Marion Marlowe's Disappearance, or, Almost a Crime — page 26: what you’re looking at

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24 strong, young muscles she was soon helpless in their clutches. The next thing she knew she was being carried bodily down through a clumsy trap- door into what seemed to her to be a cavern- ous cellar. | As her captors carried her along through this hideous place it grew gradually darker and more loathsome, and finally she could hear the sound of rushing water in the dis- tance. ™ What place could it be and what were they going to do? The young girl racked her al- most paralyzed brain in an effort to antici- pate the fate in store for her. Suddenly it occurred to her that they must be at the very river’s edge and that the sound of rushing water must be from one of the city’s sewers which she had heard emptied into the river in this locality. The situation was horrible, but she did not utter a sound. There were fully half a dozen of the wretches half dragging and half carry- ing her. On, on, they went until all was pitchy blackness and the men who carried her had to almost creep along through the thick, slippery mud of the cellar. Vile, odors greeted her and occasionally the men carry- ing her would utter a fearful curse and kick out with their feet as if rats or kindred crea- tures had threatened to attack them. It was plain that her captors knew their way perfectly, for, in spite of the inky dark- ness and the many obstacles in their path, they went forward steadily. There was not a word spoken that she could understand, although they were shout- ing constantly at each other in some unin- telligible language. At last she was set down in the mud and of the place and the darkness still im- and the sound of rushing water slime penetrable still coming to her faintly. 4 % Weert a MY QUEEN. a ¥ wits The next instant Marion’s heart almost stopped beating, for, without releasing the — hold which they had kept upon her wrists, — these human monsters set about to rob her of her jewelry. 3 A hideous spasm of terror rendered her 7 helpless-for an instant; then, as she felt their 4 heavy hands fairly tearing at her dress, she } gave a shriek that awoke the dim echoes as _ they had perhaps never been awakened bead fore. ; ‘ With a mighty effort she tore herself from their grasp and bounded forward, but there was no escape. a wn They-were six to one and they were desperate creature. k A lightning like prayer for assistance sprang to her white lips, but it died away as it came—the situation looked hopeless. She made a desperate attempt to run, but a dozen steps in the darkness and a new ~ danger confronted her. 3 Suppose she should fall in this hideous place? She might pitch headlong down into F some hole from which she could never get out. er , | With limbs benumbed with terror she stood and waited. Her brain was in a tur- moil—she could not think or act wisely. As she awaited their next onslaught a strange thing occurred. They fell to fighting among themselves like so many tigers. ‘ In the almost total darkness their forms looked like black shadows, but their eyes elittered like those of maddened brutes and they fairly growled with rage as they struck — and clawed at each other. Marion crouched close to the ground and strained her eyes. She knew it would soon — be over and then her moments were num-— bered. > ae The sound of the water was almost ob-_ scured by their curses, but when it did come - to her ears, it was a calm, restful sound like” that of a deep stream lapping the walls of her prison, | « EoOmMmIichbooks com