The Concordia sentinel. (Vidalia, Concordia Parish, La.) 1882-current, 1921-08-27

|
The car drew up at the station,
and he strOlled with her to the plat
form. Then the train came in, and
he put her into carriage. And two
minutes later, with the touch Of her
| lips warm on his. and her anxious
little cry, Take care, my darling -
take care!" still ringing in his ears, he
| got into his car and drove off to an
hotel to get an early dinner.
FOUR.
At a quarter to ten he backed his
car into the shadow of some trees
not far from the gate of The Fins.
Save for light in the sitting-roOm
and one in a bedroom upstairs, the
front Of the house was In darkness,
and, treading nolselessly on the turf,
he explored all round 1t. There was
one bedroom light at the back of the
house, and thrown on the blind he
! could see the shadow Of a man. AS
he watched. the man got up and
moved away, only to return In a mo-
ment or two and take up his old posi-
ton.
"It's one of those two bedrooms"
he muttered to himself, "if he's here
at all"
Then he crouched In the shadow Of
some shrubs and waited. Through
the trees to his right he could see The
Larches. and once, with a sudden
quickening of his heart, he thought he
saw the outline Of the girl show up
In the light from the drawing-room.
But 1t was only for a second, and
then It was gone.
He peered at his watch: 1t was just
ten o'clock. The trees were creaking
gently In the faint wind; all around
him the strange night noises-noises
which play pranks with a mans
nerves-were whispering and mutter-
ing. Bushes seemed suddenly to come
to life, and move; eerie shapes
crawied over the ground toward
him-figures which existed only In
his Imagination. And once again the
thrill of the night stalker gripped
him.
He remembered the German who
had lain motionless for an hour In
little gully by Hebuterne, while he
from behind a stunted bush had tried
to locate him. And then that one
creak as the Boche had moved his leg.
Ow~ -
night. too. the little hummocks had
moved and taken to themselves
strange shapes: fifty times he had
imagined he saw him; fifty times he
knew he was wrong-in time. He
was used to It; the night held no
terrors for him. only a fierce excite
ment. And thus It was that as he
crouched In the bushes, waiting for
the game to start, his pulse was as
normal. and his nerves as steady as
IL he had been sitting down to supper.
The only difference was that In his
hand he held something tight-gripped.
At last family in the distance he
heard the hum of car. Rapidly 1t
grew louder, and he smiled grImly to
himself as the sound of FIVE unme-
lodious voices singing Justify struck
his ear. They passed along the road
in front of the house. There was a
sudden .crash-then silence; but only
for q moment.
Peters voice came first:
"You priceless old ass, you've
rammed the blinking gate"
1t was Jerry Seymour who then
took up the bawl, His voice was in
tensely solemn-also extremely loud.
''Praposhterous. Perfectly preposh-
ferrous. We must go and apologize
to the owner. 1 L E.
absolutely mustn't apologize.
Quite objectionable. :.
You can't go about country :.
knocking down gates. Out Of
queshtion. !"
Half-consciously Hugh listened, but,
now that the moment for action had
come, every faculty was concentrated
on his own job. He saw half dozen
men go rushing out into the garden
through a side door, and then two
more ran out and came straight toward
him. They crashed past him and went
on into the darkness, and for an in
slant he wondered what they were
doing. A little later he was destined
TO find out.
Then came peal at the front-door
bell. and he determined to wait no.
longer. He darted through the gar
den door, to find a flight of stairs in
front Of him. and in another moment
he was on the first floor. He walked
rapidly along the landing, trying to
find his bearings, and, turning corner.
he found himself at the top of the
main staircase-the spot where he had
fought Peterson two nights previous
ly.
He walked quickly on to the room
which he calculated was the one where
he had seen the shadow on the blind.
without seconds hesitation he flung
the door open and walked Tin. There
lying in the bed. was the American.
while crouched beside him @Eith q re
voiver In his hand. was nah.
For few seconds they wsltched one
another h eilence. and tkenl the man
slraIF1t<ned ~. tor,