Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-01-06

my God, can't stand this much longer"
Sartoris moaned. will that fellow never
come! Or has he failed to understand my
instructions? My brain is blazing. Help,
help
Bennington strobe into the room, reso-
lutely but softly. The little yellow man
who was administering the torture seemed
to have his whole heart in his work. he
graduated the torture to a nicely. He
seemed to understand exactly how much
the victim could stand without losing life
and reason altogether. He was like a doc
tor with an interesting patient.
Il think you will tell me where to find
what we desire?" he said smoothly.
and then we can depart and trouble the
gentleman no more" said the other man,
who was looking as coolly as If at some
landscape. why put us to all this trou
ble?"
I'll tell you." sartoris moaned. IF you
will look in the God be praised!'
The last words came with yell, for the
startled eyes had caught sight of Berring
ton standing grimly in the background. The
latter's left hand shot out and the Burmese
who held the penknife in the cord staggered
across the room from the force Of blow
on the temple which, had 1t taken full eff
feet, would have felled him like an OK.
Before he could recover from the full i'm
pact Of the blow, Bennington was on the
other man. Then the two closed on him as
he backed to the wall and raised his re-
volver.
You see that I am too many for you,"
ne SAID. Put down those Knives.
For two long cutting knives were gleam-
ing in the light of the electrics. Nothing
daunted, the pair made a rush at Berring-
ton, who fired right and left. He had no
intention that the shots should be fatal,
but they both took effect, one In the Shout
der and the other in the arm. When the
smoke cleared away Bennington and Sar-
toris were alone. cold stream of air
pouring into the room testified to the fact
that the front door had not been closed by
the miscreants in their escape. Bennington
cut the cord around the victims head and
bathed his forehead with water A little
brandy seemed to effect something in the
way of a cure.
My God. that was awful, awful" Sar-
toris moaned. "a second more and / should
have died. Would you mind shutting the
front door? The cold air makes feel
like death That's better. 1 dare say you
wonder what those fellows were doing
here?"
There was just a touch of slyness in the
question. Bennington smiled to himself.
He wondered what Sartoris would say if he
only knew how much the listener had over
heard.
Il suppose your sins are finding you out"
he said. They generally do Personally L
have no curiosity on the subject at all.
And l have not the slightest doubt that
your punishment, though pretty severe, was
at the same time well deserved. And now
sir, as fate has given me the whip hand of
you, have you any reason to urge why
should stay in this house any longer?
take it that you are not quite in a position
to place your electric battery at work from
this room as you did from the other. If
you like to
Bennington paused, as there was a loud
knocking at the door. Sartoris pale face
grew still paler he listened. Then he
forced smile to his pallid lips.
Don't take any heed" he said eagerly.
Let them go away again under the impress
sion that nobody is at the house. Let them
knock all night if they like
IJ1,r n, ,J,- I,
the door
(To be continued tomorrow