Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-05-01
AND HERE 1T CONTINUES
The Hidden Store

+ ~ WV b'h' ItHlllS anu DTfHIn n
less, half anticipating new attack
But all was very still and quiet in the
darkness, and he heard no sound or
movement anywhere, either in the room
or without.
cautiously he put out his hand and
groped for the matches hc knew he had
left near. He found them and struck
one and looked round slowly and OK
pectantly. The room was empty. the
door was shut. all was as it had been
peforc, only tn" tumblod condition Of
the bed suggested that anything ur
usual had happened He might almost
have thought it had merely been a bad
dream of which he had been the vic
rim, but his throat still hurt him. and
when he looked at himself in the glass
he saw that it was bruised and swollen
and that it showed the black traces of
encircling fingers
Who-what-ca it have bcpn?" he
muttered.
y He felt very cold and yet he was
Z Sperspiring freely. and he pulled on his
into his slippers. lie struck another
match and glanced round for something
TO Serve as a weapon. but could SEQ
nothing: even the chairs were of too
slight make to be of any use. The
lamp he had brought upstairs with him
the night before was on the dressing
table and he lighted il. and then thought
that if he took it with him it might
betray him to a lurking enemy. and 50
blew it out again. He crossed on tip
toe to the door and opened it with cx
treme caution. and for n long time he
remained crouching on the threshold,
listening and waiting. intent for the
faintest indication Of the presence Of
his assailant.
Out here on the landing the darkness
was much deeper than it had been in
the bedroom. where he mad had tn" blind
up and the window open. Here tn"
only faint glimmcr of light cam" through
the closed skylight through which a far.
bright star was visible and this glim-
mer was so faint and weak IT seemed
to serve only to make the darkness more
intense.
As he crOuchcd there in the dark
Keith felt his courage returning. his
nerves growing firm again. IL" hnd
beeu good deal shaken by the sudden
and mysterious attack made upon him
: IN mis- profound slumbor. but now tn"
effect of it was beginning to pass away
and he tod himself grimly that if hs
could Law hands on his unknown aSSall-
ant he would show him the difference
bctweeu attacking a man in his sleep
and meeting one awake and prepared.
ue had expected that some sound.
come movement. would tell him Wh"r"
his adversary was by the perfect Stlil-
noes of the night was broken by no
sound It occurred to him that IT
,,;gght he better to wait for daylight
hrt the anger steadily rising IN nm AT
Sbe attack he had been subjected to
1yertore such prudent counS"lS. lie
Araiyhtcncd himself from tn" position
In which he had been crouching. and
very carefully and cautiously. and yet
with n certain light swiftness OF move
mont. he set himself to the task OF
finding his enemy who must, he was
conyinced. be hiding somewhere in the
house. First of all he locked each
room in turn on the outside and then.
after looking in the cupboard at the
head OF Inp StdlIS '0L any 'L' '''''''''
he hiding there and finding it full only
of clothes. he' unlocked each room IN
turn and searched each one thoroughly
locking each one again behind hlm as
he left it. When he had done this with
all the rooms in turn and made sure
there was no one lurking in any OF
them, he went downstairs TO the ground
foor and searched the rooms there IN
the same way, as carefully and Systc-
matically, making sure by locking each
one behind him and pocketing the key
that his unknown enemy was not avoid
ing him in the darkness or slipping from
ono hiding place to another.
1t was strange and weird eX-
uerience, trying to the nerves and TO
the courage, to search thus room after
room in the dark night, with no light
save the glimmer from the matches he
struck sometimes, tensely ready for a
rush from any corner, for an attack at
any moment, expecting each second to
find himself locked in wild fight for
life, 1t was a long process, too, for
lie was so certain he must come upon
Z his adversary sooner or later, since es-
cane seemed to him impossible, that ne
often crouched and waited or stood
breathless in dark shadows, straining
to hear some sound to tell him where
the other lurked. Whoever this other
might be he seemed cunning and subtle
beyond the common, and Keith felt that
unless he used every precautiOn and
every care he would find himself at
tacked at a disadvantage that might
easily be fatal.
The dawn was near, the darkness less
heavy than it had been, when at last
7 hfs task was completed, the house
searched from top to bottom, and he
himself convinced that beneath that
roof be was the only living creature.
Bewildered, and with fear growing on
him again, he stood chilled to the bone
IA the chill, bare kitchen, and asked
z himself wonderingly by what possibility,
by what trick or secret means, his
enemy had escaped.
Now, too, he looked and found that
every one of the fastenings with which
80 carefully he had secured doors and
Windows the night before was still in
tact, and when he had assured himself
of this fact he could not help the little
thrill Of superstitious awe that ran
< fbrough him, or check entirely an in
3 elfnafion to glance quickly over his
Shoulder isst unseen there should be