Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1911-03-29
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THE MAN IN LOWER TEN, ETC.
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gingerly on the arm.
rs it's it Flanagan" l asked
shut in there?"
"No--yes-I don't know" he re-
turned absently Run along and don't
bother, Kit. He may take to shoot
ing any minute"
Anne and went out then and shut
the door, and went into the dining
room and sat on our feet, for of course
the bullets might come up through the
floor. Aunt Selma joined us there,
and Bella, and the Mercer girls, and
we sat around and talked in whispers,
and Leila Mercer told of the time her
grandfather had had a struggle with
an escaped lunatic.
In the midst of the excitement Tom
appeared in a bath-robe, looking very
pale, with a bandage around his head,
and the nurse at his heels threatening
to leave and carrying bottle of med
lclne and spoon. He went fmme-
diately to the pantry, and soon we
could hear him giving orders and the
rest hurrying around to obey them.
Bhe hammering ceased, and the si-
lence was even worse. 1t was more
suggestive.
In about fifteen minutes there was
thud, as If the cage had fallen, and
the sound Of feet rushing down the
cellar stairs. Then there were groans
and loud oaths, and everybody talking
at once, below, and the sound of
struggle. In the dining room we all
sat bent forward, with straining ears
and quickened breath, until we dis.
tinctly heard some one laugh. Then
we knew that, whatever it was, it was
over, and nobody was killed.
The sounds came closer, were COM
ing up the stairs and into the pantry.
Then the door swung open, and Tom
and policeman appeared in the door.
way, with the others crowding be-
hind Between them they supported
a grimy, unshaven object, covered
with whitewash from the wall of the
shaft, an object that had it's hands
fastened together with handouts, and
that leered at us with pair of the
most villainously crossed eyes | have
ever seen.
None of US had ever seen him be-
FORE
Mr.. Lawrence McGuirk, better
known as 'Tubby'," Tom said cheer
fully. "A celebrity in his particular
line, which is second-story man and
all-round rascal A victim of the
quarantine, like ourselves"
We've missed him for a week"
one of the guards said with a grin.
We've been real anxious about you,
Tubby. Amt week goes by, when
you're in health, that we don't hear
something of you"
Mr.. McGuirk muttered something
under his breath, and the men chuck.
led.
1T seems" Tom said, interpreting,
that he doesn't like us much. He
doesn't like the food, and he doesn't
like the beds. He says just when he
got good place fixed up in the coal
cellar, Flanagan found it, and is
asleep there now, this minute"
Aunt Selma rose suddenly and
cleared her throat.
"Am / to understand" she asked Sc
verely, that from now on we will
have to add two newspaper reporters.
three policemen and burglar to the
occupants Of this quarantined house?
Because, If that is the case, / abso-
lutely refuse to feed them"
But one of the reporters stepped
forward and bowed tremendously.
Madam he said, 81 thank you for
your kind invitation, butt will be
impossible for us to accept. l had in
tended to break the good news earlier.
but this little game of burglar-in-a-
corner prevented me. The fact is,
your Jap has been discovered to have
nothing more serious than chicken
pox, and-if you will forgive a poul.
try yard joke, there is no longer any
necessity for your being cooped up"
Then he retired, quite pleased with
himself.
One would have thought we had ex-
hausted our capacity for emotion, but
Jim said q joyful emotion was so new
that we hardly knew how to receive
every one else, and even the nurse
shared in the excitement and gave
Jim the medicine she had prepared
for Tom.
Then we all sat down and had sons
champagne, and while they were wait.
ing for the police wagon, they gave
some to poor McGuirk He was still
quite shaken from his experience
when the dumb-waiter stuck The
wine cheered him a little, and he told
his story, in a voice that was creaky
from disuse, while Tom held my hand
under the table.
He had had a dreadful week, he
said; he spent his days in a closet in
one Of the maids rooms-the one
where we had put Jim. 1t was Jim
waking out of a nap and declaring
that the closet door had moved by
itself and that something had crawl
ed under his bed and out Of the door,
that had reused the suspicious of the
men in the house-and he slept at
night on the coal In the cellar. He