Milford chronicle., 1905-03-24

Wtlbur thrust his foot sharply fOrl0drd.
smoke filed all the air. The cabin was
afre. The hatchet man with whom
| Wilbur was fighting had been backing
/ in this direction. He was close in
when the fire began to leap from the
one window. Now he could go no far
ther He turned to run sideways be-
tween his enemy and the burning cab
in. Wilbur thrust his foot sharply for
ward The beachcomber tripped, stag
gered, and before he had reached the
ground Wilbur had driven home the
knife.
Then suddenly, at the sight Of his
smitten enemy rolling on the ground at
his feet, the primitive man, the half
brute of the stone age, leaped to life in
Wilbur's breast. He felt his muscles
thrilling with a strength they had not
known before. His nerves, stretched
tense as harp strings, were vibrating to
new tune. His blood spun through
his veins till his ears roared with the
rush of it. Never had he conceived Of
such savage exultation as that which
mastered him at that instant. The
knowledge that he could kill filled him
with a sense of power that was verita-
bly, royal. He felt physically larger.
1t was the joy of battle, the hOrrid ex-
hilaratiOn of killing, the animal of the
race. the human brute suddenly aroused
and dominating every instinct and ira
dition of centuries of civilization. The
fight still was going forward.
Wilbur could hear the sounds Of it,
though from where he stood all sight
was shut of by the smoke Of the burn
ing house. As he turned about knife
IN hand, debating what next he should
do, a figure burst down upon him,
snadowy and distorted through the
haze.
1t was Moran, but Moran as Wilbur
had never seen her before. Her eyes
were blazing under her thick frown
like fire under a bush. Her arms were
barred to the elbow, her heavy ropes
of hair flying and coiling from her in
all directions. while with a voice hOarse
from shouting she sang, or, rather,
chanted in her long forgotten Morse
tongue, fragments Of old sagas, words
and sentences meaningless even to her
self. The fury of battle had exalted
her to a sort of frenzy. She was be-
side herself with excitement. Once
more she had lapsed back to the vi
kings and sea rovers of the tenth cen
fury: she was Brunehild again. shield
maiden. a Valkyrie. berserker and the
daughter-Of berserbers, and, like them,
she fought in verita1; frenzy. see
ing nothing. hearing nothing, every
sense exalted. every force doubled. in
sensible to pain, deaf to all reason.
Her dirk uplifted, she rushed upon
Wilbur, never once pausing in her
chant. Wilbur shouted a warning to
her as she came on, puzzled beyond
words, startled back to a consciousness |
of himself again by this insensate at
tack.
moran! MoranP' he called. what |
is it? You're wrongl It's Il It's viii
bur. your mattel Can't you see?"
Moran could not see. Blind to friend 1
or foe, as she was deaf to reason, she |
struck at him with all the strength OF
her arm. But there was no skill in her
fighting now. Wilbur dropped his own
knife and gripped her right wrist. She
closed with him upon the instant,
clutching at his throat with her one
free hand, and as he felt her strength,
doubled and tripled in the fury Of her
Wilbur knew that. however
easily he had overcome his enemy Of
a moment before, he was now lighting
for his very life.
At first Wilbur merely struggled to
keep her from him-tO prevent her
using her dirk. He tried not to hurt
her. But what with the spirits he had
drunk before the attack, what with the
excitement Of the attack itself and the
sudden unleashing Of the brute in him