Bob Younger's Fate — page 127: what you’re looking at

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

118 BOB YOUNGER’S FATE, A score of such attempts proved futile, but it was life or death to him, and he preferred life. At last he was successful; a strain on his impro- vised rope showed him that it would answer the pur- pose admirably. A minute later he had touched the trap, and it dropped noiselessly mto the cellar, supported on one side by the hinges that held it. His danger was not over yet by any means, as he would be obliged to ascend immediately over the mouth of the well, but he had come through so many perils unscathed that this seemed but a small matter to him. Removing every trace of his presence, so that his enemies would not know that he had been in the cellar at all, he stood on the very edge of the well, and making a leap into the air, he succeeded in grasping the side of the trap as it hung down- ward. | Inch by inch he ascended, and soon his head was on a level with the floor. Another effort, and he . stood on his feet. A few moments sufficed to raise the trap to its for- mer position : : It was yet dark, but Belton knew that it was the darkness that immediately preceded the dawn, and he tarried not. “Once more, fair Queen,’ he murmured, as_ he stood hatless and coatless on the deserted street, and took a parting look at the dwelling from which he had so lately escaped, ‘‘once more I offer you greet- ing. Ive been freed from your web twice, but I must not tempt fate much further. My web has just been begun, and I think it is now my turn to do the catching.’’ | When Belton arrived at the office it was four o'clock. . | Jones was waiting for him, and when that worthy saw the condition of his superior, he burst into a laugh that was not altogether free from alarm. “What’s the matter? Been through a threshing - machine??’’ | “Oh, no,’’ quietly. ‘I'll tell you after you’ve given me your report,”’ GO micbooks.co m