The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1913-10-25

Dut the muhCulAE tuOrl OF cunning
two flights had sent his liquor surgIng
TO his head. SO that he dizzied and
staggered. He caught the banister for
support. Then something. real or
fancied, caught HIS eye-something
which held his drunken attention. He
stopped and clutched at 1t. The effort
oyerbalanced him and sent him
sprawling on his hands into some
wet sticky substance.
Fearful careless housekeeping" he
said as he regained his feet. forces
me to extreme measure wiping hands
on shirt. No other place 10 wipe hands.
Renewed necessity arises'-he stop
ped and repeated the phrase with In
ordinate delight-"renewed necessity
for reaching W ROOM He caught
the knob as he fell. and the barrier
opened. letting him tumble on his own
motion TO the floor. He kicked the
door shut as he lay PROSTATE. and
then managed to pull himself upright
and reach the ei~ectric-llght button
for Mrs. Moore burned gas In the halls
for economy, but electric lights In the
rooms. The two tumbles had thrown
him into another state OF conscious
ness; his head began to clear and his
motions 10 steady. So he turned. his
predicament still In his mind. to the
wash-stand In the corner.
Above 1t hung a mirror. In passing.
Tommy's gaze swept the glass. leaped
back, caught on what blanched his
face to a sickly white. what steadied
his unsteady figure until II stood
straight and stin. what cleared his
head 80 violently that he could think
with all the swiftness OF terror.
On his dress shirt-front was the i'm
print OF a huge red hand.
"Whose?" Tommy asked himself
one instant. The next. HIS gaze
bounded from the mirror TO his own
hands.
Blood mired his fingers. On his coat
was blood. on his sleeve was blood.
on his knees was blood. on his very
shoes. He looked at the mirror again.
Across his chin ~zigzagged a dark red
line-blood also.
His first sane thought was that he
had cut himself, and was bleeding TO
death. He looked again at his hands.
but saw no wound. Then, drunken
memories lingering /. little In his so
Der mind, he remembered the fall and
the process OF wiping his hands. He
ran back to the hallway. turned up
the pin.point OF light on the gas-jet.
There IL was, a thin stream OF blood.
spotted a little where he had fallen
in It. And It was widest where II
began It's fiow-at the threshold OF
Captain Hanska's door. In a weak
access OF real terror, he fell to pound
ing on the wall and shouting:
Murder! Murderi"
Suddenly mastering himself. he
seized the knob OF Captain Hanska's
door. The latch gave way-it was not
locked. But 1t opened no more than
a foot or two-scarcely enough to give
a man pa~ssage-when something
blocked Il from behind. In the tempo
rary weakness OF his will, Tommy
North shrank back from entering
such q place of yeritable horror. He
shouted again: and now Professor
Noll, looking IN his bathrobe like q
strange priest of a strange Eastern
rite. rushed from his room gasping:
What's the matter? ?"
The blood, the pale, gibbering, dab
bled young man. were explanation
enough. He himself opened the door
as far as II could 90. and edged into
the room.
Matches, quick!" he called from
within. Tommy North found HE
match-case; aud the mastery OF an
other mind. with the example OF better
courage, drew him after Professor
Noll. He lighted a match. held II up
II fared and blazed until II burned
his fingers. In that pickering transi
tory light they saw all that IL was
necessary to see.
Captain Hanska's body blocked the
door. He lay dressed In his pajamas
the shrunken relic OF what had been Q
portly man-lay on his back with hii
hands lifted over his head as though
he were clutching at the air. From
his breast stuck the haft OF a greai
knife; and from the wound the poo
OF blood flowed to the threshold. The
match went out; and with a common
impulse Tommy North and Professor
Noll struggled to see who would b.
the first TO get back through that door
There followed alarms, screams. thu
running OF women. Mysteries on thu
part OF Mrs. Moore, who had starteC
from bed at Tommy's first cry, Tom
my North, albeit ordinarily a brave
and resourceful young man enough
was OF no use In this crisis, what with
the compression OF ten emotiona
years into ten minutes OF life. Worse
for him. the hen-minded Mrs. Moore
seeing the blood. cried. you muir
dererl" clutched at his coat, and fel
into a faint. Upon Professor Noll de
volved the masculine guidance OF thiI
affair. And he thought first, not o.
the police, but OF a doctor. BY thii
time. Miss Harding and Miss Jones
were weeping breast to breast; Mrs
Moore had recovered 10 say that she