The Washington times., 1913-11-19

the thing you're referrin' to now. ain''
got to me yet"
that the two uh yeh just saw the Night
Wind, and that when Compton wanted
to tackle him an take a fall outa him
mebby, you hung onto him an wouldnt
let him. What about it?'
Myers chuckled. He had not pounded
pavements ten years for nothing. and
he knew thing or two about wormins
out of difficulties when they arose: 1t
had been his abilities in that line,
coupled with proportionate quallty
for getting himself into them in the
first place, that had kept him a patrol
man.
"'Twasn't tn Night Wind at all,
| Martini he lied glibly. Twas a
peaceable citizen gettin' outa his cab al
the corner at this unholy hour. in the
mornin', because mebby he didn' wanta
have his wife hear a cab drivin' up
to the door. I knew that Compton
hadn't ever seen the Night Wind, an
thought I'd throw a scare into him, so
grabs him by TIL arm, an L says in
his ear: There he is now: FIR tn love
uh Mike, don't go near him r you II
git your neck broke sure" And w. say
this much for Compton. If he is new
man. He's game, all right. He'd a,
gone f'r that guy in a holy minute II
I'd "a let him, and there'd "a been
nice respectable citizen all mussed up
ana compton hlihsei pIouSh' up on
charges afterward for doin' it, and him
new on tn force"
; You're lyin' to me, Myers the
roundsman said, adding to his re-
marks what he regarded as the appro-
pirate and necessary trimmings. Myers
shrugged his shoulders.
"All right" he said. Have it that
way if you like"
"I'll make a report on it, anyhow"
"All right. I'll look up the respect
able citizen as soon as I'm off duty an
ask him to step around and see the
cap'n," Myers bluffed-and won.
The roundsman went on his way.
Myers grinned after him, but wisely
kept silent. Two blocks away the young
officer, Compton, turned into a side
toward the next avenue, still muttering
to himself about the opportunity that
had escaped him because of the obsti-
macy of Myers, when one of those incl
dents which happen almost nightly in a
great city was suddenly called TO his
attention.
He had seen a man walking rather
unsteadily toward him, still 200 feet or
more away. He had been conscious of
two other figures approaching more
rapidly, behind the man.
Now he saw the two dart forward.
and a weaHnr that nigh. hav" h""~ 4
piece Of lead pipe, or blackjack. swua
In the an IHEn a IUuIta ISu. ~
terialized, seemingly out of nothing. The
two fOotpads were tossed or thrown OF
knocked into he street like pins from
bowling alley, and they scrambled to
their feet and ran away just as Comp
ton came up IN the run, brandishing
his nightstick. The mysterious fourth
of that scene was in the act of turning
away from the befuddled citizen whom
he had saved, but who did not seem 10
know that he had been in danger.
What's all this, anyhow" the puz-
zled Compton demanded. Then he
gasped, for the mysterious stranger
moved so that the light of a distant
are shone upon him; and Compton rec
had paid off The chauffeur of the taxi
cab only a few moments earlier.
Sss'pect it's ss'old-up," mumbled
the citizen. But neither the officer nor
the Night Wind heard or needed him.
Compton, at the instant of recogni-
ton. acted. He sprang forward to
grapple with the man-and found him
self in a grasp that he could not shake
off or loosen.
He felt himself whirled around so that
have fought. His nightstick was torn
from his grasp and tossed into the mid
die of the street, and a sharp pain fol-
lowed by a pipe stem snap at the mid
die joint of the third finger of the right
hand, maddened and startled him. Then
was sent spinning after the night stick
and the gun, broken and emptied, fell
upon him an instant later and clattered
TO the pavement.
through a threshing machine. He was
daZed and lamed and half paralyZed,
as if all the volts of electricity that his
system would Withstand and permit him
to live had been shot through him. lie
thought that both shoulders were dislO-
CafaI-nn1V
any important bones broken, although
the sensation was the same as If many
of them might be. Only that one finger
had paid the actual penalty of his dar-
ing.
He groveled for a moment where he
fell, then struggled to his feet. crfnging
nevertheless in expectancy of an i'm
pending blow.
But it did not fall. and Compton
looked about him, uncertainty at first,
then wonderingly-and then in utter
amazemCnt
The Night Wind had disappeared
Silently, like shadow; swiftly. like
the element whose namesake he was
the Night Wind had passed on. The
calm of a dead street at 2:3O in the
morning, void and vacant save for the
presence of the alcoholic citizen and
himself, obtained.
But Compton had met the Night Wind
at last, and he had escaped-with one
dislocated finger. He had something to
boast about IL he chose to boast. He
decided on silence, however, while he
gathered his property and resumed his
normal state AS a uniformed and duly
armed guardian Of the peace.
He approached the belated one who
stood swaylng uncertainty upon the
curb, regarding him with Owlish judicial
calm.
What's tn anshur. off sshur?' was
Compton's greeting.
THE answer is that you'd better beat