Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-03-21

it is open to strange women and-and
: dogs?"
a you must be mistaken, men herr
he whined abjectly. She cannot be
I there She-ah, 1 have it, 1t may have
been my wife. Gretel, have you been in
, the east"
NONSENSE I cried sharply. This
3 of keys. Wen investigate. l can't have
strange women gallivanting about the
place IS if they owned it, Wen get to
the bottom of this at once. Here you
Rudolph. fetch a couple of lanterns.
Max, get a sledge or two from the forge!
If we can't unlock the doors Wen smash
'em in.''
The four Schmicks wrung their hands
: and shook their heads, and then. repair
: ing to the scullery, growled and grum-
bied for fully ten minutes before decid-
: ing 20 obey my commands.
: Two abreast we fled through the long
vauted halls Rudolph carrying a gigan-
tic lantern and Max d sledge. We ira
!, versed extensive corridors, mounted tor
| tuous stairs, and came at length to the
sturdy oak door that separated the east
wing from the west-a huge, formidable
thing, strengthened by many cross pieces
and studded with rusty boltheads. PAD
) locks as large horseshoes. corroded by
| rust and rendered absolutely Impractical
BILE by age. confronted us.
: Il have not the keys" said old Conrad
Schmck sourly This door has not been
opened in my time. 1t is no use"
ut is no use, repeated his grizzly sons,
leaning against the mcldy walls with
weary tolerance.
Then how did the woman and her dog
get into that part of the CASTLE" l de-
manded. Tell me THAR
They shook their heads almost com
passionately, as much as to say, 1T is
: always best to humor a mailman"
And the baby added Poopendyke.
Smash those padlocks Max" l COM
manded.
|
the old man looked at his wife. and then
all four of them looked al me, almost
I imploringly.
: why destroy a perfectly good paddock
Mein Hero began Max. twiriing the
sledge in his hand as if it We're bamboo
cane.
8 Doesn't this castle belong to me?' ]
demanded Smash that paddock
Very reluctantly Max barred his great
: arms spit upon his hands, and, with a
pitiful look at his parents, prepared TIC
deal the first blow upon the ancient pad
lock. The old couple turned their heads
away. and put their fingers to their ears
. cringing like things about to be whipped
The sledge fell upon the paddock and re-
bounded with almost equal force The
sound of the crash must have disturbed
grim old pile. but the paddock merely
a shed few scabs of rust and ratified back
Into it's customary repose.
. See cried Max triumphantly- "d,
1T is a very fine lock- cried old Con
rad, with note of pride in his voice.
began to feel some pride in the thing
myself 1T is, indeed l said. Try
1t seemed to me that he struck with a
; great deal more confidence than before
. and again they all uttered CALCULATIONS
e of pleasure / caught Dame Schmick in
r the act of thanking God with her fingers
See here.' / exclaimed, facing them
angrily. What does all this mean? You
are deceiving me. all of you. Now lets
have the truth. every word of it, out
: you go tomorrow, the whole lot of you.
; insist on knowing who that woman is
= !. why she is here in my hou-my castle
7 understanding. do you understand?
! Apparently they didn't. understand. fol
u they looked at me with all the stupidity
they could command.
= ''Give me the hammer l said at last
: in desperation.
Max surrendered the clumsy, old-fash
toned instrument with a grin, and 1 mo-
toned for them all to stand back Three
: successive blows with all the might had
in my body failed to shatter the, lock
whereupon my choler rose to heights
! hitherto unknown. l delivered a savage
:. and resounding thwack upon the broad
oak panel of the door. regardless of the
destructiveness that might attend the eff
fort. If any one had told me that
couldn't splinter OAK board with a
sledge hammer at a single blow l should
: have laughed in his face. But as it turn
L
I split the panel. but broke off the sledge
Q handle near the head, putting It wholly
? out of commission az well as singing ms
K hands SO severely that I doubled up with
pain and shouted words that Dame
e Schmick could not put into her pray ers.'
The Schmiclis fairly sloWed with joy
n Afterward Max Informed me that tbs
y door was nearly six inches thick and
d had often withstood tile assaults Of huge
: battering rams. back in the dim pas
Il when occasion induced the primal baron
r to seek safety in the east wing-which
y after all, appears to have been the real
: simon-pure fortress. The west wing wa
merely setting for festal amenities. ant
t was by no means feudal in it's aspect Of
f appeal. Here, / came to know tn.
e old barons received their friends anc
: fagon and the horn Of plenty; here thu
d humble 1.-THE payer came to settle hi.
d dues with gold and silver instead OF witt
blood; here the little barons and
baronesses romped and rioted with child
| ish elee. and here the barons grew fa1
and gross and soggy with la1ness ant
prosperity, and here they died in stupiC
| qu!esence. On the other side Of thai
| grim. stanch old door they Simply Wen
p to the other extreme n every particula. :.
a There they killed their captives. butcher
!, ed their enemies, and sometimes die5
: with the daggers of traitors in their saiv
: ering backs.
t AS we trudged back to the lower halls
o defeated but none the less impressed by
!, | our failure to devaState our own strong
: | hold, / was struck by the awful barren
Q ness of the surroundings. There suddenly
Y came over me the shocking realization
o | the contents of the castle as set forth
! rather vaguely in the bill of sale were
: not what i had been led to consider them
l Still / was vaguely certain that many
articles / had seen about the halls on my
first and second visits were no longer in
! | evidence. Two or three antique rugs
for INSTANCE, were missing from the MAR
' hall. and there was Iamentable sugges-
, ton of emptiness at the lower end, where
y We had stacked quantity of rare ola
= furniture in order to make room for tbs
workmen.
Herr Schmick,'' said l. abruptly halt
ing my party in the center of the hal
Il what has become of The rugs that Were
:. here last week, and where is that pile OF
3 furniture we had back yonder?
= Old Conrad was not slow in answering
: The gentlemen called day before yester-
- day. Mein Herr. and took much away
y They will return TOMORROW for the re-
| mainder'
e Gentlemen ] gasped. Remainder"
. THE gentlemen to whom the herr
- count sold the rugs and chairs and chests
e | and"
= What. / reared. DO you mean t.
i tell me that these things have been sold
:. and carried away without my knowledge
,. or consent? I'll have the law
i Poopendyke interviewed. ''They had bills
e of sale and orders for removal of prop
!. erty dated several weeks prior to your
purchase. Mr.. Smart. We had to let the
a articles go. You surely remember m,
| speaking to YOU about It,
/, II don't remember ANYTHING 7 Snan