The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1912-10-26

OOu I TAKE I0aI- mat the money Tor
his vacation-after thirty long years.
Please don't take that"
Her appeals seemed always to find
the tender spot Of this robbers heart,
for he hesitated, and called out:
Shall We overlook the parsons wad,
,podner?"
Take it, and shut up, you molly
coddle. was the answer he got, and
the vacation funds Joined the old gew
gaws
And now everybody had been
robbed but Marjorie. She happened to
be at the center OF the line, and both
men reached her at the same time:
i seen her first" the first one
shouted.
You did not" the other roared.
L tell you / did"
81 tell you 1 did" They glared
threateningly at each other, and their
revolvers seemed to meet, like two
game cocks, beak to beak
The porter voiced the general hope,
when he sighed: "Oh, Lawd, IL they'd
only shoot each other"
This brought the rivals to their evil
senses, and they swept the line with
those terrifying muzzles and that
heart-stopping yelp: Hands up!"
Bill said: You take the east side of
her, and I'll take the west"
"All right"
And they began to snatch away her
side-combs, the little gold chain at
her throat, the jeweled pin that NAL
lory had given her as the first token
of his love-
The young soldier had foreseen this.
He had foreseen the wild rage that
would unseat his reason when he saw
the dirty hands of thieves laid rudely
on the sacred body of his beloved
But his understanding had drilled
him to govern his impulses, to play
the coward when there was no hope
Of successful battle, and to strike only
when the moment was ripe with per-
feet opportunity.
He had kept telling himself that
when the finger of one of these men
touched so much as Marjorie's hem,
he would be forced to fling himself
on the profane miscreant. And he
kept telling himself that the moment
he did this, the other man would
calmly blow a hole through him, and
drop him at Marjorie's feet, while the
other passengers shrank away in ter
ror.
He told himself that, while 1t might
be a fine impulse to leap to her de-
tense, it was a fool impulse to leap
off a precipice and leave Marjorie
alone among strangers, with a dead
man and a scandal, as the only re-
wards for his impulse. He vowed that
he would hold himself In check, and
let the robbers take everything, leav.
ing him only the name of coward,
| provided they left him also the power
to defend Marjorie better at another
time.
And now that he saw the clumsy.
handed thugs rifiing his sweetheart's
jewelry, he felt ali that he had fore
seen, and his head fought almost in
vain against the white fire of his
| heart Between them he trembled
| like a leaf, and the sweat globed on
his forehead.
The worst of 1t was the shivering
terror of Marjorie, and the pitiful eyes
she turned on him. But he clenched
| his teeth and waited, thinking fierce
| ly, watching, like a lowering eagle, q
| chance to swoop.
But the robbers kept glancing this
j way and that, and one motion would
mean death. They themselves were
| so overweight with their own ordeal
| and its immediate conclusion, that
they would have killed anybody. Nal
lory shifted his foot cautiously, and
instantly a gun was jabbed into his
stomach, with a snarl: Don't you
| novel"
who's moving?" Mallory answered
with a poor imitation of a careless
laugh.
And now the man called Bill had
reached Marjorie's right hand. He
chortled: "Golly, look at the sinners
But Jake, who had chosen Mar
| jorie's left hand, roared:
Say, you cheated. All get is this
measly plain gold band"
ooh, don't take that" Marjorie
! SdSp0u, Cl0uCuluS uSI uduu
Mallory's heart ached at the thought
of this final sacrilege. He had the
license, and the minister at last-and
now the fiends were going to carry on
the wedding ring. He controlled him
self with a desperate effort, and
stopped to plead: Say. old man, don't
take that. That's not fair
"Shut up, both OF YOU" Jake
growled, and jabbed him again with
the gun.
He gave the ring a jerk, but Mar
| jorie, in the very face of the weapon
would not let go. She struggled and
tugged, weeping and imploring: oh
don't, don't take that! It's my wed
ding ring"
"Agh. what do / care!" the ruftian
snarled, and wrenched her finger SO
viciously that she gave little cry OF
pain.
That broke Mallory's heart. With
a wild, believing, Damn you!" he
hurled himself at the man, with only
his bare hands for weapons.
CONTINUED Monday