Grand Forks herald., 1917-02-16
...ALICE DEVINE
EDGAR JEPSON
Copyright by the Merrill Co
BY EDGAR JEPsoM
Copyright 1915 by the Bobbs Merrill Co.

walked up to the landing and drew
up the blind. There was no snake on
the second fight.
The inspector and the policemen
came through the barricade; and we
went up to the second floor.
I stood on the top Of the stairs,
looking about me, when Brookes. who
stood behind me, cried: There he
goes. m'Lord! At the end of the pass
age!"
In the dimly-lighted corridor fac
ing me something was moving along
the wainscoating. threw up my gun
and put charge Of shot into it. The
report of the gun fairly beloved
about the house; : and we all stood still
a sound; yet that bang had been loud
enough to wake the dead.
There amt nobody in this 'ouse-
except u.s." said one of the policemen.
Nobody alive" said /.
We went along the corridor; and
Brookes pulled up the blind of the
window at the end of it. The snake
was quite dead, fairly riddled with
shot. picked it up and looked at it.
II say. this isn't the snake that
bolted us last night. It's much small
said.
Its a lot smaller, m'Lord," said
Brookes.
"Ah you saw it in a bad light;
and you were startled" said the in
spector.
"No; it is smaller. I'm sure of it,"
] said; and thought for minute.
And after all, why should there be
only one snake? That basket would
hold dozen," added.
1t was not a pleasant thought. and
ably. ] slipped another cartridge into
my gun. Fortunately. / had, without
thinking, put handful into my pock-
We moved cautiously on. and led
the way. The doors of some Of the
rooms on the first floor were open,
ahd I went into each of them first.
witt my gun ready The first two
rooms--a library and smoking-room
were empty. The third room was
wing-room, and as went into it /
heard a rustic. The blinds were down
and the room was dim.
Keep out!' ] cried, went to one
of the windows and jerked up the
blind.
Ten feet from me. in an easy chair,
a big-headed snake was rearing itself.
blew it's head off. At the bang of
the gun two smaller snakes came
darting out Of hiding
II shouted, shut the door," and
jumped on chair.
The door banged to. and the snakes
darted quickly backward and forward
along and across the room. ! cut
one clean in two with the other barrel.
Then I reloaded, and when the smoke
had cleared a little, 7 shot the other.
Then I waited while to see If any
more came out, but none did. called
out that it was all right and the po-
licemen came In. l had made a mess
of the room: had cut the back of
the easy chair to ribbons and spoiled
the carpet.
We examined the dead snakes, and
Brookes and [ both agreed that the
big-headed snake. which had shot in
the easy chair. was the one we had
seen on the stairs. Then I went to
the middle window in which was the
window box Frederick had, been clip
ping when he fell. and examined the
blind. 1t was very dusty. and on one
side near its edge We're finger-prints
Frederick had been right. some one
had drawn the blind on one side and
The house had not been empty.
There were no more snakes in any
Of the rooms on the first floor When
we had made sure of it, we went to
the staircase of the second floor.
There was a barricade at the bottom
or it-a large mass of barbed wire.
but it was drawn up close to the CELL
ing, and could be let down with a
rope to fill the whole width of the
staircase to height of six feet. 1t was
a very clever idea. led the way up
the stairs, and was few steps up the
second flight when a big snake came
quickly over the top stair right down
at me. I fired from the hip; it gave
a jump. pitched down the stairs, hit
ting my leg as it passed, and fell a
squ1rming. Kissing heap on the land
as the policemen fell tumbling over
one another down the lower flight.
] was beginning to enjoy 1t: but
then I had "a gun. The policemen
looked uncommonly nervous and
shaky. The snake was the biggest one
we had come across yet.
! gave the policemen a little time to
pun themselves together and then
went up to the second floor. The
doors of all the rooms were closed
and 1t did not seem likely that there
were any snakes in them. However.
we looked through them all-they
were bedrooms-and made sure that
there were no snakes in them. Then
led the way. under another ba.rbed
wire barricade, hung to the ceiling, up
the narrow staircase to the. third
floor In all the houses in the Car
dens the third floor is arranged as
servants. quarters. and the rooms are
small. The doors of all but one of
them were open.
Here's the end Of the search" I
sald, tapping the closed door; and the
inspector opened it.
The blind was down. but tho room,
was brightly lighted by the burning
gas On the bed lay the body Of a
swarthy, hook-nosed, black-haired
man OF about IS. He was dressed in
pajamas and dressing gown. l saw
at the first glance that he was dead.
The inspector pointed to his swollen
left ankle. in which there were two
deep wounds. Plainly he had cut
away the flesh round the punctures
from the snakes fangs: but it had
been no use. A half-smoked cigar had
fallen from the fingers of his right
hand ana burned a hole in the blan-
ket. On the table by the bed was an
empty champagne bottle. and a glass
half full Of the wine stood beside It.
A cool hand, and tough" said the
inspector. Found that it was all up
with him. ana died enjoying himself
not been dead long, either"
Well, II the snakes were brought
here the night before last by the peo.
pie Brookes saw, they've only been in
the house thirty hours said. II
expect he was going about in the dark
IN his paJamas ana trod on one Of