Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1909-01-19
The Mystery
Of
ITh0Y0IIOW Room
By CASTOR LEROUX
Copyright. 1908. BY Brentano's
By CASTOR LEROUx
tcoNTINUED.l
CHAPTER XXI.
The Incredible Body.

body of the reporter and had
the joy to find that he was
deeply sleeping the same I'M
healthy sleep that / had seen fall upon
TFrederic Larsan. He had succumbed
TO the influence Of the same drug that
had been mixed with our food. How
was it, then, that 1 also had not been
overcome by it? l reelected that the
drug must have been put into our
wine, because that would explain my
condition. I never drink when eating.
Naturally inclined to obesity, am re-
stricted to a dry diet. I shook Roule-
tabille, but could not succeed in wax
Eng him. This, no doubt, was the
work Of Nile. Stangerson.
She had certainly thought it neces-
sary to guard herself against this
young man as well as her father. l
recalled that the steward in serving
MS had recommended an excellent
Chablis which, no doubt had come
IRON the professors table.
More than a quarter Of an hour
passed. 1 resolved under the pressing
circumstances to resort to extreme
measures. l threw a pitcher Of cold
water over Rouletabille's head. He
opened his eyes. / beat his face and
raised him up. / felt him stiffen in
my arms and heard him murmur, go
on. 90 on. but don't make any noise"
I pinched him and shook him until he
was able to stand up. We were saved!
"They sent me to sleep" he said.
"Ah. I passed an awful quarter Of an
hour before giving way. But 1t is
over now. Don't leave me"
He had no sooner uttered those words
than we were thrilled by a frightful
cry that rang through. the chateau,
veritable death cry.
"Malheurr' roared Rouletabille. eve
shall be too late"
He tried to rush to the door, but be
was too dazed and fell against the
wall was already in the gallery, re-
volver in hand, rushing like q mad
man toward Nile. Stangerson's room
The moment I arrived at the intersec-
ton of the "off turning gallery and the
fright" gallery I saw a figure leaving
her apartment, which in few strides
had reached the landing place.
was not master of myself. fired.
The report from the revolver made a
deafening noise, but the man continued
his fight down the stairs. I ran be-
hind him, shouting: stop! Stop, or I
will kill your AS l rushed after hin
down the stairs came face to face
with Arthur Rance coming from the
left wing Of the chateau, yelling:
"What is it? What is it," We ar
rived almost at the same time at the
foot Of the staircase. The window Of
the vestibule was open. We distinctly
saw the form of a man running away.
Instinctively we fred our revolvers in
his direction. He was not more than
ten PAGES in front of us. He stag
gered, and we thought he was going to
fall. We had sprung out Of the win
dow, but the man dashed off with re-
newed vigor I was in my socks and
the American was barefooted. There
being no hope Of overtaking him, we
fred our last cartridges at him. But
he still kept on running going along
the right side Of the court toward the
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, a win
dow in the gallery opened and we
heard the voice of Rouletabille crying
out desperately:
Fire, Bernier Fire"
At that moment the clear moonlight
night was further lit by a broad fash.
BY its light we saw Daddy Bernier
with his gun on the threshold Of the
donjon door
He had taken good aim. The shadow
fell. But as it had reached the end Of
the right wing Of the chateau, it fell
on the other side Of the angle Of the
building is to say, we saw it
about to fall, but not the actual sink
ing to the ground. Bernier, Arthur
Rance and myself reached the other
side twenty seconds la.er. The shadow
was lying dead at our feet
Aroused from his lethargy by the
cries ana reports. Larsan opened the
window Of his chamber and called out
TO us. Rouletabille, quite awake now,
Joined us at the same moment, and
cried out to him:
"He is dead-is deadw
$50 much the better he said. Take
him into the vestibule Of the chateau"
Then as If on second thought, he said:
'sNo-nol Let us put him Ia his own
room"
Rouletabille knocked at the door.
Nobody answered. Naturally, this did
not surprise me-
"IIe Is evidently not there, otherwise
be would have come out" said the re-
porter. LET Us carry him 10 the YES
thule then"