The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1910-11-17

not a little fear of what lay beyond,
with which l twisted and turned the
knob. 1t moved, but nothing seemed
to happen, and hen | discovered the
trouble. | pushed the knob vigorous
ly to m side, and the whole mantel
swung loose from the wall almost a
foot, revealing q cavcrnOus space be
yond,
| took a long breath, closed the
door from the trunkroom into the hall
thank heaven, did not lock it-and
pulling the mantel-door wide open, |
stepped into the chimney-room. | had
time to get a haZy view of a small
portable safe, a common wooden table
and a chair-then the mantel door
swung to, and clicked behind me. |
stood quite still for a moment, in the
darkness, unable to comprehend what
had happened. Then | turned and beat
furiously at the door with my fists.
1t was closed and locked again, and
my fingers in the darkness slid over a
smooth wooden surface without a sign
of a knob.
oNp ~ az
the mantel-door, at everything. | did
not fear s~uffocation; before the
thought had come to me | had already
seen a CLEAN of light from the two
small ventilating pipes in the roof.
They supplied air, but nothing else.
The room itself IA shrouded in
~blackness.
I,,,. hnyn Ia1nJ Afr n r,,rn
| did not faint. | was never more
composed in my life. | remember
planning. if | were not discovered,
who would have my things. | knew
Liddy would want my heliotrope pop.
lin, and she's a fright in lavender.
Once or twice ] heard mice in the par.
titiOns, and so | sat on the table, with
my feet on the chair. | imagined |
could hear the search going on
through the house, and once some
one came into the t%runkroom; | could
distinctly hear footsteps.
"In the chimney, In the chimney"
| called with all my might, and was
rewarded by a piercing shrek from
Liddy and the slam of the trunkroom
door,
/ felt easier after that, although the
o was oppressively hot and
~enervating. had no doubt the search
for me would now come in the right
direction. and after a little, / dropped
into a doze. How long | slept | do
not know.
1t must have been several hours,
for l had been tired from a busy day.
position. I could not remember
where | was for a few minutes, and
my head felt heavy and congested
Gradually 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 long,
gasping respirations, and my face was
damp and clammy. | must have been
there a long time, and the searchers
were probably hunting outside the
house, dredging the creek. or beating
the woodland. | knew that another
hour Or two would find me uncon.
scious. arl with my inability to cry
To- Il XIX ''i' '' .' VII tbdltt Vi les
cue. 1t was the combination of bad air
and heat, probably. for some made
quate ventilation was coming through
the pipes. | tried to retain my con-
Sc%iousness by walking the length OF
the room and back, over and over, but
I had not the strength to keep 1t up,
SO l sat down on the table again, my
back against the wall.
The house was very still. Once my
straining ears seemed to catch a foot
fail beneath Ne, possibly in my wi
room. | CROPPED for the chair from
ally on the floor. But nothing hap
pened; / realized bitterly that if the
sound was heard at all, no doubt 1t
was classed with the other rappings
that had SO alarmed us recently.
And them heard sounds from be-
low me, in the house. There was a
peculiar throbbing, vibrating noise
that l felt rather than heard, much
like the pulsing beat of fire engines In
the city. For one awful moment /
thought the house was on fire, and
every drop of blood in my body gath
cred around my heart; then | knew. 1t
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 a time / thought | had been
right. There was certainly something
going on down below; doors were
slamming, people we're hurrying
through the halls, and certain high
notes of excited voices penetrated to
me shrilly. / hoped they We're coming
closer, but after a time the sounds
died away below, and I was left to the
silence and heat, to the weight of the
darkness, to the oppression OF walls
that seemed to close In on me and
stifie me.
The first warning I had was a