The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1917-01-27

his friends nerveless hand. He pick
ed 1t up, and the next words froze on
his lips.
For the first time in his life Manning
became wholly incapable Of reasoned
thought or decisive action. Even Bron-
son was compelled to ignore his own
horror and disrnay and strive to rouse
the other from the deathly coma which
seemed to have seized him.
At this crisis the imperturbable tenn
permanent Of Police Captain Kemp was
invaluable. Almost within few sec
onds he succeeded In alarming the
household and extracting such few
facts as were available. Unfortunate
ly they were altogether negative.
May Manning had requested the but
Ter to bring some iced lemonade. and
the man was actually on his way to
the lawn when the car dashed In. The
police had heard nothing whatsoever.
The locality was quiet as a grave at
that hour and 1t was literally impossi-
BILE for any one to pass along any road
In the neighborhood without being sub
Jected to close. If unobtruslve, surveil-
lance.
But the girls were gone! They had
been spirited away by Ali Singh. and
the man himself had not scrupled to in
dicate their fate in the grim words Of
the note.
There could be no doubling what he
meant by such phrase as 1.-The woman
| you love-" Manning was his enemy,
Manning was the man he wanted to
crush, and what better means might
be devised than the kidnapping of Mar
garet Bronson? On this occasion, how
ever, he had not been content with one
hostage. Poor May had been taken.
and Willard Bronson realized only too
well that she would not be spared a
second time.
As usual, ALI Singh had so contrived
matters that inquiries by the police
were thwarted during many valuable
hours. 1t was night, and the mystery
Of darkness enhanced their difficulties.
Yet, In the most favorable conditions,
1t Is hard to see how they could be ex-
pected to find out that a deep tunnel
had been driven from the cellar Of a
neighboring house, stretching to a coal
chute iq Manning's dwelling under
hundreds of feet of gardens and road
way. There was not the slightest sur
face indication Of any such molelike
borrowings. Indeed the existence OF
this treacherous sap was only made
known some days later, when an as
founded house agent visited the premi-
ses which had been unaccountably va
Gated by the latest tenant and came
on tons Of earth heaped high in every
room.
Twenty-four hours of frenzied but
useless search followed Manning.
physically incapable of further effort,
was seated on the lawn with his equal
ly disconsolate friend when Kemp and
detective Joined them. The police
captain indicated by hopeless gesture
that there was no news. No one spoke.
In that bitter moment words were hol-
low and meaningless.
Nevertheless their bitter reverie was
distracted by a very unusual sound
unusual, that is, in suburban resi-
dental quarter of the city. 1t was a
bright moonlight night, and they hear,
distinctly the steady engine beat of :.
aeroplane In rapid flight.
The noise came nearer and nearer
until graceful monoplane literally
swooped down on them from the sky
and neared the lawn at such a pace
that the four men ran to the shelter
Of the veranda to escape from being
CrI1Shad 1nafh hu 70
chine, True, the engine was still throb-
bling rhythmically. and it did not APP
pear that the aviator had lost control.
But In any event it was most I'M
nerving incident, and they looked at
each other In stupor of amazement
when the plane, having almost brush
ed the tops of the trees near the house.
swept up again and vanished as quick
ly as it had come. ~
They saw, too, that the daring bird
man had dropped something into the
garden. Manning. recovering his self
control by a marvellous effort of will.
was the first to reach and pick up the
mysterious package. 1t was an arrow
shaped shaft Of wood heavily weight
ed, and q letter In a linen envelope
was tied around 1t. Then they knew
without being told who had dispatched
that aerial messenger. Once more they
pored over All Singh's iii omened
scrawl. The higher one was quite ex-
plicit. He wrote:
Torture and death await your sister and
Margaret Bronson unless you surrender
yourself to me by 8 o'clock tomorrow
evening. trustworthy guide will meet
you at A3d street and Broadway AT 1880
D. m. or course you will come alone.
Any effort on your part to make an ar
rest or be followed by your own agents
will simply hasten the fate ct the two
women.
Bronson and the police captain were
literally stunned by this extraordinary
experience. But Manning remained
strangely calm. He folded the fateful
missive with fingers which did not
tremble in the least and placed 1t I'M
der a paper weight protecting little
pile of official documents from any
stray gust Of wind which might blus.
ter through the house.
He was so unnaturally quiet, his air
30 studiously businesslike, that Kemp
ayad hty, m rrowIv and drau N poca