Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1911-09-28
move az silently as you can. and no

move as silently as you can. and n"
.alking-not even a whisper"
l have never quite understood INC
}confrollable impulse which urged me
ward. 1t was, 1 think, n feverish de-
re to know the truth, to solve this
avstery once and for all; but over
hat. and stronge than that, was the
longing to exonerate Miss Lawrence
o prove Godfrey in the wrong. did
not stop then to reason abou IT; my
brain was in a whirl; but somehow
got my shoes off. and caught up with
Godfrey just as he cautiously tried the
door. 1t was unlocked; we slipped in
side n closed it softly.
| fancy that l felt at that moment
much as a thief feels VINO. having en-
tered a house, pauses to find IT he mas
been detected, and to determine the
seemed quite self-possessed. He drew
from his pocket a small electric torch,
and sent a slender beam of light quiv-
ering about the room. We We're IN q
sort of entry between kitchen and
dining-room: the kitchen door stood
ajar; We opened 1t and passed through
Again ] caught Il faint gleam of light:
Godf' crossed the room softly, en-
teree ~. t 1 saw afterwards to be a
pam. ~ ID opened another door,.
IN an instant. a broad stream of yell
low light poured through 1t was the
door to the cellar.
Godfrey lay down cautiously upon
the floor. and slowly dropped his head
through the opening. l was close be-
hind him, and l caught a sound which
| sent a sudden chill through me-a'
sound of shovelling. There was no
m~istaking it-Godfrey had guessed
! right. cculd heal the shovel scrape'
against the dirt: could hear the dirt
| dropped into a hole
Godfrey rose to his feet, motioned
| me to follow. and crept softly down the
!! stair. Not until l was halfway down.
did I perceive that the noise came %
from the main cellar, but from a sort OF
recess concealed from us by an angle
Of the wall. l could see IL head bob
bing up and down, with the regular
| rhythm OF the shovel, a head which I
! recognized as belonging to the elder
| Miss Kingdom.
We crept forward and gained the
shelter OF the other wall, when there
came a sudden sound of footsteps over
head. In an instant the light was ex-
/ tinguished, and l heard the woman
cross the cellar and go softly up the
stairs. Then a door opened and shut
heavily, a voice called her name, and
the steps went on int the front part
Of the u
MY face was damp with persipiration.
as Godfrey seized my hand and pulled
l tIlC " w a. ", q -
fore us. round the wall into the recess
where Miss Kingdom had been labour-
ing-only to pause. shudder1ngly, AZ
the brink OF a-grave? >.
1t was impossible to tell. Certainly II
was a hole which roughly 9
ond irregular. 1t was filled with loose
earth to within about a foot OF the
level Of the cellar floor. A pile of dir
was banked in n corner, and upo
it lay a pick and shovel:
Here whispered Godfrey, ant
thrust the torch n my hands. "keeI
your finger on this button. I'm goine
to find out what's buried here"
My hand was shaking so that coule
scarcely hold the torch. I saw hin
seize the shovel and step down into tn
hole. Then with q little shake of hit
head. he laid it carefully down again
and. STOPPING. began scooping the loos'
dirt from one end of the hole with hi
hands. 1 scarcely breathed as l watch
! ed him. What was buried here? Wha
dreadful thing was about to be re
vealed?
STEADY. Lester!" whispered Godfrey
and bent again to his task.
: But it was foolish to suppose this
grave! 1t might have been dug TO
> any OF a dozen purposes-perhaps tn
t cellar needed neutrality-suspicious. tn
. pipes were out Of order-perhaps-bu
e If it had been dug for an innocen
t purpose, why had Miss Kingdol
t chosen the middle Of the night for tn
work?
Godfrey stopped with a sudden ex
ciamation, and dropped upon hi
e knees. He laborcd for a moment witt
e feverish energy.
t NOW. Lester, here!" he said.
: I bent down and shot a ray of ligh
into the little hole which he had made
e Then, in sheer terror. I nearly droppe,
e the torch, for. half hidden by tn,
t clinging earth. lay a shoe-a shoe tina
was not empty!
<~~-a.>a A- r..