Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-05-18
Continued from page 4
FORBES heard the snap of the switch but

FORBES heard the snap of the switch but
ton. Instantly he was in total darkness
Then he heard the click of the bolt. He was
now locked in. Presently his brain resumed
its functions; he began to think in little
sparks of thought, as in permitting electric
fluid to enter wire by degrees. jerkily. For
the last ten minutes he had been as COM
pletely hypnotized as if he had been staring
for hours into a Swami's crystal. His first
coherent thought was one of those best left
unspoken, unwritten. He had entered, pic
turing in his mind familiar scene, six ia
miliar faceS-and this instead! 1t would
have hypnotized anyone.
A blockhead A sheep! To have allowed
himself to be trussed up this way, without
single struggle, without word! A fine
detective! He strained at his hands, and
then at his ankles; but desisted when the
chair threatened to topple over. On the
floor he would be absolutely helpless. So
he sat there in the dark, mounting at his
handkerchief and trying to get his teeth in
to it.
The man had freshly skinned knuckle.
He would remember that when the police
came. He would never be able to recall the
voice, so effectually muffled behind the cur
tain of the mask. In evening dress too, and
wore it to the manner born-here in little
old New York! And it came upon him with
the dazzlement of sunrise. The mysterious
burglar of the newspapers! He recollected
some of the drawings he had made of heroes
in durance vile, ironically recollected them,
along with the balderdash they were sup
posed to illustrate. Why hadn't he flung
himself over backward while the fellow was
tying his hands together? He was no in
FAINT; he was athletic, strong as the average
man of his height and weight. He might
have got the upper hand Oh, rot! 1t was
all very well to think of the things to do
when it was too late. Any battle could be
won if you fought it backward.
He began to swear again; cultural sounds
that started in his throat and ended, bas-
soon like, in his nose. Dash the doorboy, to
have given him the wrong floor! Some
where above or below they were waiting for
him; the cards were purring, the chips click
ing unsteady against one another. Deuces
wild! If you held king and queen, of any
suit, together with three deuces, you could
call it four queens, or four kings or royal,
Just as you pleased. Open on anything; no
weary waiting for jacks or better; something
doing every minute. ct never occurred to
him that the burglar had already saved him
about fifty dollars.)
And when the occupants of this room re-
turned they would doubtless, and with rea-
SOL, Hd1lu IlllIl over W Illc pOilCt, dllu CliC
deuce wild indeedD would be to pay. More
over, he would never hear the last Of it. He,
who had never left himself open to ridicule,
would be the laughing stock Of the town!
Numbness crept into his arms and legs.
He could not shift the handkerchief soil
tary inch, not fraction of an inch. Occa-
sionally he heard sounds,-the lift door clos
ing, someone going up or down the stairs,
the rattle of a far-off elevated train, the honk
of an auto horn in the street below. Beauti-
full situation for ]. Mortimer Forbes, the ia
nous illustrator. Hours and hours and
hours passed: at least SO it seemed to him.
OF course it was just his luck to strike a
place where the people kept ungodly hours.
He would not be able to work for days. The
gold thread Of the stole cut like a razor edge.
The beggar might have left the lights on,
so that he could have found some amuse-
ment in staring at the furnishings and specu
lating as to the taste of the absent ones. But
to sit in pure darkness for the blinds were
DOWN, his nerves all a-rack from listening
and waiting, his lungs aching for the want
of deep breath, it was all mighty unpleas-
ant.
THANK Heaven someone was turning a
key in the lock! They had come at
last! He suddenly found himself blinking
in the light. Over the threshold came an