The Winslow mail., 1909-12-04

BOARD Ill the floor creaAed ana The Inui
! LED noise of the saw suddenly ceased.
Ehe lineman held his breath. A misty
uhd OF darkness filled The room. The
HoonE radiance being reflected dimly
from the opposite wall of the alley. An
instant later he saw the door of the
closet pushed open and the outline of
human form rising in the opening
TO the burglar the dim and i'm
movable figure in the middle of the
room must have seemed frightful Had
Prlndle not spoken it is possible the
robDer would have fallen on his knees
thinking he was confronted by spirit
but when Prindle said quietly. though
with distinguishable tremor of ex-
| cltement: Throw up your hands. mis-
ter, or I'll fire. sudden fury of en-
ergy moved the man He came across
1he room in one long leap and struck
against Prindle like a bolt The line
man went against the wall with a
thud and the pistol struck the ceiling
| and exploded. The burglar whirled
round and disappeared through an in
ner door leading into the passage
way.
Prindle hastily felt about the floor
for the revolver, but the weapon not
| meeting his hand at once he rushed
after the burglar His blood was on
fire with anger. Listening an instant
he heard feet flying up the stairs above
him. Apparently the rohher bad
planned to escape TO the roof and
slide down a rain pipe into the dark
alley al the rear.
Prindle sprsng up through the roof
hatch as the man crossed the almost
fiat roof toward the rear, and caught
him as he reached the low rarapet
wall at the roofs edge.
The robber was of larger and heav
Ter mold than the lineman, and was
desperate. AS they grappled he tried
to draw a knife from his pocket, bu;
Prindle clutched those awful fingers
of his into the mans throat and
tripped him backward. They fell to
gether on the pitch and gravel of the
roof. but the rush and fall threw Prln.
hold loose. In another breath they
were together again, fighting desper-
ately. $4
AS they came striking and strug-
CLING into the angle Of the parapet,
Prindle suddenly found himself lift
ed bodily, and the next instant he was
being pressed over the wall Feeling
himself going, he set his fingers into
the biceps of the burglars left arm.
and pinioned his right hand In tina
awful moment he felt the cords of his
arms and fingers contract until they
burned like hot wires With a cry of
agony the robber jerked him back to
the roof, then whirled and ran across
the roof, drawing his knife as he fed
Prindle saw the moonlight CLINT on the
knife blade, and, though infuriated
with the passion of battle. he recoiled
The burglar turned in the angle OF
the wall, striving to regain breath be.
fore the next onset.
An electric power wire stretched
across the roof some eight or nine feet
above the floor. Prindle drew a pair
of rubber-faced gloves from his pocket,
pulled them on, and suddenly leaped
up and caught the wire AS he de.
scended the wire snapped and fell to
the roof. Instantly he caught up the
two ends Of it and sprang at the rob
ber, who met him with uplifted knife
The craftsman seemed to divine the
terrible nature of the tiny weapons in
the lineman's hands, for his face
blanched white. In the moonlight
Prindle looked equally pale. If he
could touch the robbers flesh with the
bare ends of the wires he would win;
II not, he would probably die by the
others knife.
Il was a strange duel. They feint
ed several times, then struck togeth
er. The clothing was sheared away
from Prindles arm, but the burglar
fell in knotted quivering heap. The
point of one of the live wires had
gone up his sleeve, the other had
punctured his neck.
When the burglar recovered his
senses Prindle had him securely tied
with detached pieces of the wire and
was at the front parapet of the roof.
looking up and down the street for an
officer.
The bank people gave Prindle a
handsome reward. When metallic cir
cults had been run by the telephone
company, on his suggestion. and they
found the troublesome electrical in
duction overcome. Manager Towne de-
clared the plucky lineman worthy to
be any mans son-in-iaw, and he was.
cnIMH co ALL &C Ah .aA,In