Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-07-13


ties which are not often fused In the
and that sweet young lady is in there,
and am partly responsible"
THAT, Of course, is absurd
answered. III anybody Is responsible,
I am. But shall have her out Of there,
Mrs. Lathrop, even II have to hurt
somebody to do It,"
Hurt anybody you like. she
snapped; I'm sure they deserve 1t;
only be careful not to get yourself in
trouble Remember, you have to keep
yourself free and unhampered.
When got back to the place again.
I hid myself behind big clump Of
bushes on the opposite side Of the road.
Behind me was empty farm land, SO
that felt myself secure from observa-
ton and able to give my undivided at
tention to studying the sanatorium
and the grounds about it.
I sat for some time peering through
the branches Of my leafy cover, and
had about made up my mind that the
guard was less vigflant than Nancy
supposed, when man came into view
about the eastern corner of the place.
He looked about him cautiously for
moment, and caleld up, apparently to
the blank wall Of Ivy, Hey, jim
YES voice answered, what is
it,"
"Got a chew!" the man asked.
From behind the battleme nts Of the
roof another figure rose.
Sure" he said; catch" and tossed
something to the waiting man below.
what time IL IT." he asked.
About half-past five" the man on
the ground answered II wish 1t was
six"
80 do T." said the man on the roof.
and sank down out Of sight, while the
other resumed his leisurely round.
But now that knew where to look,
from time to time, I could catch
glimpse OF the forehead and eyes OF
tho man on the roof, as he peered
cautiously through the castellated bar
rier; and thanked Heaven that had
hiden myself. and was doubly thank
full that evidently I had been able to
hide myself unobserved. Apparently
at 6 o'clock the guards were to be
changed, and wondered II the place
was 80 watched and patrolled both
night and day. knew, at least, that
the night would be dark, and that the
moon, by which had seen the night
prowler at Marbury. would no longer
make the world too bright for prowl-
ings of my own.
settled myself down behind my
bush, stretching out my cramped limbs
to wait as best could the coming
darkness. Infrequent pedestrians
passed my hiding-place, and once or
twice some country conveyance rat
tied by; but no one stopped or made
any attempt to go into the sanatorium.
Indeed, thought the villagers who
passed me quickened their pace lit.
tie as they went by the grounds and
glanced askance at the omtnous old
building as II 1t were something to
fear. At ten minutes to six the watch
man who patrolled the grounds passed
in front Of the building, and at ten
minutes past another man, whom l
supposed to be his six o'clock relief,
came into view. This man. noticed
with regret, was much more careful
and alert, probably more trust
worthy person for the difficult night
watch. But I was encouraged to find
that these rounds of the Waterman
were made with an almost exact regu-
larity. that there were twenty minutes
between each coming and going. And
I hoped, once darkness had set in, to
ba able to do much in those twenty
minutes. OF course there was always
the Waterman on the roof, but, If the
night were dark enough. thought my
chances good Of escaping observation.
But darkness, which In working
day seems to come 50 unexpectedly.
as II 1t were thrown over the world
like a great blanket, fingered unbe-
lievably. The tender glory OF sunset
grayed into twilight as slowly as il
some new and not quite omnipotent
Joshua, unable absolutely to stop the
sun, had at least malignly retarded 1t
lust below the horizon line. But at
length twilight was an accomplished
thing, and with 1t the windows In the
building opposite flared here and
there into barred oblongs OF bright
ness, until dark shades were drawn,
and the windows we're only thin,
penciled, golden parallelograms in the
somber Darkness Of the impenetrable
wall of black It was ten minutes Of
nine before I Judged 1t dark enough to
make my attempt The Waterman,
thought, must just have passed.
Through my long watch had
studied the place very carefully, in
ina gination pacing over and over
again the road and the soft grass Of
the lawn, going without stumble, as
softly as burglar might, until with
my hand felt the wall before me. ]
had chosen the place where the ivy
seemed thickest; for 1t was to be my
ladder to the rooms above. Now. as