The Argosy for May — page 122: what you’re looking at

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

NOT FOR SALE. From his own recent experience, the American had no doubt that it would; and he saw, too, that the butler was speaking from an intimate familiarity with local customs, when he so con- temptuously denied any fear at the threat of calling in the police. ‘What am I to do, then? ’’ demanded Caxton, almost desperately. A shrewd gleam came into the other’s eye. “T thought the American gentleman might perhaps be looking for lodgings,” he said significantly. ‘“ Lodgings?” ‘Yes, there are immediately next door .to us. venture a suggestion, I would recommend the back room on the third floor,” “Ah, I begin to see. The windows in that room; are they adjacent to the windows in your house, or is there any some excellent ones passage between them up over the roofs?” = | ‘Alas, mein herr; our windows are very tightly barred and shuttered, and there is no passage of any kind between the two houses.” “Then why the dickens should I want to take this room you speak of? You don’t expect me to break down the wall, do you?” sf If the American gentleman Ss care to amuse himself in that way,” joined Franz discreetly, “I have an ex- cellent cold chisel and mallet, which I would be pleased to lend him; and I shall also be most happy to assist him in the work.” “Well, I'll be Hideout] ” again ejac- ulated Caxton; and then he began to laugh. ‘‘ That must certainly have been a peach of an oath that the old gentleman made you swear, friend; but it all goes to show the truth of. the old saying, that there’s more than one way of killing a cat. On the whole, I guess your scheme is as good as any I can frame up; so, if you will bring along the ‘ excellent cold chisel and mallet? I'll rent the room, and we can proceed to our di- versions,” He spoke less lightly of ‘the task, though, before the day was done; for it proved tobe ‘a long and tiresome job, that of making a bfeach in the solid masonry of those old-fashioned walls, If I might | 309 even with two of them to help; and the work was rendered more onerous by the necessity for keeping down any undue amount of noise, Indeed, Caxton’s blistered palms would more than once have tempted him to stop, had there not come an occasional tap-tap from the other side of the parti- tion to show him that his efforts were being eagerly watched in that direction. The afternoon waned; the daylight faded, and night came on;. but still the two strange companions worked steadily, energetically’away. Caxton asked many questions; but to them all the old man returned the invariable shuddering re- ply, that he had “taken an oath’; and the American’s curiosity remained un- satisfied. What would meet them on the other side of that wall, Caxton kept wonder- ing? Was it only Chegnay that they had set out to rescue, or was the woman _ known as Jay Van Brunt there, also? Then, too, was Chegnay in good health, able to leave without assistance when the time should come; om had he been injured at the time of his abduc- tion, and now in shape requiring a vehicle or ambulance? But, to all these queries, old Franz returned never a word. At times, too, Caxton questioned in his own heart whether he might not simply be walking into a trap cunningly baited for him by the general and Franz ; and, although he was not afraid of any bodily injury, he wavered a little at the thought of what Austrian-law might do to him for so bold an invasion into the premises of one of the aristocrats. But, at last, the partition was all down to a mere intervening shell; and, with a sudden impulse, the American threw his weight quickly against it, and brought the whole thing down with a crash which echoed through both houses like a crack of doom. -° For a moment his vision was obscured by the clouds of dust and mortar; and then he recognized, with a thrill of re- lief, that he had not wrought in vain; for through the aperture, with out- stretched hand, stepped Laszlo. ‘““We must hurry, though,” the Aus- trian exclaimed. “ My father is already thundering at my door, and he will break in by another minute. dAch, himmel!” COmMiclboooks (CO)