.
Rouletabille and Frederic Larsan ex.
perienccd a cruel disappointment at the
result Of the nights adventure. They
could only look In CONSERVATION and
stupefaction at the body Of the Green
! Man.
Daddy Jacques showed stupidity
s0rrowful face and with silly lamenta-
tions kept repeating that we were mis-.
taken-the keeper could not be the as
saiiant We were obliged to compel
him to be quiet. lie could not have
shown greater grief had the body been
that Of his own son. noticed. while
all the rest Of US were more OF less un-
dressed and barefooted. that he was
| fully clothed.
Rouletabille had not left the body.
Kneeling on the fiagstones by the light
Of Daddy jacques lantern. he removed
the clothes from the body and laid
bare its breast. Then, snatchlng the
lantern from Daddy jacques. he held
II over the corpse and saw gaping
wound. Rising suddenly. he exclaimed
In voice filed with savage irony;
sThe man you believe to have been
shot was killed by the stab Of a knife
In his heartl''
| l thought Rouletabille had gone mad
but. bending over the body. quickly
satisfied myself that Rouletabille was
right. Not sign Of a bullet anywhere
The wound. evidently made by sharp
blade, had penetrated the heart.