The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1910-01-09

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ing that IT was new kind of knot
that couldn I slip and that the horse
must have chewed the halter through
II was less enthusiastic than / had eX.
'pected about the window
1T looks uncommonlv like a trap!
he said. "I tell You there was some
one in the park below when we were
that scientists ignore-a sense of the
nearness of things. And all the time
you have been gone, some one has
been watching me-
1'CouIdn t see you,'' / maintained; !;
can't see you now. And your sense
of contiguity ,didn t tell you about that
Hover crock. -
TO go with me. He was very lame. and
] helped him around to the open win.
dow. He was full of moral courage
the little man; it was only the physical
in him that quailed. And As we groped
along. he insisted on going through the
window first
''If it is trap" he whispered, 81
sides, AS / said before. life holds much
for you AS for me, the government
would merely lose an Indifferent en-
ployee.p
When he found T was going first he
was rather hurt but T did not wait for
his protests. | swung my feet over
the sill and dropped. | made clutch
at the window frame with my good
hand when | found no floor under my
probably ten feet and landed with n
crash that seemed to split my ear
drums. | was thoroughly shaken, but
in some miraculous way the bandaged
arm had escaped injury.
'' For heaven 3 sake, Hotchkiss was
calling from above, "have you broken
your backH'
"No,' ] returned, MS steadily as ]
could, "merely driven it up through
my skull This is staircase. m
coming up to open another window, -
IL was cerie work, but / accomplished
it finally, discovering, not without mis-
hap. a room filed with more tables
than I had ever dreamed of, tables
that seemed to waylay and strike at
me. When ] had got window open,
Hotchkiss orawled through, and we
were nj last under shelter.
Our first thought was for light
The same laborious investigation that
had landed us where we were, revealed
that the house was lighted by elec
tricity, and that the plant was not in
operation BY accident ] stumbled
across tabourct with smoking mater
ials, and found half dozen matches.
The first one showed us the magnitude
of the room we stood in, and revealed
also brass candle stick by the open
fireplace, a candle slick almost four
feet high supporting "A candle of sim
liar colossal proportions. II was Hotch-
kiss who discovered that it had been
recently lighted. He held the match
to 1t and peered al il over his glasses.
"Within ten minutes, he an
nounced impressively. this candle has
been burning. Look at the wax! And
the wick Both soft. y
NPerhaps it's the damp weather, y
/ vcutured, moving a little nearer TO
the circle of light. A gust of wind
came in Just then. and the flame turned
over on its side and threatened demise.
There was something almost ridiculous
In the haste with which we put down
the window and uursed the flicker TO
life
The peculiarly gbost-like appearance
of the room added 10 the uncanuincss
of the situation The furniture was
swathed in white covers for the winter;
even the pictures wore shrouds. And
iu a niche between two windows n bust
on a pedestal, similarly wrapped, one
arm extended under its winding sheet,
made a most life.like ghost, il any
ghost can be life"like.
In The light of the candle we sur
for mirth. Hotchkiss was taking off
his sodden shoes and preparing TO make
himself comfortable, while ] hung my
muddy raincoal over the ghost IN the
corner. Thus habitcd, he presented n
raklsb but distinctly more comfortable
appearance
''When these people built Hotch
kiss said, surveying the huge dimen-
sions Of the room, "thcy must have
1. =, t,,,,, nd hull oil
1t. What n ROOM
1t seemed 10 be living room, al
though Hotchkiss remarked that 1T was
much moro like a dead one. 1t was
probably fifty feet long and twenty
FIVE feet wide. 1t was very high, too.
with n domed ceiling, and a gallery ran
around the entire room, about fifteen
feet above the floor. The candle light
did not penetrate beyond the dim ont
lines of the gallery rail, but ! fan.
cied the wall there hung with smaller
pictures
Hotchkiss had discovered FIRE laid
IN the enormous fireplace, and in few
minutes we were steaming before q
cheerful blaze. Within the radius of
light and heat, we were comfortable
again. But the brightness merely en-
phasiZcd the gloom of the ghostlY cor
ncrs. We talked in subducd tones. and
smoked box of Russian cigarettes
which I found in table drawer. We
had decided TO stay all night, there
being nothing else TO do. ] suggested
a game Of doublc-dummy bridge, but
did not urge il when my companion
asked me If it rescmbled cuchre Grad
uallv, as the ecclesiastical candle paIed
in the freight, VIC grew drowsy. |
drow n divan into the cheerful area,
and stretched myself out for sleep.
Hotchkiss. who said tho pain In his
log made him wakcful sat wldc-eycd
by the fire, smoking pipe.
J had no idea how much time had
passed when something threw itself vio-
iently on my chest. | reused with a
start and loared TO my feet. and large
Angora cat fell with thump 10 the
floor. The fire was still bright, and
there was an odor of scorched leather
through tho room, from lIotchkiSs :
shoes The little detective was sound
asleep. his dead pipe in his fingers.
The cat sat back on its launches and
walled.
The curtain at the door into the hall
way bellied slowly out into the room
and fell again Tho cat looked towaro
IT. and opened lis mouth for auorher
howl I thrust nj it with my. foot, hul