The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1909-08-14

this outof-the-way point, and once
more he succeeded in freeing himself
and tore down the road In the direc-
ton of tho village.
My clothing was torn and mud
stained, my hands and face were
bruised and bleeding, ached in every
limb and was well nigh exhausted with
the furious and protracted encounter,
and was hatless and coatless into the
bargain, but l at least had one cause
for generalization. fSE,
In my second wrestle with my hith.
erto unknown assailant l had been
able to get sufficiently good view Of
his face to identify him positively and.
in spite Of the remarkable protesta-
tons of ignorance concerning the Car.
ney-Croft mystery which I had heard
him make to the widow only the night
before, and which l was now forced to
believe were but part of little COM
cdy gotten up for my special delecta-
ton, my lusty antagonist was no other
than the long-suffering jerks.
CHAPTER XIV.
The Doctor Explains 1t.
When returned to the house my
first thought was to read the note
which had found tied to the pistol
and, as l had expected, it was In the
Bruce woman's hand and was evident
ly intended for jerks, whom 1 had de-
tected as he was coming to get it. It
was brief and to the point and read:
TRY and return this pistol to Mr..
Wares room. Be cautious. Get her
to manage it. Do as she says"
puzzled long and deeply over these
words, for they brought new and
hitherto unsupported person into the
case. Whom did the widow mean by
"she?" 1t could not have been Miss
Weston. who was too i'll to leave her
bed, and. after considerable thought,
was forced to believe, as the only
possible explanation. that the pronoun
referred to one of the servants in the
house. This, to my mind, added ma
terially to the gravity of The affair, for
II unknown members of the domestic
staff were concerned in the matter
there was no telling how far the con.
spiracy might reach nor to what pur.
pose it was carried on.
l had become SO accustomed to mys-
FERROUS happenings of this sort, and
my head was SO filled with visions Of
Miss Carney, and with the words I
was now determined to say to her,
that no impression could have been
made on my mind by anything short
of most startling phenomenon.
AS I have said. the message was
evidently intended for jerks and was
from the widow. who. it seemed equal.
ly clear, either was or had been in the
subterranean passage holding con-
verse with it's loathsome inhabitants.
From my window l could see that
there were no lights in her cottage,
and ! was on the point of venturing
forth again and, from safe distance,
watching the pit until she emerged
and started for home, when a realiza-
ton Of my physical exhaustion took
hold OF me and ! adopted the wiser
plan of remaining in my room.
The night was far from restful, and
at the first glimpse of daylight I
dressed and returned to the manhole.
There was a light fall Of snow on tho
ground and was not surprised to see
that someone had climbed out of the
shaft and gone across the lawn toward
the Bruce house, but the lid of the
manhole was securely fastened down
as before.
In my efforts to raise 1t, or at least
to assure myself that it was locked, I
found, at the sides, two openings in
the grating larger than the others and,
slipping my revolver easily back and
forth through one of these, 1 was no
longer at q loss to understand how it
had appeared so mysteriously the
night before.
1t was quite evident that it had been
passed up through the opening and
turned until 1t lay fiat on the grating,
the person below doubtless mistaking
me for jerks and misconstruing my
efforts to raise the lid into a signal
from the stage driver that he had ar.
rived and was awaiting orders. That
did not understand this simple
maneuver from the first and appre-
ciate the situation at a glance was
because Of my highly excited nervous