The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1936-05-01


done the swine in"
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 l, 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 1 had en-
tered had disappeared.
Helena was safe-for the moment.
So much l saw. Gas matter of fact,
she was saved: but at that time l 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 twinkling of an eye
my position had been reversed. If l
could not make an end Of the two, /
deserved to be shot.
I stepped to the cut through which
Pharaoh and Dewdrop had passed.
AS l had supposed, this gave to a
winding stair-no doubt of consid-
cradle depth, for though l strained my
ears, 1 could hear nothing at all.
Determined to leave nothing to
chance, I 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 it.
The bench, however, could be seen
from the head Of the winding stair. l
must therefore suggest to Pharoah
that his captive had merely moved.
This was easy enough. Next to the
bench stood the fireplace, which jutted
into the room. On the other side of
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 moment l stood thinking. Then
1 perceived that, unless were to fiout
Reason, this office must devolve upon
Rush.
Anyone leaving the stair with
torch in his hand would be almost
sure to illumine the opposite side of
the room. The corpse must therefore
be moved, in any event. And If l
could grid it into the semblance of
In two or three minutes the grisly
business was done, and Rush was
seated upright in a high-backed chair,
with an arm along one of the chairs
and the torch in his hand. His belt
and mine and some cord had found in
his pocket had done the trick. His
head had proved troublesome, but l
took stick from the crate, buttoned
this into his waistcoat and propped it
like that.
The effect was hideous, for the
corpse was poking it's head. But that
was beside the point. At the first
blush, not even the mans own mother
would ever have known he was dead.
Here 1 should say that, before had
set Rush up, l had taken away his
pistol and Helena's master key.
Once again took care to listen at
the head Of the winding steps-and
heard no sound.
To pick my own position was easy
enough. l had only to take my stand
behind the panel-door that belonged to
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, with
the knife at my hip and pistol In
either hand. :. g.
Looking back, l find it strange that
I, who ten days before had never, that
can remember, so much as knocked
udu uuWu, SHOulu nave LHdue lHeSc
dreadful preparations without qualm.
That had already done murder
troubled me very much less than the
loss of my belt. Indeed, my only con-
Germ was lest by some improvidence
on my part the butchery which l pur-
posed should not be fulfilled. 1t might
be said that was but making ready to
save my life; but l cannot plead that
excuse, for that consideration never
once entered my head. But that was
not Of valour. / think the plain truth
is that / was possessed.
What / had witnessed in that cham
Der had fired within me a furnace of
roaring hate. was going to kill
Pharaoh and Dewdrop exactly as had
killed Rush-not because / had set
out to do 1t, not because that was the
reason why l was there. but because
they had rayished Virtue-broken a
lovely spirit, by abusing its lovely
flesh.
l had to wait full five minutes be-
fore l heard sigh on the winding
stair.
The sigh grew into a murmur, and
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