Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1907-06-29

display, the presence OF the officers
had not interrupted the dance
Glenister drew his revolver. while
Into his eyes came the dancing glitter
that Helen had seen before. cold as
the CLINT Of winter sunlight.
No. not thatfo Gods sake!" she
shuddered. clasping his arm
4 must for your sake. or they'll find
you mere, and that's worse than. ruin.
I'll fight 1t out in the corridors 80 that
you can escape in the confusion. Wait
till the firing stops and the crowd.
gathers His hand was on the knob
when she tore 1t loose, whispering
hoarsely: 81
They'll kill you Wait! There's a
better way. Jump She dragged him
to the front of the box and pulled
aside the curtains. "It isn't high and
they won't see you till it's too late,
Then you can run through the crowd"
He grasped her idea, and. slipping
his weapon back into its holster, laid
hold Of the ledge before him and low.
cred himself down over the dancers.
He swung out unhesitatingly, and al.
most before ne had been observed had
dropped into their midst The gallery
was but twice the height of a mans
head from the floor, so he landed on
his feet and had drawn his Colts even
while the men at the stairs were
shouting at him to halt.
At the sight of the naked weapons
there was confusion, wherein the com
mands Of the deputies mingled with
the shrieks Of the women, the crash
Of overturned chairs, and the sound
of tramping feet, as the crowd divided
before Glenister and swept back
against the wall In the same ominous
way that crowd in the street mad
once divided on the morning of
Helen's arrival. The trombone player,
who had sunk low in his chair with
closed eyes, looked out suddenly at
the disturbance, and his alarm was
blown through the horn in startled
squawk. A large woman whimpered.
Don't shoot" and thrust ner palms
to her ears closing her eyes tightly.
Glenister covered the deputies, from
whose vicinity the by-standers surged
as though from the presence of lepers.
Hands up!" he cried, sharply, and
they frcze into motionless attitudes,
one poised on the lowest step of the
stairs, the other pace forward. Voor-
nees appeared at the head Of the
flight and rushed down "a few steps
only to come abruptly into range and
to assume like rightly, for the
young mans aim shifted to him.
IT have a warrant for you" the Of
f1cer cried his voice loud in the hush.
Keep 1t" said Glenister, showing
his teeth in smile in which there was
no mirth He backed diagonally across
the hall, his boot-heels clicking In the
silence. his eyes shifting rapidly up
and down the stairs where the danger
lay.
From her station Helen could see
the whole tableau, all but the men on
the stairs, where her, vision was cut
of. She saw the dance girls crouched
behind their partners or leaning far
out from the wall with parted lips, tho
men eager yet fearful, the bartender
with half-polished glass poised high.
Then quick movement across the
hall suddenly diverted her absorbed at
tention. She saw man rip aside the
drapery Of the box opposite and lean
SO far out that he seemed in peril Of
falling. He Undertook to sight weap.
on at Glenister, who was just passing
from his view. At her first glance
Helen gasped-her heart gave one
fierce lunge, and she cried out.
The distance across the pit was so
short that she saw his every line and
lineament clearly; 1t was the brother
she had sought these years and years,
Before she knew or could check 1t the
blood call leaped forth.
"Drury!" she cried, aloud, at which
he whipped his head about. while
amazement and some other emotion
she could not gauge spread slowly over
his features. For long moment he
stared at her without movement or
sign while the drama beneath went on,
then he drew back into his retreat
with the dazed look of one doubling
his senses, yet fearful Of putting them
to the test. For her part, she saw
nothing except her brother vanishing
slowly into the shadows as though
stricken at her glance, the curtains
closing before his livid face-and then
pendemonium broke loose at her feet.
Glenister, holding his enemies al
bay, had retreated to the double doors
leading to the theater His coup had
been executed SO quickly and with
such lack of turmoil that the throng
outside knew nothing of it till they
saw a man walk backward through the
door. AS he did so he reached forth
and slammed the wide wings shut be-
fore his face, then turned and dashed
into the press. Inside the dance hail
loud sounds arose as the officers clat-
tered down the stairs and made after
their quarry They tore the barrier
apart in time to see. far down the sa-
loon, an eddying swirl as though some
great fish were lashing through the
lily-pads of a pond and then the swing.
ing doors closed behind Glenister.
Helen made her way from the the.
alter as she hae come, unobserved and
unobserving, but she walked in a
dream. Emotions had chased each 9th.
er too closely tonight to be distinguish.
able, SO she went mechanically
through the narrow alley to Front
street and thence to her home
Glenister, meanwhile, had been swal-
lowed up by the darkness the night