The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1908-02-14
lContlnued from last week.

Gradually the older mans face was
beaten into shapeless mass by the
others cunning blows, while Clients
ters every bone was wrenched and
twisted under his enemy's terrible on
slaughts. The miners chief effort, it is
true, was to keep his feet and to break
the mans embraces. Never had he en-
c0untered one whom he could not beat
by sheer strength till he met this great,
snarling creature who worried him
hither and yon as though he were q
child. Time and again Roy beat upon
the mans face with the blows of a
sledge. No rules governed this solitary
combat; the men were deaf TO all but
the roaring in their ears, blinded to all
but hate, insensible to everything but
the blood mania. Their trampling feet
caused the building to rumble and
shake as though some monster were
running amuck.
Meanwhile bareheaded man rushed
out of the store beneath, humping into
a pedestrian who had paused on the
sidewalk, and together they scurried
up the stairs. The dory which Roy
had seen at sea had shot the breakers,
9nd now its three passengers were
tracking through the wet sand toward
Front street, Bill Wheaton in the lead.
He was followed by two rawboned
men who travelled without baggage.
The city was awakening with the sun
which reared copper rim out of the
sea. Judge Stillman and Voorhees,
came down from the hotel and paused
to gaze through the mists at caravan
Of mule teams which trotted into the
other end of the street with jingle and
clank. The wagons were blue with
soldiers, the early golden rays slant
ing from their Krags, and. they were
bound for the Midas.
Out Of the fogs which clung so
thickly to the tundra there came two
other horses. distorted and unreal, on
one a girl, on the other a figure of
pain and tragedy, grotesque creature
that swayed stiffly to the motion of its
steed, its face writhed into lines Of
suffering, its hands clutching cantle
and horn.
1t was as though fate, with invisible
touch, were setting her stage for the
last act Of this play, assembling the
principals close to the golden sands
where first they had made entrance.
The man and the girl came face to
face with the judge and marshal, who
cried out upon seeing them, but as
they reined in, out from the stairs be-
side them q man shot amid clatter and
uproar.
"Give me q hand-quickv' he shouted
to them.
whats up?" inquired the marshal.
"It's murder! Mcnamara and Glen
isterv' He dashed back up the steps
behind Voorhees,, the judge following,
while muffled cries came from above.
The gambler turned toward the three
men who were hurrying from the
beach and, recognizing Wheaton,
called to him: Unite my feet! Cut
the ropes! Quick?'
whats the trouble?" the lawyer
asked, but on hearing Glenister's name
bounded after the Judge leaving one
Of his companions to free the rider
They could hear the fight now and all
crowded toward the door, Helen with
her brother, in spite of his warning to
stay behind
She never remembered how she
climbed those stairs, for she was borne
along by that hypnotic power which
drags one to behold q catastrophe in
spite of his will. Reaching the room,
she stood appalled,; for the group she
had joined watched two raging things
that rushed at each other with in
human cries, ragged, bleeding, fighting
breakable thing had been ground to
splinters as though by iron slugs in
whirling cylinder.
To this day, from Dawson to the
straits, from Unga to. the arctics,. men
tell of the combat wherever they fore
gather at fiaring campfres or in dingy
bunkhouses, and, although some scout
the tale, there are others who saw it
and can swear to its truth. These say
that the encounter was like the battle
of bull moose in the rutting season,
though more terrible, averring that
two men like these had never been
known In the land since the days Of
Vitus Boring and his crew; for their
rancor had swollen till at feel of each
others flesh they ran mad and felt
superhuman strength. 1t is true, at
any rate, that neither was conscious
Of the filling room, nor the cries Of the
crowd, even when the marshal forced
himself through the wedged door and
fell upon the nearest, which was Glen
lister. He came at an instant when the
two had paused at arms length. glar-
ing with rage drunken eyes, gasping
the labored breath back into their
lungs.
With fling of his long arms the
young man hurled the intruder aside
30 violently that his head struck the
iron safe and he collapsed insensible.
Then without apparent notice Of the
interruption, the fight went on. 1t was
seen during this respite that McNa-
mara's mouth was running water ms
though he were deathly sick. while
every reich brought forth a groan.
Helen heard herself crying, stop
themf Stop themr, Ruf no one seemed