Jackson County journal., 1919-10-17
CHAPTER XXI.
The End Of the Chateau.

Darkness impenetrable about mt
and thick air that I breathed with
great gasps that hardly brought relief
to my choking throat. And a voice
out of the darkness crying ceaselessly
in my ears:
'Help me! Help mel"
I raised myself and tried to struggle
to my feet. found that / could move
my limbs freely. tried to rise upon
my knees, but the roof struck my head.
1 stretched my arms out, and touched
the wall on either side of me.
I must have been stunned by the
concussion of the landslide. By a
miracle had not been struck.
"Help me! Help mel"
l tried to find the voice. I crawled
three feet toward 1t, and the wall
stopped me. But the voice was there.
It came from under the wall. l felt
about me in the darkness, and my
hand touched something damp.
whipped it back in horror. It was the
face of a man.
There was only the face. Where the
body and limbs ought to have been wus
only rock. The face was on my side
Of wall of rock, pinning down the
| body that lay outstretched beyond.
I recognized the voice now. 1t VAS
that Of Philippe Lacroix.
"Ah, mon Dieu! Help me. Help
mer'
He continued to repeat the words in
every conceivable tone, and his suffer.
ing was pitiable. I felt one hand come
through the tiny opening in the we'll
and grasp at me.
"Who is it?" he mumbled. els that
you, Hewlett? For Gods sake, kill
mel"
I crouched beside him. but did not
know what to say or do. 1 could only
wait there, that he might not die alone
"Give me a knife!" he mumbled
again; clutching at me. "A knife
this Bring Pere Antoine and my
mother. l want to tell her-to tel
her"
He muttered in his delirium unit
. his voice died away. I thought that ht
would never speak again. But present
ly he seemed to revive again to the
consciousness Of his surroundings.
Are you with me, HEWLETT" h
whispered
I placed my hand in his, and h
clutched at it with feverish force.
"You will have the gold, Hewlett.
he muttered, apparently ignorant tha
I, too, was a prisoner and in hardl
. better plight. Il tried to kill you, HeW
: lett Are you going to leave me to di
Z alone in the dark now?"
NO" l answered. "It doesn't mat
ter, Lacroix." And, really, it did nc
matter.
II wanted to kill YOU" his voic
I rambled on. "Lacroix is dead
, watched him die I thought if-yo
4 died, too, no one but would know til
I secret Of the gold. I tried to murde
y you. blew up the tunnelr'
n He paused, and / heard him gas
III for breath. His fingers clutched at m
u coat sleeve again and hooped then
selves round mine like claws Of steel
relapsing into his delirium: ''but I le
J.. it behind me and the police got
u Isn't it odd, LerouX," he rambled o
= ''that one always leaves something b
: hind when one has killed man? b
4, the newspapers made no mention abo7
X the knife You didn't know he W:
dead, did you, Leroux, for all yoE
al hot Jo
that paper upon the table? You kne
enough to send me to Jail, but "
didn't know that it was I who kills
- him. Help mel" He screamed he
- ribly "He is here, looking at mel"
"There is nobody here, Philippe
- I said, trying to soothe his agony
- soul. What poor and stained SO
~ it was, travelling into the next wor
~ 49, alone! '"There is nobody but me, Ph
mha m ippe"
"You lie!" he raved. Louis is her
He has come for me! He deserved
die He tricked me after we had fou
~ the gold. He tricked me twice. ]
- told Leroux, thinking that he wou
49,. win his gratitude and get free frc
- the mans power. And the second til
~ he told Carson. Then there were thr
Of us in the secret
nu "What did you do?" I asked, thou
it was like conducting a post-mort.
nu upon q murderer's corpse.
(TO BE CONTINUED.)
ou
20! Our Country's Birth.
Id. Our cOuntry's indeDendence dat