Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1906-01-20
CHAPTER XNIlI.
REVENGE is NINE; l WILL RI

AZ is-NbH] 10 hINfs, / W ILL hEI l.
Cant l have a light?" said Philip,
with head screwed round to ascertain if
the doctor were following him.
Some sense, whether of sight or hear
ing he knew not, warned him of move
ment near at hand, an impalpable effort,
Il physical tension as of man laboring
under extreme but rcpressed excitement.
He paid little heed to it. All the SUR
roundings in this weird dwelling were so
greatly at variance with his anticipations
that he partly expected to find further
surprises.
DR.. Williams did not answer. Philip
advanced hating foot, a hesitating
hand CROPPING for door.
Instantly stout rope fell over his
shoulders, a moose was tightly drawn,
and he was jerked violently to the stone
floor of the passage. He fell prone on his
face, hurting his nose and mouth The
shock Jared him greatly, but his hands,
if not his arms, were free, and, with the
instinct of self preservation that replaces
all other sensations in moments of ex-
IRENE peril, he strove yaliantly to rise.
But he was grasped by the neck with
brutal force, and some one knelt on his
back
philip Arson" Kissed mans voice,
do you remember Jocky Mason?"
SO he had fallen into a trap. cunninglv
prepared by what iiendish combination of
fact and artifce he had yet to learn.
JOcky Mason, the skulking criminal of
Johnson's News. Was he in that mans
power?
Under such conditions man thinks
quickly. Philips first ordered thought
was one of relief. He had fallen into
the clutches of an English brigand Money
would settle this difficulty, if all other
means failed.
Yes, yes he gurgled. half strangled
by the fierce pressure on his throat.
you hit me once from behind. You
can't complain if / do the same You
sent me to a living hell for ten years
not your fault that it wasn't forever.
Lie still! Not all your money can save
you now. / am Judge and jury, and hell
itself You are dying dying dead!"
And with the final words drawled into
his ears with bitter intensity, Philip felt
a terrible blow descend on his head.
There was no pain, no fear, no poignant
emotion at leaving all the world held SO
dear to him. There was an awful shock.
A thunder cloud seemed to burst in his
brain, and he sank into the void without
a groan
Now, in falling. the hard. felt hat he
wore dropped i'll front of his face The
first wild movement of his head tilted il
outward, but the savage Jerk given bv
his assailant brought the rim slightly
over his skull again
In the almost complete darkness of the
passage, Mason could not see the slight
protection this afforded to his victim, and
the sledge hammer blow he delivered with
life preserver-that murderous imple-
ment named so utterly at variance with
its purpose-did not reveal the presence
of an obstacle.
He struck with force that would have
stunned an OK; it must have killed any
man, be he the hardest skulled aborigine
that ever breathed. But the stout rim
of the hat, though crushed like an egg
shell, took off some Of the leaden in
strument's tremendous impact. Philip,
though quite insensible, was not dead.
His sentient faculties we're annihilated
for the time, but his heart continued its
life giving functions, and he breathed
with imperceptible futterings.
Mason rose, painting with excitement
glutted with satisfied hate. He lifted his
victims inert form with the ease of his
great strength.
TO BE CONTINUED.