The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1914-04-08

I cannot wait longer" she Wits
pered. Some one will come. Here:
take this, monsieur; put 1t down care
fully-ah! that was fine. Wash out
your wounds, and the blood from your
face. 1t will be dark. but fear moth
ing. l will come again to you soon"
Where does this tunnel lead!"
asked. a. her hand grasped the stone
slab.
Ito the cave cellar at the rear;
where we first met-but you must wait
for me to come, monsieur"
saw the shadow of the stone de-
scending, shutting out the light.
Just one question more. mademol-
selle," / managed to articulate. els
Brady dead." -
could dimly perceive the outline Of
her face.
mo. monsieur, he is a prisoner"
Slowly made effort to explore my
wound. This was most painful. as my
rough shirt was held to my flesh by
CONCEALED blood, and had to be torn
away. I possessed no knife, but stuck
to the work manfully, my teeth
clinehed. my face beaded with perspi-
ration, until I separated the last shred,
and could explore the wound with my
fiAgers. It proved deep and ragged
enough, but had penetrated nothing
vital. II could staunsh the flow Of
blood, and bind it up SO as to prevent
its being reopened. there should be
no serious result. l went at this as
best could In the dark, and, by sense
OF touch, groaning at the pain,
swabbed out the wound until it prac-
tically ceased to bleed. and then bound
1t up with a silk neckerchief and a
strip torn from my shirt. 1t was rude
surgery, but effective. Shut out thus
from the air the wound merely DULY
ached, and l found myself able to
move with much greater freedom 9th
| erwise l was surprised to discover I
had sustained no particular injury
got to my hands and knees, deter
mined to discover for myself the ma
ture of the passage. Any form of &C
ton was better than merely to lie
there inert. | had to creep forward,
and found barely room for the passage
of my body. My wound still hurt suf-
| ficiently to make me cautious of every
movement, and consequently my ad-
vance was slow. There never was
blacker darkness; it was like a weight
| pressing me back, and the silence was
| like that of the grave. | could hear
| my own breathing, but my hands and
knees made no sound on the earth
| floor. Whatever of savage fury was
! occurring above, no echo found way to
| where l burrowed below. To all ap-
| pearance the tunnel ran in a direct
| line; at least / could discover no evil
| dence of deviation. If D'Auvray had
constructed 1t, then he must have
| known something of engineering, and
| been in possession of instruments. The
work could not have been done by
| blind digging. Still, it might have been
originally an open ditch, banked and
! lined With timber, and then covered.
| and the earth tamped down.
l stopped to rest a moment, sitting
| crossIegged, my head barely escaping
| the roof Suddenly from out that in
| tense darkness before me, came a Pc
culiar sound. Intensified by the long
| silence, and the contracted walls,
could not tell whether it was cough
or groan, grun exclamation or growl.
| Precipitation beaded my forehead, my
| hands like ice, as l stared ahead lis
| tening. There was no repetition, no
| movement Could have dreamed the
thing? Could it be delirium from the
| fever of my wound? No! Surely not;
| | was sane enough; my ears were not
| deceived. Something-man or animal
was certainly there in the tunnel
| hiding, crouched in the darkness, un.
| aware as yet of my presence. Then it
| would not be an animal; it must be a
man.
| got upon hands and knees again,
| slowly and with utmost caution, aware
/ that if | was to escape notice | must
| advance as stealthily as wild cat, the
| slightest sound would carry far in that
/ gallery. | moved forward yard, two,
| three yards, extending one hand out
into the dark and feeling about care
| fully, before venturing another inch
| Mine were the movements OF q snail
/ had almost convinced myself there
| was nothing there, either brute or hu.
| man; yet some instinct continually
told me there was. | felt an uncanny
presence, and an ill-defned sense OF
| danger / could not cast of. l came &c
a pause, actually afraid to 60 on, my
flesh creeping with strange horror.
| rested On one knee, my face thrust for
| ward as | stared blindly into the awful
blackness. | even held my breath in
suspense, listening for the slightest
| movement. Merciful God. Some one
-something-was actually there!
/ could hear now the faint pulsing Of q
breath, as though through clogged nos
trils; yes, and a meaningless mutter
ing of the lips.
CONTINUED Tomorrow