Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1918-07-11

might and shouting so loud that
they were bound to hear him out
side through the open window.
Your re not making half
enough noise, deputy!" cried Don
Luis. "Let's see what we can
do
He took his revolver and fired
off three bullets. one of which
broke a pane. Then he quickly
left his study by a small, massive
door, which he carefully closed
behind him. He was now in a
secret passage which ran round
both rooms and ended at another
door leading to the anteroom. He
opened this door wide and was
thus able to hide behind it.
Attracted by the shots and the
noise, the detectives were already
rushing through the hall and up
the staircase. When they reached
the first floor and had gone
through the anteroom, as the
drawing room doors were locked.
the only outlet open to them was
the passage, at the end of which
they could hear the deputy shout
ing. They all six darted down it.
When the last of them had van
ished round the bend in the pass
age, Don Luis softly pushed back
the door that concealed him and
locked it like the rest. The six
detectives We're as safely impris-
oned as the deputy chief.
"Bottled!" muttered Don Luis.
cit will take them quite five min
utes to realize the situation, to
bang at the locked doors, and to
break down n of them. In five
minutes we shall be far away"
He met two of his servants rum
ming up with scared faces, the
chauffeur and the butler. He
flung each of them a thousand
frame note and said to the chauf-
fcur:
Set the engine going, there s
a sportsman, and let no one near
the machine to block my way.
Two thousand francs more for
each OF you if l get off in the
motor. Don't stand staring at me
like that | mean what | say. Two
thousand france apiece: it's for
you to earn it. Look sharp!'
He himself went up the second
flight without undue haste, re-
naming master of himself. But,
on the last stair, he was seized
with such a feeling of elation that
he shouted:
"Victory! The road is clear!"
The boudoir door was opposite.
He opened it and repeated:
"Victory! But there's not a
second to lose. Follow me-"
He entered. A stifled oath es-
capped his lips.
The room was empty.
"What! !" he stammered.
What does this mean? They're
gone. Florence"
Certainly, unlikely though it
seemed, he had hitherto supposed
that Sauverand possessed a false
key to the lock. But how could
they both have escaped, in the
midst of the detectives? He
looked around him. And then he
understood.
In the recess containing the
window, the lower part Of the
wall, which formed a very. wide
box underneath the easement, had
the top of it's woodwork raised
and resting against the panes, ex-
actly like the lid of a chest. And
inside the open chest he saw the
upper rungs of q narrow descend
ing ladder.
In a second, Don Luis coniured
up the whole story of the past:
Count Malonyi's ancestress hiding
in the old family mansion, escap-
ing the search of the perquisitors,
and in this way living through
ont the revolutionary troubles.
Everything was explained. A
passage contrived in the thickness
OF the wall led to some distant
outlet. And this was how. Flor
ence used to come and go through
the house; this was how CASTOR
went in and out in all security
and this also was how both of