The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1912-01-16

MIN, at nrSt N surprise and taen ID
resentment, while the clamor Of the
pursuing rabble shrilled loud and
near and ever nearer.
Exhausted as he was, the Irishman
struggled with little skill before he
mastered his own surprise; and in the
end saw his hnis written along the
blade of thin, keen knife which the
Greek mad whipped from the folds Of
his garments and jerked threateningly
above his head.
It was falling wnen O'Rourke saw
it. In another breath he had been
stabbed. Unexpectedly the Greek
shrieked, dropped the knife as though
it had turned suddenly white-hot ir
his hands, and leaped back from
O'Rourke, nursing a broken wrist;
while voice as sweet as the singing
of angels rang in the fugitive's ears,
though the spirit of it's melody was
simple and crude enough.
"O'Rourke, be all tn powers! The
masther himself! Glory, ye beggar,
it's sorry I am that I didn't split the
ugly face of ye wild me sthick!
This way, yer honor! Come
wild mel"
Blindly enough (indeed the world
was all awhirl about him) O'Rou1ke,
his arm grasped by a strong ard conf.
dent hand, permitted himself to be
swung to the right and across the
street. In a thought blackness again
was all about him, but the hand
gripped his arm, hurrying him onward;
and he yielded blindly to its guidance
without power, for that matter, tc
question or to object; what breath
he had he sorely needed. And as blind.
ly he stumbled on for perhaps another
hundred yards, while the voice Of the
rabble made hideous the night be-
hind them. Hardly, indeed, had the
two whipped into the mouth of the
back-way ere it was choked by a
swarm of pursuers. But-"Niver
fear!" said the voice at his side.
"'Tis ourselves that'll outwit them.
Here, now, yer honor, do ye
go straight on widout sthoppin' ontil
ye come to an iron dure in a dead wall
at the end av this. Knock there
vance, count tin, and knock again.
I'll lead 'em away and be wild ye again
in brace av shakes!"
Benumbed by fatigue and exhaus-
tion, O'Rourke obeyed. He was aware
that his preserver with a wild Whoop
had darted aside into a cross-alley, but
hardly aware Of more. Mechanically
he blundered on until brought up by
a wall that closed and made Guide.
sac Of the way.
With trecDling hands he felt before
him, fingers encouutering the smooth
cool surface OF sheet Of metal. This,
then, was the door. AS carefully as
he could he knocked, counted ten, and
knocked again-while the mob that
had lusted for his blood trailed on
down the side alley in frantic pursuit
Of his generous preserver. And he
heard with smile,, the latter's shrill
defiant Irish yells Turing them further
upon the false scent.
''If it's not Danny" gasped the ad-
venturer, then myself's not the
O'Rourke! Bless the lad!"
But as he breathed this benediction
the iron door swung inwards and he
stumbled across the threshold, half
fainting, hardly conscious that he had
done more than pass from open night
to the night of an enclosed space. His
foot caught on some obstruction and
he went to his knees with cry that
was a cross between sob and a
groan; and incontinently fell full
length upon an earthen floor, his head
pillowed on his arm, painting as If his
heart would break.
In the darkness above him someone
cried aloud, a startled cry, and then
the door was thrust to with a clang
and rattle of bolts. A match rasped