Latest / Miss Pims Camouflage / Whispering Tunnels-Stephen Bagby

Transcript

Whispering Tunnels-Stephen Bagby · Miss Pims Camouflage

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Section one of Whispering Tunnels. This is a LibriVox recording.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Read
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: by Ben Tucker. Whispering Tunnels by Stephen Bagbye, Part one
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: for the second time since his arrival in Paris. That day,
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Myles Cresson of New Orleans found that wartime comrades would
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: flee at the mention of a name. There was something
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: so sinister in the way they had stared and made
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: off whenever he uttered it that the American was seized
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: with astonishment. It was not strange, then that he paid
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: little heed to the care free students who crowded passed
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: on Boulevard Saint Michel that August evening in nineteen twenty three.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: Cresson watched the gray blue uniform of Captain Emil Debray
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: until it had vanished in the crowd. Determined that he
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: would demand an explanation should they meet again, for insolence
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: had shown in the officer's small eyes and in his
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: pasty face as his back had turned in answer to
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: a civil question, and that question concerned the fate of
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: a fellow officer Jule Chamond. It was mystifying. Debray, an Alsatian,
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: was both oily and ingratiating, and it was because of
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: this that Cresson had disliked him from the first. The
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: three Cresson, Debray, and Chamont had been artillery students together
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: at La Valdeon in nineteen fourteen. Cresson was one of
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: those valiant, impetuous Americans who took up the cause of
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: France in the beginning. He was the wealthy and adventurous
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: scion of an old Louisiana family, with the twinkling black
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: eyes of his ancestors, one of those tall, dark, good
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: looking chaps one often meets in the Southland. If he
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: had ever held a barrier of reserve between himself and Debray,
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: Cresson did not know the existence of this. So far
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: as Chamond was concerned, they had been the closest of friends,
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: drawn together by interests in common. Jeul Chammel reminded one
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: of steel and cased in velvet, having the blue eyes
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: and tawny hair of a Viking, and yet the gentle
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: features and intensity of a prophet. Indeed, he and Debray
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: were opposites. They differed as much in appearance as in tendencies,
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: of the sort that had caused the Stocky Alsatian to
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: fling away his patrimony over gaming tables a few days
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: before their paths had crossed. Fluency in languages had cemented
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: a bond between Chammel and Myles Cresson, whose accomplishments in
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: music and art were much the same as those of
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: the young frenchmen. The fortunes of war sent them into
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: different regiments before they had quite completed training. Cresson to
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: the defense of Paris, Chammel and Debray to forte Beaux
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: near Verdun. Letters at first were frequent, but as the
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: war war on, those from Chamont ceased abruptly and efforts
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: to locate him failed. Cresson, recovering in a Paris hospital
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: from wounds received a few days before the armistice, discovered
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: that Jeule Chamons was missing in records at French army headquarters.
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: Further inquiry at the Invalide disclosed nothing more than the
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: addresses of his nearest relatives, a mother and sister. Neither
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: could be found, nor did anyone seem to know just
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: what had become of them. In Paris, the mansion of
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: the Chamonds was shuttered and dark, while at lyle Adam,
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: the crippled caretaker of the chateau, had seen none of
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: the family since the war began. Cresson put further inquiry
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: aside and began a long cruise on the Mediterranean to
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: regain his health. Upon his return to France, Cresson made
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: a tour of the battlefields near Vivenes, where he discovered
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: that Chamon's name affected French army officers in peculiar fashion.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: They either turned the subject or walked away when he
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: tried to question them. He gradually became conscious that an
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: invisible wall barred all facts except that with guard to
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: Chaumont's disappearance in nineteen seventeen, when the German legions overran
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: Fort Fox. If the attitude of the garrison's commanders had
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: puzzled the American, that of Debray, the last man questioned
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: in Paris, aroused hot resentment for the stocky Alsatian perhaps
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: was best able to clear the mystery, and yet had refused.
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: Cresson pondered over this as he walked slowly up the
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: boulevard until at length bright squares of light from the
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: terrace of the Cafe des TOOI pont crossed the pavement.
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: He stopped suddenly as a voice from the terrace called
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: his name. He turned to behold a smallish, well groomed
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: man wearing a close cropped mustache racing after him. The
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: runner was hatless and as gait endangered his spectacles, which
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: dangled from his waistcoat by a ribbon. A casual observer
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: might have classed him as an American college professor on tour,
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: but to Myles Cresson, he was doctor Arthur little John
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: of New York, scientist and spook hunter. Doctor Littlejohn, recovering
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: his breath, looked closely at the younger man and frowned.
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: If I didn't know better, he exclaimed, I say, you
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: are uncommonly blue for a resident of the Latin Quarter.
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: You're worried. I'll see you home and try cheering you
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: up in the bargain wait here. When the scientist emerged
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: from the cafe with his hat, the two heiled a
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: taxicab and rode in silence to a secluded hotel in Montparnasse,
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: a short distance away, where Cresson maintained his quarters. His
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: apartment in fact, might be better described as a small museum.
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: The walls of the great living room were covered with
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: rare paintings, armor, tapestries, and ancient weapons from the corners
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: of Europe. Doctor little John sank into the depths of
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: an easy chair, an unlighted cigar between his teeth, Noting
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: silently his host's nervousness, and lighting a cigarette. Cresson broke
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: the silence with the story of Schaummelt's disappear rants and
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: the unwillingness of French army circles to discuss it. There's
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: something about all this that is very mysterious, declared Cresson,
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: resting his gaze on a jade clock high above on
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: the mantel. There may be no answer to it, doctor,
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: but if there is, I feel that you are the
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: one man able to find it. The scientist acknowledged the
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: compliment with a quick bow, sinking deeper into the chair
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: with his elbows braced on the arms and the tips
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: of his fingers touching. His eyes alone, peering above the
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: gold rims of his spectacles betrayed keen interest. What I
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: have told you, Cresson continued. Occurred in Fort Vaux, which
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: lies between forts Duemont and Hardimont, in a circle of
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: strongholds defending Verdun. All told, there thirty six fortresses, some
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: of them from four to five miles apart. The whole
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: region is a succession of bare, desolate hills, scarred and
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: pitted like the surface of the moon, a labyrinth honeycombed
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: with death. I can tell you, doctor, no living man
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: knows the extent of that vast underground network of tunnels
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: and passages linking up the forts. There are layers of
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: these stone arteries which run in every direction, all connected
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: with innumerable flights of stairs. The main tunnels branch off
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: into hundreds of smaller ones, which lead to countless great rooms,
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: barrack halls, dungeons, and almost bottomless shafts. Trap doors and
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: inclines descend to the bowels of the earth. And these
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: have doubtless accounted for many of the men that have
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: attempted to explore the tunnels and have never emerged again. Torches,
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: maps and compasses seem a little use for the armies
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: of the Earth could well be swallowed in the immensity
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: of this maize. Three nights ago the young man went on.
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: I arrived in the little village of mont Court, which
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: is about four miles east of Verdun on the Paris
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: Metz railway and just outside of Fort Vaux. Rain was
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: pouring in the road from the station to the solitary
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: hotel resembled a river and mud. The inn had been boarded,
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: it up and patched in spots where enemy shells had
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: left their marks during the war, and I considered myself
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: lucky in getting a room that was fairly dry. I
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: donned dry clothing, and after a very excellent dinner, I
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: journed to the buffet for coffee. There were a few
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: persons there, but among these I recognized an old friend,
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: Major Paul Falaise, commander of my battalion on the ain.
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: He appeared greatly surprised but overjoyed to see me. The
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: Major had remained in the army and for the past
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: two years had been stationed in Fort Vaux. The gloomy
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: fortress had a depressing effect, he told me. In this
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: he had attempted to offset by habitually strolling into the
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: village of evenings. Good Old Falaise simply wouldn't adhere to
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: my staying at the inn, insisting that I go to
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: Vaux that night as the guest of the garrison. It
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: was really a short walk to the fort, although the
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: steep incline of the road made the butcher's entrance seem
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: more distant than it actually was. Falaise dropped no hint
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: as to the ideaity of the commander when he suggested
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: an introduction, and I received quite a surprise when I
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: walked into his headquarters. There I saw a short, active
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: man with prominent eyes and a bristling mustache, riding furiously
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: at a desk. He proved to be Colonel Marcel du Pinn,
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: Papa Dupin, as he had been known at La Valdehon.
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: Papa Dupin leaped from his chair to give me a
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: greeting such as only an ecstatic Frenchman can give. His
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: gestures were many Zalan's, My dear son, he cried, embracing me.
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: So you have come to visit with us, Supel in
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: the nemeit the fort. I welcome you, I laughed, and
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: told him that it was indeed a happy surprise to
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: find so many of my old comrades in one spot.
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: The evening passed very pleasantly in the garrison club room,
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: where the younger officers crowded around after dinner, asking eager
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: questions about Paris, particularly the Fouillie, Bourgeois, Monmenttre and the bois.
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: All seemed suffering from the monotony of garrison life, an
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: eager to talk on any other subjects. Major Filets, at
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: bedtime asked permission to conduct me to my quarters, and
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: together we started along the corridor to a distant wing
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: in the parapets above. The echo of our footfalls, A
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: far away sawing as of wind in the thick foliage
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: of trees, intermittent and long drawn out, sounded in my
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: ears as we continued. When I asked Falaise about it,
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: he started perceptibly. It is a whisper of detenous, my friend,
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: he told me in a low tone. Falaise, I noticed,
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: seemed trying to pierce the gloom ahead. His eyes were staring,
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: as if momentarily expecting something to appear in the corridor.
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: But the next minute he had recovered himself. Laugh. It's nothing,
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: only the wind, the Major added with a shrug, So
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: let us go on. He led the way, but my
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: curiosity rose to such extent by the time we reached
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: the guest chamber that I asked point blank about the
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: mysterious whisper. His reluctance to talk of it was plainly
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: apparent when we held the whisper somewhe dies. He explained,
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: that is what the troopers of the Garconsey. But my
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: youth's fellows are a superstitious lot. The sound has been
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: heard only since the war, and it is alterable only
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: at night. I must have believe it is only the
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: wind playing in some bright in the passages, Mate, when
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: enemy shells destroyed a portion of thee Do not let
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: it trouble you. The Major changed the subject, chatted for
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: a few minutes, then bade me good night. The guest
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: chamber proved to be a large, irregular room built into
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: the Graham dingy stone. It was neatly furnished, however, and
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: very comfortable, with its rugs and the log fire blazing
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: in the great fireplace. There is considerable chill in the
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: air of the hill country in August, and the warmth
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: of the flames was very pleasant in that atmosphere of
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: damp rock. The room was so large that the rays
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: of the lamp failed to penetrate the black shadows of
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: the opposite corners and walls. I took up the lamp
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: and made an inspection of the chamber. In the corner
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: farthest away from the fireplace, dark red curtains covered the
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: doorway of an ante room, which I dimly discovered was
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: shaped like a pepper box. As I peered through the
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: parted curtains, it seemed that I again heard the long
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: drawn whisper rise and die out. I listened intently, but
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: it did not come again. I returned to the fireplace,
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: convinced that my imagination had deceived me somehow, A feeling
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: of depression assailed me from the moment Major Filets stepped
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: from the door. Try as I would, I could not
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: rid myself of a gloomy foreboding, a brooding apprehension that
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: left me cold and tensed. I felt a wondering over
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: the lives of the men whose calling forced them to
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: stay in this gloomy fortress for years, and in my
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: heart I pitied them. I finally arose from my chair
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: facing the log fire and locked the door, next, extinguished
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: the light, and climbed into bed. I must have been
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: asleep for an hour, I think. When I awoke, shadows
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: were scurrying everywhere in the dim light of the fire,
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: and the whisper of the tunnels, now loud and ominous,
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: seemed hovering in the corridor just outside the door of
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: my room. I tell you I fell to trembling violently
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: when I felt a rush of ice cold air from
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: the corridor as the locked door swung open on noiseless hinges.
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: Something was coming through that door, something I could not see.
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: My heart thumped as if trying to leap from my chest.
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: I tried to cry out, but the sound stuck in
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: my throat. I was powerless to move. My limbs seemed
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: paralyzed in some manner, I say, since the presence of
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: some malignant person who had entered the room. I could
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: feel it coming closer by inches. As I lay there waiting,
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: the glow of the fire dimmed suddenly and then went
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: out altogether, leaving the chamber and inky blackness. A sound
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: like the worrying of many bad seemed everywhere, filling both
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: the corridor and the chamber, where it seemed that a gray,
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: shapeless mass was slowly changing outline and moving in the
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: direction of my bed. I had just enough strength to
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: pull the covers over my head in a frantic effort
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: to shut out the sight. But no sooner had I
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: done so, than something akin to a chilling blast tore
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: back the bedclothes. In terror, I perceived that something aglow
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: with a pale phosphorescent fire, was hovering over me. It
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: took definite outline, and then I saw the face of
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: Jeu Charmant. It bore the pallor of death, but his
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: large eyes seemed alight with a gleaming, burning expression of
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: one who had borne the suffering of the damned as
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: they peered beneath the rim of a trench helmet. His
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: uniform was that of an artillery captain, and his boots
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: tried to floor noiselessly as he passed from my bedside
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: toward the fireplace, and then to the wall a short
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: distance to the right. When his hand touched the stone,
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: a heavy block loosened and fell, crashing to the flax.
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: His arm groped the hollow space left in the wall,
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: but he shook his head sadly and moved away, circling
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: the chamber. My fears left me, for I was sure
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: that Jul was in some trouble and needed my help.
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: I rose from bed and followed him to the ante room,
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: but as I stood between the parted curtains, he turned
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: and sank through the stone floor. Panic seized me. For
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: now I was convinced that I had seen an apparition.
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: I leaped across the chamber in an effort to escape,
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: but as I reached the door, it closed with a bang.
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: I saw the key turn and heard the lock snap too,
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: by what means I do not know. Again, I heard
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: the whisper. A great black mass was barring my path
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: a foot away and gazing at me fixedly with eyes
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: that were living balls of flame. A horde of soft,
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: flopping things struck against my body and face, and two
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: steely tentacles shot out from the mass and seized me
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: by the throat, choking my head backward. I found myself
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: gazing into the most horrible human face I've ever seen, huge, fat,
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: loathsome with long fangs in its hideous, yawning mouth, and
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: its forehead beaded with greasy, fetid perspiration. I struck the
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: thing's face again and again, and in a desperate struggle,
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: tore my body free. End of Section one, Section two
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: of Whispering Tunnels. The Sliprivox recording is in the public
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: domain read by Ben Tucker, Part two. I must have fainted,
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: for I awoke lying on the flags in the center
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: of the room, with Major Filets chafing my wrists and neck.
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: He had found the door wide open when he arrived
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: there to summon me to breakfast. The Major was much
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: concerned over my haggard appearance, and insisted that I see
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: the garrison physician without delay. I objected, saying I had
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: suffered merely a slot into position which would soon pass.
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: Major Filet started violently when I told him that Jule
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: Chaumont had visited my chamber. He made no comment, but
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: wheeled and hurriedly left the room. His attitude was puzzling.
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: One look about the guest chamber convinced me that my
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: experience had been no dream. The stone block rested where
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: it had fallen on the floor, and the hollow space
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: that had left in the wall I found was really
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: a secret vault. It appeared to be empty, but in
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: running my hand over the bottom I found a photograph
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: of a young woman. I did not examine it closely,
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: but put it into the pocket of my overcoat. I dressed,
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: but was too shaken to eat the excellent breakfast served
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: in the club room. I visited Colonel Dupin, anxious to
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: find out the history of the Great Chamber, and I
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: had launched into the story of the night before when
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: I mentioned the name of Chamont. Papa Dupin instantly froze
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: in his attitude. But I knew that my story had
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: made a profound impression. He would not permit me to
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: complete it. My boy, he replied, raising his prominent eyes,
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: do not speak in with those, and do not ask
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: irvant questions. I am very busy this morning, and miss
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: o'reily ask you to excuse me. Thus rebuked, I determined
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: to leave Fort Vaux then and there, and I did leave,
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: angry and crestfallen. I was engaged in packing up my
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: belongings at the Inn in Montcourt when a rapping sounded
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: on my door. I opened it to face Major Filet's.
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: My greeting must have been frigid, for he began an
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: apology at once, pacing the floor nervously. Twice he ran
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: to the door, flinging it open suddenly, as if in
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: fear of eavesdroppers. Y knew he asked that Lieutenant Morey,
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: the pleasant young Breton whom you talked with at Dinard
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: last evening is dead. No, his body was found in
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: beds this morning, as that Lucville on his face. I
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: shall never forget it, naturally finding you on the floor
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: this morning unneft me. The whisper then followed a tale
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: of strange happenings in Voux. The Major, his voice sometimes
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: sinking so low that it was almost inaudible, told me
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: of the pledge taken by every member of the garrison
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: not to reveal these tales outside of the fort. Specters
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: so frightful had appeared that neither officers nor men would
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: venture into certain parts of the ford alone. The tunnels
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: were shunned, as if the demons of the universe were
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: centered there. Vlais were called numbers of the men who
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: were found dead in the plague spots of the fort,
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: apparently of unseen horrors. Two lieutenants, he said, had recently
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: gone mad on different occasions in the guest chamber where
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: I had spent the night, under circumstances that were almost identical,
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: and the eyes of both shone the light of insane
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: terror over something they had seen and were attempting to
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: escape when found crouching and muttering the guest chamber had
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: been occupied by Chaumond and Debray during the war. Flaise
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: said he obtained this information from a chart in the records.
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: None of the officers now in the garrison had served
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: with either of the two men, nor, with the exception
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: of the colonel and himself, had known them. He had
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: merely heard of Chaumond's mysterious disappearance, the German attack, and
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: of Debray's transfer to Paris headquarters after the armistice. Of
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: what actually happened in Vau during the war, he knew
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: nothing so far as regarded Charmond, except that an order
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: from headquarters forbidding mention of his name was in effect
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: throughout the army. Falaise admitted that order was a strange
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: one and could not recall an instance where a similar
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: taboo had been issued. Yes, he had seen the specter
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: of he whispered it Jules Chaumond. The major regarded that
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: as strange because there was never any record of his death.
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: Others who had spent the night in the guest chamber
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: seen the apparition, but other things encountered there at the
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: same time. It frightened them too badly. To observe it.
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: In particular, Phlaise told of seeing at once in the
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: tunnels and another time in the destroyed winging of the fortress.
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: It was not my intention, the Major said, in bidding
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: me good bye at the station, I have you spends
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: the night in the guest chamber, But officials arriving unexpectedly
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: from Paris left me donchoise. There was no aunt room,
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: and I profoundly regret that you suffered such an experience.
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: I shall see you in Paris soon, I hope. He
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: shook my hand through a car window and stood gazing
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: at the train as it pulled out. Now, Doctor Cresson concluded,
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: you know the whole story. I arrived in Paris to
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: day and walked the boulevards for hours before I could
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: make up my mind to come here. The matter is
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: a complete mystery to my way of thinking. But of
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: course you might not face any difficulty and unraveling. It
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: was it Chamont in the flesh? Or was it a
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: phantom which I saw in the fortress? Little John reflected
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: for several minutes before making a reply. There is no
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: doubt in my mind. He said that you saw the
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: specter of Jeul Chamant, But in doing so you ran
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: a foul of other phenomena far more dangerous than apparisians.
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: You spent the night in one of the worst haunted
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: spots in Europe, and it is fortunate that you emerged
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: as safely as you did. The black mass you describe
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: may have been either an elemental or in intelligence that
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: never existed in human flesh, in plain words, a dmon Now.
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: I think I am not far wrong when I say
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: that the Specter of Charmond would have shown you the
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: key to this mystery had it not been interfered with
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: by a host of powerful entities, which must have literally
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: filled your bed chamber. These elemental forces must be exercised
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: or the fate of Jeul Chamont will never be known.
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: But such a step must be undertaken by a trained psychic,
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: because any one else would be overpowered. It is no
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: wonder you fainted. Will you undertake this, doctor Creston asked,
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: leaning eagerly forward from his chair. I feel it is
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: my duty to go on with my search for Jul, yes,
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: replied the scientist. I will do so. First, I must
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: think the matter out and map out a course of action.
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: I cannot say just when I shall be ready. I'll
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: wait here in Paris until convenient, said Cresson, thinking, Little John, Ugh,
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: it seems I can hear the whisper of the tunnels
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: in my dreams. By the way, exclaimed Little John. Suddenly,
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: let me ask what you did with the photograph you
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: found in that guest chamber. The younger man emitted a
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: low whistle of surprise. By George, he replied in a
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: startled tone, I had forgotten about that. He stepped quickly
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: to his wardrobe and lifted a tweed overcoat from the rack.
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: Here it is, he exclaimed, drawing forth a mud stained photograph.
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: Let me see it, the scientist requested quietly. Cresson passed
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: over the portrait in silence, waiting for Little John to speak.
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: The doctor examined the likeness minutely. This is one of
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: the most beautiful women I have ever seen anywhere, he mused, admiringly.
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: I wonder what she has to do with the haunted fortress. Hello,
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: here is an inscription. Both men, bending over the photograph,
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: saw written in a lower corner to my dearest Jule
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: from Audrey, Paris, March sixteenth, nineteen seventeen, three weeks before
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: the fort was taken, exclaimed Cresson. I wonder who the
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: original could be or what she could have meant to
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: Jeule Charmond. He glanced at the doctor expectantly. These are
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: among the things we must find out, Little John answered,
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: But I think as you do, there is a connection somewhere.
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: Did you visit the Bureau of Secret Documents where you
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: made inquiry at the Invalid? The scientist peered over his
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: glasses as he asked the question. No, Doctor, the young
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: man returned, I visited only Army headquarters. I didn't know
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: of the Bureau. Then I'll go there tomorrow. End of
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: Part two, Section three of Whispering Tunnels by Stephen Bagbie.
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Read by
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: Ben Tucker. Part three. The two Americans crossed the great
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: Square of the Invalid the next morning, mounting the broad
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: steps of the War Ministry. Once within the portals of
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: the Bureau of Secret Documents, both sent their cards to
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: the Commandant and were presently shown before one of the
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: chief inspectors, a grizzled lieutenant colonel. The inspector bit his
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: lip and motioned for silence when they announced the nature
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: of their quest. Silence, exclaimed the officer incredulously. Can it
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: be possible you speak of Captain Jeu Charmond, who was
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: once stationed in Fort Vaux. His eyes grew wide as
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: Cresson nodded affirmatively. He pressed a button on his desk,
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: and when the chief clerk responded, commanded that certain records
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: be brought before him. It is forbidden to mention the
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: name of Captain Charmond in the military service, except of course,
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: upon official inquiry. Here said the inspector, opening one of
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: the massive books of records, when the clerk had closed
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: the door behind him. Are you not aware, my friends,
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: that Captain Charmond is posted as a high traitor in France.
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: Cresson almost leaped from his chair in astonishment. A trader,
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: he shouted that cannot be. Charmond was one of the
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: bravest and best of men. He loved France. He broke
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: off helplessly. Nevertheless, Monsieur continued the inspector, placing his thumb
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: on a page. Here is the order he is charged
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: with delivering Vaux into the enemy's hands. On June seventh,
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: nineteen seventeen. It was a close secret known inside the
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: fort alone that the French command had prepared for eventualities
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: in blowing open the casements of Vaux. This was done
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: to establish communication with the outside trenches, of course, but
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: this information, together with orders, maps and plans, was turned
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: over to the enemy by a frenchman in the fort,
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: and witnesses say this frenchman was Jeou Chamont. Impossible Cresson
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: burst out. There must have been a mistake. The southerner
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: turned his eyes to little John, who shook his head gravely.
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: But no monsieurs insisted the officer. We are sure that
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: the evidence was correct. We are sure that Captain Charmond
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: is now hiding in Germany, where we do not know.
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: If he had been made a prisoner, would he not
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: have returned to France. For now the last of the
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: war prisoners have been exchanged. If he had died defending
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: the fort, the enemy would have buried him. According to
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: Rank Chamond has never been proclaimed a traitor in orders
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: of the French Army, because such a step might prevent
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: his ever being captured, otherwise he might think it safe
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: to return. Instead of a proclamation, the French government has
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: taken an unusual course banished his name in army circles.
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: Of course, Monsieur, he still holds his rank in the
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: army and will continue to do so until proven guilty
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: by trial. The strangest thing, my friends, the inspector went on,
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: is the fact that no trace of Captain Chamond has
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: ever been found. Our bureau men have scoured Europe without avail,
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: and doubtless he is carefully concealed. Do not forget, Monchieur.
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: Cresson interrupted that this is but a theory. Why Chamond
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: was a tiger for courage? Would such a man placed
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: gold above his country? Sacre, I do not know, replied
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: the officer with an eloquent gesture. One of the main
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: witnesses before an investigating the middy was a fellow officer,
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: Captain de Bray, who actually saw Chamont pass papers to
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: a spy. Debray exclaimed Cresson incredulously. Why Monsieur, this officer
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: was Chamont's friend, He broke off, recalling the odd behavior
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: of that officer on Boulevard Street. Michele the evening before
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: exactly returned the inspector his friend, that is why the
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: evidence is so overwhelming. Debray was reluctant enough to be
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: sure the country is above, friendship, monsieur. However, if there
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: is nothing else, there is something else, my colonel, said
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: Little John about Captain Chammond's mother and sister. Could you
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: tell me anything about them? The little scientist had spoken
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: for the first time, and his keen gaze was now
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: riveted upon the frenchman. Ah. Yes, answered the inspector. They
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: are living somewhere in Paris, but I do not know
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: the address. The family estate was in the name of
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: A Joules Chammel as the male heir, and this was
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: confident by the government of France, as is of course
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: usual in the case of suspected traitors. For the sake
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: of his mother and sister, I personally am glad there
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: was no public proclamation. It is really tragic, this eviction
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: of Madame and Mademoiselle Schammel from their homes. I recall
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: seeing them here when they appeared before the investigators. Cressens
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: started recalling the darkened mansions and the disappearance of the
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: two women. Would this portrait describe either of the two ladies,
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: asked Little John, extending the photograph to the officer. The
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: Frenchman seized it and turned the likeness to the light.
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: Sorry exclaimed the officer. It is she. It is the
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: daughter his sister, Mademoiselle Audrey. I believe, but messieur, I've
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: told you all that I know. I must now beg
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: you to excuse me, for I have a conference soon.
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: The inspector shook the hands of both Americans in turn
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: as they thanked him and departed. The two men agreed
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: that a search for the two women would be necessary
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: in discussing the new angles of the case. At the
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: Cafe des Troupon, they questioned several of the waiters, Cresson
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: giving them a description of Captain Debray. All knew him
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: as a frequenter of the place, usually dining there in
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: the early evening, and always alone. One little thing that
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: I can do, Creston told Little John, is to watch
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: Captain Debray. Evidently this fellow has unlimited money, according to
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: the waiters, and is spending it too. I'll shadow him, doctor,
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: for it is just possible that wine has loosened his tongue.
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: If he talked, Creston's eyes conveyed his meaning. A most
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: excellent idea, Little John agreed. In the meantime, I'll map
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: out other work we have to do. The two separated
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: end of Part three, Section four of Whispering Tunnels by
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: Stephen Backbye. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: Read by Ben Tucker. Part four. Cresson in the cafe
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: that evening was careful that Debray did not discover his presence.
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: His table was screened by a lattice work of vines,
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: and it was behind this that the Americans saw his
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: uniformed quarry swagger in. When Debray made his exit, the
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: American trailed behind him like a wraith from the boulevards
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: to the narrower streets of the Latin Quarter. He saw
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: the Alsatian light a cigarette and then enter a gray
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: stone apartment building. Cresson arrived at the entrance just as
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: his quarry stepped into the lift. The Louisiana. Darted softly
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: to a stairway behind the shaft and crouched against the wall,
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: where he could command a view of the hall. Twenty
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: minutes elapsed. When the silence was broken by the horror
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: of the lift machinery, he heard the car descending and
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: voices a man's gruff tones and the modulated ones of
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: a woman. Persons bound for a theater or promenade. Cresson conjectured,
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: for he could not see the occupants. The car grounded
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: with a grating sound. The gates opened. Then a girl
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: clad in deepest jet stepped from the car, followed by Debray.
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: The sight of her features made Cresson gasp. It was
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: the original of the photograph, only more beautiful, more ethereal
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: and actual reality. A shadow of sadness shone from the
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: depth of blue violet eyes. She was slender, yet molded
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: with the grace of a statue. Her voice was musical
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: in its soft, lilting tone. To Cresson, standing there, she
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: seemed a vision of gold and white, a painting stepped
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: from its frame, endowed with life. Something in her bearing,
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: a certain reserve, convinced Kresson that this fair girl tolerated
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: the Alsatian's air of proprietorship because of some vital reason.
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: Why did she even appear on terms of friendship with
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: the accuser of her brother? What could she mean to him?
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: These were the questions that the American then and there
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: determined would be answered. He waited until they had gone
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: before emerging from his place of observation, and then returned
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: to his quarters elated he at least had found the
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: Chamond's Little John, and Creston decided that no time should
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: be lost in calling upon the family. Accordingly, the next morning,
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: the two stopped before the door of a fourth floor
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: apartment in the building. Creston rang the bell. The door opened,
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: and a tall, stately woman whose snowy hair resembled a coronet,
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: faced them. Madame Chamond asked Creston with deference. It is
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: Madame Chamond. She replied, Zu weis chausseimy yes. Madame Creston replied,
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: if it would not be an intrusion, I wish to
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: introduce myself as Myles Cresson, former captain of French artillery.
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: I doubt that you have ever heard of me, but
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: your son and I Monsieur Craisson, she exclaimed, in wondering emotion,
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: the same that my dear Jules wrote me of so
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: many many times. Oh, Monsieur, I cannot be, and yet
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: it must be. Will you not enter my poor dwellings? You,
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: dear messieurs, are most welcome. This, madame said the Louisiana,
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: indicating his companion is doctor Arthur Littlejohn, who Sir France
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: and her allies with distinction in the hour of need.
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: He knows of joule. The scientist bowed gallantly over Madame
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: Chammand's extended hand, and the three moved inside. The elderly
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: woman conducted her visitors into a small living room. The
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: two Americans took chairs facing her. When she had become seated,
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: a slight rustle in the entrance caused them to turn
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: in the direction of the sound. Cresson beheld in the
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: doorway the golden girl of the night before, and Little
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: John beheld the original of the portrait. The two quickly
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: rose as she entered the room and stood beside her mother.
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: There was a surge of admiration within the breasts of
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: both Cresson and Little John, for the contrast of types
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: was indeed one of noble loveliness. My data, Mademoiselle Chammont,
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: said the elder woman, as she introduced the visitors. The
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: girl responded gracefully, extending an impulsive hand to each of
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: the men in turn. There was an aristocracy of breeding
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: in her poise and in her features, from the gold
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: of her hair to the delicate uptilt of her chin.
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: I fear that I have known you always Monsieur Craisson,
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: She said, Dessur spoke of your so often, Ah, monsieur,
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: you are his best friend. Her eyes filled with tears,
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: and her hands betrayed her intense struggle to hide the
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: tumult of emotion. Cresson told the story of his search,
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: careful to make no reference to happenings in Fort Vaux,
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: nor of his visit to the invalid. His letter seemed
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: to break off suddenly, the Louisiana concluded, and I never
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: heard from him. No one seems to know just what
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: happened joule. After the Germans captured Fort Beaux, Madame Chamond
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: was no longer able to keep back the tears. It
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: was tragic to behold the grief of these two gentlewomen
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: in their struggle for composure. At length, with an effort,
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: Madame Chamond spoke, you know. She said that he was
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: accused of delivering information to the enemy which resulted in
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: the capture of the fortress. Accused of selling La Belle
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: Franz his country to the Germans. Accused us ay vilely
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: and falsely, of being a title. Believe me, monsieurs, when
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: I say that, my fine noble joule could never be
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: guilty of that. He died fighting for Franz. I feel it,
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: and oh, if I could but clear his name, I
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: would willingly lay down my life. You have had much
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: to bear, said Creston gravely, and both doctor Little John
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: and I are anxious to clear the name Jean Chamon.
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: Of course, seven years have passed since the enemy captured
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: Fort Beau, and Tom may have destroyed the proof we seek.
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: We are determined, however, to leave nothing Anne towards clearing
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: up the mystery and restoring your estate. Oh monsieur, said
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: Madame Chammon, earnestly, The estate matters not. It is the
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: honor of my only son that I wish to clear.
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: I did not dream that my Jieu had an enemy
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: in the world until Captain de Bry, a man who
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: pretended to be his friend, ruthlessly accused him of treachery. Oh, monsieur,
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: that man he calls little for the suffering of a
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: mother and his sister. The gatitude will go with you
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: in your quest. The Americans left the apartment filled with
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: the deep sympathy for both mother and daughter, planning speed
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: in their search. In the two weeks which followed, they
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: were almost daily visitors, and so eloquent that finally they
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: overcame Madame Chamind's objection to appearing in quiet portions of
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: the boulevards. The four would steal away to quaint restaurants
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: and theaters off the beaten track. Doctor Little John left
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: Romntcourt after wine up pressing scientific reports in Paris. He
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: promised to wire Cresson in case there were developments in
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: his plan, parts of which he declined to reveal. He
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: merely asked the younger man to hold himself in readiness
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: should he be needed. I should like merely to look
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: over the ground in my own way, he told Cresson
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: on departure. When my investigation carries me inside the fort,
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: I shall call for you in the meantime, addressed me
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: at the inn. A week after the doctor had gone,
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: Cresson sat alone with Audrey Schummel in the Luxembourg, listening
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: in stunned silence while she told him of her engagement
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: to Captain de Bray. It is for Mather's sake alone,
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: she said, sadly, did I have promised to what this man?
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: Won't you believe me, my dear friend, when I tell
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: you that it is I who make it a safkafice.
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: She turned appealingly to the Southerner, who was plainly perplexed.
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: Do you love him, Mademoiselle asked Cresson earnestly. I cannot
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: believe you that you do, nor do I understand your
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: reason for marriage with the accuser of your brother. Surely
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: your mother does not wish this be frank with me,
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: Audrey Cresson was unaware that he had addressed her by
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: her first name. She toyed with her handkerchief and confusion.
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: My friend, I despise him, she said feelingly. Yet I
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: have made mother believe that I love him. It is
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: only because she loves me that she would permit it.
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: Mother is unaware of the bargain debates promised to or
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: staw the estate in her name after the ceremony. The
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: wedding is to take place two weeks from to day.
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: The bands have been published, and alast I must go
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: through with it. Cresson now realized the nobleness of her sacrifice,
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: and the thought of it made him turn his head
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: and stared dejectedly at the ground. When he glanced again
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: in her direction, Audrey was weeping softly, bitterly, her whole
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: body shaken with emotion. The sight aroused in him that
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: tender sympathy that all men have for distressed womankind. He
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: longed to take her into his arms, to comfort her
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: as he would a child. Yet he restrained the impulse,
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: knowing the utter futility of it. Both attempted to hide
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: the turmoil in their hearts by effecting a mask of gayety.
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: On the return home, succeeding most miserably, Cresson reached his
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: study in a state of dejection. He turned the key
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: slowly in the lock and stopped. Suddenly, beneath the door
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: was the yellowed edge of a telegram delivered in his absence.
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: He stooped to pick it up and saw that it
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: was from Little John. It read come expect you Moncourt tomorrow.
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: That was all, but it was enough to busy the
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: Southerner with the packing of his back. End of Part four,
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: Section five of Whispering Tunnels by Stephen Bagbie. This LibriVox
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: recording is in the public domain by Ben Tucker. Part five.
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: It was well into the following morning when Cresson stepped
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: on to the station platform in Moncourt. He found Little
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: John waiting with a carriage, and together they drove to
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: the inn. The scientist cautioned the younger man that a
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: short nap might be necessary before undertaking the work. Late
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: out that evening. Creston awoke in the late afternoon to
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: find Little John studying a map of the fortress and
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: the known portion of the tunnels. Little John, laying the
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: map aside, gave details of his plan. He explained that
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: he would begin work that night in the haunted guest
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: chamber of the fort alone, because he did not wish
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: to expose anyone else to danger. Cresson objected vigorously, declaring
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: that he would take chance for chance with the scientist.
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: Little John glanced at him admiringly. That's what I call grint,
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: he said slowly. Not one man in a thousand would
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: go back into that room after an experience such as yours.
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: It was useless to attempt dissuasion, and Little John turned
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: the subject. As they walked to vou in the waning
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: light of the afternoon, the rays of the sinking sun
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: bathed a desolate scene of pitted hills and scarred ravines,
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: which were crowned by the Fortress of Vaux, lighting the
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: low rakish ramparts of weird red, enhancing the blackness of
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: their shadows. Falaise met them a short distance from the entrance,
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: and the three remained in discussion several minutes before going on.
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: The Major seemed paler, more anxious, and thinner, it seemed
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: to Cressen than when they had seen each other last.
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: They listened closely as Little John pointed out the necessity
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: of keeping his and Cresson's arrival as nearly secret as possible.
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: The two dined with Fallets that evening, apart from the others.
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: The Major, in a low voice, told them that two
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: men had died and three others were hopelessly insane of
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: terror over unseen things within the past week. The tragedies
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: took place on different nights, he said, but on each
• 44:03
  Speaker 1: those in the fortress had plainly heard a whisper, the
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: whisper of the tunneaus Monsieur, said the Major, his face ashen.
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: Falaise was intensely interested in the experiment, but declared that
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: not all of the world's gold could persuade him to
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: spend a night in the guest chamber. Even with others.
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: It was plain that the Major's experience during his two
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: years assignment to the garrison command had shaken him tragically.
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: He bore up only because of the expected transfer, a
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: removal from Voe to a place where there were neither
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: tunnels nor whispers. Little John again endeavored to show Cressen
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: the danger that awaited anyone except a trained psychic in
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: coping with unseen forces. The younger man, however, refused to
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: be swayed by this argument. Many of these tunnels were
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: built before Napoleon's time, said the sign. When black magic
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: raged in portions of Europe to day, there are persons
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: in France a depth in the art of producing innate
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: intelligences more terrible than the monster created in the story
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: of Frankenstein. These whispering tunnels and mysterious deaths and insanity
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: among men of the fort may be due to some
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: curse placed on its members by a vengeful sorcerer long ago,
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: one who was in some way harmed in this place.
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: Such curses may rage for hundreds of years after the
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: death of him who called them into being, unless dispelled
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: by a powerful exorcist. Doctor Little John's face grew grave
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: as he concluded, keep this in mind, Miles, my boy,
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: the scientist cautioned and abide by it. Don't give way
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: to fear in that chamber to night. If you feel
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: yourself being overcome, fight it. Fight it with all the
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: strength of your will. Do as I tell you, and
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: ask no questions. There is danger enough for both of
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: us if the forces are of great power. If one
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: gives way under such circumstances, anything may result insanity or
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: even death. The three stood in the corridor just outside
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: the guest room, listening as a faint sound vibrated through
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: the hush of the corridors, slowly rising and falling and
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: then diminishing. It seemed faint and far away, deep below
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: the fortress at times, at others, filling the corridors about
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: them with a soft and swishing subtleness. So Usper breathed falaise,
• 46:32
  Speaker 1: his eyes terror stricken as he strained his ears with
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: an intentness that stiffened his entire frame. He turned his
• 46:40
  Speaker 1: haunted gaze to his companions only when the sound had
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: ceased altogether. The Major remained with the two Americans but
• 46:47
  Speaker 1: a short time, and reproached himself on departure that he
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: had permitted them to occupy this deserted portion of the fortress,
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: even for a night. Doctor Little John locked the door
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: and gazed about the large, irregular chamber, noting silently the
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: long drawn out shadows which seemed to take their rise
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: in the corner and creep across the floor. Nor did
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: he fail to observe the shadow above his head, a
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: hovering mist midway between the high ceiling and the floor.
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: It was the omen regarded by psychics as the certain
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: sign of a spectral presence. The scientist drew his electric
• 47:22
  Speaker 1: torch and set himself to feel after what was really
• 47:26
  Speaker 1: wrong with the room, while Myles Crescon remained seated before
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: the log fire, which had been kindled earlier in the evening.
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: As Little John passed slowly around the walls, he gradually
• 47:37
  Speaker 1: gathered impressions, very unpleasant ones. These seemed worse in the
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: ante room of pepperbox shape, where a sensation of utter
• 47:45
  Speaker 1: loathing and sickness of soul swept over him. He decided
• 47:49
  Speaker 1: that some one in the chamber, though unseen by himself
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: or Cresson, was watching every movement. Little John gazed between
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: the parted curtains for several minutes, then walked to the
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: fireplace to face them. Southerner sense anything unusual miles he asked,
• 48:04
  Speaker 1: wiping his spectacles. Phil awful of peculiar, doctor can't say
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: why was the young man's reply. Keep a cool head, son,
• 48:15
  Speaker 1: advised little John. We're in for a night of it,
• 48:18
  Speaker 1: and no mistake. Don't cross the center of the floor.
• 48:21
  Speaker 1: If you find it necessary to move, walk around close
• 48:23
  Speaker 1: to the walls, For in the center of a place
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: such as this, a malignant entity is always most powerful.
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: At the walls, it is weakest except the flickering shadows.
• 48:33
  Speaker 1: The two men saw nothing in the next two hours.
• 48:36
  Speaker 1: It was well past midnight when both heard the whisper,
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: faint at first, but gradually increasing in tone until it
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: became almost a roar in the corridor outside. They exchanged
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: significant glances and steeled themselves for an ordeal. Without warning,
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: the locked door swung wide, and a rush of icy
• 48:55
  Speaker 1: air filled the chamber. The gasping roar of air currence
• 49:00
  Speaker 1: deafened them. The lamp was blown out, its flame vanishing
• 49:04
  Speaker 1: in a puff. Keep your back to the wall, shouted
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: the scientist, hurling aside his deadened electric torch and flinging
• 49:11
  Speaker 1: cresconed back against the masonry. The fire dimmed, as it
• 49:14
  Speaker 1: had done on the previous occasion, and the worrying and
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: flopping of unseen creatures raced about the high ceiling. A
• 49:21
  Speaker 1: long drawn wail, rising to a shriek, pervaded the chamber,
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: and the fire went out altogether, leaving the room in darkness.
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: Something immense seemed filling the room, something violently hostile and terrible.
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: Globes of greenish blue light floated through the air and
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: bowled over the floor, and the fetid breath of slobbering
• 49:43
  Speaker 1: things blew against the faces and hands of the Americans.
• 49:47
  Speaker 1: The strangling of dying humans seemed to issue from the
• 49:50
  Speaker 1: ante room, now lit with a pale, ghastly light. The
• 49:55
  Speaker 1: immense entity was coming nearer. They could feel the approach
• 49:59
  Speaker 1: inch by inch of something that threatened to overwhelm them. Suddenly,
• 50:05
  Speaker 1: Little John made a mystic sign and pronounced three words
• 50:08
  Speaker 1: in an unknown tongue. He ran rapidly around in a
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: wide circle, scattering a powdered substance about the center of
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: the room where the malignant intelligence hovered. When he reached
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: the starting point again, he stepped forward, pouring a drop
• 50:20
  Speaker 1: of liquid from an odd shaped vessel of brass drawn
• 50:24
  Speaker 1: from his pocket. The circle sprang into flame, lighting the
• 50:28
  Speaker 1: chamber with a blood red glow. Little John's eyes glittered
• 50:31
  Speaker 1: straight into something ahead, and his whole being seemed transformed
• 50:35
  Speaker 1: as he drew himself erect and poised his arm circled
• 50:39
  Speaker 1: his head with the brass vessel as he leaped to
• 50:41
  Speaker 1: the edge of the flaming hoop, reciting a staccato chant.
• 50:47
  Speaker 1: A Peer, the scientist screamed, A peer is the name
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: of the Creator. I command you to appear. A black
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: cloud seemed to fill the center of the red circle.
• 50:57
  Speaker 1: Suddenly both men saw it. A great, shapeless creature was
• 51:01
  Speaker 1: taking the form of a man, so tall that the
• 51:04
  Speaker 1: head was bent against the ceiling. Two burning, baleful eyes
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: were fixed on the pair as a snarling issued from
• 51:11
  Speaker 1: its great black mouth. Lined with long, jagged teeth. The
• 51:16
  Speaker 1: creature's body was covered with scales. Its powerful arms and
• 51:19
  Speaker 1: toes were armed with long, razorlike claws. Little John steeled
• 51:24
  Speaker 1: his will to prevent the thing's efforts to overcome him
• 51:27
  Speaker 1: with the noxious stench it emitted. It was the beginning
• 51:30
  Speaker 1: of a deadlock of wills, which lasted for minutes. In
• 51:33
  Speaker 1: that room of damp stone. Cresson saw the doctor like
• 51:37
  Speaker 1: a sorcerer, of Old advanced toward the thing, his voice
• 51:40
  Speaker 1: rising and falling, chanting the lines of a Latin incantation.
• 51:45
  Speaker 1: The thing retreated a few feet, only to redouble its
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: efforts to close in on the two men. Little John
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: made the sign of the Cross, stamping his feet as
• 51:54
  Speaker 1: he advanced, bidding the entity begone in the name of
• 51:57
  Speaker 1: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. There was
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: a wail and a sucking noise as it vanished like
• 52:02
  Speaker 1: a flash through the curtains of the ante room. The
• 52:05
  Speaker 1: door slammed shut and locked. The fire suddenly leaped into
• 52:10
  Speaker 1: blaze again, and the lamp re lit with a clear,
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: steady ray. The flaming circle died out. Christen had fainted.
• 52:17
  Speaker 1: Little John ran to his side. As he recovered, staggering
• 52:20
  Speaker 1: weakly into a chair. The Southerner was deadly pale, and
• 52:25
  Speaker 1: for a few minutes unable to speak. Little John mopped
• 52:27
  Speaker 1: his brow and stood with his back toward the fire.
• 52:31
  Speaker 1: It has gone out of the room, he said at length,
• 52:34
  Speaker 1: but it may return any minute, beyond your guard. It
• 52:37
  Speaker 1: is an entity of great power and has not yet
• 52:39
  Speaker 1: completely taken shape. There is no doubt in my mind
• 52:42
  Speaker 1: about it being an elemental freed by some powerful magician
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: in olden times, and set raging by this bloody battleground
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: in the late war. Undoubtedly black art was practiced in
• 52:54
  Speaker 1: this very room. You must fight against being drawn into
• 52:57
  Speaker 1: the tunnels, for the chances are you would never emerger.
• 53:01
  Speaker 1: The scientist flung himself into a chair, but as he
• 53:03
  Speaker 1: did so, the door opened violently, and again the room
• 53:06
  Speaker 1: was plunged into darkness. Little John placed his back against
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: the wall, but to his dismay, Cresson ran to the
• 53:12
  Speaker 1: center of the chamber, striking and shouting, get away, get away,
• 53:16
  Speaker 1: I tell you, get away, he cried. The young man
• 53:19
  Speaker 1: fought like one possessed, but suddenly his voice changed into
• 53:22
  Speaker 1: a booming, reverberating base, which filled the atmosphere with echoes.
• 53:27
  Speaker 1: It sounded now in a low, deep chuckle. Above him,
• 53:30
  Speaker 1: little John saw the round spots of flame that were
• 53:33
  Speaker 1: the creature's eyes. Hell Master, spoke Cresson in deep Flemish hell,
• 53:39
  Speaker 1: all powerful prince of darkness, Lucifer. The tones were not his,
• 53:45
  Speaker 1: the scientist noted. As the rumbling voice trailed off into
• 53:48
  Speaker 1: unintelligible gibberings, Little John forgot his own safety and rushed
• 53:54
  Speaker 1: to draw the southerner back too late. With a wild shriek,
• 53:58
  Speaker 1: Cresson disappeared at top speed through the door, which slam
• 54:01
  Speaker 1: shut before Little John could follow. He stood still as
• 54:04
  Speaker 1: steely claws sought his neck. He drove these back with
• 54:08
  Speaker 1: the force of his thought. There came to the scientist
• 54:11
  Speaker 1: the realization that Cresson had been snatched from the room
• 54:14
  Speaker 1: by a lesser force, while the greater was centering its
• 54:18
  Speaker 1: power on him Again, he threw out his will, quickly,
• 54:22
  Speaker 1: drawing from his vest a golden crucifix, holding it aloft
• 54:25
  Speaker 1: as he began the ancient rites of exorcism. As he prayed,
• 54:29
  Speaker 1: he could feel the power of the entity growing weaker
• 54:31
  Speaker 1: and weaker, until at last it dispelled itself as the
• 54:35
  Speaker 1: distant bugles heralded the coming of day. He concluded his
• 54:39
  Speaker 1: prayer with the benediction, convinced that the evil intelligence had
• 54:43
  Speaker 1: vanished from the fort forever. End of Part five, Section
• 54:54
  Speaker 1: six of Whispering Tunnels by Stephen Bagbie. The Slevervox recording
• 54:59
  Speaker 1: is in the public domain. Read by Ben Tucker. Part six.
• 55:05
  Speaker 1: Little John's first thought was of Cresson as he passed
• 55:08
  Speaker 1: from the chamber. Instinct guided him along the passageway and
• 55:12
  Speaker 1: down dark flights of steps to the labyrinth below, where
• 55:15
  Speaker 1: the whisper sounded faintly in the tunnels. His echoing steps
• 55:19
  Speaker 1: beat a straight course over the never ending path of
• 55:22
  Speaker 1: moldy flagstones until at lenked the white patch of light
• 55:26
  Speaker 1: glimmered in the distance ahead. It proved to be a
• 55:29
  Speaker 1: breach in the tunnel overlooking the destroyed portion of the fort.
• 55:34
  Speaker 1: The scientist recovered his balance with an effort as he
• 55:36
  Speaker 1: stumbled over the unconscious form of Cresson lying in the opening.
• 55:41
  Speaker 1: He made a hasty examination of the Southerner's body, but
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: found no wounds beyond bruises and cuts. Wrapped about Cresson's
• 55:49
  Speaker 1: ankles was a slender strand of copper wire, which convinced
• 55:52
  Speaker 1: the scientist that his friend had tripped over this while
• 55:54
  Speaker 1: fleeing back into the tunnel to escape some terrible sight.
• 55:58
  Speaker 1: The expression of terror on Creston's face gradually disappeared as
• 56:01
  Speaker 1: he slowly revived Under Little John's ministrations. The scientists supported
• 56:06
  Speaker 1: him as he emerged from the opening in a weakened
• 56:09
  Speaker 1: and nervous state. They decided to return in the open
• 56:13
  Speaker 1: air rather than risk the danger of becoming lost in
• 56:16
  Speaker 1: the tunnels, and finally reached the exterior of the fortress
• 56:20
  Speaker 1: by clambering over the shattered masonry of the ruins. Once
• 56:24
  Speaker 1: more in the chamber, now quiet and peaceful, Cresson recounted
• 56:27
  Speaker 1: his experiences. After rushing forth from the room, something seemed
• 56:32
  Speaker 1: pulling me, he said, and it was a force of
• 56:36
  Speaker 1: such power that I could not struggle against it. I
• 56:39
  Speaker 1: was drawn farther and farther into the tunnels and into
• 56:42
  Speaker 1: the midst of frenzied things that filled all space. There
• 56:47
  Speaker 1: was a luminous mass ahead of me, which at length
• 56:50
  Speaker 1: became clearly outlined. I saw that it was Jeule Chamant,
• 56:55
  Speaker 1: in the vivid blue gray uniform and trench helmet of
• 56:58
  Speaker 1: the French line troops. He pointed ahead, uttering no word,
• 57:03
  Speaker 1: and I followed on, powerless to resist the force that
• 57:06
  Speaker 1: seemed in possession of my will, through passages and down
• 57:10
  Speaker 1: steps into the bowels of the fort When we walked
• 57:13
  Speaker 1: out into the ruined part of the fortress, jewel pressed
• 57:16
  Speaker 1: a granite slab, and a large opening in the floor
• 57:19
  Speaker 1: presented itself. We went down still farther into a chamber
• 57:24
  Speaker 1: so large that there seemed no walls or sealing to it.
• 57:28
  Speaker 1: I followed Jewel to the center of the room, and
• 57:31
  Speaker 1: doctor I saw him fade right through it. There came
• 57:35
  Speaker 1: the sound of many soldiers crowding about me, until I
• 57:38
  Speaker 1: could feel their breathing chill as death on my cheeks.
• 57:43
  Speaker 1: I was thoroughly terror stricken by this time, but it
• 57:46
  Speaker 1: seemed that I could not flee. Moans, screams, and hissing
• 57:50
  Speaker 1: whispers rang in my ears. A terrific cannonading seemed in
• 57:55
  Speaker 1: progress outside the vault, and the rush of many waters
• 57:58
  Speaker 1: under the flooring where I stood unable to stir. I
• 58:02
  Speaker 1: saw terror stricken soldiers outlined in a bluish light, raced
• 58:07
  Speaker 1: madly about the chamber, and a veritable dance of death,
• 58:11
  Speaker 1: and a long drawn call run for your lives seemed
• 58:15
  Speaker 1: to undermine my reason. I tore myself free from long,
• 58:20
  Speaker 1: bony fingers that clutched my throat with a strangling grip.
• 58:24
  Speaker 1: I plunged over the flagstones, fighting to clear my way.
• 58:29
  Speaker 1: I reached the steps and ran upwards, only to be
• 58:32
  Speaker 1: dragged back by the bony hands they seemed, clutching my clothing,
• 58:38
  Speaker 1: my limbs, and my hair. Hoards of rats swarmed up
• 58:42
  Speaker 1: the stairs tripping me as they squealed and fought. I
• 58:46
  Speaker 1: kicked a passage through their scurry and loathsome bodies, and
• 58:49
  Speaker 1: twice I fell, with the creatures streaming over my body
• 58:53
  Speaker 1: to rise and struggle on. It seemed that the whole
• 58:57
  Speaker 1: earth shook with a crashing, blinding roar. Or as I
• 59:01
  Speaker 1: stumbled out of that charnel house, a tripped fell and
• 59:05
  Speaker 1: knew no more. Cresson, from sheer weariness, flung himself upon
• 59:10
  Speaker 1: the bed and was soon in a sound sleep. Little
• 59:14
  Speaker 1: John tiptoed from the chamber, going at once to headquarters,
• 59:17
  Speaker 1: where he sought out Major Falaise. He drew the officer
• 59:21
  Speaker 1: aside with the story of the wire over which Cresson
• 59:23
  Speaker 1: had stumbled in the tunnel. Arming themselves with maps and compasses,
• 59:28
  Speaker 1: Little John and Falaise led a group of six men
• 59:30
  Speaker 1: to the tunnel entrance after descending into the ruins. The
• 59:35
  Speaker 1: men were known for courage, but the sound of the whisper,
• 59:38
  Speaker 1: which suddenly sprang from nowhere, unnerved them to such extent
• 59:41
  Speaker 1: that it took considerable persuasion to force them on. The
• 59:45
  Speaker 1: copper strand was located without difficulty, and the party followed
• 59:50
  Speaker 1: its length back into the fort They found that the
• 59:53
  Speaker 1: wire ran up a flight of stairs which ended flush
• 59:56
  Speaker 1: against the ceiling. Falaise put his shoulder against the vaulted
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 1: roof and pushed upwards. Suddenly, an entire section of rock lifted,
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 1: and little group emerged into the ante room of the
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 1: guest chamber. It was a trap door, the existence of
• 1:00:11
  Speaker 1: which was unsuspected in the command. The wire they found
• 1:00:15
  Speaker 1: was attached to a blasting battery resting on the top step.
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 1: Falaise departed in haste to inform Colonel Dupenne of the discovery.
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 1: Little John, in the meantime, led the group back into
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 1: the tunnel and descended dark stairways, listening intently to the
• 1:00:30
  Speaker 1: sound of the whisper, which gradually became nearer. The descent
• 1:00:35
  Speaker 1: carried them to a depth which cobwebs attested had not
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 1: been sounded in years. The whisper had become a roar
• 1:00:42
  Speaker 1: as they reached the bottom tunnel, leaving the men in
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 1: a state of terror. Little John started exploration of the
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 1: deep tunnel. When the fears of the men had subsided.
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 1: The sound seemed to issue loudest behind an iron door
• 1:00:56
  Speaker 1: leading off the passage. It took the combined effort of
• 1:01:00
  Speaker 1: the seven men to budge the door after the rusted
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 1: bolt had been removed. When it finally slid open, a
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 1: blinding cloud of steam overwhelmed the little group in the passage,
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 1: and a hissing sound that was almost deafening issued from
• 1:01:15
  Speaker 1: the darkness beyond the door. Little John returned to the entrance,
• 1:01:19
  Speaker 1: thrusting his electric torch inside. At first he could see nothing,
• 1:01:24
  Speaker 1: but as the hissing gradually ceased, the vapors lifted sufficiently
• 1:01:28
  Speaker 1: to reveal the lower portion of a great chamber. He
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 1: sprang back with an exclamation. A geyser, he shouted to
• 1:01:37
  Speaker 1: the men. After all, the whisper of the tunnels has
• 1:01:41
  Speaker 1: a logical explanation. There is a crater inside whose bottom
• 1:01:45
  Speaker 1: is lined with skeletons. There must be hundreds of them
• 1:01:49
  Speaker 1: whitening down there. Unquestionably, this pit was a place of
• 1:01:52
  Speaker 1: execution a hundred years ago, where living men were boiled
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 1: to death by the geyser. Little John ordered the door
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 1: closed and told the soldiers to follow. In one of
• 1:02:02
  Speaker 1: the corridors branching from the tunnel, the scientists discovered dozens
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 1: of dungeons containing rusted iron rings, manacles, and chains, rotted
• 1:02:12
  Speaker 1: clothing on the flagstones gave mute testimony that human beings
• 1:02:15
  Speaker 1: had been imprisoned here. In three of the larger dungeons
• 1:02:19
  Speaker 1: there were racks, screws, burning irons, and other implements of torture.
• 1:02:24
  Speaker 1: But the most important evidence of the dreadful scenes enacted
• 1:02:27
  Speaker 1: here Little John found in one of the smaller cells.
• 1:02:31
  Speaker 1: His torch had swept about the interior and had fallen
• 1:02:34
  Speaker 1: upon an inscription and Flemish scrawled into the stone wall.
• 1:02:39
  Speaker 1: Translated it read as follows, I, Gilbert Savon, of the
• 1:02:44
  Speaker 1: Commune of Verdun, in the year seventeen ninety one, am
• 1:02:48
  Speaker 1: doomed to torture by Louis the King, for the practice
• 1:02:51
  Speaker 1: of sorcery. Sorcery, so be it I leave this dungeon
• 1:02:56
  Speaker 1: to join Lucifer, my master, in the realms of darkness.
• 1:03:00
  Speaker 1: In so doing I bestow my curse upon the King
• 1:03:03
  Speaker 1: his hirelings, and the scene of my torture. My familiar
• 1:03:07
  Speaker 1: growthar created in blood, nourished in blood, shall be awakened
• 1:03:11
  Speaker 1: by blood to wreak vengeance upon all who dwell here.
• 1:03:15
  Speaker 1: Savan exclaimed Little John to himself, one of Europe's most
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 1: infamous devil worshipers, hump don't wonder that King Louis and
• 1:03:25
  Speaker 1: his court came to grief with so powerful a curse
• 1:03:27
  Speaker 1: cast on them. The scientists drew away from the dungeon,
• 1:03:31
  Speaker 1: satisfied that both the curse and the whisper of the
• 1:03:34
  Speaker 1: fortress had been explained. The party ascended to the upper
• 1:03:37
  Speaker 1: tunnels of Voe, where it disbanded. End of Section six.
• 1:03:49
  Speaker 1: Section seven of Whispering Tunnels by Stephen Bagbie. The Slibrivox
• 1:03:54
  Speaker 1: Recordings in the Public Domain read by Ben Tucker Heart seven.
• 1:04:01
  Speaker 1: Little John found Falaise and Cresson awaiting him in the
• 1:04:04
  Speaker 1: guest chamber. They listened breathlessly as he told the story
• 1:04:08
  Speaker 1: of his discovery. It can readily be seen. He explained
• 1:04:13
  Speaker 1: that the geyser below is the source of the whisper
• 1:04:15
  Speaker 1: and this fortress. It is, of course intermittent in its action,
• 1:04:20
  Speaker 1: more active at night because of cooler atmosphere. There seems
• 1:04:23
  Speaker 1: to be no connection between the whisper and the curse,
• 1:04:26
  Speaker 1: although it was natural, of course to associate them because
• 1:04:29
  Speaker 1: both were usually active at the same time. The deaths
• 1:04:33
  Speaker 1: and insanity of men here, in my opinion, occurred from
• 1:04:36
  Speaker 1: fright bloodshed so freely here during the war, undoubtedly recalled
• 1:04:41
  Speaker 1: the sorcerer's curse with redoubled power, and the familiar haunted
• 1:04:45
  Speaker 1: his victims one by one. You need never again fear
• 1:04:49
  Speaker 1: the whisper, for I have exercised the curse. Within an
• 1:04:53
  Speaker 1: hour from the time Falaise had gone from the guest chamber,
• 1:04:56
  Speaker 1: the Americans were requested to appear before Colonel Dupenn. The
• 1:05:00
  Speaker 1: grizzl commander began chuckling when he saw Crescon, and an
• 1:05:04
  Speaker 1: amused glint lurked in his eyes. Falaise, who stood by
• 1:05:07
  Speaker 1: his side, motioned them to chairs. Monsieurs, said, Papa Dupain,
• 1:05:14
  Speaker 1: I believe now the story told by Monsieur Cresson of
• 1:05:18
  Speaker 1: his being haunted in the guest chamber. Major Falaise has
• 1:05:22
  Speaker 1: explained it. To say that I am grateful for the
• 1:05:25
  Speaker 1: exercising of the curse of doctor Little John would not
• 1:05:28
  Speaker 1: express a small part of the gratitude I feel toward him.
• 1:05:32
  Speaker 1: I suspected the tragedies here were caused by some curse,
• 1:05:36
  Speaker 1: but I was powerless to combat it. Peace and contentment
• 1:05:40
  Speaker 1: will be ours from now on. The esteemed doctor and
• 1:05:44
  Speaker 1: Major Falaise half rendered another great service this morning. For instance,
• 1:05:49
  Speaker 1: they found their sudden copper wire, which Monsieur Cresson we
• 1:05:53
  Speaker 1: all remember as having tripped him up in the tunnel,
• 1:05:57
  Speaker 1: was connected to a powerful blasting battery. The trap door
• 1:06:01
  Speaker 1: in the anter room. This trap door was cleverly built
• 1:06:04
  Speaker 1: into the floor. No one in the forts suspecting it
• 1:06:07
  Speaker 1: was a stare, but some one knew of it. During
• 1:06:10
  Speaker 1: the war a gentleman that part of the Fort Voux,
• 1:06:13
  Speaker 1: supposed to have been demolished by enemy shells, was actually
• 1:06:17
  Speaker 1: destroyed by the deliberate blowing up of its powder magazine.
• 1:06:22
  Speaker 1: You mean blown up, gasped Creston, racisely, replied the colonel.
• 1:06:29
  Speaker 1: The guilty person must have been a traitor. He must
• 1:06:32
  Speaker 1: have acted with lightning swiftness, for the enemy had begun
• 1:06:36
  Speaker 1: the attack that letter captured the fortress. Now I believe
• 1:06:40
  Speaker 1: that the underground vaults beneath the ruins still exist, covered
• 1:06:44
  Speaker 1: with debris. In this case, the three of you might
• 1:06:47
  Speaker 1: uncover the evidence we seek. I will hold a detail
• 1:06:50
  Speaker 1: of men in nor readiness to clear the ruins to morrow.
• 1:06:54
  Speaker 1: Will you do this much for France? The three men agreed,
• 1:06:58
  Speaker 1: thanking him for his confidence. Papa Dupin then turned to
• 1:07:01
  Speaker 1: cresson my son. He said, earnestly, Captain Chamont was your friend,
• 1:07:07
  Speaker 1: as you are most anxious to clear his name, I
• 1:07:10
  Speaker 1: too am anxious to do this, but we must have
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 1: evidence more overwhelmingly reliable than that the government now has
• 1:07:18
  Speaker 1: against him. Let us hope that we may find it.
• 1:07:22
  Speaker 1: He clasped the young man's hand, and together the three
• 1:07:25
  Speaker 1: left the colonel's office fully. Fifty soldiers began digging in
• 1:07:29
  Speaker 1: the ruins the next morning. On the morning of the
• 1:07:31
  Speaker 1: third day, one of the men uttered a sharp cry
• 1:07:33
  Speaker 1: as his shovel bared a heavy iron ring. He scraped frantically,
• 1:07:37
  Speaker 1: revealing it embedded in a square block of stone, which
• 1:07:40
  Speaker 1: was fastened with a great sliding bolt, so wedged and
• 1:07:44
  Speaker 1: bent that sawing it into sections proved the only means
• 1:07:47
  Speaker 1: of freeing it. The block was removed, and those nearest
• 1:07:50
  Speaker 1: the trap were almost overwhelmed by a rush of foul air.
• 1:07:54
  Speaker 1: Falaise ran about excitedly. The door was bolted before the explosion.
• 1:08:00
  Speaker 1: He cried by some one on the outside mim below
• 1:08:03
  Speaker 1: a trapped like rats. His excitement increased as the descent
• 1:08:08
  Speaker 1: down the flight of stairs revealed two other traps similarly bolted.
• 1:08:13
  Speaker 1: When these were opened, Cresson, seizing a powerful electric torch,
• 1:08:16
  Speaker 1: sprang down the moldy stone steps. Little John, he shouted,
• 1:08:21
  Speaker 1: it is that same room, the very same that I
• 1:08:24
  Speaker 1: escaped from the morning you found me. The doctor, with
• 1:08:27
  Speaker 1: difficulty restrained Cresson, for the latter's excitement had gradually increased
• 1:08:32
  Speaker 1: as the two had begun the descent With filets and
• 1:08:34
  Speaker 1: a group of six men. The electric torches of the
• 1:08:38
  Speaker 1: Americans flashed over the vaulted ceiling, accentuating the shadows and
• 1:08:42
  Speaker 1: festoons of cobwebs that hung from the stones like long fingers.
• 1:08:47
  Speaker 1: Far away, the searchers heard the rushing of water, which
• 1:08:49
  Speaker 1: Cresson had described in relating his experience, and it seemed
• 1:08:53
  Speaker 1: to the group that the sound arose from under the
• 1:08:55
  Speaker 1: flagstones in a sort of indescribable roar. Suddenly, their torches
• 1:09:01
  Speaker 1: shone on a massive iron tripod rising from the center
• 1:09:04
  Speaker 1: of the chamber. The flagate controlled valats exclaimed in odd tones,
• 1:09:10
  Speaker 1: silvers are down, and yet neither magazine nor tunnels were
• 1:09:14
  Speaker 1: ever flooded. The men were tho killed by shells which
• 1:09:18
  Speaker 1: destroyed this part of the fort. But this now shows
• 1:09:21
  Speaker 1: that they arrived here the officer was plainly puzzled, explaining
• 1:09:26
  Speaker 1: that the machinery was one of the fort's most powerful
• 1:09:28
  Speaker 1: weapons of defense before the wing was destroyed. At all times,
• 1:09:33
  Speaker 1: he said, a detail of men stood in readiness to
• 1:09:35
  Speaker 1: turn the waters of the Meuse into either the powder
• 1:09:38
  Speaker 1: magazine or the tunnels, to render them useless to the enemy.
• 1:09:44
  Speaker 1: A horror stricken exclamation came from Cresson as the light
• 1:09:47
  Speaker 1: of his torch fell upon the glint of dull gold
• 1:09:50
  Speaker 1: from a huddled object on the flagstone drawing near. He
• 1:09:54
  Speaker 1: perceived it to be a skeleton in the uniform of
• 1:09:56
  Speaker 1: a French officer, a trench helmet lay asus the body
• 1:10:01
  Speaker 1: in a short distance away an overcoat. The sight made
• 1:10:04
  Speaker 1: members of the party gasp. Cresson stooped swiftly to examine
• 1:10:08
  Speaker 1: the identifying bracelet about the bony wrist, leaping back with
• 1:10:12
  Speaker 1: a gasp. Jule Chaman, he cried, reeling away from the spot.
• 1:10:18
  Speaker 1: A shout from one of the soldiers told that another
• 1:10:20
  Speaker 1: skeleton had been found near it lay a third, and
• 1:10:23
  Speaker 1: not far away others. Until the remains of thirty three
• 1:10:26
  Speaker 1: soldiers had been counted. Bending over the remains of Georchamins
• 1:10:31
  Speaker 1: Cresson gave a startled groan, which brought the others running
• 1:10:34
  Speaker 1: to his side. He pulled a sheaf of papers from
• 1:10:37
  Speaker 1: the skeleton's belt and held it aloft sand for the colonel.
• 1:10:42
  Speaker 1: He commanded. A soldier raced away, and soon Papa Dupin
• 1:10:47
  Speaker 1: arrived in the flood vault, excited and puffing. Brnd the
• 1:10:51
  Speaker 1: papers to my office, the colonel ordered, indicating that the
• 1:10:56
  Speaker 1: two Americans were to follow him. Jeu valaise postigart, and
• 1:11:00
  Speaker 1: see that no one enters. No one mind you. He
• 1:11:03
  Speaker 1: acknowledged the major's salute and trotted away, with Cresson and
• 1:11:07
  Speaker 1: little John at his heels. End of Part seven, Section
• 1:11:18
  Speaker 1: eight of Whispering Tunnels by Stephen Bagbie. This LibriVox recording
• 1:11:23
  Speaker 1: is in the public domain. Read by Ben Tucker. Part eight.
• 1:11:29
  Speaker 1: Once inside his office, Papa Dupin locked the door and
• 1:11:34
  Speaker 1: turned up the flame of the lamp. The three drew
• 1:11:37
  Speaker 1: their chairs together. As the Colonel glanced through the documents hurriedly,
• 1:11:41
  Speaker 1: he uttered a cry of amazement. Ma freends, he said, slowly,
• 1:11:47
  Speaker 1: the Missery of forte verse Betroyal is soft. Jeu Charmond
• 1:11:52
  Speaker 1: was no tretor poor fellow, but a hero he and
• 1:11:56
  Speaker 1: thirty three others were sent into eternity by another French men,
• 1:12:01
  Speaker 1: a traitor, who blew up the fort's magazine from his
• 1:12:04
  Speaker 1: concealed position in the ante room. Here read these. With this,
• 1:12:11
  Speaker 1: the Colonel thrust the thick packet of papers into Little
• 1:12:13
  Speaker 1: John's hands. The documents included orders, maps, and plans of
• 1:12:18
  Speaker 1: vital importance to the defense of the garrison. Scrawled on
• 1:12:22
  Speaker 1: the backs of the documents was a diary kept by
• 1:12:24
  Speaker 1: jou Chamin up to the time of his death. On
• 1:12:28
  Speaker 1: the first document were the lines, in the event that
• 1:12:30
  Speaker 1: my body and those of the other men are ever found,
• 1:12:33
  Speaker 1: I pray that these papers will aid in clearing up
• 1:12:35
  Speaker 1: the manner in which we died. These lines were written
• 1:12:39
  Speaker 1: in Chamont's bold style, and on the paper the three
• 1:12:43
  Speaker 1: saw dark stains, doubtless of blood. June sixth, nineteen seventeen,
• 1:12:50
  Speaker 1: caught Debray passing this packet of papers to a known
• 1:12:53
  Speaker 1: enemy spy. How this fellow got inside of the fort,
• 1:12:56
  Speaker 1: I do not know. He ran at top speed in
• 1:12:58
  Speaker 1: the opposite direction. When I closed in on Debray and
• 1:13:01
  Speaker 1: confronted him with the evidence of his treachery, the trader
• 1:13:04
  Speaker 1: pleaded with me not to expose him. He groveled on
• 1:13:07
  Speaker 1: his knees. I shook him off, rat that he is.
• 1:13:10
  Speaker 1: He has betrayed his country, and through him France may
• 1:13:14
  Speaker 1: lose verdun her heart and soul. I went to the
• 1:13:17
  Speaker 1: commandant's office this afternoon to expose him, but the colonel
• 1:13:21
  Speaker 1: was not there. Must wait until tomorrow. Debray cannot escape.
• 1:13:25
  Speaker 1: He knows that I am watching June seventh, nineteen seventeen.
• 1:13:31
  Speaker 1: Only the colonel must hear my story, and this he
• 1:13:33
  Speaker 1: cannot do this morning because he is inspecting the trenches outside.
• 1:13:37
  Speaker 1: Thus does the traitorous Debray gain another day of grace.
• 1:13:41
  Speaker 1: But what matters this When he cannot escape, he watches
• 1:13:44
  Speaker 1: me in terror. The Germans are but five hundred meters away.
• 1:13:48
  Speaker 1: How much information Debray has already given them, I do
• 1:13:51
  Speaker 1: not know. I must stop. The bugles are blowing like mad.
• 1:13:56
  Speaker 1: There is an attack. Everybody running to positions. Major cal
• 1:14:00
  Speaker 1: And is shouting out my name and Debrays we are
• 1:14:02
  Speaker 1: to take charge of a detail and go down into
• 1:14:05
  Speaker 1: the flood vault. June seventh, nineteen seventeen. It is afternoon
• 1:14:11
  Speaker 1: and the attack continues. Debray lingered behind he knew I
• 1:14:16
  Speaker 1: could not stop to drag him with us. Ah. Had
• 1:14:19
  Speaker 1: I only known his scheme, we should have avoided imprisonment
• 1:14:22
  Speaker 1: in this dark vault. Debray followed and bolted down the
• 1:14:26
  Speaker 1: trap after the last man had gone through. We have
• 1:14:29
  Speaker 1: thrown the flood levers, and only to find them sawed
• 1:14:32
  Speaker 1: from their connecting rods below the vault, where we cannot
• 1:14:36
  Speaker 1: repair them. The machine is useless, the work of this traitor, Oh,
• 1:14:41
  Speaker 1: the assassin. He opened the trap a minute ago to
• 1:14:43
  Speaker 1: tell us to say our prayers, to shout that he
• 1:14:46
  Speaker 1: means to fire the magazine. He bolted down the trap
• 1:14:49
  Speaker 1: before any of us could reach him. The papers in
• 1:14:52
  Speaker 1: my belt they would incriminate him. June question mark, nineteen seventeen.
• 1:14:59
  Speaker 1: A terrible roule or a frightful shock. The whole fort
• 1:15:02
  Speaker 1: came tumbling down over our heads hours or days ago.
• 1:15:06
  Speaker 1: We are buried. All of the poor fellows are either
• 1:15:09
  Speaker 1: dead or wounded. I am covered with blood and can
• 1:15:12
  Speaker 1: hardly drag myself over the floor. Dying men are moaning
• 1:15:16
  Speaker 1: and crying for water. There are thousands of gallons of
• 1:15:19
  Speaker 1: it beneath us, and yet we cannot reach it. There
• 1:15:23
  Speaker 1: is no food. We are doomed to die like rats.
• 1:15:30
  Speaker 1: June questioned, Mark, nineteen seventeen. Debray traitor. May the curse
• 1:15:35
  Speaker 1: of dying men rest upon him. I am too weak
• 1:15:38
  Speaker 1: to move now, and writing is most painful. My matches
• 1:15:41
  Speaker 1: are giving out. I hope death comes quickly. Have given
• 1:15:45
  Speaker 1: up hope that we shall ever be found, either by
• 1:15:47
  Speaker 1: our own men or by the Germans. There is cannonading outside,
• 1:15:52
  Speaker 1: but here we can only feel a muffled jar. The
• 1:15:54
  Speaker 1: whole vault seems to tremble June questioned, Mark, nineteen seventeen.
• 1:16:00
  Speaker 1: Almost too weak to write, can only move my hand,
• 1:16:05
  Speaker 1: no matches, writing in darkness, too far gone to get
• 1:16:09
  Speaker 1: my prayer book under my shoulders. If I could only
• 1:16:13
  Speaker 1: see the sun shine again, God preserved my dear mother
• 1:16:19
  Speaker 1: and my sister. Here the messages ended. The last was
• 1:16:23
  Speaker 1: feebly scrawled, and little John deciphered it with much difficulty.
• 1:16:27
  Speaker 1: Death had evidently overtaken Geulechamin shortly after he replaced the
• 1:16:31
  Speaker 1: packet in his belt. The papers contained damning evidence against Debray.
• 1:16:37
  Speaker 1: One was a request from the enemy General von Mark
• 1:16:40
  Speaker 1: for additional information as to the fort's weakest points and
• 1:16:43
  Speaker 1: his betrayal. Yielded Fort Vaux into the enemy's hands an
• 1:16:48
  Speaker 1: hour after he had fired the magazine for the first time.
• 1:16:52
  Speaker 1: Messieurs said the colonel, the truth is known. Debray must
• 1:16:58
  Speaker 1: have recD the floodgate control days before he fired the magazine.
• 1:17:02
  Speaker 1: He would have blown up the magazine regardless of whether
• 1:17:05
  Speaker 1: Chamont had discovered his truchery as part of his bargain
• 1:17:08
  Speaker 1: to aid the enemy. As it was, he saw a
• 1:17:11
  Speaker 1: chance to carry out his plan and at the same
• 1:17:14
  Speaker 1: time destroy as he sought the evidence. I think you
• 1:17:18
  Speaker 1: will agree with me that this statement dead men tell
• 1:17:21
  Speaker 1: no tells is one of the most ridiculous ever coined.
• 1:17:26
  Speaker 1: The colonel reached swiftly for pen and ink and wrote
• 1:17:29
  Speaker 1: out a telegram. It was coded in Cypher's, known only
• 1:17:33
  Speaker 1: to the French army, but when translated, it called for
• 1:17:36
  Speaker 1: the arrest of Debray. My friends, said Papa Dupin to
• 1:17:42
  Speaker 1: the Americans you have Sir Francois. She owes you in
• 1:17:46
  Speaker 1: an infinite debt of gratitude that she can never repay.
• 1:17:49
  Speaker 1: But as long as IREVI you live, there is no
• 1:17:52
  Speaker 1: favor to crete to ask of the French military service,
• 1:17:55
  Speaker 1: which will ever be at your disposal. Won't you remain
• 1:17:59
  Speaker 1: a while longer as my guests, now that you have
• 1:18:02
  Speaker 1: cleared the name of jeu Chamant. The Americans thanked the colonel,
• 1:18:06
  Speaker 1: but explained that they must return to Paris without further delay.
• 1:18:11
  Speaker 1: The commandant shook his head disapprovingly, but embraced them both
• 1:18:14
  Speaker 1: as they left his office. Outside in the corridor, Cresson
• 1:18:18
  Speaker 1: experienced a feeling of relief over the prospect of leaving
• 1:18:21
  Speaker 1: behind this labyrinth of mystery and death. He shivered as
• 1:18:25
  Speaker 1: he took a long look in sight of the haunted chamber.
• 1:18:29
  Speaker 1: Our discoveries show us why there happened to be a
• 1:18:32
  Speaker 1: number of apparitions in this room, simultaneously, said Little John sagely.
• 1:18:37
  Speaker 1: The ante room in olden days must have been an
• 1:18:40
  Speaker 1: alter for devil worship for the strongest forces issued there.
• 1:18:44
  Speaker 1: That trap door leading to the tunnels must indeed hold
• 1:18:46
  Speaker 1: a dreadful history. There are hundreds of entities that still
• 1:18:50
  Speaker 1: rove the distant tunnels, but so far as Voe was concerned,
• 1:18:54
  Speaker 1: the malignant curse is gone. The fort was built over
• 1:18:56
  Speaker 1: ancient underground dungeons, where hundreds were put to torture for sorcery.
• 1:19:01
  Speaker 1: Up to a hundred years ago. Many were the curses
• 1:19:03
  Speaker 1: placed upon the whole region, and some, as you have
• 1:19:06
  Speaker 1: seen her, still active. Don't talk about it, doctor, pleaded
• 1:19:10
  Speaker 1: the younger man. I'm getting all unnerved. Let's get out
• 1:19:14
  Speaker 1: of these hills, Little John laughed, noticing Creston's expression of anxiety.
• 1:19:20
  Speaker 1: Do you know what day this is? Asked the scientist.
• 1:19:23
  Speaker 1: September seventh, of course, replied Cresson. He started suddenly. The
• 1:19:28
  Speaker 1: day Aldrey is to marry Debray. How could I have
• 1:19:31
  Speaker 1: forgotten it? He fairly groaned as he snatched his watch
• 1:19:34
  Speaker 1: from his pocket. Three o'clock, he exclaimed, dismally. And the
• 1:19:38
  Speaker 1: wedding is at seven. Oh. If I could get to
• 1:19:41
  Speaker 1: Paris in time. I can't even send her a telegram,
• 1:19:44
  Speaker 1: for it would be held up by the censers until
• 1:19:46
  Speaker 1: too late. You do love her, don't you, my boy,
• 1:19:50
  Speaker 1: asked little John, his eyes twinkling with humor and understanding.
• 1:19:55
  Speaker 1: Cresson started with astonishment as his eyes met those of
• 1:19:57
  Speaker 1: his friend. How did you know, doctor, he gasped, knew
• 1:20:03
  Speaker 1: it the day after you called in Paris, laughed little John.
• 1:20:06
  Speaker 1: You gave yourself away little things. You know. All my
• 1:20:09
  Speaker 1: life I've been an observer he walked away mysteriously, leaving
• 1:20:13
  Speaker 1: the Southerner in a state of dejection. Ten minutes later,
• 1:20:16
  Speaker 1: the scientist returned, rubbing his hands together briskly. Get ready
• 1:20:20
  Speaker 1: for a fast trip to Paris, he exclaimed, quick trip, why,
• 1:20:24
  Speaker 1: doctor how, asked the puzzled Southerner. Airplane, of course, Numskull,
• 1:20:29
  Speaker 1: answered little John waggishly. An automobile will call here for
• 1:20:32
  Speaker 1: you in ten minutes. Colonel du Penn has arranged everything.
• 1:20:35
  Speaker 1: A plane awaits you at Galienni Field. Two hours later,
• 1:20:40
  Speaker 1: Cresson was hastening to Madame Chammelt's home in the Latin Quarter.
• 1:20:43
  Speaker 1: He arrived just as the finishing touches were being made
• 1:20:46
  Speaker 1: to Audrey's bridal costume, ten minutes before going to the
• 1:20:49
  Speaker 1: church when the ceremony was to be performed. It was
• 1:20:53
  Speaker 1: most difficult for Cresson to break the news, and for
• 1:20:56
  Speaker 1: a full two minutes he could not respond to the
• 1:20:58
  Speaker 1: joyous greeting of the two women, but it was his duty,
• 1:21:01
  Speaker 1: and glossing over the most harrowing details of the story,
• 1:21:04
  Speaker 1: he told it from beginning to end. Madame Chammond exhibited
• 1:21:09
  Speaker 1: remarkable control, but Audrey, who was worn with the ordeal
• 1:21:12
  Speaker 1: of awaiting marriage with the man she despised was less
• 1:21:15
  Speaker 1: able to bear up. She swooned pale as death. As
• 1:21:18
  Speaker 1: Cresson concluded his narrative, she recovered consciousness in the Southerner's arms,
• 1:21:23
  Speaker 1: her violet eyes widening as he pillowed her head of
• 1:21:26
  Speaker 1: glorious gold on his arm, and one mad moment, Cresten
• 1:21:30
  Speaker 1: threw restraint to the winds and pressed his lips to
• 1:21:33
  Speaker 1: hers in a divine moment of bliss. Her arms stole
• 1:21:36
  Speaker 1: around his neck, and joy surged within him as he
• 1:21:38
  Speaker 1: felt his kisses being returned. It seemed as if the
• 1:21:42
  Speaker 1: world stood still to listen to the caroling of a
• 1:21:44
  Speaker 1: million joyous bird throats. Oh Aldrey, he breathed, I love you,
• 1:21:50
  Speaker 1: can't you see? My happiness is in your hands. My
• 1:21:53
  Speaker 1: future is yours. Be my wife, dear, come to America
• 1:21:56
  Speaker 1: with me, to Louisiana, where your mother and you will
• 1:21:59
  Speaker 1: know no sorrow again. Forget the past. Awaiting you is
• 1:22:03
  Speaker 1: the home of my forefathers. It is a great house.
• 1:22:06
  Speaker 1: It is cheerful, beautiful, RESTful. The trees in landscape will
• 1:22:09
  Speaker 1: ever remind you of La Belle France. Have you ever
• 1:22:13
  Speaker 1: heard of New Orleans? Its French Patois its quaintness and charm.
• 1:22:18
  Speaker 1: Say you will dear on condition, she replied, her eyes
• 1:22:23
  Speaker 1: shyly seeking his, that I shall spend six months of
• 1:22:27
  Speaker 1: every year in your beautiful Louisiana, as the other six
• 1:22:30
  Speaker 1: months in le Bert, France, always with you. You do
• 1:22:34
  Speaker 1: not know, myles, deal woman, what it means to be
• 1:22:36
  Speaker 1: a French woman to be exiled forever from her native land.
• 1:22:40
  Speaker 1: Such a fate would be unsinkable. She nestled in his arms. Agreed.
• 1:22:47
  Speaker 1: Creston shouted happily, that is a wonderful plain. He lost
• 1:22:51
  Speaker 1: no time in seeking Madame Chammand's consent, which she gave
• 1:22:54
  Speaker 1: with the mingled tears of her blessing. The evening seemed
• 1:22:58
  Speaker 1: to fly in the joyous little dinner in a cafe
• 1:23:00
  Speaker 1: nearby in honor of the event, seemed over in a flash.
• 1:23:04
  Speaker 1: In the small hours of the morning, Cresson danced forth
• 1:23:07
  Speaker 1: from the lift, seemingly on air. He came face to
• 1:23:11
  Speaker 1: face with doctor Littlejohn and the entrance. Why, doctor, exclaimed
• 1:23:16
  Speaker 1: the young man, how did you reach Paris so quickly?
• 1:23:20
  Speaker 1: His astonishment was apparent. Congratulations, son, said Little John, stretching
• 1:23:24
  Speaker 1: out his hand. You needn't tell me. I know I
• 1:23:27
  Speaker 1: followed you by a fast train, and here I am.
• 1:23:30
  Speaker 1: I owe everything to you, doctor, began Cresson, gratefully. You're
• 1:23:34
  Speaker 1: the greatest, finest. I will forget that, laughed little John.
• 1:23:38
  Speaker 1: It was an experience to gladden the heart of any
• 1:23:41
  Speaker 1: spook hunter in existence. And as the sailors say, you
• 1:23:44
  Speaker 1: may lay to that. His face grew grave. Have you heard,
• 1:23:50
  Speaker 1: he queried quietly about Debray. You mean, asked Cresson, Yes,
• 1:23:57
  Speaker 1: said the doctor. He was seized by gendarmes while dressing
• 1:24:01
  Speaker 1: for his wedding. He put up a furious struggle, and
• 1:24:04
  Speaker 1: for a time the officers had their hands full. He
• 1:24:08
  Speaker 1: was raging and defiant in the Polais de la Justice,
• 1:24:12
  Speaker 1: until confronted with the evidence. In the end, he signed
• 1:24:15
  Speaker 1: a lengthy confession. Debray feared death after Chamond's discovery of
• 1:24:20
  Speaker 1: his treachery. He waited for an opportunity to shoot the
• 1:24:23
  Speaker 1: young frenchman in the back, but this did not come.
• 1:24:26
  Speaker 1: He had already wrecked the floodgate machinery and had laid
• 1:24:30
  Speaker 1: wires to blow up the magazine, and his opportunity to
• 1:24:33
  Speaker 1: effect a double stroke came when Chamont and the thirty
• 1:24:36
  Speaker 1: three men were sent to the vault during the attack.
• 1:24:39
  Speaker 1: The death of Major Collen in the final rush of
• 1:24:41
  Speaker 1: the enemy left Debray in possession of the secret of
• 1:24:44
  Speaker 1: Chamont's whereabouts. None except the Alsatian knew that the ante
• 1:24:48
  Speaker 1: room passage existed, and he slipped there during a lull
• 1:24:52
  Speaker 1: to send part of the fort to destruction with his
• 1:24:55
  Speaker 1: blasting machine. He resumed his post. In the confusion that followed,
• 1:24:59
  Speaker 1: no one was the wiser save those buried beneath the wreckage.
• 1:25:03
  Speaker 1: Dying men alone knew that his act had cost them
• 1:25:06
  Speaker 1: their lives in France, its fortress. It was dramatic. Cresson
• 1:25:10
  Speaker 1: I reached the palaise just as Debray, coolly smoking a cigarette,
• 1:25:14
  Speaker 1: was addressing his captors messieurs. He said, after all, what
• 1:25:18
  Speaker 1: matters another victim to Madame Guillotine. The world goes on
• 1:25:22
  Speaker 1: as usual, does it not? My death leaves but one
• 1:25:24
  Speaker 1: more shade to curse it and the tunnels of Verdun.
• 1:25:27
  Speaker 1: Debray's hearers were all so dumbfounded by his cold blooded
• 1:25:30
  Speaker 1: confession that for a moment they relaxed vigilance. It was
• 1:25:34
  Speaker 1: the trader's opportunity before anyone could stay him the Alsatian
• 1:25:37
  Speaker 1: had snatched a pistol from the holster of a guard
• 1:25:39
  Speaker 1: and was springing to the center of the room. He
• 1:25:41
  Speaker 1: pressed the weapon's muzzle to his temple. The guards ran
• 1:25:44
  Speaker 1: forward in a confused mass, but too late, the pistol
• 1:25:47
  Speaker 1: cracked and Debray crashed the flags. Dead by his own hand.
• 1:25:51
  Speaker 1: Cresson shook his head slowly, but said nothing. Memories of
• 1:25:55
  Speaker 1: jeu Chamont trooped across his vision in a dim procession,
• 1:25:59
  Speaker 1: Memory of the vouges, memories of Verdun, Paris of wartime,
• 1:26:04
  Speaker 1: and Paris of to day. Doctor Little John, observing his silence, understood.
• 1:26:10
  Speaker 1: He pressed the younger man's arm and bade him good night.
• 1:26:14
  Speaker 1: Walking slowly toward his quarters, Cresson hurt far down the boulevard,
• 1:26:19
  Speaker 1: the cry of extras being vended by newsboys of the quarter.
• 1:26:25
  Speaker 1: End of Part eight. End of the Whispering Tunnels by
• 1:26:30
  Speaker 1: Stephen Backbee