Daily Arizona silver belt., 1909-06-20

the enigma or fortu1ty, wonder
 Ing If this by any possibility were A No. Q.
 The key had fitted. the bolts bad been drawn on the inside. and. while tue key had been one of ordinary pat tern and would no doubt have proved effecrual with any one of hundred common locks. the finger of probability seemed to indicate that his luck had brought him back to No. 9.
 In spite of all this. he was sensible of little confidence. Though this were truly No. 9. his freedom still lay on the knees of the gods: his very life. be- like. was poised. tottering on a pima cle of chance
 In the end, taking heart of despera- tion. he stopped and removed his shoes. a precaution which later ap- pealed to his sense of the ridiculous in view of the racket he had raised in entering, but which at the moment seemed most natural and in accord anee with common seuse Then. ris- Ing. he held his breath. staring and listening About him the pitch dark ness was punctuated with fading points of fire, and in his ears was a noise of strange whisperings.
 He went forward gingerly. feeling his way like blind man on strange ground Ere long he stumbled over a doorsill and found that the walls of the passage had fallen away. He had entered a room. black cavern of indeterminate dimensions. Thence. progressing over complaining floors through what may have been the serv- ants hall. a large room with a table in the middle and number of pro- miscuous chairs (wtness his tortured sbns,. he finally bundered into the basement hallway
 By now little calmer. he felt as- sured that this was really No. Q Frognall street and n little happier about II all. though not even momen- tarily forgctful of the potential police and night watchman. However. he mounted the steps 10 the ground floor without adventure and found himself at last in the same dim and ghostly hall which he had entered some six hours before. The mockery of dusk admitted by the fanlight was just strong enough 10 enable him to iden- arrangement of furniture.
 More confidently with each uncon- tested step he coptinued his quest. Elation was stirring his spirit when he gained the first floor and moved toward the foot of the second flight approaching the spot whereat he was to begin the search for the missing purse The knowledge that he lacked means of obtaining illumination de- tered him nothing. He had some hope of finding matches in one of the adjacent rooms. but. failing that. was prepared to ascend the stairs on all fours. feeling every inch of their sur face if it took hours.
 And thus 1t fell out that. at the fn- stant he was thinking 1t time to begin to crawl and hunt. his stockinged feet came into contact with something heavy. yielding. warm-semething that moved. moaned and caused his hair to bristle and his flesh to creep.
 We will make allowances for him. All along he had gone on the assump- tion that his antagonist of the dark stairway would have recovered and made off with all expedition in 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 Kirk woods reckon ing. He would as soon have thought to encounter say. Calendar would have preferred the latter. indeed
 "Poor dev,l!" murmured the young man. He must be in d pretty bad way for sure.' He kneit, compassion gentling his heart. and put one hand to the insentient face A warm sweat moistened his fingers. His palm was famed by steady respiration.
 Imneasurab perplexed. the Ameri- can rose, slipped on his shoes and but toned them. thinking hard the while. What ought he to do? Obviously flight suggested itself-incontinent flight. an ticiDatine ,she n,ro's racs,vnrv On tho