The Morning examiner. [volume] (Ogden, Utah) 1904-1910, 1909-02-28
CHAPTER XXI.
Escape from the Tower.


I clung 10 my Drecarious support,
lying PROSTATE on the broad stone gut.
ter The roar of the swirling river
beat at my senses confusedly; the
gIddy height made my head swim.
Something OF the horror / had felt in
rounding the oyerhanGIng shoulder of
the mountain with Willoughby that
fatal day came TO me now
But presently that giddiness passed.
The extraordinary promise of Madame
de Varnier rang in my ears. How 1t
was possible for her to explain away
Sir Mortimer's damning words II the
letters were genuine, | could not see
But this had been a day OF miracles
Slowly / made my way toward the
first of tho flanking towers. The wind
struck me with redoubled force as |
turned the corner | heard the ensign
above llutterlng loudly In the gale
] looked up / could see it now. It
foated bravely In the spanking breeze
The moon, shining squarely on it,
made 1t even possible for me to dlstin-
guish its design. 1t was the national
flag OF England. the royal arms In Its
center Then | remembered the quota
tlon from the Blue Book | had read
early ia the morning just before Cap
tain Forbes had signaled to Helena,
The flag TO be used by His Males.
tvs Diplomatic Servants, whether on
shore or embarked on boats, is the
Union. with the ROYAL Arms in the
center thereof, surrounded by a green
garland"
l had reached my goal now. For
some minutes | was compelled to lie
inactive. however; for the flag. belly
ing IN the gale, made it impossible for
me to grasp the cords.
As lay there impatient, waiting my
chance, / glanced below could see
plainly the ladder Of stones. as Ma
dame dc WARMER had called 1t. the
ragged edges of the granite sparkling
brightly In the moonlight leaned
over as far as dared. they extended
as far as / could see
AS my eye travelled the line to the
terrace below the door OF the great
hall opened. a flood of light irradiated
portion Of the terrace. | saw dis
tinctly two figures converslng a mo.
ment at the doorway One of these
figures entered the chateau again. but
the other, and | had recognized DR..
Starva by his great bulk before the
door was shut, stole across the terrace
and entered brougham that stood
waiting.
AS the carriage disappeared under
the covered archway OF the passage
leading to the village street | made
renewed efforts TO reach the cords.
could readily guess Dr. Staryas mis-.
sion. He had gone to meet Prince
Ferdinand at the station. Heaven
knows how eager I was to be one of
tho reception committecl
When at last l had caught one NJ
the cords, | severed II thoughtlessly
with my penknife, had not counted
on the strength necessary TO hold so
large a flag. The cord slipped from
my hand. expected the flag TO fall
and reached out frantlcally for tho
other rope. But IN some way the rome
i had severed, and to which the flae
was not fastened. became entangled In
the pulley and the flag, falling halfway
down the pole. remained at half.mast
l now reached up as far az I could
standing on the stone gutter. | was
about to sever the other cord that IN
which the flag was fastened when n
occurred to me TO attempt to Olsen.
gage the ropes from their fastening
at the window below. I was complete.
ly successful, l estimated that | had
now length of at least so feet.
When I had plated the cords don.
bled. and lnotted them at intervals to
prevent them from slipping through
my hand. | made looDhole to slip