The Washington times., 1912-04-16
THE TIMES DAILY SERIAL STORY
Darkness andDawn
By George Allan England cr,. ysg as.., .sa Co,
Copyright, lsi1
tThe Frank A. Munsey Coz

Nothing yet7". cried Beatrice at last,
unable to keep silence any longer. Are
you quite sure you cant"
The question was not finished.
For suddenly, far down below them,
as though buried in the entrails of the
earth. shuddered stiffed, booming
roar. .'.
Through every rotten beam and fber
Some wall or other, somewhere, crum-
bled and went crashing down with q
long, deep, droning thunder that ended
In sliding diminuendo Of noise.
The boilersH' shouted Stern.
Out of the place he dragged her. She
screamed as huge weight from high
aloft on the tower smashed believing
through the roof, and with shower of
stones ripped It's way down through
the rubbish of the floors below as easily
as bullet would pierce a newspaper.
The crash sent them recoiling. The
whole roof shook and trembled like
h9nneyeombed nsyy,n ice in a spring thaw
Jared, and came to rest.
Both of them expected nothing but
that the entire structure would collapse
like card house and shatter down in
ruins that would be their death.
But though 1t swayed and quivered,
as In the grasp of an earthquake. 1t
Stern circled Beatrice with his arm.
Courage, now! Steady. now; steady"
The grinding. the booming of down
hurled stones and walls died away; the
echoes ceased. A wind-whipped cloud
Of steam and smoke burst up. fanlike.
away, dim in the, night, upon the stiff
northerly breeze.
Fire" ventured the girl.
mo! Nothing to burn, But come,
come; let's get out O. this, anyhow.
There's nothing doing, any more. All
fhTnnnhi Ton nnilnh FfaR afaVinU
here now"
Silent and detected they made their
| cautious way over the shaken roof. They
walked with the greatest circu mspec'
ton, to avoid falling through some new
hole or freshly opened crevasse.
To Stern especially this accident wa,
| bitter. After nearly a fortnight's ex.
hausting toll, the miserable fiasco wal
| maddening.
of blackness opened at their very feet
yawning cash of forty feet long anc
ten or twelve feet broad, with roughly
Jagged edges. leading down into un
| fathomed depths below.
| Stern gazed at It. puzzled a moment
then peered up into the darkness above
"H-m! said he. "One Of the half
ton hands Of the big cIock up there has
just taken a drop, that's all. One droI
too much, call it. Now II we-or oul
rooms-had just happened to be under
Meath? Some excitement, eh?"
They circled the opening and ap
preached the tower wall. Stern picked
up the rough ladder, which had beef
shaken down from It's place, and one,
| more set It to the window through
| which they were to enter.
But even as Beatrice put her foot oI
the first rung. she started with cry
Stern felt the grip of her trembling
hand on his arm.
! What Is it?" exclaimed her.
I Look! Look
Immobile with astonishment and fear
| she stood pointing out and away, u
| westward, toward the Hudson.
| Stern's eyes followed her hand
He tried to cry out, but only stammer
Ing some broken, unintelligible thing. .
| There. very far away and very small
yet clearly visible in swarms upon th'
| inky- black expanse Of waters. hun
dred. thousand little points OF hgh
| were moving.
A Continuation of This story VIII
BE Found In Tomorrow
Isaue NJ The TimeR.