Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1915-08-13


"Gone!" cried Dubois. straining his
wrinkled neck forward. and moisten-
ing his throat with an effort as he
spoke.
Are you sure? What did they get?"
Everything! Look!" Dubois had
pushed the Waterman up the stairs to
the second floor, and pointed shaking
finger through an open door, holding
to the wall for support and gasp1ng for
breath as he spoke. Everything
look! All my money in bills; stacks,
stacks of bills!"
| There was a rickety antique Shera-
ton four-poster, Dubois bed, and on it
was the cloth-covered box of bed
spring, gaping open. half filed with a
scattering of crumpled papers. The
bed-clOthes were thrown in heap in
one corner of the room. Hopkins
stepped back in surprise. His foot
came down on wad of cotton; he
picked it up, and stood lingering it alb
sently as he stared at the wrecked
bed
"Then you did sleep on your money
in place of mattress, as people al
ways said?" he queried.
Eyes, yes. There is no use," the
quaking old man stood glassy-eyed,
glazing at the empty spring box, "there
is no use to deny it now. kept every
thing-all-in that box, packed in
among the springs. Stacks, stacks and
stacks of bills! / did-did-" He
stopped, clawed forward one Of his
large Tapping ears, and stood strain
ing to catch the repetition of sharp
sound he had picked from other noises
rising from below.
Hopkins was shifting at the piece Of
cotton he had picked up beside the
bed.
"Chloroform!" he exclaimed, drop
ping it.
ETH" cried old Dubois. jerking his
hand from his ear, and thrusting it in
to the opening of his nightshirt.
"They chloroformed you, and threw
you into the corner with your shoes
and the bed-clothes, while they rifed
the treasure chest"
! "Eh? Yes. IL heard them at my
bedside, then / was on the floor, and
couldn't use my arms, my legs, my
tongue, and knew they were taking
my poor bills, in stacks-stacks and
stacks of them!" His veinridged hand
shot to his Tapping ear, and he broke
off again: Listen! What's that?
| There's somebody fooling with the
| front gate
/ He rushed to the window, which he
had again carefully locked after recov-
ering from his faint, craned his cordy
neck toward the front of the house,
and tottered as he shook his quivering
fist at nondescript fellow in mod
| est business suit and ordinary derby
| who must have clambered over the
locked iron gate regardless Of its
| pricking points, and was busily at work
stretching out the limp form of Alert
Leave that dog alone! Get out OF
there, or I'll"
Dubois in an insane moment tore
an antique French frearm tremblingly
from the bosom of his nightshirt,
where. to Hopkins surprise, he had
been concealing it.
| s'Don't!" cried the Waterman, jump
ing forward to grasp the quivering
hand attempting an aim.
| ''Ill protect my place-my right
I'll"
Dubois twitching jaws dropped
| open; he stared at the man below
who, aroused by the commotion in the
window, glanced up, picked small
filmy object like sausage-skin from
one of the points of Alert's massive
studded collar, and slipped through the
front gate, which he opened with an
easy twist as though it were not
| locked.
'You left 1t unIocked?" cried Dubois.
| Il did mott" Hopkins denied. who
the devil is the fellow? never saw
him before. Do you suppose he"
81 don't suppose anything" Dr-
bois thrust out his lower jaw threat
eningly. You're hired to protect me;
why do you let him run away? May
be-"
Hopkins. having leaped to the same
unexpressed conclusion, turned, and
rushed down the stairs, stopped at the
gate, unlocked 1t, and cried to the
L
group of newsboys. neighbors, tamale
men, market boys, and other early
birds collected in front, 'Where'd he
go?"
'Where'd he go?"
"Who?"
"The mantle man" Hopkins
strove for some descript the man
with the black derby"
A boy in front grinned, and glanced
around at the circle of men towering
above him. Every feller in the bunch's
got on black derby 'cept us kids"
Hopkins stood chagrined. He had
seen the man, front, side, and rear
view for full minute, but was at an
utter loss to describe him.
THE man who just came out Of the
gate. He took something that looked
lfIa hn rrYhhor. If fou ho11o0r 0yr7