Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1913-10-28

opened, I0e0ng MIN tumble ON hI0 own
motion to the door. He kicked The
door shut % he lay PROSTATE. and
then manaGed to pull himseh upstUht
and reach the electric.lisAt button
for Mrs. Moore burned gas In tho 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 aud his
motions to steady. So he turned. his
predicament still In his mind. 70 the
wash-stand In the corner.
| Above 1t hung mirror. In passing.
Tommys gaze swept the glass. leaped
| back, caught on what blanched his
face to sickly white. what steadted
his unsteady figure until It stood
straight and stiff. what cleared his
head so violently that no could think
with all the swiftness Of terror.
| On his dress shirt-front was the I'M
print OF huge red hand.
"Whose?" Tommy asked himself
one instant The naxt. his saxe
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 . dark red
! line-blood also.
| His first sane thought was that no
had cut himself. and was bleeding to
death. He looked again at his hands.
but saw no wound. Then, drunken
I'M in h{o
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 1t was. thin stream OF blood.
spotted a little where he had fallen
! in it. And 1t was widest where It
began It's fiow-at the threshold Of
Captain Hanska's door. In q weak
access of real terror. he fell to pound.
ing on the wall and shouting:
Murder! Murder!"
Suddenly mastering himself. he
seized the knob of Captain Hanska's
locked. But it opened no more than
foot or two-scarcely enough to give
man passage-when something
blocked 1t 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
Noll. looking In his bathrobe like q
strange priest OF q strange Eastern
rite. rushed from his room gasping:
Whats the matter?"
The blood. the pale, gibbering. dab
bled young man. were explanation
enough. He himself opened the door
as far 40 It could go. and edged into
the room.
Matches. quick!" he called from
within. Tommy North found HE
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 hared and blazed until It burned
his fingers. In that pickering transi-
tory light they saw all that 1t was
necessary to see.
Captain Hanska's body blocked the
door. He lay dressed In his pajamas.
the shrunken relic Of what had been .
portly man-lay on his back with his
hands lifted over his head a. though
he were clutching at the air. From
his breast stuck the hiatt of . great
knife; and from the wound the pool
Of blood flowed to the threshold. The
match went out: and with . common
impulse Tommy North and Professor
Noll struggled to sec who would be
the first to get back through that door.
There followed alarms. Screams. tho
running Of women, Mysteries on the
part of Mrs. Moore, who had started
from bed at Tommy's drst cry. Tom
my North. albeit ordinarily . brave
and resourceful young man enough.
was of no use in this crisis, what with
the compression of ten emotional
years into ten minutes Of life Worse
for him. the hen.minded Mrs. Moore.
seeing the blood. cried. you muir.
derer!" olutched at his coat. and fell
into faint. Upon Professor Noll de.
affair. And he thought first, not of
the police. but Of q doctor. BY this
time. Miss Harding and Miss Jones
were weeping breast to breast; Mrs.
Moore had recovered to say that she
always expected It Of Mr.. North, and
Miss Estrilla. the invalid lady on the
top floor. had called from the head Of
the stairs, What Is IT." With the
brutality which impels us In crises to
confide unpalliated horrors. some ono
shrieked, "Hanska's murdered"
There came from above some Spanish
calculations to which no one paid
much attention. and then a rafting Of
the hook Of the telephone, which hung
on door-post in that fourth. floor hall.
Professor Noll. his mind still on the
necessity for calling doctor. slipped
into ulster and bed-shoes and rushed
across the street to rouse the house
physician In the apartment-hotel. He
was some time making himself known
and understood. As he neared his
own door asein. he saw Mr.. Estrilla
entering almost on the run.
'There's been q murder! Captain
Hanska's killed." Professor Noll
called after him.
II know-my seester lephone-ehe
b frishten'." Estriila called back
shfilly over his shoulder. And he huI>
riod up the stairs.
BY this time. the open door. tho
duttsring lights, the screams and hys-
terics, had begun 70 attract the alton
ton OF this and that late pedestrian.
A milkman pulled up. hitohed, and en-
tered: and then Q niGht.fafing printer.