Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1911-07-13

luONCu a blCPF hColO ANO W aaA
waited.
He saw Philip cross the threshold,
unseeing - suspecting. apparently,
nothing; saw him, at last, within hands
reach.
Just as he touched him he uttered
a sobbing oath, and his great hand fall
tered; for Philips knife had struck
through, clean to the hilt, and just
below the heart.
The effect of the shock vas only
momentary. With a yell of rage, he
sprang upon Cayley, crowded him
back against the wall, tore at him
blindly, like a wild beast, and finally
getting Philips right forearm fairly
in the grip of both hands. he snapped
1t like a pipestem.
In a moment Cayley got round be-
hind him and with the crook of his
good arm round Roscoe's neck, he sue
ceeded in forcing him to release his
grip and in throwing him heavily.
AS he lay, his body projected
through the doorway, out into the
tunnel.
Philip left him huddled there, and
went back to the table. He found
Roscoe's flint and steel beneath his
hand; but 1t was a full minute before
he could summon his courage to strike
a light, for the differences from Ros-
GOES presence here in the pilot house
began to crowd upon him now, grim
and horrible. But he struck a spark
} at last, lighted a candle and looked
around.
The reaction of relief turned him.
for a moment, giddy, as the glance
about the room convinced him that
} what he feared worst had not happen
ed. But another thought occurred to
: him, almost at once, when he saw
the cover had been removed from the
top of the ice chimney.
In his mind, of course, that repre-.
scented the way Roscoe had come.
| What, if Jeanne, unable for some req.
3 son to defend herself, had chosen, as
the lesser evil, to flng herself over the
cliff from the tunnel mouth?
: The moment he thought Of that he
: went out into the tunnel, stepping over
3 Roscoe's body to do SO. He went to
the edge and looked over, but it was
too dark to see. The light Of the au.
, rora which still blazed in the sky, daz.
zled his eyes, without lighting the
q surface of the world below.
a He must go down there, in order to
n be sure. He had not stopped to furl
his planes when he alighted, and they
q had wedged themselves sideways into
the tunnel, still extended and so ready
!, for flight in an emergency.
He righted them and slipped his
Il arms through the loops that awaited
Il them. He stood for a moment, test
ing the right wing tentatively. There
n was a play about it that he did not I'M
derstand. So far as he could see moth
n ing was broken. The fact that it was
ia his own arm did not occur to him.
He was Just turning to dive off the
clif-head when, suddenly, he saw the
- great form of the man he had sup
"a posed to be dead, rise and rush upon
al him.
10 IuIlIU y hlI1LS Adu, lAhCCAp AlAAASeCo q
mortal wound, but a man of Roscoe's
physique lets go of life slowly. He
was bleeding to death, internally, but
, the process was, probably, retarded by
= his huddled position as he lay there
i, in the tunnel.
- So he had lain still and awaited his
- chance. Cayley was standing quite
~ at the edge of the cliff, and the man!
- momentum carried him over. Hi
- clutching hands grasped Cayley'i
shoulders, and they went down to
>. gether, over 600 feet of empty space
For Cayley the space was all too little
AS they went over he thought that h,
~ and his gigantic enemy were goin!
y down to death together. Instructive
Il ", and much quicker than a man cal
az think, he swept his great-fantail for
- ward and flung himself back in an al
IL tempt to correct the balance d~estroye,
~ by the great weight that was clingini
=, to his shoulders.
L. They were, of course, bound to G
-H down. Neither his strength nor tn
- area Of his planes was sufficient t
support them both In the air. But i
~ the position into which he had fun
'e- himself they would go down a littl
NJ more slowly. He would gain, perhaps
~ a precious second more.
But he did not waste even an II
initesimal moment in any struggl
uo against the force Of gravity.
no Twice, with all his might, he sen
~ his left fist crashing against the fact
W the staring, horrible face, that COZ
uu fronted his own. But still that col
~vulsive, dying grasp held fast.
iu They were now more than a bar
es 200 feet above the ice. With a 81
preme effort, an effort whose suddel
ness awaited 1t better than its strength
lot he wrenched himself free and tn
great weight dropped off. Another e
en- fort. the instantaneous exertion {
IA every ounce of force he possessed, CO
rected the sudden change Of balanc
or and prevented him from falling, liB
the great, inert mass he had jus
cast of.
Trembling, exhausted, he manage
he to blunder around in a half-circl
he slanted down inland and stumbled
as. a landing on the beach. not so yard
ut. from the ice~clad ruins Of the hu
Of AS he did SO. the thought was in h
mind that during his struggle In I'll
q air with Roscoe, he had heard a CT
He which neither he nor his antagoni
he had uttered.
GRO am ccNTINuEDJ
- :. 49, ..t MH4,
to her obtained fx-n. Tasmania were