Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1908-01-07
BY REX e. BEACH.

PuSSOhdteiy. warned MN because
you would have sacrificed him after he
had saved our lives. That is all He
Is an honest man, and am grateful to
him. That is the only foundation for
your insult
Mcnamara, with apparent candor,
broke In:
You thought you were doing right,
Of course, but Your action will have
terrible consequences. Now We'll have
riot, bloodshed and heaven knows
what. 1t was to save all this that |
wanted to break up their organization
A weeks Imprisonment would have
done 1t, but now they're armed and
belligerent, and we'll have battle to.
night"
mo, no!' she cried. "There mustn't
be any Violence"
There is no use trying to check
them. They are rushing to their own
destruction. have learned that they
plan to attack the Midas tonight, and
I'll have fifty soldiers waiting for them
there. 1t is shame, for they are de
cent fellows blinded by ignorance and
misled by that young miner. This will
be the blackest night the north has
ever SEEN"
With this Mcnamara left the house
and went In search Of Voorhees,, re-
marking to himself: Nov, Miss Helen,
send your warning-the sooner the bet
ter. If know those vigllantes, 1t will
ret them crazy, and yet not crazy
enough to attack the Midas. They will
strike for me. and when they hit my
poor unguarded Office they'll think hell
has moved north"
"Mr. Marshal" said he to his tool,
II want you to gather forty men quiet
" and to arm them with Winchesters.
They must be fellows who won't faint
at blood. You know the kind. Assem-
BILE them at my Office after dark, one
at time, by the back way 1t must
be done with absolute secrecy. Now,
see II you can do this one thing and
not get balled up. II you fail, I'll
make you answer to me-"
Why don't you get the troopsT'
veptured Voorhees,.
"If there's one thing wnnt to avoid,
it's soldiers, either here or at the
mines. When they step in, we step
out, and I'm not ready for that Just
yet" The receiver smiled sinisterly.
Helen meanwhile had fed to her
room and there received Glenister's
note through Cherry NIalotte's mes
senger. 1t rekindled her worst fears
and bore out McNamara's prophecy.
The more she read Of 1t the more
certain she grew that the crisis was
only question Of hours and that with
darkness tragedy would walk the
streets OF Nome. The thought Of the
wrong already done was lost in the
lonely girls terror of the crime about
to happen. for 1t seemed to her she had
been the instrument to set these forces
In motion. that she had loosed this
swift speeding avalanche of greed.
hatred and brutality. And when the
crash should come-the girl shuddered.
It must not be, She would Shrek a
warning from the housetops even at
cost Of her uncle, of Mcnamara and Of
herself. And vet she had no proof that
crime existed. Although 1t all lay
clear In her own mind, the certainty
OF 1t arose only from her intuition.
II only she were able to take hand
If only she We're not q woman. Then
Cherry Malotte's words anent Strive
required to her, "a bottle Of wine and
a woman's face" They brought back
the lawyers assurance that those doc
uments she had safeguarded all
through the long springtime Journey
really contained the proof. II they
did, then they held the power to check
this impending conflict. Her uncle
and the boss would not dare continue
II threatened with exposure and prose-
cution. The. more she thought of it
the more urgent seemed the necessity,
to prevent the kattle Of tonight. There
was a chance here at least, and the
only one.
Adding to her mental torment was
the constant vision of that face in the
curtains at the Northern. 1t was her
brother, yet what mystery shrouded
this affair also? What kept him from
her? What caused him to stink away
like thief discovered? She grew
dizzy and hysterical
Strive turned in his chair as the
door to his private office opened, then
leaped to his feet ut sight of the gray
eyed girl standing there.
II came for the papers," she said.
II knew you would" The blood went
out Of his cheeks, then surged back up
to his eyes. Its bargain then?''
She nodded. "Give them to me first"
He laughed unpleAsantly, "What do
you take me for? I'll keep my part of
the bargain If you'll keep yours. But
this Is no place, nor time. There's
riot in the air, and I'm busy preparing
for tonight. Come back tomorrow
when it's all over"
But 1t was the terror OF tonight's do
ings that led her into his power.
"I'll never come back, she said. at
Is my within to know today-yes, at
once"
He meditated for time. Then to-
day 1t shall be. I'll shirk the fight,
I'll sacrifice what shreds of duty have
chung to me, because the fever for
you Is in my bones, and 1t seems to me
I'd do murder for 1t. That's the kind
Of man am, and have no pride In
myself because Of 1t. But I've always
been that way, Well ride to the Sign
Of the Sled. It's romahtio little road
house ten miles from here, perched
high above the Snake river trail. Well
take dinner there together
But the papers ~
''I'll have them with me. Wen start
In an hour"