Mountain advocate. (Barbourville, Ky.) 1904-1935, 1920-04-02
CHAPTER XXI.
The End Of the Chateau.

Darkness impenetrable about me,
and a 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 mel Help meIr
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 l touched
the wall on either side Of me.
I must have been stunned by the
conclusion Of The landslide. BY q
miracle had not been struck.
Help mel Help mew
tried to find the voice. crawled
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 ny
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, plnning down the
body that lay outstretched beyond.
recognized the voice now. 1t was
that of Philippe Lacroix.
"Ah, mon Dieu! Help me. Help
mew
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. as that
you, Hewlett? For Gods sake, kill
mel"
l 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 knifel" 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 tell
her"
He muttered In his dellrium until
his voice died away. thought that he
would never speak again. But present
ly he seemed to revive again to the
consciousness of his surroundings.
"Are you with me, Hewlett% he
whispered.
1 placed my hand in his, and he
clutched at It with feverish force.
"You will have the gold, Hewlett"
he muttered, apparently ignorant that
I, too, was a prisoner and in hardly
better plight. 81 tried to kill you, Hew.
lett. Are you going to leave me to die
alone in the dark now"
NO" answered. at doesn't mat.
ter Lacroix." And, really. 1t did not
matter.
II wanted to kill you" his voice
rambled on. ''Lacroix Is dead.
watched him die. l thought if-you
died, too, no one but would know the
secret of the gold. tried to murder
you. blew up the tunnel"
He paused, and l heard him gasp
for breath. His fingers clutched at my
coat sleeve again and hoped them
selves round mine like claws of steel.
81 had a knife-once," he resumed,
relapsing into his dellrium; "but left
It behind me and the police got It
Isn't 1t odd, LerouX," he rambled on
"that one always leaves something be-
hind when one has killed a man? But
the newspapers made no mention about !
he HfHntf Iynnxxy hn
dead, did you, LerOux, for all your
cleverness, until that fool Hewlett left |
that paper upon the table? You knew
enough to send me TO jail, but you |
didn't know that 1t was l who killed |
him. Help mep He screamed hOr
ribly. "He is here. looking at mel"
"There is nobody here, Philippe"
I said, trying to sOothe his agony of
soul. What a poor and stained soul
Il was, travelling into the next world
llOnel "There is nobody but me, Phil.
pper
"YOu lie !" he raved. 'LOuis Is here
He 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
he told Carson. Then there were three
# us in the necret."
"What did you dor" 1 asked, though
I was like conducting II post.m ortem
lpOn a murderer's corpse.
(TO BE CoNTINUED.)