Free trader-journal. (Ottawa, Ill.) 1916-1920, 1918-07-11

i Nt IL fiUi. nv uhith'u iobt = b'Nh
runnin around like he was bughouse.
an | thought he'i give me the slip.
Then seen him Gene up these steps
an | foEefcd. Dual told me to stick
to him, an dono it; but it's been
ono sweet job
He came in here. We were just
going after him when YOU came !
told him.
''l gu all here" he queried. and
drew his sleeve across a sweatdamp-
encChblow
The two Cinnamon who had vainly
sought to hold him had risen, and
stood half minded to resume the at
tack. McNabe addressed them IN
hurried singsong, and they drew back
scowling. The detective turned to US
and rushed into advice and direction.
There amt no time to go get a
squad now. If were going TO save
KILN we've got to move. That fools
gone down there alone, from the looks
Miss Foote, YOU go outside. Take
care YOU amt followed, too. Grab
the first harness man YOU see an tell
him about this. Tell him Mac said
to get bunch an come back here, an
take the first door under the stairs
to the actors rooms. Now hurry. The
rest of use II try TO follow Reich an
see where he's gone, an pull him out
fore it's too late. Come on, the rest
of you"
He set off at run toward the side
passage.
Lucille dartcd out of the front door,
and Dual. Shcllca and | followed Nc.
Kabe. He lei straight down the
passage ut TIE ciGc of the house to
the stairs at the end, leaped up them
and wrenched crCn the door. In n
crowding rush the rest Of US followed.
and | closed tho door behind me. We
stood in space TO one end OF the
stage, with its occupants plainly Wis
ible through some eheaply painted
wings
Before us stretched narrow pas
sage. midway OF which a wooden
stairway ran upward. Mckabe dart
ed straight for this.
But instead Of mourning he ran
around it to small door half hidden
in shadows, set into what appeared to
be q closet built in under the slant of
the stairs. A spring lock held it shut.
McKabe twisted back the latch and
DRAGGED it open. The interior yawned
empty of anything save shadows, as 1t
seemed.
The detective drew a pocket flash
and swept 1t inside, along the walls,
and over the floor. There at our feet
the light showed metal ring and a
square of boards, which. unlike the
rest of the floor, were free from dust.
Here we are" he exclaimed, and
stopped down. grssping the ring and
dragging up the.trapdoor to expose a
earning hole like the mouth OF a
mine-shaft, and the dimly lighted mp
per rungs of what appeared to be a
vertical ladder.
Come on he directed shortly.
Letting the trap door fall back on
its hinges out of the way. he lowered
himself upon the ladder and began to
descend. Dual went second and Shell
don third, and came last
I had to admire the nerve OF the lit.
tie plain clothes man as | crept down
the ladder Here he was advancing
into an admittedly unknown region OF
tangled passages and alleys dug 'be
meath the city rs calmly as he might
have walked its streets He was a
cool little pickle all right, was Nc
Kabe,
| reached bottom In moment or
two and Joined the others
It was dark down there as the tomb
the only light the brilliant point OF
McKahes flash as he threw it over the
flood and walls. And 1t was foul, IN
descrbably foul. with an odor of dc
composition. and smell of sewers
and rotting life. / felt my feet sink
into spongy surface which sensed
was soggy earth, sour from lack OF
sunlight. The beam of the search
light showed walls shining dampl,
with moisture and a ceiling stained
with the damp, from which dropped
down the bulb OF an electric lamp.
There's light" said Mckabe's
voice, "but blessed II KNOW where
the switch Is. Probably upstairs"
He swept the light to tho ground al
our feet and showed It black, and
blotched with patches and streaks o.
white.
when they were In here Las
month the boys made 'em throw lim'
around" the detective continued
Thought maybe It would sweeter
the smell. II II did, don't quite
sense II. Hello. Look here"
He dropped the light close 10 III,
floor, and bending forward We saw
the outline OF feet pressed into thu
wet earth of the passage. Not onll
that. but they were the marks of sho'