The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1912-12-05

, tu one OF the COuTtlhius pl tue w. =
ress. But at the foot OF this vertical
shaft he paused. lingering the foot
holds. and recruiting his breadth; ana
while engaged in these easy employ,
ments, fancied he felt draft In the
neighborhood OF his left ear.
His right ear was facing the incline
up which he had assembled. and hls
| left ear $50 he had imagined In the
dark was close 10 the solid rock
! In order that there should be no DOUBT
q bout IT, he wetted a finger and held
I IL up. The finger chilled most dis
tinctly on the left side. There was a
draft. and therefore another passage
somewhere.
He lighted one OF his precious
matches. and discovered the entrance
| TO the father set OF inclines OF which
| have spoken, and which the saint
! had never mentioned. and (as II turn
ed QUIT had never heard OF. And II
was up these, walking, and not climb
ing. that Kettle made his entrance
| into the fortress.
Sometime ago, when during some
| forgotten siege. work on the bottom
incline had suddenly struck water,
and the well WAS pronounced COM
plete. the surface end had been walled
| up, and furnished with q door This
was somewhere about $50 or $50 A. ID.
The we'll has not been used much
since. because OF It's propensity for
harboring carbon dioxid, and as far as
II can make out, the door has only
been opened during 1--WE OF the fort
ress' many sieges. They have rock
cut rain-water cisterns. which supply
everyday use. and anything up to a
| fve-years' siege.
OF course the door has been renew
| ed a good many times since then, be-
cause even white oak from the mid
Atlas ranges lasts only a bare eighty
years when II Is fully exposed to the
weather. But the same type OF ponder.
Gus, complicated, wooden, Berber key
has been used during all the CEN
turtles TO shoot the wooden bolt In the
marvellous wooden lock, and 1t Is on
cially supposed to occupy a nail in
the kaid's treasure vault, and probably
hangs there TO this day.
The only drawback 10 these old
locks is that they are entirely opeu
on the inside, and even without vast
ing a match over the process, Kettl7
was able TO lift the tumblers one by
one with his fingers. and pull the cob
web-clogged bolt out OF its socket
The massive oak door was inclined
TO scream on It's vertical pivots But
when IL was dragged open sixty
fourth OF an inch at a pull, with neat
boot pressed against the inside to
steady 1t, this complaining sound was
reduced TO the merest murmur And
when the gap was wide enough. Cap
tain Kettle stepped out into the full
smell OF an active COW stable.
Two lady cows scented him stimuli
taneously, and snuffled him with
moist noses, and presently diagnosing
him as a stranger. plunged backward
against their head ropes.
"Coosh! coosh!n said Kettle soote.
ingly and the COWS, not knowing that
british. term',of endearment, plunged
harder 10 the right hand and TO the
left. The sailor was annoyed at his
lack OF agricultural charm, but took
advantage OF the fairway. and made
swift passage TO the rear. Moonlight
glimmered In through a narrow slit.
and he grasped the elementary fact
that the stable held another building
above its sturdy arches.
His eyes. after their long training
in the black darkness OF the inclines,
acted readily in this gentle gloom. He
made quick circuit of the walls. and
found door, opened II, and saw
street: peered up and down that, dis
covered It TO be empty. and then ran
out to the opposite wall and looked
upward lie say big house above
the COW stable. built OF massive stone
blocks, and narrowly Widowed None
OF the windows was glazed, and most
we're In darkness.
But three were lighted, and from one
c; these came voices. He thrilled to
his innermost nerve as one OF the
voices reached him-and with II
faint smell OF frangipani-and was
within an ace OF calling out that he
vas near. and armed. and full OF fight.
and ready TO upset half the available
world TO bring assistance. He had the
words Miss Dubbs" on the edge OF
his lips, when common prudence
drummed into him that there were ten
thousand men within call, and II he
wanted TO be useful he must employ
wit, and not common vulgar valor. He
searched the wall OF the big house for
its main entrance door found II, ran
across, opened and entered.
Within was most exasperating
warren or passages and stairs. There
seemed TO be no ordinary human plan,
DO method, in the architecture OF that
Berber interior. There were steep
stairs and narrow stairs, passages on
the level and passages on the incline,
straight passages, and others tina.
wound in figures OF eight. Also. al.
though the inside partition walls we're
eight to ten feet thick, the whole
house seemed full OF the murmur and
whisper OF voices, and warm with hu.
man occupation, and sayory with the
smell Of cookIng