Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1918-07-25

find the trapdoor and let us Out
If not, we will break it down."
Mofe blows echoed down the
passage. Fifteen or 20 minutes
after, the trapdoor gave way, and
other voices now mingled with
Weber's and Mazeroux s..
During this time, Don Luis ex-
amined his domain and perceived
how extremely small it was. The
most that he could do was to sit
in it. 1t was a gallery, or, rather,
a sort of gut, a yard and a half
long and ending in an o%rfice, mar
rover still, heaped up with bricks.
The walls, besides, were formed of
/ bricks, some of which were lack
ing and the building stones which
these should have kept in place
crumbled at the least touch. The
ground was strewn with them.
"By Jove!'' thought Lupin, II
must not wriggle about too much,
OF | shall risk being buried alive!
A pleasant prospect!"
Not only this, but the fear of
making a noise kept him motion
less. AS a matter of fact, he was
close to two room occupied by
the detectives, first the boudoir
and then the study, for the bou-
doir, as he knew, was over that
part of his study which included
the telephone box.
The thought of this suggested
another. On reflection, remem-
bering that he used sometimes to
wonder how Count Malonyi's an
cestress had managed to keep
alive behind the curtain on the
days when she had to hide there,
he realized that there must have
been a communication between the
secret passage and what was now
the telephone box, a %communica-
ton too narrow to admit a per
sons body, but serving as a venti-
lating shaft. .
AS a precaution, in ease the sec
ret passage was discovered, a
stone concealed the upper aper-
ture of this shaft. Count Malonyi
must have closet up the lower end
when he restored the %wainscoting
of the study.
So there he was, imprisoned in
the thickness of the walls, with no
definite intention beyond that OF
escaping from the clutches of the
police. More hours passed.
Gradually, tortured with hun
ger and thirst, he fell into a heavy
sleep, disturbed by painful night
mares which he would have given
much to be able to throw off. But
he slept too deeply to recover
| consciousness until 8 O'Clock in
the evening.
When he woke up, feeling very
tired, he saw his position in an UNI
e%Npectedly hideous light, and, at
the same time, so accurately that,
yielding to a sudden change of
opinion marked by no little fear,
he resolved to leave his hiding
place and give himself up. Any
thing was better than the torture
which he. was enduring and the
dangers to which longer waiting
exposed him.
But, on turning round to reach
the entrance to his hole, he per
celved first that the stone did not
swing over when merely pushed,
and, next, after several attempts
that he could not manage to find
the mechanism which no doubt
worked the stone. He persisted.
His exertions. were all in vain.
The stone did not bulge. Only,
at each exertion, a few bits of
stone came crumbling from the
upper part of the wall and still
further narrowed the space in
which he was able to move.
1t cost him a considerable effort
to master his excitement and to
say, jokingly:
"That's capital! 1 shall be re-
duced now to calling for help. L,
Arsene Luphl! Yes, to call in the
help of those gentlemen Of the po-
lice. Otherwise, the odds on my
being buried alive will increase
every minute. They're 10 to / as
it isl"
He clenched his fists.
"Hang it! I'll get out of this