Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1913-08-22
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HIN, become paler than before and
gently sag down in her chair. sprang
to my feet, but young Danvers had al
ready caught his mother and was hold
Ing her up, his face filed with dis
tress.
Don't be alarmed" Rand said to us,
''she will soon revive. Give her q
drink Of water. Miss Danvers, and
loosen her dress little. Tom" as the
big Sioux came softly through the
door, carry Mrs. Danvers to her room
and stay with her, please. Miss Dan
vers. please precede him, make your
mother comfortable. and do exactly
a. Tom tells you" ....r.-.
"You brighten me-" the young girl
said. What is all this about? What
did you do to brighten my mother?"
Nothing serious, assure you, Miss
Danvers.r merely showed her that
understood something which she had
thought secret. Please 60 with her
and trust me-"
Rand moved easily to the door as
they went, and continued to stand In
the doorway until We could hear that
they had passed into the room above
and shut the door. "Well," said he.
coming back, nov that the ladies' are
gone, let us go and visit tho hall. You
know. I haven't seen the shadow yet"
He slowly measured young Danvers
with his keen, clear eye. and then
quietly drew q pistol from his pocket
and gave it to the boy. ct can't stop
to explain now," he said, "but there
are reasons why am glad you are 90
strong a fellow. Perhaps you will
trust me when I tell you shat my
name is Randi
"Not-Lawrence Rand?'
"That's my name
"The Lawrence Randi Boyish hero
worship rang in the excited voice, and
Rand turned away, smiling a little.
Even he was not proof against that
unfeigned admiration and awe.
"Come on, then; all either Of YOU
have to do is to follov me and do
what I tell you. If by any chance-I
should not be with you--see to Mrs.
and Miss Danvers..'
Somewhere in the upper regions
door opened, very, very softly. I no.
t:ccd that Rand hal his hand in his
right hand coat po,ke5, and brew
what it rested On there. I showed the
hint that Rand had given Of danger to
himself still rang in my ears, and J
found that I was looking Al tbs well
known outline before NE with sud-
denly sick feeling.
At the door to the passage Rand
paused, and, prepared as I was for it,
could no more help the start I gave
than I could help breathing, for the
shadow was there, monstrous, distinct,
but still, arrested in the very midst of
it's horrible gesture. Young Danvers
smothered an exclamation and grip
ped my arm, and so we three stood,
for as much as twenty seconds staring
at the incredible thing.
Suddenly Rand moved resolutely
forward and stood directly opposite it.
Then he turned, facing us, and leaned
against the opposite wall.
Duncan and Danvers," he said. In
the metallic voice which is his battle
CRY, "you see that this hall 10 pan.
eled7" .-.. "
eyes," we breathed back. Some
thing in his. tone told us that We stood
In grave peril.
"You see the gas jet?''
Eyes, yes
,"Count three panels away from the
gas jet-where does that bring your
within two panels Of you"
yes. Now, while attend to some
thing, you, Duncan, cover the door and
windows at the other end Of the pas
sage; Danvers. turn your back to
Duncan and watch the other way.
Anyone who Is friendly to you will
have uniform on. Shoot anyone else
you see! Remember anything hap.
pens to me-see at once to Mrs. Dan.
vers and"
Eyes! Yes!" I said.
Danvers, good boy, quietly turned
his back to me, and shifted my hand
SO that my pistol lay just free of my
pocket. Rand nodded with satisfac.
ton, then he turned his head back.
ward and said sharply, "All right"
1nstinctfvely I knew that 1t was b
signal, but to whom I could not ina
CINE. Then he turned toward the
wall again and spoke, to my astonish.
ment, In Italian.
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. 4 mel"
There was no answer. but I could
have sworn that there was a confused
movement outside the window. A Sec
ond there was silence. during which.
family, ever SO family, a step crept
down the front stair. It was good to
feel Danvers' strong young body
stiffen as he, too, listened. Then Rand
did the last thing in the world which
I expected; he suddenly drew a very
stout knife from his sleeve and drove
it into the wall, which gave, with a
ripping, tearing noise.
At that everything seemed to hap
pen at once. A Sinking, crouching
figure flung itself headlong from the
door leading to the servants quarters.
It had no uniform, SO I shot. It crum.
pied up and lay twitching. Rand,
without even looking over his shoulder,
continued to cut and slash the sway !
ing wall, which suddenly debouched
hin, 1:,n,. A., s 4