Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1902-08-22

IN g crouching p94Aation. as
II hesa#sweEe preparing for @. spring.
On hlsaring Sur stepsholMsiever, he
turned his stghtless face towards us.
It waaS Hayle,. however. who seemed
.mlostssuirprised: He stared at. me
as il. I were q man returned from the
dead. - -
Put up that revolver, ,Codd." I
cried. "And you;c Kitwater, drop
that knife. Hayle.. my man. it's all
up. The game is over, SO you may as
well give in"
Leglosse was about. to advance
upon him, warrant in one hand and
manacles in the other.
~"What does. this mean?" cried
Hayle.
His voice located him, and before
we'could either of us stop him, KIT
water had sprung forward and
clutched him in his arms. OF what
followed next L scarcely like to
think, even now In cannoning with
Hayle he had dropped his knife, and
now the two stood while a man
could have counted three. locked to-
gether in deadly embrace. Then en-
sued such a struggle as I hope I shall
never see again, while we others
stood looking on as if we were bound
hand and foot. The whole affair
could not have lasted more than a
few moments, and yet it seemed like
an eternity. Kitwater, with the
e%no~~&h ~ -o~lr,~- 1-l ->:-ol
Hayle round the waist with one arm.
while his right hand was c%lutch;ng
at the others throat. I saw that
the veins were standing out upon
Hayle's forehead like black cords.
Do what he could, he could not shake
off the man he had so cruelty
wronged. They swayed to and fro,
and in one of their lurches struck
the window, which flew open and
threw them into the balcony outside.
Codd and the Sicilian police official
gave loud cries, but as for me I could
not have uttered a sound had my
life depended On it. Hayle must have
realized his terrible position. for
there was a look Of abject, hopeless
terror upon his face. The blind man,
of course, could e nothing of his
danger. His one desire was to be re-
venged upon his enemy. Closer and
closer they came to the frail rail-
ing. Once they missed it, and stag
gered a. foot away from it, Then
they@came back to it. again. and
lurched against it. The Woodwork
snapped. and the two men fell over
the edge on to the sloping bank be-
low. Still locked together, they
rolled over and~over, down the de-
elivfty towards the edge of the cliff.
A great cry from Hayle reachedz:ouh
ears A moment later they had dis
appeared into the abyss, while we
stood staring straight before. us, too
terrified to speak or move.
Leglosse was the first to find his
voice. *.
my God!" he said, chow terrible!,
how terrible!"
Then little Codd sank down, and,
placing his head upon his hands on
the table. sobbed like a little child.
What is to be done?" / asked. in .
Mortified whisper.
go down to the rocks and search
for Them" said the Sicilian officer,
shut, I doubt if we shall be able to
fpd them; the: sea is very deep off this
point"
We went. Kitwater's body was dis
covered, terribly mutilated, upon the
rocks. Hayle's remains were lever
found. Whether he fell into the deep
water and was washed out to sea, or
whether his body was TANNED between
the rocks under the water, no one
would vel be able to say. It was
gone, and with it all that were left
q: the stones that had occasioned their
misery. - :
4.Codd did not accompany us. ID the
search, and when we returned to the
villa above he was not to be found.
Never since the moment when we left
him sobbing at the table have I set
eyes on him, and now, I suppose, in
all human probability I never shall.
Later on we returned to Palermo,to
break the. news to Miss Kitwater.
Shocked though she was, she received
the tidings with greater calmness
than I had expected she would do.
Perhaps, after all, she felt that it was
better that it should have ended TO-. !.
Three years have elapsed since we
paid that terrible visit to Palermo.
It may surprise you, or it may. not,
when I say that I am nov a married
man, Margaret Kitwater having con-
scented to become my wife two years
ago next month. The only stipula-
tfon she made when she gave her de-
cision was that upon my marriage /
should retire from the profession In
which I had so long been engaged. AS
Ihad done sufficiently well at it towar-
rant such q step, I consented to do SO,
and now I lead. the life Of a.country
gentleman. Il may interest some peo-
pie to know that q ceztain sday-dream.
once thought improbable. has come
true. inasmuch as a considerable por-
ton of my time is spent in. the little
conservatorywhich. asIhave said else
where. leads out of the drawing-room.