The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1909-03-13

- .~s"ssSSsS ~
zKElzAN DellHDglgSI
rio0s winter could have laIgned at
the grotesque reversal of their condi-
tons; Tracy and Arnold did laugh;
they were all taking their orders from
the man who had been their defeated
prisoner a little while back. Mercer
alone kept his melancholy poise; he
had obtained the aim of years; he was
not sure but his revenge was subtler
! and completer than he had dared to
hope Being zealot he was pos
sessed by his dreams. Suppose he
had converted this relentless and ire
mendous power to his own way Of
faith; what mightn't he hope to &C.
complish? Meanwhile, so far as the
business in hand was concerned, he
believed in Keatcham and in Keatch-
ANS methods Of help: he bowed to
the Innate power OF the man: and he
was as simply obedient and loyal as
Kito would have been to his feudal
lord.
In very brief time all the arrange.
ments were made; the four men went
into the patio to enter the touring car.
They walked up to the empty machine.
The colonel stepped into the front
seat of the machine. Something in
the noise of the engine which was
painting and straining against its con-
troll, some tiny sibilant undertone
ruhfnIa ~%L
missed, warned his; he bent quickly.
! A dark object gyrated above the
heads of tho other. two just mount
ing the long step; it landed with
/ a prodigious splash in the foun-
tain, flying into q multitude Of
sputtering atoms and hurting great
column of water high up in air. I'm
needing its shrieking clamor, the SOL
der sprang over the side of the car,
darted through the great arched door
way out upon the terrace toward 9
clump of, rubber trees. He fired; again
he fired.
In every catastrophe the spectators,
minds lose some parts of the action.
There are blanks to be supplied by no
one. Every one of the men and wom-
en- present on that fatal morning had
different story. Colvin was packing;
he could only remember the deafening
roar and the shouting; and when he
got downstairs and saw-he turned
deadly sick; his chief impression is
the backs. Of people and the way their
hands would shake. Janet Smith, In
side, dressing Haley's wounds, was
first warned by the tumult and cries;
she as we'll as Archie and Haley who
were with her could see nothing until
they got outside. All Mrs. Melville
saw was the glistening back Of the car
and Mercer stepping into the car and
instantly lurching forward. The ex-
plosfon seemed to her Simultaneous
with MERGERS entering the car. But
Mrs. Rebecca, Winter, who perhaps
had the coolest head of all, and who
was standing on the dais Of the arcade
exactly opposite the car, distinctly
saw Keatcham with an amazing exer.
tion Of vigor for man just risen from
sick-bed, and with kind Of whirl-
ing motion, literally hurl Mercer out
of the car. She heard the crackle
and a roar and Kito screamed in Jap
anese, running in from the carriage
side. She cannot tell whether Tracy
or Arnold reached the mangled crea-
ture on the pavement first. Arnold
only remembers how the carriage robe
Tapped in Tracys shaking hands be-
fore he flung it over the man. Tracy's
fair skin was a streaky, blush white,
and his under jaw kept moving UP
there and down like that Of fish out
Of water, while he gasped. never ut
/ tering a sound.
Young Arnold was trembling 50 that
! his hands shook when he would have
raised the wounded man. Mercer
I alone was composed although deathly
pale. He had the presence of mind to
2 throw the harmless fragments Of the
bomb into the fountain and 10 examine
|; the interior Of the car lest there
should be more Of destruction hidden
therein. Then he approached the heap
on the flags; but Keatcham was able
/ to motion him away, saying in his old
4 voice, not eoftened in the least:
Don't you do that! I'm all in. No
use. They got me. But 1t won't do
them any good; you boys know that
will you Witnessed; 1t gives fifty
thousand for the arrest and conviction
or the killing Of Atkins; his own cut
throats will betray him for that. But
where's Winter. You damn careless
fools didn't let him get hurt?"
"Shure, sor, he didn't let himsilf
| git hurried" Haley blurted out; he had
run in after Miss Smith, brandy bottle
in hand; otis the numbering dagoes
is gettin' hurted of there behind the
big rubber trees; kin see the dead
| legs Of thin, this minnit. IT'S q grand
cool shot the colonel is, sor."
Bring him in, let them go; they
were only tools,' painted Keatcham
| weekly: but the brandy revived him;
and his lips curled in q faint smile az
Janet Smith struck a match to heat
the teaspoonful Of water for her hypo-
Il dermfc "Maka r. qond and atronS,