Willmar tribune., 1902-11-26

ter than two. Get down. behind the
desk and keep out of sight,
"What for? Hadn't we better try
a back-alley bolt for it?''
mo. They have the place sur
rounded by this time. Do as I tell
you"
Griswold peeped cautiously behind
the window shade on the street side.
"They are going to rush the place
and smash the window or the door,
or both. 4 shall save them the trou-
BILE, if you will be good enough to do
as I tell you.''
The detective stepped behind the
high desk and Griswold unlocked and
opened the front door, flinging it
wide. When the thing was done, the
foremost rank of the rioters found
itself looking straight into the sight
less eye of the leveled Winchester.
What the man with the gun had to
say was said in the moment of sur
prised silence which ensued, and he
said it quietly, as one who has
weighed and measured all the pos
sible consequences.
"You needn't trouble to break in,
men; the door is open, as you see.
But I give you fair warning; you'll
have to kill me before you come in,
and I'll kill some of you first"
The answer to this was a fierce
yell of wrath and defiance, but Girls
void held his ground. Then there
was a rush surging up from those in
the rear, but those in the front
ranks held it back in Difference to the
one determined man in the doorway
the man and the leveled rife. And
so it went for what seemed to Grif-
fin an interminable lifetime; cries,
shouts, stones flung, shot now and
then from the outskirts of the
crowd; pandemonium let loose in the
mob; and fronting it all one man
with his wits about him, and stead
fast determination to do or die, or to
do and die, if need be, shining in the
cool eyes of him.
And in the end the one man got the
victory. For some soul-trying min
| uCOos q otO1C VI IllCAl ~ Ad y
been, he stood in the doorway in in
stant peril of his life, but he neither
flinched nor spoke again. How long
he could have kept the raging mob at
bay he was not to know, for in it's
own leisurely time the alarm spread
and help came from the town. A
squad of freshly sworn-in deputies
poured into the street, fought it's
way to the great gates and Joined
forces with the armed guard in the
yard, and so the rioters were slowly
pressed back and out of the street
and dispersed. Then, and not till
then, Griswold lowered his weapon
and spoke to the man whose life he
had saved.
1T is over for this time" he said.
eve can make circuit now and
reach the hotel without difficulty, /
Think
They went by a roundabout way,
and neither of them spoke again till
they stood beneath the portico of the
St. James. Then Griffin thrust out
his hand.
II owe you another-a good deal
bigger one, this time, Mr.. Griswold.' u
Griswold seemed not to see the out
stretched hand. do you? There shall
be no charge in my book, Mr.. Crit
in.''
cts all right for you to say that;
but happen to be q man like other
men, and keep set of books of my
own"
Griswold was still ignoring the
held-out hand. IF you think you
owe me anything, you can pay it in
an answer to a question. You are 4
detective, as those men said you
were?"
"Yes."
MAY I ask if you came here on &C
cout of this strike?''
''It wouldn't be past belief, would
it?"
mo. But il that case, who sent
you here?"
Griffin boggled at this, but said
finally: my chief"
"At whose solicitation? Not mine
or Raymer's am sure"
mo"
"Whose, then?'
'Perhaps there wasn't any request
from anybody. Some of us are usual
ly around when there is labor row
on hand.'
Griswold's lip curled in undisguiset
scorn. "Then the stories they tell OF
you and your fellow spoilers, are
true; that if you can't find case
you make one."
Griffin started back with an oatl
which was purely of astonishment.
"Good Lord! And you believed
what that fellow said--that was go
ing to fire the office? And on top o:
that you saved my life? By the lort
Harry, Mr.. Griswold! what are yo,
made of, anyway"
"Of poor clay-like other men
But didn't that fellow Buckmastel
tell the truth?"
"Good heavens, no! He laid tn,
fire himself; was in the very ac
when took fashlight snapshot O.
him and the whole gang. did it be
cause-well, because I thought +.
like to do you good turn. tried tt
save the camera in the tangle-up tina
followed, and that is how they cam'
to down me.'
Griswold grasped the hand whicl
', had not yet been wholly withdrawn
and wrung it heartily.
II did you very great injustice