Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1913-05-02

OF breath, my heart had stopped beat
ing. / raped again. The glass gave;
felt that my hands had recoiled, then
reached forward graspingly A great
wave OF relief shot over me. The cir
Gle OF glass had hung! It had swung
In the center, as though on q pivot,
my fingers had clutched it, and now
it lay within my hand while /, dazedly,
stared straight ahead.
Words were coming from within,
in voice that recognized. A thrill
shot through me. l placed an ear
close to the hole In the window. That
voice had heard before, in the years
that had gone, tense, cursing, as he
had sent down the blows which had
felled my husband It seemed the
revelry had ceased now. They were
discussing something more important.
! heard the voice of the Jew, then the
voice I recognized again:
Well, I'm not goin' to go at this
thing alone, and I'll tell you that right
now it's got to be too quick
a haul; there's enough OF us to make
cleaning of the whole place; we
can get in while they're at the show,
do the job in half hour. then get
out. 1t it's going to be done at all,
it'll have to be done that way. That's
all there is to it, and if you guys
want to try it some other way, we'll
Another voice had broken in.
A fine set of dubs we'd be,
Whn1n oono Of NC df,,, o,,k %hnr,
like circus mob! What d'you want,
an army?'
'Which'd be worse, six of us han
din tn thing right an gettin' away
with tn junk in a way we wouldn't
be noticed, or one or two guys luggin'
a lot Of stuff an gettin' pinched for
investigations came the voice that |
knew.
"A third chimed in.
That's right"
How her eyes flashed, as the pic
lures of the past came before them!
Once again she was huddled on that
fire escape, listening to the formation
of a plot beneath. Cafe, lights, music,
all had faded for Alice Clement. She
was what her profession made her, a
tracker Of men again. The story went
on.
II knew that sooner or later the adj
dress would be spoken, for the expla-
nation of everything had come to me
now This secondhand shop was
that only in name. In reality it was a
fence for thieves, a meeting place and
rendezvous for robbers-and had
stumbled into the knowledge of their
plans! Oh, If some one would ask
for that address! If some one would
speak it! / felt numbly that was
cold, that I was shivering, that my
fingernails were biting into the flesh
Of my tightly clenched hands. Just
for the address, just one word!
Il started. pressed closer against
the window. The men, who evidently
had been sitting at a table, were
moving around. I sprang to my feet
and hurried up the fire escape. The
address had come!
There was maze of few mo-
ments in which neither knew nor I'M
derstood what did, nor why. When
came to myself, / was turning the
corner of Chicago avenue and State
streets on half run for street car,
with my baby in my arms. What !
was going to do, | did not know. The
thought Of the police had not touched
my mind; all knew was that ! must
get to the house they planned to rob
before they got there, that must
find some way to circumvent them.
The street car stopped. I boarded it.
sIt was not until I reached the
block in which the fiat was that be-
gan to realize the risks was taking.
1t dawned upon me then that ! was
carrying my baby into a place where
it would not only be in danger, but
where it might cause danger for me.
What If there was no one at home, no
one could warn? The realization
flashed upon me that there would be
no one, for / knew that in the plans
had heard the robbers felt sure they
would be safe in their work, for
while at least. / hurried to the hat.
I rang the bells, one after the other.
Not a tube answered. / circled to the
back: 1 pushed the buttons for the
servants. There came no reply.
started to hurry across the little yard
to where the rear of another fiat
showed l stepped of the porch
made my way to the side of the house,
then, with gasp, rushed back.
Il had seen shadowy form-tWo
of them-three. The thieves had ar
rived. Like the little fool that had
been, / had allowed myself to be
caught, l had spoiled everything.
gave one wild glance about me in the
dim light, then jumped for the rear
porch again. A dumbWaiter had
shown before me. A leap and had
climbed into it, closed the slide, and
was praying, yes, praying, that the
child In my arms would remain as
quiet as she had been-a whimper
would have meant death for me.
Maybe there's something in pray
ers.o Miss Clement added thoughtfully
"The baby turned in my arms the