The Washington times., 1911-11-16
CHAPTER vI.-(Continued.)

r<~ UT senor-"
Sparhawk turned on his
J heel. and. re-entering his
room, thrust the letter into
an envelope, on which he inscribed the
name of the governor. In one corner
of the envelope he wrote the words:
THE messenger awaits an answer
"A minute later the sealed envelope
was In the hands of the puzzled Indian.
60, and be backed inside of hour"
commanded 2; 1It sparhawk. Report to me
The Indian started slowly, then, sud-
denly recollecting the latent verbal
powers OF the writer Of the letter he
carried. he descended the stairway and
trayersed the courtyard with rapidly
accelerating speed.
sparhawk closed the door of his room
and. seating himself beside the table,
sank we'll down In his chair and fast
ened Ills gaze on the chrome representa-
ton Of a Madonna and Child that hung
over his bed.
He had maintained this attitude for
soft rustling. followed by faint gnaw-
Ing sound, attracted his attention. The
sound seemed to come from under a low
wicker couch that stood against one of
the walls.
There was little doubt that the noise
was made by q rat or mouse, but Spar
hawk, who, like many people of i'm
pulse, often allowed trifing incidents
to divert his mind from serious sub
5ects. rose softly and picked up a
stout walking-stick, which always had
place among his traps.
Thus armed, the American stole over
to the couch and. with q sudden move
ment: drew 1t from the. wall. A big
rat darted out, but rapid as were the
movements Of the rodent, they were
not sufficiently quick to confuse the
eyes OF elude the muscle-play Of Spar
hawk. Two blows-one light and the
other heavy--stretched the lite animal
lifeless on the floor.
"1he pigs, Sparhawk exclaimed dis
gustedly. None but Spaniard would
this in a bed room" " 'A'''' "Ne
The. body, of the still quivering rat
was forgotten. The removal of the
couch had revealed a heap of dust-to"-
cred rubbish. among which old news
French novels. and lid cloth ft vers,
apparently from a womans hat. were
especially conspicuous;
6parhawk looked obviously at the
mass then began to turn over several
Of The articles with the point Of his
stick. He worked the yellow-backed
looks out from the pile.
"These French novels may come in
handy after while in a country where
literature is scarce" he muttered. IF
the chap who occupied these rooms last
were only a little more cleanly. I'd find
ns11er mere pleasure in handling theu'' but
lie stopped now, and from the heap
extracted small, yellow object.
"a woman's slipper, eh! So the last
cabnlleros tickled their guitars and
rang love ditties 20 her from the erect
yonder, the beutiful senorita lay here
on the COUGH with all this debris under
these French yellow hacks. Faugh"'
He dropned the slipper on the heap.
As he kicked back the books to their
the mass were several letters, which ap-
rarently had been writtcn by different
"i can't have this litter stirred up
tered, but Mayta and his family Will
have to get busy with 1t the first thing
tomorrow"
He. returned the couch to it's former
position and began to pace the floor.
Half an hour later there was a fain.
rapping on his door. and Mayta entered
the room.
well, did you find him-Don An
''Yes, senior. He sent you an answer
tC. tC..xSSrI. SSqI letter."
TIE. Indian placed an envelope in the
.Sparhawk calmly broke the seal Of
the envelope and drew out a lett+r.
This is what he read:
"Senor-If you will be good enough
to present yourself at the east wall of
the monastery tomorrow morning At
daybreak. you will receive an answer
70 me letter which you this evening
aeH1eSSsa The stoIid-faced IL Mayta, N1A Watching
Sparhawk narrowly, as he read the
words Of the note, saw grim express
siAn steal over his features. For some
s6rbed in thought. then he carelessy
tossed the letter to the table.
.Mayta. I have had the honor Of re-
Seiying my first visitor, visitor" said Spar spar
yonder in the corner-yes. I mean the
"Take him away with you. II you
please, and as soon as I get out Of here
tsmorrow clear, away that heap OF stun
under the couch and give the couch 1t:
self a good rundown with soap and
water. It's Just possible I may want to
The Indian nodded and picked up the
rat. He was about to leave the room
when sparhawk called him back.
"One word more, Mayta," he said.
How long n walk Is It from here to
the east wall of the monastery"
Phlegmatic as he was, the Indian
started as If he had been struck.
1.-The east wall Of the monastery,
saw his astonished eyes wonder toward
the letter bearing Don Antonio's sigma
ture.
"The east wall of the monastery"
SparnaWh repeated.
about ten minutes, senior. 1t is the
place of execution"
"Come to my room, then, half an
hour before daybreaK. BY the way. at
what hour does day break here, any
way?"
1--WE call it 4 o'clock at this time OF
the year"
BE here at half-past three-without
fail. Do you understand"
"Yes, senior. l will be here"
Sparhawk dismissed his man, and
going to a steamer trunk that lay in
the corner of the room took out large
alarm clock, which invariably accom-
panied him on his travels. This he
wound. setting the alarm for a quarter
after three. Then, removing only his
collar and shoes, he extinguished the
light and lay down on the bed.
The young engineer rarely found Il
necessary to WOO sleep. He seldom re.
tired early and seldom remained in bee
after o'clock, but whenever he stretch.
ed himself on his bed, he removed from
his mind all cares of the day and slept
as healthy man should sleep after Q
hard days work. On this night ht
lapsed into Inconsistencies in less thar
ten minutes after his head was on hi
pillow.
But II Sparhawk found It easy to gt
to sleep. he was equally quick to waken
A slight sound had this effect upon hin