The Washington times., 1913-10-04
By
!. ]. RA'TH

have him running around ioose?" re-
marked yinton easily.
Well. I'm not in on anything like
that. Vinton.'
Il didn't ask you to be. That's also
my affair.
The words of the tall man gave me an
involuntary chill. The only interprreta-
ton / could place upon them was that
l was either to be kept a prisoner in
definitely or else quietly put out of the
way. I could credit Vinton with the
Will to murder as easily as with any
thing else. Well. Vinton might murder
me; but I made a resolution then and
there that II would only be after a
good fight.
And what of Mary? More than ever
was she at the mercy of the tall man.
The only person who had ever offered
to help her was a prisoner. 1t made
me shudder to think Of her in the hands
OF Vinton, to work his pleasure. to re-
sumo and complete his task Of beating
down her will and her courage until
she became a mere passive piece OF
flesh a.a blood. OF course. Vinton
would have to let her Iive-for a time.
at least. There was the money that
he could get only by marriage. After
he had his grip on that-well. heaven
help her; also. he might find 1t simpler
to
Lazare entered the front room while
/ was standing at the door, engaged
In this horrible speculation as to the
fate Of the captive in the room above
me.
Il shall give The motor 4 spin. Would
you like to see?"
heard the three men 20 down
stairs and went back to the window.
where l could watch. Presently there
was a series OF short explosions, and
that part OF the plane which I could
see be- gan to vibrate. as II under vio-
lent tension. lazare had started the
propeller, haI ing taken the precau-
tion to make the machine secure. By
the even. whir IL made | could tell
that the motor was running smooth
ly. After a few SECONDS ne shut II
off.
1t was not until heard the trio
talking again in the front room that
! reused myself from an ain,less
consideration Of my situation and b.
gan to look about for some manner
Of escape. 1t angered me TO think
that I had taken my Imprisonment
50 complacently.
The first thing ] did was to hurt for
some weapon. I had nothing in my
pockets that would be of the least
Use. and made a survey OF the room
to see what II might yield. hand
SpNle hIpHIt HSuTe Oh Apollo, stand
ing on mahogany table attracted
NV eye. and ! lifted it down from Its
perch and hefted It, The thing
weighted some thirty-odd pounds. !
Judged. and as l gcasped it by the
head with both hands found Il
would make a rather effective blud-
S,on.
] placed Apollo on the floor near the
entrance to the sliding doors. where he
would he handy in casn Eiptnp nr IN.
or the other men opened them. Then
selected another bronze of about equal
weight and set II in an advantageous
position near the door that led into tho
hall.
The only definite plan l had was this
the night would start the minute eithe
one of those doors was opened. no mat
ter BY whom. The. first man was goinr
to set Apollo or the Venus de Medic
on top of his skull. After that things
would run according to developments
But ] figured on getting one man at
least: II Ninton. so much the better.
Having made this crude provision for
ohense, ! began to consider once more
the possibility of escape. To attempt
either one of the doors while the men
were in the front of the house would
be folly. l turned to the windows. The
bars We're of inch stun. round and Sc
curely sunk. both above and below, in
stone.
I unlatched one of the windows ard
raised the lower sash for better OK
animation of the bars Taking out nv
ed one of them. II took but a few Sec
onds to show me that there was no
hope here. Rufus Jennings had girded
his house not with cast iron. but with
chilled steel Even with proper tools
1t would have been . work Of hours