Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1910-09-30

of his assailants kept Give on his feet
and allowed him to hold his own.
Yet, as he dimly realized even
through the wild lust of battle that
gripped and intoxicated him, the fight
was but a question of moments. Coon
someone, running in, must grapple or
trip him, or a kick would reach and
disable him. And once down, in thct
bedlam of stamping, kicking feet his
life would not be worth a scrap Of
paper.
While 1t lasted, though, 1t was glor-
ious. The veneered shell of civiliza-
ton had been battered away. He was
primitive man, gigantic, furious, terri.
BILE; battling against hopeless odds.
Yet battling (as had those ancestors
from whom his yellow hair, great
shoulders and bulldog jaw were in
herited) all the more gladly and
doughtily because of those very odds.
He was aware of q man who, running
along the box rail from the STAGE had
dropped to his side and stood swing.
ing a gilded, blue-cushioned chair
about his head. This apparition and
the whizzing sweep of his odd weap-
on caused the toughs to give back for
an instant.
Good old Ansel!" painted Give.
"Save your BREATH" grunted Karl.
You'll need It,"
Then yell from twenty throats
and the rush was on again. At first,
anticipating the easy triumph which
their type so love. the toughs had
turned from the milder fun Of fright
ening a girl of the better class to the
momentary work of thrashing the soil.
tary man who had interfered with that
simple amusement. Now. bleeding
faces. swollen eyes and more than
one fractured Jaw and nose had trans
formed the earlier phase of rough
spirits into one of murderous rage.
The man who had so mercilessly
punished them must not be allowed
to escape alive. The tough never
fights fair. When fists fail. gouge,
bite or kick is considered quite al
lowable. When, as In the present In
stance, the intended victim is so pro-
tected as to render these tactics diff.
ficult Of success, pockets are usually
ransacked for more formidable weap-
ons.
Ansers arrival on the scene had but
checked the onrush. No two men, big
and powerful as both were, could sub
due nor hold out against that assault
Give struck, right. left. with the
swiftness of thought. And each blow
crashed into yielding. reeling flesh.
Down whirled Ansel's chair on the
bullet head of one man, and down
went the man beneath the impact
Up whirled the chair and again 1t
descended on another head-de-
scended and shivered into kindling
wood.
Dropping the fragments, Karl
ranged close to Give and together the
two struck out, the one with the wild
force and fury of a kicking horse, the
other with the colder but no less ter
rife accuracy of the trained athlete.
A tough, ducking one of Ansel's wild
swings, ran in and caught him about
the waist. Doubling his left leg under
him, Karl caught the mans stomach
with the point of his knee. The as
sailant collapsed, gasping. But the
momentary lapse Of the tall New Eng
lander's fstic attack had opened a
breach through which two more men
rushed and flung themselves bodily
on him.
Give, unaware of his ally's plight,
yet felt the increased impetus of the
onslaught on himself, and had to rally
his every faculty to withstand It. His
breath was coming hard from his
heaving chest. and his head swan
with fatigue and excitement. More
than one heavy blow had reached his
face and body. Then
Clear the way there, youse!"
howled an insane, mumbling voice.
'Lemme at I'M III pay i'm for this
smashed jaw!"
The press Immediately in front Of
Give Standish slackened and the
crowd opened. In its centre reeled a
horrible Observation-Disclosures torn Of
clothing. raging and distorted Of face.
one hand nursing an unshaven jaw,
while the other fourished a revolver.
"Lemme at im!" mumbled the pain
maddened tough through hedge of
splintered teeth. Clear the way or
III shoot to clear!"
Then. finding himself directly in
front of Standish, the maniac halted
and levelled his weapon.
(To Be Continued)
Misplaced Sympathy.