The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1919-11-21
CHAPTER XXI.
The End of the Chateau.

DarkneS lmpenetraDle about me
and a thick air that l breathed with
great gasps that hardly brought relief
to my choking throat. And q voice
out of the darkness crying ceaseIessly
In my ears:
Help me! Help mel"
1 raised myself and tried TO struggle
to my feet. l found that l could move
my limbs freely. / tried to rise upon
my knees, but the roof struck my head.
/ stretched my arms out, and / touched
the wall On either side of me.
l must have been stunned by the
conclusion Of the landslide. BY a
miracle l had no been struck.
Help me! Help mel"
/ tried to find the voice. / crawleA
three feet toward 1t, and the wall
stopped me. But the voice was there.
1t came from under the wall. / felt
about me in the darkness, and my
hand touched something damp. ]
whipped 1t back In horror. 1t was the
face Of a man.
There was only the face. Where the
body and limbs ought to have been was
only rock. The face was on my side
OF "a wall Of rock, pinning down the
body that lay outstretched beyond.
l recognized the voice now. It was
that Of Philippe Lacroix.
"Ah, mon Dieu! Help me. Help
me !"
He continued to repeat the words In
every conceivable tone, and his suffer
Ing was pitiable. / felt one hand come
through the tiny opening In the wall
and grasp at me.
"Who Is it?" he mumbled. "Is that
you, Hewlett? For Gods sake, kill
mel"
/ crouched beside him, but l did not
know what to say or do. I could only
wait there, that he might not die alone.
"Give me a knifei" he mumbled
again; clutching at me. "a knife,
HEWLETT Don't leave me to die like
this! Bring Pere Antoine and my
mother. 1 want to tell her-to til
her"
He muttered In his delirium until
his voice died away. I thought that he
would speak again. But present.
ly he seemed to revive again to the
consciousness Of his surroundings.
"Are you with me. HEWLETT" he
whispered.
/ placed my hand In his, and he
clutched at 1t with feverish force.
"You will have the gold, Hewlett"
he muttered, apparently ignorant that
/, too, was a prisoner and In hardly
better plight. II tried to kill you. Hew.
lett. Are you going to leave me to die
In the dark nowf"
"No," l answered. at doesn't mat.
ter, Lacroix." And, really. 1t did not
II wanted to xiii YOU" his voice
on. "Lacroix is dead. !
watched him die. I thought if-you
died, too, no one but / would know the
secret Of the gold. I tried to murder
you. / blew up the tunnel I"
He paused, and I heard him gasp
breath. His fingers clutched at my
coat sleeve again and hoped them.
selves round mine like claws Of steel.
II had q ~knife-once," he resumed,
relapeing into his delirium T; 'but I left
t behind m and the police got 1t.
Isn't 1t odd, Leroux," he rambled on,
that n always leaves something be-
hind when n has killed q man? But
he newspapers made no mention about
he knife. You didn't know he was
lead, did you, Leroux, for all your
until that fool Hewlett left
hat paper upon the table? You knew
to send me to jail, but you
lidn't know that 1t was / who killec
him. Help mel" He screamed hor
.ibly. HE is here, looking at me l"
"There Is nobody here, Philippe"
said, trying to soothe his agony Of
soul. What a poor and stained soul ,
{ was, travelling into the next world
alone! 'There Is nobody but me, Phil.
"You lie 7" he raved. Louis Is herei
ae has come for mel He deserved to
lie. He tricked me after we had found
he gold. He tricked me twice. He
old Leroux, thinking that he would
win his gratitude and get free from
he mans power. And the second time
,e told Carson. Then there were three
" us In the secret"
"What did you doF" I asked, though
{ was like conducting a post-mortem
lpon a murderer's corpse.
(To BE CONTINUED)