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BANNE She : A sloAty of- k CHAPTER V?Continued ?11? "On the contrary," said I, "we're practically home. I'm going to get pen and ink?for you to take down." Leaving him staring, I entered the room on my left, passed to a table and dipped a pen in some ink. Then I came back and gave it to Herrick and watched him begin to descend. Brenda, of course, was wide-eyed: but it was not for me to tell her what we had found. We waited together In silence till Herrick came back?alone. "Elizabeth wants you again," was as much as he said. In some surprise, I took the torch from him and again descended the stair. As I entered the little chamber? "Look," said Elizabeth, pointing. "*Is that all right?" I stooped to regard the vellum. She had written a line beneath her grandfather's name. "Elizabeth Virgil, Countess of Brief, only child of the foregoing's nrsi-born son." "Yes," said I. "There's no mistake about that." She gave me the pen, and picked up the great gold ring. Then she turned to look again at the body, sunk in its stall. "Seeing's believing," she said. "But no chemist could do today what Gollanx has done." iud[, oi course, was most true. By every right, the body should have been dust. Instead, it had the air of a waxwork. And that, I suppose, was why it was in no way offensive, but only remarkable. After a long look? "We'd better be going," she said, and turned to the stair. There was now no cause for haste, for leave before midnight we dared not, In case Brief was not asleep: and that was the hour at which Winter was to be by the mouth of the drive. (He, of course, knew no more than that we were within the tower and that all was well, for I had twice sent him that signal a short half-hour before dawn. This, from the leads of the tower, which were easily reached.) Indeed, we were faced with the prospect of being confined for three hours with nothing to do, for though we were all worn out, excitement and impatience, between them, would not allow us to rest. But first, of course, we had to cover our tracks. (Here let me say that I make no excuse for the outlook which I have this moment set down. It was ours, at that time: and if 1 am to be honest, it must be declared.) Now that we knew the secret, it took us a very short while to return to their ancient order the elements we had displaced, but dust that the years have laid cannot be repro uuccu in ten minutes ui lime, and half an hour went by before I was satisfied with the look of the thirtysixth step, within whose stone the key to the chamber lay. Whilst 1 was attending to this, with Brenda to give me light, my lady and Herrick together composed a full note of what we had found in the chamber and what the statement set forth. They were at work in the bedroom, that is to say, the uppermost room of the tower. I had finished my work on the step and, with Brenda behind me, was going upstairs to the bedroom quietly enough. We had passed by the door and 1 was about, being by. to relieht mv torch u/hen a Bound there was no mistaking rapped out of the dark. It was the clack of a latch. The two of us stood still as death. Again the iron was raised?by somebody standing on the other side of the door . . . and pressure was put on the oak?which could not open because we had made it fast . . . Then whoever was there gave In, and the latch fell back into place. I was up the stairs in a flash, to give the alarm. Elizabeth paled, and He trick stifled an oath. "If we can, we must bolt," said I. "By way of the courtyard, of course: and so to the belvedere." "Is that step all right?" said Herrick. "Thank God, yes," said L "I was on my way up." As luck would have it, our stufi was ready to hand, and before two minutes had passed, we had packed it anyhow and were ready to leave. We had intended, of course, to restore to the rooms we had used the arise we had found in them when The Cherokee Scout, I R SERIAL FIC1 Painfte we and intutyue . . O Dorniord Yatoe we came, but this was not now worth doing, and so we let them be. As the four of us stole past the door, the latch was raised and let fall and the oak was urged, as though some one refused to allow that the bolts had been shot. As fast as I dared, 1 led the way 1 down the stair ... j We were, I suppose, some 50 sec- i onds too late. 1 As I gained the hall, 1 heard the sound that I dreaded some 18 inches : away?a key being tried in the door at the foot of the stair. I j.i was, 01 course, tried to no purpose. The door was heavily barred. ' But it meant that both exits were held, and that we were caught in the tower as rats in a trap. ' CHAPTER VI I often think that we fully de- ( served cur plight, for, once we possessed the secret we set out to find, i we should not have lost a moment in leaving the tower. To i.over our i tracks was essential, but that we )(P Ism "On the Cot could have done in a quarter of an a hour. Then again we needed the ti darkness, but dusk would have n served our turn. And that we had. We preferred to ignore a grave per- " il because for 43 hours it had never lifted its head, losing sight of the a staring fact that if it should lift its head, we were bound to be caught, y Be these things as they may, a when 1 heard that key move in the d lock, I was ready to do myself vio- a olence for throwing away the a chance of escape we had had: for, t had we behaved?not with prudence, but common sense, we should at r that time have been nearing the mouth of the drive. t After a moment's hesitation, 1 led fl the way through the hall and into the room beyond. Then I shut the door behind Herrick, lighted a torch and threw the berm on the floor. t I touched Elizabeth's arm. "First, tell me this," I said. "Is the roof any good?" r "I've no idea," she said, and r pushed back her sable hair. "There c might be a way?I don't know." I shook my head. r To seek such a path by night would have been a desperate ven- s ture for Herrick and me: the pres- ? ence of our companions ruled such i an enterprise out. c "Then I can think of nothing," t said I, "except to draw them away from the upper door. If we can i only do that, we may still get clear. Out of the upper door, where we t heard them first?across the landing you spoke of into your suit*? i down your staircase-turret?out of 1 the castle and up to the belvedere, i Winter will still be there, if we can i be quick, to lead us over the ridge \ and down to the Rolls." i "A feint?" said Herrick, frown- t ing. t "That's my idea," said L "A i demonstration down here?at the t lower door. I admit it's a damned i thin chance, but what else can we t do?" t "What sort of demonstration?" 1 said Elizabeth. t Wurphy, N. C., Thursday, 'ION d Her ! ,. ^ DORNFOI WNU Service I looked at Herrxk. "D'you think you could do it?" I said. "Disguise your voice and? and parley with them in Gerr. an? I mean ..." Herrick's face was a study. "1 see." he said slowly. " 'Parley.' And how. when the parley's aver, do 1 get out? Up a hundred steps and then through a house [ don't know. Or don't 1 get out?" "I shall come back," I said, "as soon as they're safe in the suite." With my words we heard sometody pound on the lower door. "Who is within'.'" they demanded. I 'Open at once." Herrick looked at Hlizabeth. i "Is that his lordship?" he said. 'I'd like to, er, parley with him." i My lady smiled. "That was Bertram," she said. 'The steward. I'm afraid he may I ;et rather fussed." "A little bit pompous?" said Her- i "ick. J "A shade, perhaps. But a most 1 respectable man." "Leave him to me," said Herrick, itrary," 1 Said, "We're Practically nd settled his coat. "And when I i ake up the running, stand by to love. If you should get clear ..." 1 "I'll give you a flash," said I, t from the bend of the stair." i Herrick nodded and took out a cig- i irette. .1 By this time those in the court- 1 ard were fairly assaulting the oak, t ind since, when the latch was 1 Irawn, the door could be moved to 1 md fro for an eighth of an inch, 1 not inconsiderable uproar invaded 1 he room. "Put out that light," said Her- 1 ick. l As I did his bidding, he stepped t 0 the door of the chamber and lung it back with a crash. The uproar beyond stopped dead. 1 Then? 1 "Who the devil is there?" roared : he steward. "ODen at once " A thick voice replied in German. "What does this mean?disturbing ] espectable people at this time ot < light? Go and wipe your snout, you : ild toss-pot, and burn the towel." A savage hiccough subscribed this nost offensive command. Then a wave of scandalized contequence burst on the lower door, j [he oak was pounded and shaken, tnd choking cries of protest stood < >ut of a motley clamor of orders i tnd threats. 1 1 touched Elizabeth's arm and \ nade for the stair. , As the girls stumbled on to my i teels, I opened the upper door. | Beyond this, curtains were hang- , ng, heavy and thick. I cautiously \ ifted one, to see the broadest land- i ng I ever knew. In its midst was j tn oveal well, some 40 feet wide, vith a bronze balustrade about it tnd the heads ot twin flights of itairs upon either side. (To give tome idea of their size, each step t vas but two inches high, and some i welve feet long.) The landing itself i vas dim, but a brilliance rose out i >f the well and the sumptuous flights ?f stairs ran down into light. So i ar as I could see, there was nubody 1 tereabouts, but the sound of voices ' , January 5, 1939 Face (D YATES and movements came from a lower floor. Elizabeth, peering beside me, caught my wrist. "Quick," she breathed, and urged me across the carpet to a door which was close to the head of the farther stair. An mstant later, tlie three of us entered her suite. "Too easy," I said, with an eye on the way we had come. "And if I'm not back in three minutes, please give me your word you'll go on. i cannot leu wnat may happen. If there's a hitch, it may be better for us to leave by the lower door. But we couldn't do that unless we were sure you'd escaped." Elizabeth shook her head. "If you don't come, I shall use my judgment," she said. I shrugged my shoulders and went. There was no time to argue. (Vny moment someone might visit the upper floor. I have so far said nothing of what we were most afraid of that sumMy I lp m Home." mer night?the entrance of Percy Virgil upon the scene. Not only was the fellow efficient?he would have secured both doors before he did anything else?but he had good cause to remember both Herrick ana me; ana though we made good aur escape, if he set eyes upon us the police would be at Raven very nearly as socn as the Rolls. But now I disclose this dread, for as I whipped over the landing, I heard tils sinister voice. I think he was giving some order. Be that as it may, his unmistakable accents rang out of the well. In a flash I was past the curtains and back in the tower and was nursing its stairway anew, because to go down it too fast was to break /our neck. As 1 came within earshot? "Only let me get out," belched Herrick, fumbling the bolts of his door. "I'll teach you to talk to /our betters. I warn you, Bertie, I'll tie your snout round your neck." And there I flashed my torch? and saw him leap for the stair. I turned and climbed before him [or all I was worth . . . Eighty - eight merciless steps, wedge-shaped, steep and naked, curling between walls that were hostile and, when you soucht tnr - handhold, bruised your nails . . . Alter a little, you seemed to make no progress, to be no more than the pitiful, captive squirrel climbing his endless wheel . . . Up, up. up . . . for less than a minute, I know: but such is the power of apprehension, it seemed an age. (TO BE CONTINUED) Two Cleopatra's Needles Why there are two Egyptian mot, uments called Cleopatra's needles is not known. The obelisks were set up in Heliopolis about 1460 B. C., and removed to Alexandria about 17 years after Cleopatra's death. It may have been that she planned the removal or that the obelisks were named in htr memory. V Shining the Stove. ? Before blackening the kitchen stove go over it with a cloth dipped in vinegar to remove all the grease. * Hints to Carpenters. ? When driving nails into hard wood touch the end of the nails with lard or tallow, when they will be found to go in much more easily. m m A Blanket Note.?To keep the tops of blankets and quilts clean, bind the edges with pieces of cheesecloth about 16 inches wide. These can be tinted to match the blanket, and removed when soiled. I Make Blocking Case For Dresser Drawer By RUTH WYETH SPEARS. Here is another suggestion that has stood the test of practical use ?a flat case that holds six pairs of stockings. What a relief not to have them all mixed up with underwear and other things in dresser drawers. This case may be made quickly on the sewing machine. A piece of cretonne or bright ticking or other cotton material of the dimensions given here, and about two yards of contrasting bias DOUBitv^?iF^v^V STITCHING^-T; ;V; material ^ SI^E V, bino L_J binding are the materials needed. The diagrams given here in the sketch, explain each step in cutting and making the case. If a more elaborate case is desired, silk may be used with ribbon for the bindings. A quilted silk case of this type would make an exquisite gift. Machine quilting may be used for litis purpose. Be sure to clip and save these lessons as they are not in either Book 1 or 2. These books are full of still other useful ideas, with complete cutting and sewing directions for each item clearly illustrated. They save the price of many patterns and you will use them constantly for references and inspiration. NOTE: Mrs. Spears' Book 2? Gifts. Novelties and Embroidery, has helped thousands of women to use odds and ends of materials and their spare time to make things to sell and to use. Book 1 ?SEWING, for the Home Decorator, is full of inspiration for every homemaker. These books make I delightful gifts. Mrs. Spears will autograph them on request. Books are 25 cents each. Crazy-patch quilt leaflet is included free with every order for both books. Address Mrs. Spears, 210 S. Desplaines St., Chicago, 111. Quickly In Uncertainty When the mind is in a state of uncertainty the smallest impulse directs it to either side.?Terence. Can't Eat, Can't Sleep, Awful Gas PRESSES HEART "Ou om my MaMk vu so bad I aMdd KLT* r^SI-?^SS first dose brought me rebel. How lettul wish, alsep flaw, and >uw tatt better."-Mrs. Ju. Filler. Adlsrika aete oa BOTH upper and lower bowels. Adlerika gives your Intestinal system a real eleansing. brinsdn* out waste matter that may hare caused QAfl STATING, eour stomas*. hsadsohs*. nsrrousnessjjmd sltsplsss nights far moo Lee, You will be amesed at tfclssfieient Intestinal else near. Just one spoonful usually roUeres OAS and eoastipation. Adlerika does &ot gripe, is not habit forming. Beeomaeeeded fcs many dosCGrsaad druggts fee Wysasa. Sold at ell drug stores WNU?7 1?39 ADVERTISING || ... a ssarntlsl to burfnsas oe (11 U rafaa to (rowinc trap*. It k ths >*11 keyitoot in the stab of successful y I merchandising. Let OS show yon || bow to apply a to your buSaess. ,/
The Cherokee Scout (Murphy, N.C.)
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Jan. 5, 1939, edition 1
8
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