The Elbert County tribune., 1917-06-29

Stumbled Out Into the Underground
Passage.
noises to boot-as though the intruders
were moving furniture about. Then all
sounds ceased.
OF a sudden. simultaneously, Patria
and Parr turned startled faces toward
the vault door.
Round its edges thin wells of smoke
were seeping into the chamber.
''They have fired the house! ~
The strained, frightened whisper was
Patria's. Mechanically Parr nodded.
Already the atmosphere in the vault
was oppressive-so impfegnated with
smoke it was difficult to breathe. so
warH that perspiration beaded brows
and hands. g..
Another five minutes: he heard lit.
tie choking cough, and turned to Pat.
ria. She wars on her feet, swaying,
eyes blank, hands plucking feebly at
the throat of her waist. AS she turned,
the light died out from her face and
she slipped slackly forward upon the
table.
Half-maddened. Parr put a shoulder
with his weight behind it against the
vault door. II swung QUITO admit a
sitting cloud of bitter smoke together
with blast of heated air that might
have come from n furnaces NAV.
Tugging the door shut again, he
turned and began rapidly TO circle the
walls, hoping against hope to discover
somewhere another exit.
In his haste he tripped over the
l. q o n
framed portrait of the first John Cham
ming. Its aged cord parted and the
portrait fell with a crash exposing the
inner face of a stout door of steel.
Plncking frantically at its bars and
bolts, Parr succeeded in dislodging
them. The door swung out. A gust of
damp. cold air invaded the vault. Be
yond the opening little was .yisibe-a
Shiny b-.ck flooring between arched
walls of brick fading into blackness--
nothing more.
Stepping back, Parr gathered the in
sensible girl up in his arms and STUN
bled out into the underground passage.
Once beyond the threshold he put his
back against the door and swung 1t
into place. Then he blundered blindly
on.
Twenty PAGES through inky murk
. He stubbed his toes against
step, and gently putting down his bur-
den, found and struck a match.
The brief-lived flame discovered
short flight of stone steps ascending to
a flat roof. AT the top was no sign of
any doorway or fastening. Yet some
/ xvp of No CT
up the steps. crouched on the top
most, placed his shoulders against that
fiat roof of stone and heaved nightly
and heaved and heaved.
Grudgingly, half-inch by half-inch
the stone yielded; then more rapidly;
in the end one tremendous final effort
overturned it. and Parr sprawled out
of the opening into fresh air and morn
ing sunlight.
He picked himself up to realize n
walled garden in the rear of the resi-
dence whose every window spouted
smoke and flame. Then he hurried
back to Patria, took her once again in
his arms, and bore her to the upper
world.
She recovered swiftly. Two min
utes more, ana they stood in quiet
news on the far side of the walled
garden. And there, for little, they
hesitated-Patria turning instinctiveIv
to Parr for counsel, Parr struggling
to regain his poise.
At length, consulting his watch he
announced
The first thing to do, of course, is to
see about safeguarding that treasure.
It's safe enough for the time being:
and l know where to find the right
men to stand guard over it after the
firemen apd police have gone. Later.
Wen see about transferring it-but
there's plenty of time for that; no bank
opens its vaults before ten o'clock.
She nodded assent and tucked a con-
hdent arm within his as they turned
toward the nearer corner.
(END OF SECOND EPISODE.)