The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1917-01-06


and pried with my knife blade the
door slid aside easily enough, but
revealed nothing except darkness be-
yond.
There was no light, no noise, and,
encouraged by this, I managed to
swing my loop close enough so as to
reach in through the opening, and
gain grip on the edge of a shelf. This
enabled me to drag my body slowly
forward, although the narrewness of
the opening caused discomfort, until
l kicked the loop free, and let myself
down gently on the floor. 1t was un-
carpeted, and in the darkness, I felt
the outlines of a gas range, and knew
/ was In a kitchen Fearful of making
some noise I moved with caution, dis
covering, window, with blinds tightly
closed, and a large table, with some
odds and ends upon it, including two
empty cans, and finally came to
door, latched but unlocked. This l
opened noiselessly, an inch at a time,
and peered out into the hall. Far In
the distance to my left was a faint
glimmer of light, barely visible. Even
this dim illumination, to my eyes,
trained by cropping through the dark,
rendered much visible, although dis
torted and grotesque. In a vague way
knew where l was, on the first floor,
at the back of the house, and felt
convinced the light must stream forth
from the same room into which
had been first taken. Possibly Brandt
had returned there, or Franzen. In
either case it would be best for me
to avoid that portion Of the house.
My sole thought was of escape; of
getting safely away, and warning my
men at the hangar. I might be already
too late, but every wasted second added
to the danger. 1 could only guess
at Brandt's plans, whether he had
faith enough In my final yielding to
refrain from other measures, or whether
he would venture at once to win
his end by force He had my keys,
and, so far as I knew, there was moth
ing to prevent his entering the hangar,
except the faithfulness Of De Vigne.
Ramon had already yielded to weak
ness, and, if EisenbartR's report was
true as overheard, one, at least, of
the Pinkerton watch, had been easily
bought. If it was his turn for duty,
the conspirators should find easy sail
ing and small danger with only one
man to oppose them, and he, doubtless,
unsuspeeting of their purpose. This
situation obscured all else to my
mind. 1t was not that / valued my
discovery SO highly; in very truth I
considered the price offered In excess
of its real importance; could have
80 highly for SO simple an invention;
but that was not the point. was
French officer, intrusted by my
government with a military secret,
even warned to guard it with my
life. l was here under orders which
involved what I valued more highly
than all else-my honor. I wss pledged
to preserve the unknown element
in the Dessaud monoplane from others.
This was the single thought which for
the moment obsessed me, making me
forgetful even of the girl also prisoner.
and for my sake.
am ashamed now of the selfish
ness which actuated me, but tell the
story as it occurred. My one dominant
purpose was to escape, and overthrow
Brandt's plans. I crept to the right,
away from the light, testing windows
and doors, only to discover the former
boarded up, the latter securely locked
and keyless. They could not be forced
open noiselessly, and to attempt such
thing would bring the whole pack
upon me. Apparently the only way
out was through the area door by
which we had entered As stood