Evening star., 1925-04-05
THE SEVEN SLEEPERS
A.Thrilling NoueI of By FRANCIS BEEDING
International Intrigue Copyright 1925 by Little. Brown Co.,
By FRANCIS BEEDING

which it is possible to escape in
quarter of an hour. There was
man who escaped from US here on
one occasion, but the way he took
was as disagreeable as 1t was in
genious."
'1ndeed?"
"Yes, Mr. Preston. He opened his
veins with the blade of a safety
razor
He left me at that as quietly as
he had come, shutting the door and
turning the key in the lock.
1t would be quite useless to pre-
tend that | was not thoroughly in
timidated, though l told myself that
this was precisely the object which
the professor had hoped to achieve.
was horribly afraid, not only of
the torture. but of the condition to
which it was possible for torture to
reduce even the most stubborn of
men. 1t was well enough for me,
as l sat there more or less master of
myself, to resolve that these black
guards should never wiring from me
the whereabouts of that accursed pa
per, but, with those confounded pic
lures fresh in my memory, 1T was i'm
possible to be sure that the secret
would not issue from me as nat
urally and inevitably as the yelp ot
a mangled cur. L again opened the
book and turned sick with horror
at a vision of bare flesh blistering
under heated steel.
/ rose, feeling a little faint, and
looked again for a way of escape.
I examined the bed, which was COW
cred with two coarse sheets and two
blankets; there was also a pillow in
a case. / racked my brains for a de-
vice, but got no further than planning
to stand near the door with blanket
up ready to throw over the first man
that entered. after which l would try
to fight my way out. The chances of
getting free that way would, however,
be pitiably slight.
Then, as I strode feverishly up and
down the room, my eye suddenly
lighted on the high shelf which ran
round the top of 1t. 1t was, as l have
already said, supported on iron
brackets of an ordinary pattern. that
is to say, a right angle of cast iron,
one side of which was screwed into
the wall, with the ends joined by
rod to give it greater solidity. There
was space within the triangle form
ed by the two sides of the bracket
and the iron rod. through which 1t
would be possible to pass a cord or
rope.
Ny thoughts went instantly back to
the professors parting words con-
cerning the man who had escaped oy
taking his life. That gave me my idea.
/ tripped the bed, and with some
difficulty tilted the wooden frame
against the wall. Next i laid the table
fiat on the floor and wedged 1t be-
tween the narrow space which sepa-
rated the edge of the bed and the side
of the room. This was to prevent the
bed from slipping. l mounted upon IL
and discovered that, when standing
on its topmost edge, my outstretched
hand was only about foot below one
of the iron staples.
Climbing down again. | seized the
sheets and tore them into strips with
the aid of my pocket knife: and from
these / rapidly constructed a rough
rope of sufficient length for my pur-
pose. Last of all l slipped the case
from the pillow, and then my ar
were completed.
1 took a pencil from my pocket and.
on the back of an old envelope,
wrote in German:
My Dear Professor.
Thanks for your friendly warning.
Hanging is an easy death.
THOMAS PRESTON.
/ placed the note in prominent po-
sition on the chair. which had plant
ed in the middle of the room, where
the last rays of the sun passing
the skylight caught II ana
threw my message into high reiiet.
Throwing my sheet rope ana the
pillow case over my arm, ciilnoeu on
to the bed and, after one or two vain
attempts. succeeded in threading one
end of the rope through the aperture
In the staple. l pulled the other to-
ward me and made moose, into
which | slipped my head, drawing II
fairly, but not too tight.
The most difficult part of my TASK
was vet to come. 1t was necessary TOT
mo tn mass the rope two or three
the moose from Tightening about my
neck. Fortunately. / am fairly attn
Ietic. and / succeeded in jumping TOT
the staple and grasping the rod con
Meeting the ends. l passed the Iope
the staple, at the same time
doing what is called an arms pehu'
so that the length or rope
between my throat ana the slepio
was considerably shortened.
Already I could hear steps in the
ma assaee outside, and l remember IN
UardIy thanking God that at least IL
would soon be over, and that was
m he spared the terrible anxiety VI
waiting for the moment OF my des-
perate experiment.
Seizing the slack end of the rope
with one hand, L pulled the pllio"
case over my head with the otner anu
swung off from the bed Ihe pliio"
case would, l knew, be a hanuicap
when the moment for action arrived
but I realized that it was imperative
70 hide nv face If l were to deceive
NV enemies. | knew how man was
eynected to look when hanged-espe-
cially the eyes.
AS I swung from the bed l slithereo
along the side of the wall, all the
while gripping the slack end OF the
rope desperately, for II 1t sllppeu
knew | should be strangleo. Inc
broke out on my forehead
with the physical effort OF MAINTAIN
ing myself in that position.
| forgot to explain that the staple
to which I had tied my sheet rope
was not directly. above the bed, but
somewhat to the right, so that, as L
hung from it, 1 was clear, OF the
edge of the bed.
Not more than 10 or 10 SECONDS
could have passed before l heard the
door swing violently open. There
was a noise of entering feet, mo-
mentary silence, instantly followed
by a chorus of exclamation.
CHAPTER vi.
Ride I'm a Henrse and Am
TransfOrmed.
/ like to remember that In that mo-
ment / remained astonishingly calm
and clear-headed. Though L could
see nothing of what was passing
under my feet, my head being COM
pletely enveloped in the pillowcase, l
vividly imagined the scene, which
the, invaders. 1t was now
late in the afternoon and the light
was beginning to fail. They would
see first the disorder of the room,
then the chair full in the last ray of
the sun, and finally a dim,- swaying
figure, hanging just clear Of their
heads in the far corner. 1 prayed for
I'm