Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1918-12-05
CHAPTER XIV.
Taking Long Chances.

Taking Long Chances.
Were taking long chances,
Graham said, desperately lori
chances, but you're in a desperatel!
dangerous position. It's the onl]
4 way. You'll be accused Of stealing
the evidence, but remember, whei
they question you, they can prove
nothing unless the cast and thu
handkerchief turn up. If they've
been taken by an enemy in some
magical fashion to be produced a
the proper moment, there's no hope
Meantime play the game. and Kath'
crime and / will help you all we
can. The doctor, too, is friendly
There's no doubt of him. Come
now. Let's face the music"
Bobby followed Graham to the
hall, trying to strengthen his nerves
fer the ordeal. Even now he was
more appalled, by the apparently
supernatural background OF the case
than he was by the material details
which pointed to his guilt. More than
Che report and the cast and the hand
kerchief, the remembrance of that
impossible moment in the blackness
of lie old room filled his mind, and
the unearthly and remote crying
still throbbed in his ears.
katherine, Graham, and the doc
tor waited by the fireplace. They
had heard nothing from the author
tiles.
But they must be here soon"
Doctor Groom said.
Did you learn anything back
there, Hartley?"' Katherine asked.
1T wasn't the servants" he said.
Jenkins heard the crying. He's
certain it came from outside the
house"
Paroles looked up.
"Extraordinaryw he said.
81 wish | had heard it," Doctor
Groom grumbled.
Paroles laughed.
Thank the good Lord l didn't.
Perpetually, Bobby, your house re-
minds me that I've nerves sensitive
to the unknown world. I will go
further than the doctor. | will say
that this house is crowded with the
supernatural. 1t shelters things
that we cannot understand, that we
will never understand. When |
vas a child in Panama had nurse
who, unfortunately, developed too
strongly my native superstition.
How she frightened me with her
bedtime stories! They were all of
men murdered or dead of fevers,
crossing the trail, or building the
railroad, or digging insufficient
bitches for De Lesseps. Some OF
her best went farther back than
hat They were thick with the
ghosts of old Spaniards and the
crimson hands of Morgan's bucca-
neers. Really that tiny strip across
the isthmus is crowded with souls
atched too quickly from torn and
tortured bodies. If you are sensi-
tive you feel they are still there"
"Whst has all this to do with the
Ccdais?" Doctor Groom grumbled.
1T explains my ability to sense
strange elements in this old house.
There are in Panama--if you don't
mind, doctor-improvised gave
yards, tangled by the jungle, that
give you feeling of an active. I'M
seen population precisely as this
house does
He arose and strolled with cat
like lack of sound about the hall.
When he spoke again his voice was
scarcely audible. i was the voice
Of a man who thinks Aloud, and the
doctor failed to interrupt him again.
Il have felt less spiritually alarm
ed in those places of grlnning
skulls, which always seem trying to
recite agonies beyond expression
than | feel in this house. For here
the woods are more desolate than
the Jungle, and the walls of houses
as pld as this make prison tor SUIT
fertng." i
A vague discomfort stole through
Bobby's surprise. He had never
heard Paroles speak so seriouly. In
spite of the mans unruffled manner
there was nothing of mockery about
his words. What, then was their In
tention?
Parades said no more, but for sew
eral minutes he paced UP and down
the hall, glancing often with languid
ewes toward the stairs. He had the
appearance OF one who expects and
waits.
katherine, Graham, and the doc
tor. Bobby could see, had been
made as uneasy as himself by the
change in I the Panamanian. The
doctor cleared his throat. His voice
broke the silence tentatively:
"If this house makes you so un-
happy, young man, who do you
stay?" ~.
Paroles paused in his walk; His
thin lips twitched. He indicated
Bobby.
For the sake of my good friend.
What are a MASS personal fears
and desires if he can help his |
friends?"
Graham's distaste was evident.
Paroles recognized it with a smile. |
Bobby watched him curiously, real
ling more and more that Graham