The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1916-09-23

They Reeied Through the Doorway.
lamp lighted" and. stepping to the
wall, she switched on the electric
light.
Good Cod What's this?" cried
Hope, catching sight of Leyland's
body.
Mrs. Delmar gave a cry of horror
Its FrancisI It's my nephew Is
he dead? Oh, is he dead? What's
happened to him?"
mo, he's not dead" said Hope, eE
aiming the unconscious man, but
he's had a terrific clip on the back
of the head. Looks as though some
one had hit him with 1ife-preserver.
He's coming around, though. He'll be
all right in few minutes"
Here are the books on the table
said Cleo, recognizing two OF her IA
theirs beloved volumes Poor Mr..
LeyIand must have been looking at
them when"
She stopped abruptly, for from be
hind the curtains had come a muff1ed
sneeze.
Someone's hiding there-behind
the curtains," she whispered, grip
ping Hopes arm.
Crossing the room on velvet feet,
Hope suddenly jerked aside the heavy
draperies AS he did so, Mahlin, who
had slipped black mask over the up
per portion OF his face, 1eaped at him
like a panther. Locked in each 9th
er's arms the two men swayed out
into the middle of the room They
hit a carved cabinet filed with porce-
lain and it went over with crash.
| They caromed from the wall to the
table and from, the table to the wall
| Cursing, grunting. snarling, straining,
more like animals than men, they
reeled through the doorway Of the
study into the upper hall. A rug
slipped from beneath them and sent
| them to their knees, but still they bat
/ tied on. Nearer and nearer their des-
perate struggle brought them to the
top Of the stairway. Hope, who was
on top now, had his fingers on Nah
Inns throat The house was in an up
roar now. Guests, servants and mu-
sicians, attracted by the piercing
screams Of Cleo and Mrs. Delmar,
rushed from the ballroom and stood
crowded in the door below, watching
the struggle at the head OF the stairs
as an audience watches a mock strug-
gle on the stage Now the two were
poised at the top of the stairway.
Then, amid a chorus Of screams from
Cleo and Mrs. Delmar above and from
the assembled guests below, they
rolled, with a terrific humping. down
the marble stairs. So intertwined
that one could not be distinguished
from the other, they burst into the
ballroom, the frightened guests Civ
ing way before them Painting from
exhaustion they rocked and swayed
across the polished floor, reeIed for a
sickening moment against the low
warning from the onlookers. plunged
outward and downward into the dark
ness A terrific crash of broken glass
told the Mortified listeners that they
had fallen through the roof Of the con
servatory below.
Throughout the desperate encoun
ter Cleo had remained at the top OF
, the stairs, petriied with fear fol
Hopes safety, clinging convulsiTeIy to
) Mrs. Delmar AS the two figures
plunged through the open window she
: gave a shrek OF horror
He's killed! He's killed. / know
/ he's killed." she walled. and raj
: blindly, mad1y down the stairs
, Seeing that the coast was now mo
: mentarily clear, Morton and Olga
? who had followed the others upstair
: without themselves being observed
and had witnessed the whole OF TIL
t desperate struggle. slipped into tn
5 empty study with the intention OF get
! ting the books, which they had seen
!. only a moment before, lying on tn
= table. But they stopped in astonish
: ment on the threshold
? The books had disappeared
: ITO BE CONTTNUERl