The Julesburg grit-advocate., 1910-10-13

. - AA
planning. Z l we're not discovered.
Who would have ny things ] knew
Liddy would vaat ny heliotrope pop
Lin. and she's . fright In lavender.
Oncs or twice heard mice In the par
utioas. And 20 I sat On the table. with
my fest q the chair. I imagined ]
could hsar the search going On
through the house, and once some
oae came into the trunkroom: could
Aisti.ctly hear footsteps.
In the chimney! In the chimney!"
called With all my might. aAA vas
rswardeA By Q piercing shrek from
Liddy and the sla0 q The truAkroo0
Aose.
felt easier after that. although the
rooa Was oppressively hot asA
eservating. had NO doubt the search
for ~ would now come In the right
direction. and after . little. dropped
iato Q dose. How IoaS ! slspt I -
not know.
II must have besa several Aeurs.
for had been tired fro0 . busy day.
and I walked stiR from ny avkvard
position. could not remember
where I Was for . few minutes. and
my head felt heavy and coagested.
Gradually I reused to my surround
ings, and to the fact that in spite Of
ventilators. the air was bad and grow.
ing worse. I was breathing loag.
gasping rsspiratioas. and my face vas
AAA ~,snt A~vA kn~A
there long time. and the ssarchsrs
were probably hunting outside ths
house, dredging the creek. OF beating
the woodland. I knew that another
hour O two would and me uncoa-
scious, and with my inability to CRY
out would 60 my only chance Of rss-
cue. It was the combination of bad air
and heat. probably. for some made
quats ventilation was coming through
the pipes. I tried to retain my con-
sciousnsss By walking the length oi
the room and back. over and over. but
had not the strength to keep It up.
20 sat down on the table again. my
back against the wall.
The house was very still. Once ny
straining ears seemed to catch foot.
fall beneath me. possibly in my own
room. groped for the chair from
the table. and pounded with It frantic
ally on the floor. But nothing hap
pened: realized bitterly that II the
sound was heard at all. NO doubt It
was classed with the other rappings
that had SO alarmed US recently.
And then-I heard sounds from b.
low me. in the house. There was .
peculiar throbbing. vibrating noise
that l felt rather than heard. much
like the pulsing beat of IRE engines in
the city. For one awful moment I
thought the house was on IRE. and
every drop Of blood in my body gath
cred around my heart: then l knew. It
was the engine of the automobile, and
Halsey had come back. Hope sprang
up afresh. Halsey's clear head and
Gertrude's intuition might do what
Liddy's hysteria and three detectives
had failed in.
After q time thought had been
right. There was certainly something
going on down below; doors were
slamming, people were hurryins
through the halls. and certain high
notes Of excited voices penetrated to
me shrilly. I hoped they were coming
closer, but after . time the sounds
died away below, and was left to the
silence and heat, to the weight Of the
darkness. to the oppression of walls
that seemed to close in ON mo and
stihe me.
The first warning had was q
stealthy fumbling at the lock of the
mantel-dooi. With my mouth open
to scream, stopped. Perhaps the sit.
uation had rendered me acute, per.
haps 1t was instructive. Whatever II
was, sat without moving. and some
one outside, in absolute stiffness, ran
| his fingers over the carving of ths