The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1908-09-18

Hudson instantly recognized Vickers.
"'Oh you're an editor now, you sand
toad, are your was Hudson's greet
ing as he stopped in the middle Of
the room with his right hand on his
starboard gun. so you're the Tue
son mule whacking shrimp that writ
this thing about me, hey?'
"vickers pretended to look scared
almost to death. He placed his pipe
on the desk with hand that seemed
to shake with palsy Of fear. Then
he began to stammer inconsequential
things. Vickers' acting in the tight
pinches was what helped to get him
out of these messes.
None O. that damned whimper-
ing!' bawled Hudson, taking a few
steps closer to where Vickers sat
trembling realistically, and at the
same time whipping out his right
hand gun.
"Vickers burst into wrenching sobs,
the sobs of cofnered man with the
fear Of sudden death upon him. He
had figured up the effect that sort
of thing would have on Hudson, and
his dope was correct.
Hudson enjoyed his sobs keenly.
The bad man meant to kill Vickers,
but he extracted so much enjoyment
out Of the spectacle afforded by Wick
ers' apparent anguish that he was will
ing to protract the misery of the I'M
dersized man.
'Vickers, his face drawn into an
expression of agony, rocked back and
forth in his chair, letting out the dry
tearing sobs that seemed to rend him
apart, while Hudson, his gun in his
hand, stood regarding him gloatingly.
'Fraid O. tn blazin' thunder
you're goin' to, hey?' he said croaking-
to Vickers. 'Curlin' up, hey, at the
thought of '
"That's as far as he got Forgetful
of Vickers' record as a quick thinker
and looking upon the small man rock
ing back in the chair as prey almost
too easy, Hudson kept edging toward
Vickers, probably with the idea OF
shaping him with his open palm or
splitting in his face-Hudson had
trick of splitting in the faces OF tend
erfeet-before shooting him.
But he got too close. Vickers
reached out with a cat grab of both
hands and grabbed hold Of Hudson's
right arm between the wrist and the
elbow Jerking the bad mans arm to
his mouth, Vickers fixed his teeth in
Hudson's wrist and bit clean through
the bone and then kept right on
gnaWing.
"The pain of it caused Hudson to
relax his hold on the gun which he
had in his right hand, and the shoot
ing tool dropped into Vickers' waste
paper basket. Hudson was hammering
Vickers on the back of the head with
his huge left fist to make Jack let go
with his teeth.
But the instant Vickers saw the
gun drop he reached with his right
hand into the basket and picked 1t
out, never letting goshis VOLTS clutch
on Hudson's wrist with his teeth. The
gun safely in his right hand, though,
he suddenly let go the teeth hold and
jumped to his feet with such force
that the top of his head caught Hud-
SON under the extended chin, and as
the braggart's tongue was lolling part
of the way out of his mouth at that
instant he bit his tongue almost in
two.
This caused him such agony and
stunned him so that Vickers had time
to wheel around and face the big one.
Then, hauling back to get all the lev
erage possible, Vickers banged Hud-
son over the forehead with the gun,
and the power of an entire lifetime OF
clean living was behind those wal
lops with the bad mans gun.
Hudson dazed, only half conscious,
went to the floor like a log. Vickers
put the gun on the table, pulled the
other gum from Hudson's belt and
placed that on the table too, and then
leaning over he caught hold of Hudson
by the two hands and dragged MIN
to the door, which was still open. Hud-
son wriggled, but he was too far gone
to put up any resistance.
"Yanking him to sort Of sitting
posture, Vickers gave the bad man a
kick and Hudson's huge carcass
rolled down the rickety stairs to the
landing below, right alongside the
pavement. The bumps he got going
down sort of reused Hudson, and
when he reached the bottom he sat
up and put his hand to his mouth. A
number of passersby, stopped and
looked at Hudson.
THE bad one had hardly reached
the bottom before Vickers was down
A.s-. ekopdguoy clon0cfd of him