The Ordway new era., 1910-08-26

She went up the stairs at that. two
at a time. Evidently she collided
with the candle. for 1t went out, and
I was left in darkness.
was really astonishingly cool.
remember stepping over the chair and
gluing my ear to the door. and l shall
never forget feeling 1t give an inch or
two there in the darkness. under
steady pressure from without. But
the chair held. although l could hear
an ominous cracking of one OF the
legs. And then. without the slightest
warning. the cardroom window broke
with a crash. had my finger on the
trigger of the revolver. and as I
jumped 1t went OF. right through the
door. Some one outside swore round
ly. and for the first time could hear
what was said.
only q scratch. Men are at
the other end of the house. {.
Have the whole rats nest on u.s."
And a lot Of profanity which I won't
write down. The voices were at the
broken window now, and although I
was trembling Violently, was de-
termined that would hold. them until
help came. I moved up the stairs un.
til could see into the cardroom, or
rather through 1t, to the window. Al
I looked a small man put his leg over
the sill and stepped into the room.
The curtain confused him for q mo-
ment: then he turned. not toward me,
but toward the billiard room door. I
fired again, and something that was
glass or china crashed to the ground
Then I ran up the stairs and along the
corridor to the main staircase. Ger
trude was standing there. trying to
locate the shots. and 1 must have
been a peculiar figure, with my hair
in crimps. my dressing-gown flying. no
slippers. and a revolver clutched in
my hand. I had no time to talk.
There was the sound of footsteps in
the lower hall. and some one bounded
up the stairs.
I had gone Berserk, think.
leaned over the stair-rail and fired
again. Halsey. below, yelled at me.
What are you doing up there?" he
yelled. You missed me by an inch"
And then I collapsed and tainted.
When I came around Liddy was rub
bing my temples with eau de quinine,
and the search was in full blast
Well. the man was gone. The stable
burned to the ground, while the crowd
cheered at every falling ratfer, and
the volunteer fire department sprayed
1t with garden hose. And in the
house Alex and Halsey searched every
corner of the lower floor, finding no
one.
The truth of my story was shown
by the broken window and the over
turned chair. That the unknown had
got upstairs was almost impossible.
He had not used the main staircase,
there was no way to the upper floor
in the east wing, and Liddy had been
at the window, in the west wing,
where the servants stair went up. But
we did not go to bed at all. Sam Bo-
hannon and Warner helped in the
search, and not a closet escaped
scrutiny. Even the cellars were given
thorough overhauling. without re-
suit The door in the east entry had
hole through it where my bullet had
gone. The hole slanted downward,
and the bullet was embedded in the
pOTCn. some TeuQlSn stains showed IL
had done execution.
Somebody will walk lame," Halsey
said, when he had marked the course
of the bullet. Its too low to have hit
anything but leg or foot"
From that time on I watched every
person I met for limp, and to this
day the man who halts in his walk is
an object of suspicion to me. But
Casanova had no lame men; the near
est approach to it was an old fellow
who tended the safety gates at the
railroad, and he, learned on inquiry,
had two artificial legs. Our man had