OCR Text |
Show i N C Graustark," "The j: 1 1 By GEORGE BARR McCUTCHEON ..IX' eL?e,: j CHAPTER XIII Continued. 11 "I will rut my coat over your head. ' Icre is a little electric torch. Don't flush it until I am sure the coat is irranged so that you can do so without with-out a gleam of light getting out from under." He pressed the torch and a bit of closely folded paper In the other's hand and carefully draped the coat over his head. Barnes read : "Thank God '. I was afraid you would wait until tomorrow night. Then it would have been too late. I must get away tonight but I cannot leave I dare not leave without something that is concealed in another an-other part of the house. I do not know how te secure it. My door is locked from the outside. What am I (o do? I would rather die than to go nway without it." Hastily he wrote : "If you do not come at once, we will force our way into the house and fight it out with them all. My friend is coming up the vines. Let him enter the window. Tell him where to go and he will do the rest. He is a miracle man. Nothing is impossible to him. If he does not return in ten minutes, I shall follow." There was no response to this. The head reappeared in the window, but no word camellown. Sprouse whispered : "I am going up. Stay here. If you hear a commotion in the house, run for it. Don't wait for me. I'll probably be done for." "I'll do just as I please about running," run-ning," said Barnes, and there was a deep thrill in his whisper. "Good luck. 'Jod help you if they catch you." "Not even he could help me then. Goorl-by. I'll do what I can to induce her to drop out of the window if any-'hing any-'hing goes wrong with me downstairs." A moment later he was silently scaling the wall of the house, feeling his way carefully, testing every precarious pre-carious foothold, dragging himself painfully upwards by means of the most uncanny, animal-like strength and stealth. Barnes could not recall drawing a single breath from the instant the man left his side until the faintly luminous square above his head was obliterated by the black of his body as it wriggled over the ledge. We will follow Sprouse. When he crawled tit rough the window and stood erect inside the room, he found himself him-self confronted b a tall, shadowy figure, fig-ure, standing half-way between him and the door. He advanced a step or two and uttered ut-tered a soft hiss of warning. "Not a sound," he whispered, drawing draw-ing still nearer. "I have come four fllSwfm mSz wSSm "Not a Sound," He Whispered. ! thousand miles to help you, countess. This is not the time or place to explain. ex-plain. We haven't a moment to waste. I need only say that I have been scut ; from I'arls by persons you know to aid you in delivering the crown jewels into ! the custody of your country's minister f in Paris. We must act swiftly. Tell me where they are. I will get them." "Who are you?" she whispered 1 ensely. ' "My name is Theodore Sprouse. I have been loaned to your embassy by t! my own government. I beg of you do not ask questions now. Tell me where the prince sleeps, how I may get to his room " "You know that he is the prince?" "And that you are his cousin." ',, She was silent for a moment. "Not only is it impossible for you to enter ',' his room but it is equally impossible for you to get out of this one except by the way you entered. If I thought there was the slightest chance for you to-" fi "Let me be the judge of that, eoun- '.. tess. Where is his room?" y "The lust to the right as you leave (,f this door at the extreme end of the 'orridor. Across the hall from his yon iU see an open door. A Copyright by Dodd, Mead and Company, Inc. man sits in there all night long, keeping keep-ing watch. You could not approach I'rince Ugo's door without being seen by that watcher. "You said in your note to Rarnes that the er something was in Curtis' study." "The prince sleeps in Mr. Curtis' room. The study adjoins it, and can only he entered from the bedroom. There is no other door. What are you doing?" "I am going to take a peep over the transom, first of all. If the coast is clear, I shall take a little stroll down the hall. Do not be alarmed. I will come back with the things we both want. Bardon me." He sat down on the edge of the bed and removed his shoes. She watched him as if fascinated fasci-nated while he opened the bosom of his soft shirt and stuffed the wet shoes inside. Then he said : "You are not dressed for flight. May I suggest that while I am outside you slip on a dark skirt and coat? You cannot go far in that dressing gown. It would be in shreds before you had gone a hundred feet through the brush. If I do not return to this room inside of fifteen minutes, or if yon hear sounds of a struggle, crawl through the window and go down the vines. Barnes will look out for you." "You must not fail, Theodore Sprouse," she whispered. "I must regain re-gain the jewels and the state papers. I cannot go without " "I shall do my best," he said simply. Silently he drew a chair to the door, mounted it and, drawing himself up by his hands, poked his head through the open transom. An instant later he was on the floor again. She heard him inserting in-serting a key in the lock. Almost before be-fore she could realize that it had actually ac-tually happened, the door opened slowly, slow-ly, cautiously, and his thin wiry figure slid through what seemed to her no more than a crack. As softly the door was closed. For a long time she stood, dazed and unbelieving, in the center of the room, staring at the door. She held her breath, listening for the shout that was so sure to come and the shot, perhaps ! A prayer formed on her lips and went voicelessly up to God. Suddenly she roused herself from the stupefaction that held her. With fev!rish haste she snatched up garments gar-ments from the chair on which she had carefully placed them in anticipation of the emergency that now presented itself. A blouse (which she neglected to button), a short skirt of some dark material, a jacket, and a pair of stout walking shoes (which she failed to lace), completed the swift transformation. transforma-tion. As she glided to the window, she jammed the pins into a small black hat of felt. Then she peered over the ledge. She started back, stifling a cry with her hand. A man's head had almost come in contact with her own as she leaned out. A man's hand reached over and grasped the inner ledge of the casement, and then a man's face was dimly revealed to her startled gaze. CHAPTER XIV. A Flight, a Stone-Cutter's Shed, and a Voice Outside. "Why have you come up here?" She came swiftly to his side. "Thank the Lord, I made it," he whispered, breathlessly. "I came up because there was nowhere else to go. I thought I heard voices a man and a woman speaking. They seemed to be quite close to me. Don't be alarmed, Miss Cameron. I am conti-dent conti-dent that I can" "And now that you are here, trapped as I am, what do you purpose to do? You cannot escape. Go back before it is too late." "Is Sprouse where is he?" "He is somewhere in the house. I was to wait until he Oh, Mr. Barnes, II nm terrified. You will never know the " "Trust him," he said. "He Is a marvel. mar-vel. We'll be safely out of here in a little while, and then it will all look-simple look-simple to you. You are ready to go? Good ! Sit down, do ! If he doesn't return in a minute or two, I'll take a look about the house myself. I don't intend to desert him. I know this floor pretty well, and the lower one. The stairs arc " "But the stairway is closed at the bottom by a solid sfcel curtain. It is made to look like a panel in the wall. You are not to venture outside this room, Mr. Barnes. I forbid it. You " "How did Sprouse get out? You said your door was locked." "He had a key. I do not know-where know-where he obtained" "Skeleton key, such as burglars use. By Jove, what a wonderful burglar he would make! Courage, Miss Cameron! He will be here soon. Then conies the real adventure my part of it. I didn't come here tonight to get any flashy old crown jewels. I came to take you out of" Y0U you know about the crown 1 Jewels?" she murmured. Her body seemed to stiffen. "Then you know who I am?" --IMI "No. You will tell me tomorrow."' "Y'es, yes tomorrow," she whispered. whis-pered. For some time there was silence. Both were listening intently for sounds in the hall. She leaned closer to whisper whis-per in his ear. Their shoulders touched. He wondered if she experienced experi-enced the same delightful thrill that ran through his body. She told him of the man who watched across the hall from the room supposed to be occupied by Loeb the secretary, and of Sprouse's incomprehensible daring. "Where is Mr. Curtis?" he asked. Her breath fanned his .cheek, her Hps were close to his ear. "There is no Mr. Curtis here. He died four months ago in Florida." "I suspected as much." He did not press her for further revelations. "Sprouse should be here by this time. I must go out there and see if he requires re-quires any " She clutched his arm frantically. "Y'ou shall do nothing of the kind. You shall not " "Sh ! What do you take me for, Miss Cameron? He may be sorely in need of help. Do you think that I would leave him to God knows what sort of fate?" "But be said positively that I was to go in case he did not return in in fifteen fif-teen minutes," she begged. "He may have been cut off and was compelled to escape from another " "Just the same, I've got to see what has become of " "No! No!" She arose with him, dragging at his arm. "Do not be foolhardy. fool-hardy. You are not skilled at " "There is only one way to stop me, Miss Cameron. If you will come with me now " "But I must know whether he secured se-cured the " "Then let me go. I will find out whether he has succeeded." He was rougher than he realized in wrenching his arm free. She uttered a low moan and covered her face with her hands. Undeterred, he crossed to the door. His hand was on the knob when a door slammed violently somewhere some-where in a distant part of the house. A hoarse shout of alarm rang out, and then the rush of heavy feet over thickly carpeted floors. " Barnes acted with lightning swiftness. swift-ness. He sprang to the open window, half-carrying, half-dragging the girl with him. "Now for it !" he whispered. "Not a second to lose. Climb upon my back, quick, and hang on for dear life." He had scrambled through the window and was lying flat across the sill. "Hurry! Don't be afraid. I am strong enough to carry you if the vines do their part," Willi surprising alacrity and sure-ness sure-ness she crawled out beside him and then over upon his broad back, clasping clasp-ing her arms around his neck. Holding Hold-ing to the ledge with one hand he felt for and clutched the thick vine with the other. Slowly he slid his body off of the sill and swung free by one arm. An instant later he found the lattice with tile other hand and the hurried descent began. His feet touched the ground. In the twinkling of an eye he picked her up in his arms and bolted across the little lit-tle grass plot into the shrubbery. She did not utter a sound. 1'rrsently he set her down. His breath was gone, his strength exhausted. ex-hausted. "Can you manage to walk a little way?" he gasped. "Give me your hand, and follow as close to my heels as you can. Better that I should bump into things than you." Shouts were now heard, and shrill blasts on a police whistle split the air. On they stumbled, blindly, recklessly. reckless-ly. He spared her many an injury by taking it himself. More than once she murmured sympathy when he crashed into a tree or floundered over a log. Utterly at sea, he was now guessing at the course they were taking. Whether their frantic dash was leading them toward the Tavern, or whether they were circling back to Green Fancy, he knew not. Banting, he forged onward. At last she cried out, quaveringly: "Oh, I 1 can go no farther! Can't we is it not safe to stop for a moment? mo-ment? My breath is " "God bless you, yes," he exclaimed, and came to an abrupt stop. She leaned heavily against him, gasping for breath. "I haven't the faintest idea where we are, hut we must be some distance from the house. We will rest a few minutes and then lake it easier, more cautiously. I am sorry, but it was the ouly thing to do, rough as it was. "I know, I understand. I am not complaining. Mr. Barnes. Y"ou will find me ready and strong and " "Let me think. I must try to get my bearings. Good Lord. I wi.-h Sprouse were here. He can see in the dark. We are off the path, that's su re." "Do you think he escaped?" "I am sure of it. Those whistles .vere sounding the alarm. He may nrae this way. The chances are that ur flight has not been discovered. Do you led like going on? We muoi ijeai them to the Tavern. They" "I am all right now," she said, and they were off .again. Barnes now picked his way carefully and with the greatest great-est caution, lie could only pray that he was going in the right direction. An hour hut what seemed thrice as long passed and they had not come to the edge of the forest.. Her feet were beginning to drag; he could tell that by the effort she made to keep up with him. From time to time he paused to allow her to rest. "Y'ou are plucky," he once said to her. "I am afraid I could not be so plucky if you were not so strong," she sighed, and be loved the tired, whimsical little twist she put into her reply. To his dismay they came abruptly upon a region abounding in huge rocks. This was new territory to him. His heart sank. "By Jove, I I believe we are farther away from the road than when we started. We must have been going up the slope instead of down." "In any case, Mr. Barnes," she murmured, mur-mured, "we have found something to sit down upon." He chuckled. "If you can be as cheerful as all that, we sha'n't miss the cushions," he said, and, for the first ai Mi mm Wf4m If iit m I iii'i' x. vs - 'ti,i ihtt Holding to the Ledge With One Hand, He Felt for and Clutched the Thick Vine With the Other. time, risked a flash of the electric torch. The survey was brief. He led her forward a few paces to a flat boulder, boul-der, and there they seated themselves. "I wonder where we are," she said. "I am inclined to suspect that we are above Green Fancy, but a long way off to the right of it. Admitting that to be the case, I am afraid to retrace re-trace our steps. The Lord only knows what we might blunder into." "I think the only sensible thing to do, Mr. Barnes, is to make ourselves as snug and comfortable as we can and wait for the first signs of daybreak." day-break." He scowled and was glad that It wits too dark for her to see his face. He wondered if she fully appreciated what would happen to him if the pursuers pur-suers came upon him in this forbidding forbid-ding spot. He could almost picture his own body lying there among the rocks and rotting, while she well, she would merely go back to Green Fancy. "I fear you do not realize the extreme ex-treme gravity of the situation. We must get out of these woods if I have to carry you in my arms." "1 shall try to keep going," she said quickly. "Forgive me if I seemed to falter a little. I I am ready to go on when you say the word." "You poor girl ! Hang it all, perhaps per-haps you are right and not I. Sit still and I will reconnoitcr a bit. If 1 can find a pla.ee where we can hide among these rocks, we'll stay here till the sky begins to lighten." Sit " "No! I shall not let you leave me for a second. Where you go, I go." She struggled to her feet, suppressing a groan, and thrust a determined arm through his. "That's worth remembering," said he, and whether it was a muscular necessity or an emotional exaction that caused his arm to tighten on hers, none save he would ever know. After a few minutes prowling among the rocks they came to the face of what subsequently proved to be a sheer wall of stone. He (lashed the light, and. with an exclamation, started start-ed back. Not six feet ahead of them the earth seemed to end; a yawning black gulf lay beyond. Apparently they were on the very edge of a cliff. "Good Lord, that was a close call," he gasped. lie explained in a few words and then, commanding her to stand perfectly still, dropped to the ground and carefully felt his way forward. for-ward. Again he flashed the light. In an instant lie understood. They were on the brink of a shallow quarry. (TO BE CONTINUED.) |