The Western news. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1933-current, 1936-04-16

1
done the swine iu.'
She did not answer, so | got to my
feet and threw the beam round the
room. She must be there somewhere.
And then all at once | knew where
| Helena was
She had fled for the staircase-turret
when Rush and /, between us, had
dropped the torch.
Rush had locked the door of the hall,
| not the door of the secret room.
took a step towards this-and
| stopped In my tracks.
The doorway by which | had en-
tered had disappeared.
Helena was safe-for the moment.
SO much / saw. Gas a matter of fact,
she was saved: but at that time | did
| not know that no one within the room
| could open the door she had SHUT
And Rush was dead, and Pharaoh and
Dewdrop knew nothing of what had
occurred. In the twinkllng Of an eye
my position had been reversed. II |
could not make an end OF the two.
deserved to be shot.
| stepped to the cut through which
Pharaoh and Dewdrop had passed.
AS had supposed, this gave to a
winding stair-no doubt of a consid-
cradle depth, for though | strained my
ears, could hear nothing at all.
Determined to leave nothing to
chance, proceeded to lay my ambush
with infinite care.
Pharaoh must find nothing wrong
until too late To all appearance the
room must be as he had left 1t.
The bench, however, could be seen
| from the head Of the winding stair. |
must therefore suggest to Pharoah
| that his captive had merely moved
This was easy enough. Next to the
| bench stood the fireplace, which 1ufted
| into the room On the other side or
this was a chair with its back to the
wall IF my torch were trained upon
this, Pharaoh would receive the I'M
| preston that his captive had changed
| her seat, for the chair was masked
by the fireplace and. could not be seen
from the cut. The only question was
how to support the torch
For a moment stood thinking Then
perceived that, unless | we're to fiout
Reason, this Office must devolve upon
/ Rush.
Anyone leaving the stair with
torch In his hand would be almost
sure to illumlne the opposite side OF
the room The corpse must therefore
be moved, In any event. And II
could grid 1t into the semblance OF
life.
In two or three minutes the griSiy
| business was done, and Rush was
seated upright In high-backed chair
with an arm along one OF the chairs
and the torch In hts hand. His belt
and mine and some cord had found In
his pocket had done the trick. Ills
head had proved troublesome, but
took stick from the crate, buttonet
this into his waistcoat and propped 1
like that.
The effect was hideous, for ths
corpse was poking Its head. But thai
was beside the point. At the frs
blush, not even the mans own mother
would ever have known he was dead.
Here | should say that before hat
set Rush up, I had taken away his
pistol and Helena's master key.
Once again | took care to listen al
the head of the winding steps-ant
heard no sound.
To pick my own position was cas-,
enough | had only to take my stant
behind the panel-door that belonged t
the cut. This was wide enough to con
ceal me.
decided to use pistol, for the bull
let was swift and sure and at quar-
tiers SO close / could not possibly miss
For all that, ! took the knife too.
And then at last | was ready, will
the knife at my hip and pistol II
either hand !. e.
Looking back find 1t strange tina
/, who ten days before had never, tina
| can remember, so much as knocke,
man down, should have made thes
dreadful preparations without qualn
That | had already done murde
troubled me very much less than tn
loss of my belt. Indeed. my only cor
Germ was lest By some lmprovidenc
on my part the butchery which | pun
posed should not be fulfilled. Ii Nigh
be said that | was but making ready t
save my life, but / cannot plead tina
, excuse, for that consideration neve
once entered. my head. But that wa
not Of yalonr. ! think the plain trnt
Is that | was possessed.
What had witnessed In that chan
. Der had fired within me a furnace {
roaring hate. | was going to XII
) Pharaoh and Dewdrop exactly as ha
killed Rush--not because | had Sc
. out to do 1t, not because that was III
] reason why | was there. but becaus
they had ravished Virtue-broken
lovely spirit, by abusing It's love-
| flesh.
c | had to walt full five minutes b.
fore | heard sigh on the windin
I stair
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