The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1916-07-27

piercing the heavy blanket of noxious
cumbroUs greenery.
Constance was about to leave the
gruesome wreck of home when she
started, halted and turned in a flash.
A creepy awesome sensation held her
in momentary thrall. A strange thing
had happened.
| Clang-clang!
A bell had sounded forth two
cracked somber notes. Whence? Sure
| ly near at hand, for the air quivored.
BY whose hands2 No humau being
was In sight.
| Clang-clang!
She paused, about to hasten from
the spot, 50 strong was the spell of I'M
! canniness. Then she discovered that
the bell must be in the belfry Of the old
| granary. Employed to call in the farm
hands in the olden days, why had 1t
sounded now?
She could see the Stats in the belfry
vibrate, in fact the whole structure
| shook visibly. The denuded doorway
of the granary below showed no dan
| Cling rope. Her senses curdled. Then
she bent her ear keenly, awake to a
new manifestation.
"Help!"
The word was faint and muffled. 1t
surely came from the belfry or its near
vicinity. It was repeated.
Then a moan, low, pitiful, despair
ing, and then all was still.
II mustn't be superSttious-I will be
brave" Constance told herself, but
her tone quavered. Yet she approached
the granary. The bell and the voice
were no longer in evidence. Had 1t
been all a superstitious delusion? She
crossed to where some stairs ran up to
the second floor. She mounted them
till her eyes were level with the upper
flooring.
"There is a rope" uttered Constance.
She could see it dangling amid heap
of wreckage piled up in the center of
the loft floor. The heap seemed to
move. A moan issued from the heap.
ooh, surely somebody Is there -
painted Constance. at looks as though
someone climbing into the belfry had
brought down part of it upon him
self. He may be dying under all that
wreckage. Courage-duty! she whis-
pered to herself and approached the
motley pile.
Constance lifted board after board
from the heap. She quivered as hui
man arm was revealed. Gently she
pulled aside heavy timber. She
thrilled. Beneath, apparently uncon-
scious, lay a bruised form. In flash
she recognized the face. 1t was that of
the young man whose portrait she had
seen in the deserted house.
Albion Russell opened his eyes. He
stared askance at her. He managed
to sit up. She aided as he strove to
move the debris from his lower limbs.
II fell" he said family, cor rather
the lower part of the belfry broke with
me-"
Constance helped him down the
stairs. He moved llmpngly, but the
color came back into his face grad
ually.
81 have to thank you all the days of
my life" he said. II feel still weak-if
1 could get to the nearest house"
"Our own" decided Constance
r promptly. He was the son Of the man
her father regarded as his deadliest
enemy, but humanity, interest, pity
moved her to signal resolution.
81 must rest" he finally said, and he
sank to fallen tree by the wayside,
''whom is it ] must thank?" And Con-
stance told him her name. She noted
glad eager light come into his eyes.
"How fortunate! 1t is destiny!" he
cried, and awakened new emotion
seemed to impart strength. She sat
spellbound as he narrated to her the
secret of his presence.
His father was an escaped convict.
Discovered by treacherous acquaint-
ance, he had fled the country on brief
notice and had sent for his wife and
son to join him. They found him In a
strange dazed condition, caused by a
fall on shipboard. He had died only a
month since. Once only, in a flash of
coherency, he had remembered the
thirty thousand dollars he had hidden
in the old belfry.
SO Albion Russell had come to find
The money. 1t was how In his posses
sion and restitution of his share was
made to Robert Merrill that night.
And then the mother came back to
the old home. And Constance consoled
her loneliness. The crime for which
John Russell had suffered was proved
to have been nothing worse than ac-
workmanship with the real culprit.
Love and peace came to the troubled
mother and son at last, and Constance
shared these mutual blessings.