The Western news. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1933-current, 1936-04-02


not like Pharaoh.
Somewhere In the pile of the castle
a new light leaped into life-a definite
eye of radiance, unshaded and uncon-
fined. For a moment 1t stabbed the
darkness, a steady pinprick Of light.
Then 1t broke into a series Of flashes
"a silent luminous stutter that no ono
could ever mistake.
And SO my eyes were opened. Before
his fellows could tell me, l knew the
truth.
Pharaoh was on the ramparts, and
Pharaoh was going to talk" Pharaoh
had been In the castle the llvelong day.
He had never left with Dewdrop. And
now he was going to quench the lights
of the castle; and when he had put
them out, he would let his accomplices
In.
Dewdrop deciphered the message,
word by word.
lothe-up-to-bridge-thtand-by
-to-enter-by-latht- nighth-poth-
tern-directly-light
The lamp flashed once more and
went out.
Before l had gathered my wits, the
three were afoot.
To this day / cannot decide what /
should have done. Had, / left them
and dashed for the castle to give the
alarm, before / had found the warden
the lights would have failed. Had ! At
tackled, whatever the result Of my Ell
fort, think 1t Is clear that must my
self have gone down, but Pharaoh
would still have been rampant. The
brain. the will and the drive promot-
ing this reign of terror belong to Pha-
raoh alone. And only the destruction
Of Pharaoh could end this sinister rule.
First Pharaoh. and then his fellows;
but Pharaoh first.
say "that Is how / saw 1t" but that
is more than the truth, for ! saw It
very darkly, and as l stole after my
quarry towards the bridge, ! was my
self the prey Of horrid uncertainty
for which l was not to blame. / had
staked and won; and now was taking
my winnings as gamblers do. But this
was no gaming-table; this WAS the In
slant business OF life and death.
Wild to exploit the advantage
clearly held, In fear of wasting this by
striking too soon, In fear OF losing It
by holding my hand, moved 10 PAGES
In rear OF the shambling thieves, with
one hand on Sabres collar and the
other on Geoffrey's knife.
So far as I had gathered, they knew
no more than did what Pharaoh WAS
going to do. He was going to cut on
the lIght-dlsarm the main switch
board, without a doubt. Then they
were to use the postern-
The vision brought me up with
jerk.
How could they use the postern1
The postern was fast. Pharaoh must
have opened 1t somehow. Unknown to
the warden, he must have obtained the
key.
A sudden apprehension lifted its
ugly head. In Pharaoh's presence Hell
ena had handed the warden q master
key. That was the key with which
Pharaoh had opened the postern;
though no alarm had been raised. be-
cause nothing was known. Pharaoh
the master key.
That this was so, i instantly made
up my mind. Talk about panic. :"
Blindness. havoc and panic would rule
the night. The sheep would have no
shepherd-and Godfrey and Barley
were gone. How Pharaoh would find
the treasure, | could not think. But
that was Pharaoh's affair. My way
at least was clear. The thieves would
bring me to Pharaoh and everything
was to be gained by my holding my
hand.
And here, as though by magic. the
lights OF Yorick went out
There was was now less need of
silence and more of speed, for the
three rogues ran for the drawbrldge
as hard as they could. Sabre and
ran behind them, as though we be-
| longed to the crew.
Ahead | saw something white by the
castle wall The three turned aside to
avoid 1t, and l did the same. As I
went by, | saw that II was sheet At
that moment Sabre left me-he seemed
to stop. But had no time to wrangle
The postern-door was open. The
three stumbled In and stood waiting.
And | stood waiting without, with
| foot on the step and my head close
against the wall.
Then came Pharaoh's voice.
"Bugle.'
Ere" said Bugle at once.
Don't talk. Whisper. Here. Take
these goods. Have you forgotten
| them?'
"Tye got shoe" breathed Bugle.
| Watts this r.
"A wipe" said Pharaoh. ITO which
| side OF the drive are the cars7r
ITO the right from here
Drop the wipe on the drawbridge,
and sling the shoe into the fields to the
left OF the drive. II you want to live,
make 1t snappy. They're going to open
those gates before you get back"
AS Bugle went by me, I saw that
here was a chance which would never
| return. Pharaoh had used no torch.