The circle banner. [volume] (Circle, Mont.) 1914-1939, 1918-05-10

love.
Before she left, she looked abou
the room.r What assurance had sh
that this very excursion was not
trap, and that in her absence the vaul
would not be looted again? 1t con
| tanned now something infinitely val
liable and incrlminating-the roll O
film. She glanced about, and seeing
silver vase of roses, hurriedly emptiet
the water out, wrapped the film IL
oiled paper, and dropped it dow
among the stems.
The Street of the Wise Virgins wa!
not near the palace. Even by walking
briskly she was in danger of being
late. The wind kept her back, too
Then, at last, the Street of the Wise
Virgins and the fiacre, standing at the
curb, with a driver wrapped in rugs
against the cold of the February night,
and his hat pulled down over his eyes.
The countess stopped beside him.
"You are expecting a passenger"
| Eyes, madame"
With her hand on the door, the
countess realized that the fiacre was
already occupied. As she peered into
its darkened interior, the shadow re-
solved itself into cloaked and masked
figure. She shrank back.
ENTER, madame" said a voice.
The figure appalled, her. 1t was not
sufficient to know that behind the
horrifying mask which covered the en-
tire face and head, there was a hui
man figure, human pulses that beat,
human eyes that appraised her. She
hesitated.
Quickly" said the voice.
She got in, shrinking into a corner
of the carriage. Her lips were dry,
the roaring of terror was in her ears.
The door closed.
Then commenced a drive of which
afterward the countess dared not
think. The figure neither moved nor
spoke. Inside the carriage reigned the
most complete silence. Then the car
riage stopped, anG at last the shrouded
figure moved and spoke.
Il regret, countess. that my orders
are to blindfold you.p
She submitted ungracefully, while
he bound black cloth over her eyes.
He drew it very close and knotted it
behind. In the act his fingers touched
her face, and she felt them cold and
The contact sickened her.
"Your hand, madame"
She was led out of the carriage, and |
across soft earth, a devious course |
again, as though they avoided small |
obstacles. Once her foot touched |
low and hard, like marble.
Again, in the darkness, they stumbled
was, then-in a graveyard. But
which? There were many about the
city.
An open space, the opening of a
gate or door that squeaked softly, a
flight of steps that led downward, and
4 breath of musty, cold air, damp and
,ellarlike.
At last, still in unbroken silence, she
Knew that they had entered large
space. Their footsteps no longer
echoed and reechoed. Her guide
walked more slowly, and at last paus-
ID, releasing her hand. She felt again
he touch of his clammy fingers as he t
lntied the knots of her bandages. He I
ook it off.
At first she could see little. When I
Ter eyes grew accustomed, she made I
ut the scene slowly. I
A great stone vault, Its walls c
roken into crypts which had con- t
aimed caskets of the dead. But the
askets had been removed, and were 4
lied in a corner, and in the inches f
yere rifles. In the center was pine X
able, curiously incongruous, and on n
. writing materials, cheap clock, n
nd pile of documents. There were
xo candles only, and these were stuck U
/ skulls-old brown skulls so infinite N
: removed from all semblance to the &,
uman that they were not even hor- IT
BILE. 1t was as If they had been used, q
OF to inspire terror, but because they
ere at hand and convenient for the r
lrpose. In the shadow, ranged in a =
were nine figures, all mo- :,
onless, all masked, and cloaked in
ack. They sat, another incongruity, :,
/ plain wooden chairs. But in spite =
that they were figures Of dread.
he one who had brought her made 81
e tenth.
Had she not known the past record u
the men before her, the rather opera e
,uffe setting with which they lose It
surround themselves might have
oused her scorn. But Olga Loschek CT
lew too much. She guessed shrewd- lie
that, with the class of men with 81
hom they dealt, it was not enough OF
at their name spelled terror. They al
ust visualize it. They had taken In
cir cue from that very church, in Tl
ed, beneath which they hid. The pl
urch, with its shrines and images, tn
pealed to the eye. They, too, ap- ft
aled to the eye. Their masks, the
refully constructed and upheld Sc
7stery of their identity, the trappings
death about them--it was skillfuily LIZ
ne. ST
Still no one spoke. The countess as
,ed them. Only her eyes showed gu
r nervousness; she stood haughtily, so
r head held high. But like most wi