The Tabor independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1913-19??, 1918-11-28

lmomcnts. Bnt the slip knot BIZ
into his flesh. lie ceased moving
Everything was over.
Then Don Luis Perenna. hold.
ing the other end Of the lasso,
came up to him and bonnd hin,
hand and foot with what re-
NAMED Of the rope. The opera
ton was carefully performed.
Don Luis repeated it time after
time, using the coils of rope which
the cripple had brought to the
well and gagging him will, a
handkerchief. And, while apply
ing himself to his work, he cx-
planned, with affected politeness /:
You see, sir, people always
come to grief through excessive
selfconfidence. They never mag
inc that their adversaries can
have resources which they them
selves do not possess. For instance
when you got me to fall into your
trap, how could you have sup
posed, my dear sir, that a man
like myself, a man like Arsenc
Lupin, hanging on the brim of a
well, with his arms resting on the
brim and his feet against the in
ncr wall, would allow himself to
drop down it like the first silly
fool that comes alongf
Look here: you were fifteen
or twenty yards away; and do
you-think that | had not the
strength to leap out nor the cour-
age to face the bullets of your
revolver, when it was q question
of saving Florence Levasseur's
life and my own? Why, my poor
sir, the finest effort would have.
been enough. believe me!
MY reason for not making
the effort was hat [ had some
thing better to do, something in
finitely better. | will tell you
why, that is, if you care to know.
DO your
well, then, at the very first
moment, my knees and feet, prop
ped against the inner wall, had
smashed in a thick layer of
plaster which closed up an old ex-
cavation in the we'll; and this |
at once perceived. 1t was a
stroke of luck, wasn't it7 And
it changed the whole situation.
My plan was settled at once.
While IwentHon acting my little
part Of the gentleman about to
tumble down an abyss, putting on
the most scared face, the most
staring eyes, the most hideous
grin, | enlarged that excavation,
taking are to throw the chunks
of plaster in front of me in such
a way that their fall made no
noise. When the moment game,
at the very second when my
swoOning features vanished be-
fore your eyes, | simply jumped
into my retreat, thanks to a rath-
er plucky little wriggle of the
NJ was saved, because the re-
treat was dug out on the side
where you were moving and be-
cause, being dark itself, it east no
All that | now had to do
was to wait.
81 listened quietly to your
threatening speeches. / let the
you flung down the well
60 past me. And, when I thought
you had gone back to Florence,
| was preparing 70 leave my ref
lge, to return to the light Of day,
and to fall upon you from be-
hind, when"
Don Luis turned the cripple
over, as though he were a parcel
which he was tying up with
and continued:
Have yOu ever been to Tan
,arville, the old feudal castle in
Normandy, on the banks of the
Haven't you9 Well, you
must know that, outside the ruins
the keep, there is an old well
like many other wells Of
he period, possesses the peculiar
ty OF having two openings, one at
top, facing the sky, and the
,ther a little lower down, hol-
out sideways in the wall
md leading to one of the rooms
o the keep.
"At Tancarville this second
opening is nowadays closed with (
. grating. Here it was walled | .
Up with a layer of small stones
md plaster. And it was just the
'~ecollection Of Tancaryille that
made me stay, all the more as
here was no hurry, since you had
lad the kindness to inform me +!
hat Florence would not join me
the next world until four
" - =