The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1913-12-11

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| within. 49,
The vigilant Mrs. Moore, who woke
at every night entrance of dodgers,
leaped out Of bed. opened her door a
crack. and observed Tommy as he
stood balancing himself under the dim
point of the gas-1et. Oblivious to the
open door and the watcbful eye, he
made turn about the newelpost and
began putting one foot cautiously be-
fore the other. saying over and over
a drunken refrain which ran:
| "Hay foot--straw foot-one goes up
and the other goes down" So he
vanished from the vision Of Mrs.
Moore BY similar deyices he nego-
tiated the stretch ofsall carpet on
the second floor, an1s1ook the next
| flight. He was near his haven now
his own room, third floor front. In
the dim hall light. he balanced him.
self and let his tongue play again.
Energy and perseverance-vict
almost won," he said. "Just talk to
your feet and let 'em do your work. "
But the muscular effort of climbing
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 it. The effort
overbalanced 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 to wipe hands.
Renewed necessity arises"-he stop
! ped and repeated the phrase with in
ordinate delight-"renewed necessity
for reaching own 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 electrjc-light 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 to steady So he turned, his
predicament still in his mind, to the
wash-stand in the corner.
| Above it 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 it stood
straight and stiff, what cleared his
head so violently that he could think
with all the swiftness az terror.
On his dress shlrt-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. III,
I Blood mired his fingers. On his coat
was blood. on his sleeve was blood,
en- his knees was blood, on his very
shoes. He looked at the mirror again.
Across his chin zigzagged 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 q little in his So
Der mind, he rAMemhered the fall and
the process of wiping hfs hands. He
ran back to the hallway, turned up
the pin-point of light on the gas-jet.
| There it was, thin stream of blood,
spotted little where he had fallen
in it. And it was widest where it
began it's dow-at, the threshold of
Captain Hanska's door. In a weak
access of real trrroy, be fell to pound
ing on the wall and shouting:
Murder! Murder!"
Suddenly mastering himself. he
seized the knob of Captain Hanska s
door. The latch gave way-it was not
locked. But it opened no more. than
foot or two-scarcely enough to give
a man passage-when something
blocked it from behind In the tempo
rary weakness of his will, Tommy
North shrank back from entering
such a place of veritable horror. He
SHOUTED again; and now Professor
I Non, looking in his bathrobe like a
strange priest Of a strange Eastern
rite,s rushed from his room gasping:
whats the matter?"
The blood, the pale, gibbering. dab
] bled young man, weres explanation
enough. He himself opened the door
as far as it could go. and edged into
the room.
Matches, quick!" he called from
withan.'% Tommy North found his
match-case; and the mastery of an
other mind, with the example of better
courage, drew him after Professor
Noll. He lighted match, held it up.
It flared and blazed until it burned
his fingers In that Pickering transi.