Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1907-10-19
The Spoilers.
By REX E. BEACH.
:: copyrisht. 1905. E.
By REX E. BEACH.

Judged he had been gone from bis COM
panions at least m hour and that they
must be in place by now. If they were
Motif anything failed at this eleventh
hour-well, those were the fortunes Of
war. In every enterprise, however
carefully planned, there comes time
when chance must take its turn.
He made his way inside the black
smith shop and furnbled for match.
Just as he was about to strike 1t he
heard the swish of oiled clothes pass
ing and waited for some time. Then,
igniting his punk and hiding it under
his coat, he opened the door to listen.
The wind had died down now, and the
rain sang unsteady upon the metal
roofs.
He ran swiftly from house to house,
and, when he had done, at the apices
Of the triangle he had traced three
glowing Goals were suffering
The final bolt was launched at last.
He stepped down into the ditch and
drew his 40. while to his tautened
senses 1t seemed that the very hills
leaned forth In breathless pause. that
the rain had ceased and the whole
night hushed it's thousand voices. He
found his lower jaw set so stiff1y that
the muscles ached. Leyeling his wea-
pom at the caves Of the bunk house, he
pulled trigger rapidly. the bang, bang.
bang, six times repeated, sounding dull
and dead beneath the blanket of mist
that overhung. A shout sounded be-
hind him, and then the shrek of
Winchester ball close over his head.
He turned in time to see another shot
stream out of the darkness, where a
sentry was firing at the fash of his
gun, then bent himself double and
plunged down the ditch.
With the first impact overhead the
men poured forth from their quarters
armed and bristling, to be greeted by
a volley Of gunshots, the thud of bull
lets and the dwindling whine Of spent
lead. They leaped from shelter to
find themselves girt with fitful hoop
of fire, for the strangers" had spread
in the arc Of circle and now emptied
their rifles toward the center. The
defenders, however, maintained sur
prising order considering the sudden
ness Of their attack and ran to join
the sentries whose positions could be
determined by the nearer flashes. The
voice of man in authority shouted
loud commands. No demonstration
came from the outer voids, nothing
but the wicked streaks that stabbed
the darkness. Then suddenly behind
McNamara's men the night glared
luridly as though great furnace door
while with 1t came a hoarse thuddfng
roar that silenced the rife play They
saw the cook house disrupt itself and
disintegrate into thousand flying
timbers and twisted sheets of tin
which scared upward and outward
over their heads and into the night.
AS the rocking hills ceased echoing
the sound Of the vigilantes' rifles re-
Cured like the cracking Of dry sticks,
then everywhere about the defenders
the earth was dashed by falling debris,
while the iron roof rang at the fusil-
ade.
The blast had come at their very ell
bows, and they were too daZed and
shaken by it to grasp its significance.
Then, before they could realize what
it BODIED, the depths lit up again till
the raindrops were outlined distinct
and glistening like a gossamer veil OF
silver. while the Office building to
their left was ripped and rended and
the adjoining walls leaped out into
sudden relief, their shattered windows
looking like ghostly. sightless eyes.
The curtain of darkness closed heavier
than velvet, and the men covered in
their tracks, shielding themselves be-
hind the nearest objects or behind
one another's bodies, waiting for the
sky to vomit over them it's rain of mis-
siles Their backs were to the vigil
lantes now. their faces to the center.
Many had dropped their rifles. The
thunder of hoofs and the scream Of
terrified horses came from the sta
bles. The cry Of a maddened beast Is
weird and calculated to curdle the
blood at best but with it arose hui
man voice, shrieking from pain and
fear Of death.
A wrenched and doubled mass of zinc
bad hurtled out of the heavens and
struck some one down. The choking
hoarseness Of the mans appeal told
the story, and those about him broke
into flight to escape what might fol-
low, to escape this danger they could
not see but which swooped out of the
blackness above and against which
there was no defense. They fed only
to witness another and greater light
behind them by which they saw them
selves running, falling. groveling.
This time they were hurled from their
balance by conclusion which
dwarfed the two preceding ones. Some
few stood still, staring at the rolling
smoke bank as it was revealed by the
explosion, their eyes cleaning white,
while others buried their faces in their
followed arms as if to shut out the
hellish glare, or to shield themselves
from blow.
Out in the heart Of the chaos rang
voice loud and clear:
Beware the next BLAST
AT the same instant the girdle of
sharpshooters rose up shifting the air
with their cries and charged in like
madmen through the rain Of detritus
yT,,,o,. G,..l n, +bop oaYpa huf if V4S