Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1915-07-28
The Mystery
of the
BOuIe Cabinet
BY BURTON E. STEVENSON
Copyright, 1913. by Burton E.
Stevenson.
BY BURTON E. STEVENSON
Copyright, 1913. by Burton E.
Stevenson.
CHAPTER VII.
The Burning Eyes.


from his puckered brows, how
desperately he was trying to untan-
gle this quirk in the mystery.
'EThe siege seems to have been lift
ed" remarked, as we alighted.
1.-THE siege?"
parks telephoned me that your es-
teemed contemporaries had the place
surrounded. 1 told him to hold the
fortr'
Poor boysT he commented, smiling.
'aTo think that all they know Is what
Grady is able to tell them! Which
room is the cabinet in?" he asked.
'sThe anteroom is there at the left,
where those two shattered windows
are. The cabinet is in the corner room.
There is one window on this side and
two on the other"
Parks answered the bell almost In
stantly, and could tell from the way
his face changed how glad he was to
see me.
"Well, Parks" 1 said, as we stepped
inside, everything is all right. hope"
Eyes, SIR" he answered. "But-but
it gets on the nerves a little, sir"
I heard a movement behind me, as
I gave Parks my coat, and turned to
see Rogers sitting on the cot.
Hello" said. $50 you're able to be
up. are you?"
Eyes, SIR" he answered. without
looking at me. 81 thought I'd come
down and keep Parks company"
Parks smiled little sheepishly.
at asked him to, Mr.. Lester" he said.
81 got so lonesome and jumpy here by
myself that just had to have some
body to talk to. especially after the
burglar alarm rang"
1.-The burglar alarm?" repeated God
frey quickly. "What do you mean"
We've got burglar alarm on the
windows, sir. It's usually turned or
in the daytime, but l thought I'd bet
ter leave 1t on today, and it rang about
the middle Of the afternoon. thought
at first that one of the other servants
had raised a window. but none OF
them had Something went wrong
with it, guess"
did you take a look at the win
dows?' asked.
''Yes, sir. A policeman came to see
what was the matter, and we went
around and examined the windows,
but they were all locked. 1t made me
feel kind Of scary for awhile"
Does the alarm work now?"
mo, sir. The policeman said there
must be a short circuit somewhere
and that he'd notify the people who
put it in. But nobody has come around
yet to fix It"
WED better take a look at the win
dows ourselves" said Godfrey. "YOu
stay here, Parks. We can find them,
all right, and don't want you to leave
that door unguarded for a single in
slant"
We went from window to window,
and Godfrey examined each Of them
with a minuteness that astonished me,
for had no idea what he expected to
dnd- But we completed the circuit OF
the ground floor without his apparent
" discovering anything out of the way.
Lets take look at the basement"
he said, and led the way downstairs
with a readiness which told me that
ne had been over the house before. In
a kind of lumber room, standing be-
fore its single small window, his cleo
tric torch In his hand, he made dis
covery.
Look herer' he said, his voice quiv-
ering with excitement. and threw q
circle OF light on the jamb of the win
dow at the spot where the upper and
lower sashes met.
What is it?" l asked after a mo-
ment II don't see anything wrong"
'You don't? You don't see that this
house was to be entered tonight? Then
what does this meanT'
With his finger nail he turned up the
end of a small insulated wire. And
then l saw that the wire had been cut.
YES" said Godfrey dryly. that rO-
nance OF mine is looking up again.
Somebody was preparing for a quiet
invasion Of the house tonight-sOme-
body, OF course, interested In that cab
met"
HE wasn't losing any time," ven
tured.
"He knew he hadn't any to lose.
When you put those wooden shutters
up you warned him that you suspected
his game. He knew if the alarm was
on it would ring when he cut the
wire"
'eWhy can't we ambush him?" sug-
gested.
1--WE might try, but 1t will be a
mighty risky undertaking, Lester"
zone risky undertaking is enough
for tonight" l said, with sigh, for
my belief in the existence of the Sc
cret drawer and the poison and all the
rest of 1t had come back with rush.
Gall right" Godfrey said. "But I'll
fix this break"
He got out his penknife. loOsened
two or three of the staples which held
the wire in place. drew 1t out, scraped
back the insulation and twisted the