The Washington times., 1913-04-19

, smoker was in the vehicle there just
below me and he had stirred little
Possibly the touch of my hand had
reused him.
had no way of warning Jeffrey. But
apparently he didn't need il. There
were ten seconds. / believe, when no
bronze statue could have stood stiller
| then we did. Then, a step at a time.
We moved on again.
A little further along we slipped down
into the road once more and walked on
again a little more freely. Presently
Jeffrey stopped. took my hand ano
guided il out past his body until 1t
touched a surface of rough stone.
"The gates,' he whispered.
Then We walked on rather briskly and
apparently with no fear whatever OF
discovery.
Were in luck SO far" said Jeffrey.
Il told him of my adventure-of the
thing my hand had touched there in the
dark.
1T was a carriage or an automobile.
1 think" said /.
IAN automobile said jeffrey.
Couldn't you smell it?''
what is it doing there, do you sup
pose?" / asked. What are the peo-
pie in it doing?"
I'VE shall probably find out before
we're through"
ut seems strange place to set a
watch" ! observed. There must be
dozen other ways of getting into and
out of this place without going through
the main gate"
There's one other way said JEFF
frey. "One other practical way, ans
that's in boat. This place is a penin-
sula, with very narrow neck, and the
wall across the neck is much too high
to climb without scaling hook, so the
gates a pretty good place to set
watch If there's another watch on
the boathouse landing, as / suspect
there Is. then the job is pretty well
I'D like to know then" said 1 a lit
tie anxiously, how we're going to get
away ourselves"
I'VE got in, didn't we?" said Jeffrey.
And nobody knows we're here. That.
enough in our favor"
Somehow the presence of watchers at
the gate seemed to have relieved JEFF
frey of all concern about them, now we
were inside. We walked briskly at
pace I'd never dared have taken in the
dark but for the compelling touch of
his hand on my arm. And If we said
nothing, IL seemed more because Jeffrey
didn't want to talk than because he was
afraid to. The drive was perfectly sur
faced. SO there was nothing to stumble
on but sometimes We went up hill and
sometimes down. How Jeffrey followed
the curves in the drive / couldn't under
stand at all. unless the lateral inclina-
curve gave clue enough to that wonder
full tactile sense of his.
At last, as We reached the top of
little rise. a flicker of lightning in the
house. 1t wasn't more than a hundred
yards away.
JEFFREY Immediately left the road and
struck out to the left. The lightning
shimmered again and then again. more
brightly each time, and IT gave us the
NJ 40
quartered around IL in the arc of a
circle. But as 10 what was Immediately
under our feet, flower beds. terraces,
tangles Of untouched wilderness, jeffrey
could have no guide but his memory.
But suddenly. as we rounded the cor
ner of projecting wing. we both
stopped short. There was a light in one
of the second-story windows. To me
that seemed final. Entering an empty
house to say nothing of one whose oc-
cllpants were all sound asleep, seemed
a reckless enough proceeding for any
one to contemplate. In the face of the
warning the square of light from that
window gave us there seemed nothing
To do hut count our expedition a dead
loss and make the best of our way back
to Oldborough.
wait a minute said Jeffrey. He
walked swiftly away toward another
building-a one-storied, concrete affair
that looked like q garage.
l saw him crouch down on the slope
that led up 10 its great door and eX-
olore the surface with his hands. Then
h. came back-not straight toward me,
but at an angle, toward the corner or
the house itself. He nodded to me to
come along, too, and when We had
reached rhe place he indicated I saw
that we were standing beneath an open
window 1t was some distance from
the lighted one.
Give me a leg up" he whispered;
linen I can pull you in after me
''YCu don't mean i Yasped. You