Adventure, November 1915 — page 48: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

wy MAP Tae n' uM ’ Rik Fy: fe a ; Ee tuts eh ae, VES BP haat Fite ees ne : ME : aE: "rr AK Gs aT oA te aks > 46 commenced sounding the floor of the kitch- en. His Oriental instincts had suggested a hidden exit. “Good man!” said Addams. “We'll try all the rooms.” But Ah Sing’s ear had detected a hollow- ness beneath the boards. He followed it to the door of the closet where he tossed out the rags and knocked with his knuckles triumphantly on the floor below the shelv- ing. “T find,” he announced. “All same Chinaman they fix.” A close examination discovered a plank that tilted, disclosing rope handles in a hol- lowed space between the false flooring and the lid of a trap-door that rose easily. The rough steps of a ladder were revealed while from the aperture came a dank, musty smell. ‘ae | TEN steps led to a low and narrow Zee tunnel lined with stones, adrip with moisture and patched heavily with fungous growths that dabbed at them with damp sugestions of ghostly fingers. Addams, in the lead, was forced to bow his head as he followed the passage, running at right angles to the lay of the house—lead- ing towards the cemetery. His enforced position brought back an almost intolerable pain to his shoulders, forgotten in the ex- citement of the past hout. The tunnel with its foul, stale air, seemed interminable as he crept stealthily on, pistol in hand, the gro- - tesque shadows of his companions jerking ahead at every step as they closely followed him He stopped. In front a light dimly out- lined three sides of a door. Addams set down the carriage-lamp he carried and crawled forward on his hands and knees; Winton, Selim and Ah Sing imitating his example. The door had sagged on its hinges from neglect. A break of the light that marked its opening edge indicated a bar or heavy lock on the inner side. As they paused, the sound of heavy breathing came from the other side. Addams had noticed, as he placed his lamp on the floor, a stout wooden bar stand- ing against the frame of the door, evidently used for barricading on the tunnel side. This he cautiously handled, passing it back until Winton and Selim grasped it with himself lengthwise, quickly grasping his Adventure intention. Ah Sing, behind them, held up the lamp, his eyes agleam with anticipatory excitement. Three times they swung the impromptu battering ram to get full poise, then, Selim plunging at its end, catapulted it at the center of the door. It gave way, splintering rottenly, and a gust of musty air came through the falling panels as they leaped into a vaulted chamber, Addams seizing — the figure of a woman, clad in a nurse’s uni- form, who sprang from some rugs on the floor at the abrupt intrusion. As Winton and Selim came to help him, he left her to their not too tender mercies and strode across the flagged floor to where Peggy Winton, her golden hair atumble, raised herself upon one elbow from a rough pallet of matting, her eyes upon his, “Thank God!” he said, a sob strangling his utterance. “Peggy!” CHAPTER XVIII THE WAVECREST GETS A CREW. & $e place was a mausoleum, the private tomb of some Hawaiian chief’s family, as evidenced by the stands of moldering kahilis, tall poles plumed with feathers, like mammoth dusters, that drooped above a stone casket set upon a central platform of stone. Coffins were set in‘niches in the walls. A flight of steps led up to heavy metal doors. The light of the carriage-lamp and a lan- tern on the floor sent pale rays searching out the fearsome vault in discouraged fash- ion. The place reeked with decay. Addams hastened to get Peggy away. She stood clasped in her brother’s arms, pale and still weak from the narcotic she had inhaled. Ah Sing and Selim grasped the woman, who looked defiantly at Ad- dams who confronted her. “Take off that brooch,” he commanded. The woman sullenly obeyed as Selim gave | one hand temporary freedom, unknowing that her covetous vanity had furnished a ~ step toward her own undoing. “Get Peggy up-stairs, Jim, and into the air as soon as possible,”’ said Addams. “T’ll be with you in a minute. Now then,” he faced Henley’s sister, “I might have you jailed for robbery,” he said. “Try it,” she answered, a defiant gleam in her eye. eC@nniecooolxs (€@)