The Salt Lake herald-Republican. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1909-1918, 1909-10-03
Continued from last sunday.)

Continued from last sunday.)
The fear in the woman's first question
whether We were the police, and her
statement that the man was not in the
house, gave a clue to their character;
and the change in manner, the assump-
ton of friendliness, the suggestiveness
of sending the man to find the coffee;
indeed all these circumstances fitted to-
gether too we'll to leave any doubt that
some devilment was on foot.
did not feel the least alarmed, how
ever. I felt myself more than a match
for the two in any rough and tumble
that was to come; I was thoroughly on
my guard, and had a weapon and knew
well enough how to use it. As a matter
of fact, il was we rather than they
who were laying the snare.
Somewhere between half an hour and
an hour passed without a sound in the
house. l had finished my cigar and
tossed it way and was gazing into the
flickering embers Of the fire. when /
heard the stairs creak slightly. A glance
showed me that ValnO was asleep: a
tribute this, indeed. to her trust in me.
/ dropped my head as though 1, too,
were asleep and breathed heavily. l was
very DESTROYS to know what was TO hap
pen.
~
open noiselessly an the woman put her
head in. l had already set her down
for the head of the firm, as the more
courag eOus Of the pair of rascals.
She looked at US both for some mo-
ments and then entered and cTept to-
wards Volna. Not daring to let her
go too far I shifted my position and
grunted, as if uneasy insmy sleep. This
drew her attention and she stopped and
stared at me.
Next she moved 10 the table and took
up the two cups one after another;
glanced from them TO US in turn; and
concluding that we had drunk the con-
tents. set them down with a slight
grunt of satisfaction.
The logs slipped in the fire at that
moment with a shower of sparks. She
started and took a quick step towards
the door.
Thinking she was going I moved,
breathed very heavily and blinked at her
as though almost overcome with sleep.
Il came for the light she said in
a low tone Our candies out"
For answer 1 nodded, waved my hand
clumsily to signify she could take it, at
tempted to rise and fell back in my
chair, hUddled together as if completely
overcome with stupor.
She stood with the lamp in her hand
as if planning what TO do next, a look
of diabolical evil on her hideOus face
Then slowly and cautiously she came
towards me, Having satisfied myself
that she had no knife or weapon I shut
my eyes and let her hold the light close
TO my face. l could feel her breath as
she bent forward to listen to my breath
ing.
After moment she moved away and
erp=epd IN NplO1 uubpu1 she pvau1inp6
with the same scrutiny. A low sigh Of
satisfaction escaped her, as she turned
away and went out of the room, car
rying the lamp with her. I heard the
stairs creak as she crept up them.
Then 1 woke Volna. Don't be fright
ened. Pretend to be asleep. Something
is going to happen; the woman has been
in to make sure that we are asleep; and
Will no doubt be back'in a moment"
1 went back to my chair and waited
ready TO resume my extremely uncOm-
Portable position at a moments notice
Shortly afterwards the stairs creaked
again, more nOisily this time; probably
under the heavier weight of them both
but instead of entering the room the
steps went along the passage. Then
heard sounds i'm the distance; Just muf-
fled confused noises of knocking and
stamping What caused them I could
not conjecture
Soon after they had ceased, the foot
steps came again into the passage, and
a moving streak OF light showed through
the door of our room. This time some
thing weighty was set down with a
heavy bump just outside the door; a
most unaccOuntable rustling followed,
and then the two whispered together.
In the pause d pUngent odOT Of paTaf-
fin came from the lamp they had
All sorts of weird cOnjectures crowded
into thought as TO the possible mean
ing of this development. VOlna had
heard it all and looked at me in be
wilderment. / mOtiOned her to keep 81
lenCe.
Another journey was made TO the
creaky staircase. 1t was the man who
went and while he was away, the wOm-
an looked in upon us. I saw to my
surprise this time she wore her bonnet.
AS the mans tread was on the stairs
again she drew back and in a whisper
loud enough to reach US, she said: It's
all right. you coward. They're both off
fast enough. You can do IL safely now.
The man first, mind"
The next moment the door was push
ed wide open and they both entered
stealthily.