The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1910-03-24
CHAPTER 1v-(contlnued)

than pretty, something less han beau
ttful, An oval face with gray. stead.
fast eyes, q straight nose and the mar
row upper lip of the aristocrat, hcI
lips We're. perhaps, too fun and too hui
man for your connoisseur of beauty.
She locked from face to face, ant
but for her pallor she exhibited no sigr
of fear.
Although she was unaware of the
2act. she had been afforded an extra
ordinary privilege. BY the merest ac-
cident, she had been ushered into the
presence of the Borough Lot" Not a
very heroic title for an organized band
or criminals, but. then. organized
criminals never take unto themselves
generic and high falutin' titles. Our
Silver Hatchets' and Red Knives
are boy hooligans who shoot off toy
pistols. The police referred to them
vaguely as the Borough Lot" Les
ser lights in the criminal world have
been known to boast that they were
not u~nconnected with that combina-
ton: and when some desperate piece
of villainy startled the world, the po-
lice investigating the crime started
from this point: Was it committed by
n of the Borough Lot, or was it not
AS Kathleen was pushed into the
room by her captor, a hum of subdued
conversation ended abruptly. and she
was the focus of nine pairs of passion
less eyes that ooked at her unsmil-
ingly.
When she had heard the voices,
when she took her first swift glance
at the room, and had seen the type
OF face that met hers, she had steeled
herself for an outburst of coarse
amusement. She feared She did not know
what she feared. Strangely enough, the
dead silence that greeted her gave her
courage, the cold stare of the men nery-
ed her. only one of the men lost his COM
posure. The tall, heavy-looking man
VINO sat at n end of the room with
bowed. attentive hesd listening to a
itt!e e!eaa-shaven man with side
minister's, h looked for all the world
like an old-fashioned jockey, started
with a muttered oath.
Upstairs" he roared and said some
thing rapidly in a foreign tongue that
sent the man who held the girls arm
staggering back with a blanched face.
-, ne stammered ap~pealingly, Il
didn't understand"
The tail man, his face flushed with
rage, pointed TO the door. and hastily
opening the door. her captor half drag
ged the bewildered girl to the darkness
OF the landing.
This way he muttered, the she
could feel his hand trembling as he
stumbled up yet another flight of
hSsSi oHce TellnqulSnlnB his
hcld of her. Don't you scream nor
nothing. or you'll get into trouble. You
see what happened to me for takin' you
INTO the wrong room. oh, he's a devil
Is Co~nnor-Smith, / mean. Smiths his
name, dye hear?" He sho her arm
oughly Evidently the man was be-
SIDE himself with terror. What dread
ieen could only judge. She herself was
half dead with fright. The sinister
races OF these men, the mystery of
this assembly in the shattered room.
her abduction, all combined to add
terror to her position.
Her unlocked a door and
pushed her in, This had evidently been
prepared for her reception, for a table
had been laid, and food and drink stood
ready.
The door was closed behind her, and
z bolt was slipped. Like the chamber
below, all daylight was kept out by a
curtain: Her first thoughts were OF es-
the rickety stairs had died away, then
crossed the room swiftly. The drop
from the window could not be very far.
h would risk 1t. She drew aside the
curtain. Where the window should
have been was a sheet Of steel plate.
e was screwed to the joists. Some
body had anticipated her resolve to es-
qare by the window. In chalk, written
"a an nliterate hand, was the SEN
tence:-
You wont be bert If your senserbie.
We want to know some questions
and then well let you go. Don't make
z fuss or It will be bad for you.
Keep quite and tell us these questions
and well let you go.
What had they to ask, or she to
answer She knew of nothing that she
could inform them upon. Who were
these men OBTAINING her? During the
hours she asked herself these
questions over and over again. She
grew faint with hunger and thirst, but
The viands spread upon the table she
did not touch. The mystery OF her cap
ture bewildered her. OF what value
was b to these men? All the time
the murTnur of voices in the room be-
low was continuous. Once or twice she
heard a voice raised in anger. Once
, Q slammed, and somebody went
clattering down the stairs. There was
= doorkeeper, she could hear him speak
with the outgoer.
Did d but know it, the question
that perpiexsd her wa an equal mat
ter Of perpfexity with others In the
house hat evening.
The not0rins men upon whom she had
looked all innocent of their claim to
Dcsorfety, were themselves puzzled.
Bat Sands. the man who looked SO
uf-he had the unhealthy appearance of
n who had just come through a long
Essasss-rras IN inquirer. vvenn!sAro-
body knew his Christian name-was
another, and they were two men whose
inquiries were not to be put Off.
yennis turned his dull fish eyes upon
big Common, and spoke with deiibera-
ffon.
Conner. What's this girl business?
Are we In II?
copnor knew his men too well to
temporize.
YOU'RE in It, IL it's worth anything"
he said slowly.
thrust forward.
rs there money in it?s he demand
Connor nodded his head.
AHeh??'
Conner drew a deep breath. h the
truth be told, that the Lot. should
share. was the last thing he had In
tended. But fer the laundering Of his
agent, they would have remained IN
ignorance Of the girls presence In the
house. But the very suspicion az dis
loyalty was dangerous. He knew HIS
men and they knew him. There was
mot ii faauSfhere Who would bact%,@n a.