Marion Marlowe in Salt Lake City — page 20: what you’re looking at

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

18 ‘ ing Just before her, and Marion moved back involuntarily to a safer position. Suddenly, the door of. the ball-room was swung wide open, and, by the glare of the flames outside, the young girl could see both Bert and the doctor peering out for her. Looking across the short space she coul see their faces distinctly. She made a step forward, and then stoo perfectly still. : Suddenly a dull report, seemingly from the very ground beneath her feet, was followed by a deafening roar and a blinding flash which obscured everything from her sight and sent her reeling backward. “A volume of smoke poured in at the open door while fragments of earth and wood were scattered in all directions. It was all so sudden that the door could not be closed and, in an instant, there fol- lowed the wildest confusion. Dr. Brookes, Bert and the sentry staggered back, while the guests who were near the doorway uttered cries of horror. Then, another bugle blast sounded through the camp; then came a rush of feet from every direction. The drill-room door was closed at last, with Bert and the doctor protesting loudly They had just caught, a glimpse of Marion when the explosion occurred and were al- most beside themselves over her safety. Their wits came back a moment later and, re- ~ gardiess of the panic that was going on about them, they made their way across the crowded floor of the drill-room toward the main exit from the building. There was not a sentry on the grounds that could stop them now. A squad of sol- diers joined them in their mad race around the building, and, for once, even the sen- tries were genuinely excited. The rumble. of carriage wheels greeted their ears as they reached the spot where the explosion had occurred, but, as the men swung their lanterns over a jagged mass of broken sticks and stones and furrowed pyround, Bert's face took on an expression of amazementaes He had seen her himself not a minute before the explosion, but now there was not a trace of her to be seen. She MY QUEEN. . —_ had vanished as ¢gompletely as though the earth had opened and swallowed her. Even Dr. Brookes-was unable to trace her. The soldiers’ worked bravely and, in’a iew moments, had the fime under control; while a handful of officers “quieted the ex- _citement in the drill-room. Such magnificent discipline the guests had never seen. They were actually forced to be quiet through the stern calmness of the Officers. But beneath their stern exteriors, many a heart beat anxiously, for one of their guests had disappeared, and that.guest was Marion; the belle of the evening. CHAPTER IX. WHERE IS MARION? “It was a gunpowder explosion and that ugly sergeant did it! I am as sure of it as I can be!” cried Alma Allyn, as the ex- citement quieted a little. . “I heard one of the soldiers say that it _ @vas spite work, and that the guard-house is empty,” added Miss Ellis, quickly. “They had one soldier, the sergeant, and those two Indians in it!’ ~ “It’s a case of viciousness, without any doubt,” broke in another guest; “but here comes an officer—he will tell us about it.” “And Bert is with him,” cried Miss Ellis, as she got a glimpse of the group of men who were entering the ball-room. i The ladies had all huddled together in one end of the big place, while their escorts had stood at the door ready to help fight the fire if they were called upon, but now they all drew nearer together to hear exactly what had happened. “Has any one seen Marion Marlowe?” called Bert, in a tone of anxiety. ‘She was within twenty feet of that explosion when it occurred. Now there isn’t a sign of her to be found on the camp grounds!” . Alma Allyn uttered a faint cry and Miss Ellis clutched her arm, They had neither of them dreamed that any harm could come to Marion. “My nten are still searching for her,” spoke up Colonel Hayes, who came in at that minute. “She must ‘have escaped un- comicbooks.com