Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1902-04-22
The Hand Of Ice
TRANSCRIBED BY FLORENCE WARDEN,
Author OF The House the
by the Shore IA Prince of Darkness"
TRANSCRIBED BY FLORENCE WAR;
copyrighted, lsoo. b. Florence w.rd.a.,

first awful moment l thought was
again in the power of the mysterious
assailant had followed and shot.
Then quite suddenly surprised
them by sitting up.
81 hit him." cried /. 1--WE can find
out who did it, in the morning, by
finding out the man who has bullet
wound in him!"
who did what?' said the ships
doctor.
"Who it was came into my cabin,
seized me by the throat and tried to
strangle me-" cried I.
"strangle you, eh?" echoed the doc
tor, not, I thought, as if he gave
much credence to my sensational
complaint.
And the two doctors exchanged q
look which suddenly maddened me,
SO conclusive was it of the fact that
they looked upon my narration as q
simple fiction.
OF course the occurrences I had
just gone through had made me
frightfully irritable; l flew into q
passion, shook my fist at them both,
and told them that it would have
been more to their credit to find out
the man had shot than to sit there
laughing at me.
I'VE are not laughing at you, in
Decd" said DR.. Mullion, in the gem
tlest, softest voice in the world, q
voice which soothed my irritable
nerves and made me ashamed Of my
self. IF it worries you to see us
here, We'll go away. We leave you
in the best possible hands," Then
rising from the seat on which he had
been sitting, he nodded kindly Good
night" and signed to the other doc
tor to follow him out of the cabin.
Ashamed of my own petulance, and
anxious to excuse myself in the eyes
OF the remaining doctor, who had
just offered me something in glass,
I said, as took the proffered tum-
bier:
I'm sorry I spoke like that, doc
tor; and / hope I haven't offended
either of them. But it's rather hard
to have you all treating what say
as idle words, after what I've gone
through"
did we treat 1t as idle words ?"
said the doctor, who was much
drier and less genial person than old
Mullion.
'You were all talking as il you didn't
believe it," answered, conclusively,
beginning to think thatsI had per-
haps mingled my own remembran-
ces with what was actually taking
place around me.
I'VE didn't say much and DIR. Null
lion didn't say anything" returned
the ships doctor, shortly. HE just
sat there while Brown and l ex-
changed half dozen words about
your case. can't see what any OF
us have done that you should take Of.
Tense at"
And then became dimly conscious
that what had really excited my an
ger was not the presence Of DIR. Null
lion, but my own conviction, that it
was his nephew who had been guilty
OF the outrage upon me.
But although felt convinced OF
this, knew, even in the feeble state
to which I was reduced by the horror
OF what I had gone through, that
had no grounds to go upon definite
enough to bring an accusation against
him. could neither give reason why
young Mulion should have made what
looked like murderous attack upon
me, nor could I pretend that I had rec.
ognized either his person OF his voice.
II I were ever able to bring the out
rage home to him, knew that had
q good deal to do first. In the mean,
time all I could do was to give the
doctor an exact account Of what had
happened, and to know, to my bitter
annoyance. that he did not believe {
word of 1t.
However, I knew that had shot The
man, and believed from his cry that
I had wounded him seriously.
With this knowledge in my mind, my
feelings may be imagined when, OF
the following morning, found tina,
Dick Mullion, for the first time, did no,
come down to breakfast.