Roanoke Rapids herald. [volume] (Roanoke Rapids, N.C.) 1914-192?, 1916-03-10

wander here and there. The art treas
ures Of this palace surpass any with
which | am acquainted. AS O youth.
tried to paint, and ! still love the
work Of those who have done as mas.
tiers what my student hand could new
or do. May look at the pictures in
tho gallcries-the statues, your maj.
esty?"
with all the heart in the world, my
dear Sachio!' exclaimed Michael
Your discerning Judgment Is valued
most highly, Make free with what
you like, and come to US when you
please"
This carte blanche was all that
Sachic could ask. He accepted 1t liter
ally. What he purposed actually was ia
make free with anything he saw; and
he did indeed intend to return to
King Michael when he pleased. Thus
SGT free to wander as he liked in the
/ palace of Gretzhoffen, he made no
doubt whatever OF his own quick ar
rival at the hidden door of the lost
treasure of Grctzhoffen. AS he bowed
himself out he scarce could conceal
the satisfaction on his face.
Sachio was an alert and active soul,
His was no haphazard intellect, apt to
accept the dictum OF a mind less exact
than his own. He was a soldier first,
and zeXt diplomat, but all the time a
model secret agent, typical spy and
detective, He now set about the bust,
ness in hand, deliberately. with preci.
sion, methodically, SO that ne need not
do any task second time.
He himself had sketched a rough
map of the lower galleries rs he fan,
ciod them to lie. He calculated now
that with the aid Of this chart and bis
own earlier acquaintance with these
subtorranean chambers, II would be
easy to find the last door that lay he
tween him and the buried treasure Of
Grctzholfen.
What scenes of horror these places
must have held Saoho did not pause
to ask. That souls had passed out there
through these cold walls of stone, that
human flesh had quivered here in tor
uent and human voices broken in
their anguish, meant naught to him.
A king had seen fit to surround his
treasures with such terrors in order
to fence away all intruders. He had
buried these treasures under the very
floor Of his torture chamber 80 that
all might fear to intrude there in their
search Some might be deferred by
such fears-but not Sachio of Grahof
fen. He walked on calmly unmoved
s1re that his own persistence, his own
cunning, had defeated the purpose o.
the dead king, whose methods SO long
had delled the avarice and greed OF
these two kingdoms
Sachio lost little time in the earlier
portions of the subterranean galleries,
and satisfied himself only that lie was
not being pursued. Soon he arrived
upon the lower levels, where he did
not expect to meet disturbance Now
= came the crux Of his search.
He made his way slowly along the
darkened channels carved at some un'
known day from the granite rock on
which stood the Gretzhoffen castle,
tried door after door, and entered
chamber after chamber, slowly, me-
thodically, with no enthusiasm, but
only the air of a man covering all pos
sible mischances in his search.
lie looked most carefully in that
portion of the vaults where he had
found the half of the torn parchment,
hut got no further trace of the miss
ing portion. This gave him a certain
pause, for he had figured that the
broken coin and the broken parchment
would oorrelate, would focus, some
whore nearly at the same point But
tho stained and I:hdewed walls still
damp frcH their recent Holdings,
gavo him but cold encouragement
whichever way he turned. Any soul
but his would have felt the chill Oh
such environment.
so" said he to himself standing IT.
resolute at last, and finding himself
unable to decide what next to do. MY
map has the misfortune of having
been made from the imagination and
not from facts In hand But now
see, here the way forks"
Before him now lay a series of gal
leries still damp from the recent
flooding from the moat. 1t was Sachios
theory, based upon he knew not what,
that the treasure chamber must lie
somewhere under the moat, that the
flood gates must have been devised
for some purpose Of protecting 1t. He
acted upon that theory now, and with
no better guide than the greater damp
ness of the rock floors which he fol-
lowed, he wandered on hour after
hour.
AT length he paused, helpless, pu2-
zled, dumfounded. He had taken a
wrong turn somewhere In this laby.
rinth of underground channelsl He
had not even found the water gates
which had flooded these levels so re-
Gently. He had found no new re-
cesses in the rocky walls He had
found nothing which in the least com.
pared itself with the map he now held
In his hand! The cold sweat broke
ont upon his forehead even In these
Yes, sachlo had failed. He knew
what that meant. Death was to be his
portion for his failure. Would 1. CONG