Mansfield mirror. (Mansfield, Wright County, Mo.) 1908-1957, 1916-12-21
CHAPTER XVI.
Peril,

once that the house was burning. She
heard the nearby cracking Of flames
Fshe saw the nearby glare Of flame
Without the village fire gong changed
she heard the shouts Of volunteers
coming down the road. Z
She ran to Mrs. Hardin's room. The
door was locked; smoke was creeping
from underneath the door. Mother
Mother Hardin" cried Annette. There
was no response. In q frenzy Annette
rushed back to her room. seized a
chair and returned to the locked door.
With a sudden twist of her 1.-the body
she raised the chair above her shout
ders and brought 1t crashing against
the door. A volume Of smoke poured
out. Regardless Of 1t, Annette rushed
in, dragged Meals mediterranean
scious as she was-from the bed. out
of the room and down the stairs.
Joey" gasped Annette. Joey
Welcher-he's in there. We must save
him, too"
NO." i%nterposed a distant neighbor,
hes not in there. I saw him in the
village, running for help"
During the confusion, three shadowy
figures, returning as from a chase,
crept through the smoke and crouched
beneath bushes in the rear Of the
house, %unnoticed and unseen,
One of these men turned to another.
UDop<o - oriad IIornopda1 IN 10 lou,
voice, what of the pa~cket?-what Of
Lost Isle?-the fool Welcher! BY this
time we might have had it."
Annette, seated on the ground, with
Mrs. Hardin's head in her lap, watched
the scene as in a dream. Her glance
roved from the flames to the crowd of
jostlirg people-and from them back to
the flames again. Then suddenly her
heart rose to her throat. Peering at
her from the middle Of a dense mass
Of s%hrubbery, there was a face-a face
with staring eyes, matted hair, and un.
kempt beard.
She had seen that face beforehand
on that very road-it had once strick.
en- terror to her heart. This time how
ever, 1t had a far stranger effect upon
her. No sooner had she caught sight
of this uncanny %countenance, than, un'
~accountably she remembered some,
thing-the yellow packet,
my fathers fortune-my fathers
whereabouts" she cried. She sur
rendered her charge to a neighborly
woman close at hand and struggled
to her feet. She reached her DON in
comparative safety, save for the chok.
ing in her throat. Once there she
seized a water pitcher and drenched
herself from head to foot-then with
dripping hair and clothes she felt for
and found her hiding PLACE. She
CROPPED for the packet. A tongue of
flame swept the window. She shut
1t, and the glass cracked and fell
tinkling to the ground below. Then
she CROPPED again.
"1've got it-got It," she cried In
exultation, and thrust the yellow pack.
ct safely in her breast. There was a
sudden crash. She flung open her
room door. The staircase, eaten
through with flame as its top moor.
ings had fallen in. The hallway was
alive with flame. She sprang to her
window-no thoroughfare-the whole
side wall-the side Of her room-was
now ablaze. Obeying- some instinct
Annette threw herself face downward
on the door. The air there was singu.
larly sweet and cool.
Somebody will come" she told her.
self, somebody will come"
Without the word passed that An
nette had rushed into the house-was
inside now. A huge figure leaped
into the crowd, parting It right
and left and bounded into the door.
way Of the house. Whimpering with
fear, the Brute ran hither, thither,
through the living room. and entered
the hall-fnding the staircase. q mass
Of ruin. He leaped and clutched the
landing up above. Some instinct led
him to Annette's room. He raw and
found her-clutched her unconscious
form in his huge arms and leaped with
her to the floor beneath and, unseen,
laid her unconscious form down
at tho feet Of Mrs. Hardin. Then
black, burned, and unacceptable. he
sped away into tho night
Hernandez gritted his teeth. II
thought / had that brute trained" he