The Washington times., 1912-04-30
THE TIMES DAILY SERIAL STORY
Darkness andDawn
By George Allan England ,7s. ,sRy hsn.x ~,
Copyright, 1911
(The Frank A. Munsey Col

the girls ear. He pointed where. not
ten yards away and below, a blacker
shadow seemed to move along a hem
lock oranch. Forgotten now, his wounds.
Forgotten his loss OF blood, his fever
and his weakness. The sight of that
creeping, stealthy attack nerved him
with new vigor. And, even as the girl
looked. Stern drew his revolver.
Speaking no further word he laid the
ugly barrel firm across the sill.
carefully he sighted, as best he could
In that gloom lit only by the stars
I Coolly as though at a target shot, he
brought the muzzle sight to bear OH
that deep. crawling shadow.
Then suddenly squirt Of fire split the
night. The cracking report echoed
away; And with bubbIing scream.
the shadow loosened from the limb. as
ripe fruit loosens. Vaguely they saw
1t fall. whirl. strike branch, slide off
and disappear.
All at once a pattering rain of darts
f1ickered around them. Stern felt one
strike his fur jacket and bounce off.
not.
Now her revolver was speaking. in
antiphony with his; and from the
branches, two. three, five. eight, ten Of
the ape things fell.
Give it to EN-" shouted the engi-
neer. as though he had a regiment be-
hind him: Give IL to 'em" And again
ne puiled trigger.
The revolver was empty.
With cry he threw 1t down, and,
runnlng to where the shotgun stood
snatched 1t up. He scooped into his
pocket handful Of shells from the
box where they were stored, and as he
darted back to the window, he cooked
both hammers.
"Poom Poom!'
The deep baying of the Lefever roared
out in twin jets of flame.
Stern broke the gun and lacked in
two more shells.
Again he fired.
Good heaven! How many Of 'em are
Try the pulverite!'' cried Beatrice.
Maybe you might hit a branchl'
Stern flung down the gun. To the
corner where the walls were standing
he ran.
Up he caught one-he dared not take
two lest they should by some accident
strike together
"Here-here, now. take this!' he bel
lowed.
And from the window. aiming at a
pine that stood seventy five feet away
a pine whose branches seemed to hang
thick with the horde's blowgun-he slung
it with all the strength OF his uninjured
arm.
Into the gloom 1t vanished, the little
meteorite Of latent death, Of potential
horror and destruction.
IF 1t hits ,,em, they'll think we are
gods. after all, what?" cried the engi-
neer, peering eagerly. But for a mo-
ment, nothing happened.
Missed it, he groaned. IF a only
had my right arm to use now' I
might"
Far below, down there 100 feet be-
meath them and out long way from
the tower base, night yawned wide in
a burst OF hellish glare.
A vast conical hole of fame was
gouged IN the dark. For a fraction OF
second every tree, limb. twig stood out
In vivid detail. as that blue-white glory
shot aloft.
All up through the forest the girl
and Stern got a momentary glimpse of
| little, clinging things, crouching mis-
| shapen. hideous.
Then. as a riven and distorted whirl
burst upward in huge geyser OF ami
stunned, shattered; that sent both the
defenders staggering backward from
| the window.
Darkness closed again, like gaping
J mouth that shuts And all about the
building, through the trees, and down
! again in a titanic, slashing rain fell
| the wreckage of things that had been
and, living creatures-that had been
| that now were but one distinguishable
| mass of ruin and of death.
After that, here and there, small dark
objects came dropping, thudding. crash
| ing down. You might have thought
some cosmio gardener had shaken his
orchard, his orchard where the plums
and pears were rotten ripe.
One" cried the engineer, in a
strange, wild, eXultant voice.
A Continuation of This Story VIII
He Found In Tomorrow
Issue of The Times.